Behold the power of home computing! This is a sweet 3-D rendering of the iPhone done by a gentleman who took a bunch of images of the iPhone off Apple’s website and threw them together. The result? A sweet animated GIF reminiscent of 1996 and Angelfire websites. iPhone 3-D Official Site → Read More
Check it. That white-skulled, scary as shit robot you see? His name is Morgui. Morgui is the product of the UK’s University of Reading. He’s used to test out different inputs in robotics and looks straight out of The Terminator. But as you may know, Terminator and crew aren’t for kids and neither is Morgui according to officials. With its realistic movements, incredibly scary looks, and haunting teeth and blue eyes, Morgui has now been deemed inappropriate for those under 18. The University is a bit worried because potential students will need a waiver signed before they can see Morgui in action. I’m sure they’ll figure out a way to sneak kids in to check out the insanely creepy robot. University Deems Robot Adult-Only [University of Reading] → Read More
Ars Technica and BusinessWeek take a cold, hard look at the reasons behind DRM and why — assuming honest people won’t break DRM — it’s still in play. Essentially, content providers are afraid of losing control over their content. Back when wax cylinders were all the rage and VHS tapes were hitting the market, Jack Valenti was actually worried that multiple people would watch a movie without paying for it. This same mentality is now effecting every aspect of the computing business and is essentially crippling everything we own, from our phones to our 108-inch LCD TVs. When will it end? Never, friend. Never. Privately, Hollywood admits DRM isn’t about piracy [ArsTechnica] Why Hollywood Snubbed Jobs at Macworld [BusinessWeek] → Read More
I’m just going to quote these guys and leave it at that. This is how I felt ALL THE TIME in Vegas. I can only see, oh, two hundred or so flat-panel televisions before I feel confident that they are very flat indeed. It was fun to see the men in the show’s car audio cavern pretend that they weren’t huge dorks and were, in fact, masculine, but that’s all. They seemed to believe that since their computer rolls around, they were operating in some higher continuum. Penny Arcade → Read More
, weighing in at 19GB, has appeared on the Interwebs and is now being happily seeded and downloaded as we speak. This is hilarious for multiple reasons, but the most telling one is a conversation I remember at an event over the summer. A well-intentioned rep was telling journos that HD-DVD is uncrackable because it “checks online” for a key of some sort. While this is ostensibly true and the keys can eventually be rescinded if they’re compromised, I have some serious doubts about the validity of his claims and the future of physical media and DRM in general. First pirated HD DVD movie hits BitTorrent [ArsTechnica] → Read More
After much fanfare, Razer has begun steadily releasing hardware in its high-end gaming peripherals line. The latest is some sort of 2.1 sound system called the Mako. The THX-certified system uses two satellite speakers, a subwoofer, and a wonky little remote control that hangs out like a gaming lolly. Will it improve your in-game audio? The one shown at CES was just a mock-up, but if Razer’s other gear is any indication you might be in luck. Also look for Razer’s AC-1 sound card, Taranula keyboard, some sort of blue LED BattleLight, and Death Adder gaming mouse with Black Adder beard and mustache. CES 2007- Razer [XYZComputing] → Read More
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5036622942191935859&hl=en Stefan at Ring Nokia loves Nokia. He wants to work for them. He loves them so much that he locked himself up with the N76 and videotaped himself talking about it for 13 minutes. While we can’t speak for his sanity, if you enjoy or are at least aware of the existence of Nokia, feel free to click away. But remember: it’s 13 minutes. On a phone. Video: I get 13 minutes with the N76; here is my preview [RingNokia] → Read More
I dug the E61 and I suppose I’ll dig the E61i. This updated version of Nokia’s Symbian smartphone has all the slim good looks of the E61 but hopefully none of the nasty slowdown problems. What you see here is actually a “dummy” version for cellphone stores and costs a mere $22.99 for those so inclined. An interesting opportunity to for Nokia fetishists, but little real meat for the rest of us. Info Page [Via Ring Nokia] → Read More
, another brand steps up and begins offering stuff folks really want. Starting today, Netflix will start offering streaming movies for free to subscribers. On Tuesday, Mr. Hastings will begin to answer that question. Netflix is introducing a service to deliver movies and television shows directly to users’ PCs, not as downloads but as streaming video, which is not retained in computer memory. The service, which is free to Netflix subscribers, is meant to give the company a toehold in the embryonic world of Internet movie distribution. The current catalog consists of about 1,000 movies and only works — shudder — under Windows. Folks with $18 subscriptions can watch 18 hours of movies a month along with the standard three DVDs at any one time. One interesting point: “The market is microscopic,” [Netflix CEO] Mr. Hastings said. “DVD is going to be a very big market for a very long time.” Yeah, right. Anyway, good work, Netflix. Thank you for understanding that IP content is going to blow both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray out of the picture. Netflix to Deliver Movies to the PC → Read More
and the BEGINNING of the next segment? Apparently this only appears over certain pre-coded commercials but best of all you can plop your ass down for more commercials by clicking the green thumbs-up button. Please don’t make me get MythTV on your ass and give up my TiVo subscription entirely. I thought we were friends. TiVo’s Fast Forward Ads Are Back [Surmise] → Read More
Pantech has launched a clamshell phone known as the IM-U170, sporting both looks and functionality. Its metallic casing comprises of magnesium and its keypad is illuminated with Electroluminescent light which makes you look like a complete badass. The IM-U170 has two camera’s for video conferencing. The outer camera is a pretty standard 2 megapixel while the integrated VGA camera is utilized by the world’s first face-recognition mobile game that tracks the user’s face movement and acts as a controller for the game. The phone also includes support for MS Office files and yeah you guessed it, not available here! → Read More
So you’re not ready yet to make the jump to a new, Bluetooth enabled computer yet, that’s fine. You can get a USB dongle and you’re set, but you look rather foolish, as Bluetooth dongles are to laptops what Bluetooth headsets are to your head: choad-making material. Newton Peripherals is here to make your life less choady. Its Mogo is the Bluetooth adapter you’ll need to keep your style. About the size of a fingernail, it’s the smallest USB Bluetooth adapter you can get. Save some space and save some face (I should go into marketing). MoGo [MoGo product page] → Read More
<img src="http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/off switch, and holds 5 billions songs. It also accepts and macerates human waste! And we missed the secret meeting. The eToilet is not unlike a regular toilet in its basic functions, but includes a 21-inch flat-screen monitor built into the toilet lid itself that swings out on a swivel arm when in use. Many of its functions are activated by touch, and the eToilet contains a proximity sensor that will protect the screen from spray during use or flushing. Additionally, the eToilet’s composition gauge will offer web-based dietary recommendations and guidelines based on the physical makeup of the material that is input into the device, and it has a delay mechanism to prevent flushing while someone is in the shower. Microsoft Unveils Long-Awaited eToilet [CrystalAir] → Read More
Released at CES this year, Cypress came out strong with a keyboard that swivels to accomodate both left and right handed users and the ability to adjust height. Ya that’s about it, no word on pricing or availability. UPDATE – I thought this looked familiar. Infinium just rebadged it. Ambidextrous Keyboard [Asus] → Read More
There are few things that piss me off more than anti-consumer contracts, especially of the cell phone variety. But getting out of that contractual noose has been the Holy Grail of techies for years, with most people being forced to either run out the clock or gulp down a ridiculous fee. Well, relief is here, at least for Cingular customers. Consumerist‘s got a must-read step-by-step (including a pretty amazing script for when you get those retention folk on the phone) for ditching your Cingular contract. Basically, they keep on upping charges to contract holders, creating legal loopholes for you to slip through. Totally boss. → Read More
Are you still using CDs for whatever reason? Well, that’s your problem. They’re large, get scratched up, and don’t hold much data. If you do have some legacy information on some that have been abused, or really feel the need to rip Careless Whisper by Wham!, then you need Skip-Away, a colorful box for repairing scratched or warped CDs. It’s fully automated, meaning you put in the disk, push a button Jetson’s style, and in a few seconds you can try to get your CD working again. We’re not sure how this works as far as truly fixing scuffs, but if you’re old-fashioned, it’s maybe a must-have. Skip-Away [Venmill] → Read More
, the keys of Luxeed’s keyboard light up to any one of 512 colors that can be pre-programmed into “skins”, or can be downloaded from Loxeed’s website. Though there’s no mention of it, we see this as being something fairly scriptable. Imagine if it was set to illuminate certain key shortcuts in certain programs, for example if you’re running Firefox, the “T” key might be a different hue (for opening a new tab, smarty). Right now it’s just a rather cool concept, but we think that with some thought and a little elbow grease (ew!), the idea (if not the keyboard) could catch on. Luxeed Interactive Keyboard [Chip Chick] → Read More
Who Killed CES? iPhone != Newton? Blackberry Pearl Goes White Pioneer Shallow Subwoofer Have An Intel Mac? Have Five Bucks? Ok, You Can Use 802.11n → Read More
Last month I wrote a post called “Why I Am Breaking Up With Netflix” that outlined the reasons I was switching to BlockBuster’s Total Access after years as a loyal Netflix customer. BlockBuster’s new offering, which basically turns every mailed movie into a coupon for a free movie at any BlockBuster outlet, has been a huge success. BlockBuster now has 2.2 million members, adding 700,000 over the last two and a half months. In the arms race between the two companies, BlockBuster launched something Netflix has no answer to – intelligent integration between the website and BlockBuster’s thousands of retail outlets. But now Netflix has fired back with a really excellent new service that could swing momentum back in their direction. This morning, a select number of Netflix’s 6 million subscribers will have access to a new Watch Now product that will stream television shows and movies to a Windows PC. The remaining members will be given access over the next six months. About 1,000 movies and tv shows will initially be available (including some hits – NBC’s “The Office” is included, for example). Studios contributing to Netflix’s new service include NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Lionsgate and New Line Cinema. The best part – it’s free. Netflix is budgeting $40 million to cover licensing and overhead costs of the service over the next year, which will, by the way, wipe out most of their operating profit of $17 million or so per fiscal quarter. Unless of course this service results in millions of new subscribers. The tv shows and movies will stream to a downloadable application, and viewing time will be limited based on what Netflix subscription plan the customer has. Subscribers to the $18/month plan, which is the most popular, will be able to watch up to 18 hours per month. This will be significant competiton for the absolute avalanche of IPTV companies that have been announced lately. Expect YouTube, Joost and iTunes, Zudeo, CinemaNow, MovieLink and others, to all be competing for the same eyeballs with very different products. Check CrunchGear for their take on the matter. See also HackingNetflix for a screencast demo of the product. Screen shots are below. → Read More
Palo Alto based startup SearchMe has kept a low profile since being founded in March 2005. The company, which has 17 employees and raised $5 million from Sequoia Capital over two rounds, will launch a number of what founder Randy Adams calls “long tail search engines” in the near future. The first product they are launching is WikiSeek, which went live about an hour ago and will be officially announced on Wednesday. WikiSeek is a search engine that has indexed only Wikipedia sites, plus sites that are linked to from Wikipedia. It serves two purposes. First, it is a much better Wikipedia search engine than the one on Wikipedia (and has been built with Wikipedia’s assistance and permission). Second, the fact that it also indexes sites that are linked to from Wikipedia means that, presumably, it will return only very high quality results and very little spam. It won’t show every relevant result to a query, but it will certainly give a good overview of a subject without all the mess. The search results also include a tag cloud which contains Wikipedia categories containing the search term. Results can be quickly filtered by clicking on one of those categories (see screen shot, click for larger view). The first three results of a query are always Wikipedia content (unless there are not three results) and are shaded blue. The remaining results are below the shaded area. In addition to the search engine, WikiSeek has two additional tools – a search plugin for FireFox, IE7 and Opera, and a really useful greasemonkey-like Firefox extension that will change the way Wikipedia looks on that browser by adding a “WikiSearch” button to the search box (see screen shot below). Click that button and see WikiSeek’s Wikipedia-only results. It’s faster and better than the results Wikipedia returns through its native search feature. SearchMe is donating “the majority” of revenue generated from advertising on WikiSeek to the Wikimedia Foundation. Adams told me earlier this evening that WikiSearch is a showcase product for their technology, and they are happy to help the Wikipedia community as much as possible by donating those revenues. Confusion with Wikiasari WikiSeek will undoubtedly be confused with the much discussed Wikiasari search engine that was announced by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales last month. In fact, in our original post on Wikiasari, we included a screenshot that we later learned was not a prototype → Read More
New York City
New York City
San Francisco, CA
