Combining trademark search engine ninjary with a bout of boredom, NeoGAF user “Shiggy” managed to dig up some documents detailing a conspicuously generic pedometer. What’s interesting about that? The document has Nintendo written all over it. Joystiq theorizes that it may be part of some sort of Wii Fit tie-in. Be it that this isn’t just some idea long since shelved, here’s to hoping they ditch the generic white design and cram this thing into a Pocket Pikachu. → Read More
The more I hear about the recently announced AD/DC Rock Band expansion, the less excited I am about it. After reading through the details unearthed by Variety today, my interest remains low. The New Details: Harmonix has exclusivity on AC/DC content indefinitely, after they’ve gone on the record as being against exclusive artist deals No character creation “There are some custom graphics,” but you don’t play as AC/DC No online play with the standalone disc Songs can be exported, for free, for play with Rock Band and Rock Band 2. Exported songs can be played online. It just doesn’t seem like there’s any reason to warrant a physical product. Nobody is going to go and buy a few hundred dollars of Rock Band instruments to play 18 AC/DC songs, so anybody who buys this will likely have one of the original games anyways. Not making this DLC is just an inconvenience. Maybe I’m crazy – Anybody out there getting antsy in the pants for this one? [Via Kotaku] → Read More
Not reading MobileCrunch yet? Why the heck not? While a MobileCrunch post or two might make the jump over to CrunchGear each day, there’s a ton of good stuff each day that you’ll only see on that side of the fence. Here’s some stuff you may have missed on MobileCrunch today: Adobe working on Flash for iPhone, but the ball is in Apple’s court Samsung and Verizon announce the SCH-u430 Nokia Pilot product testing program goes live, registration opens AT&T planning BlackBerry Bold launch parties, complete with ultra cheesy videos LG KP500 aims to make touchscreens pocket-friendly → Read More
[Pic Source: Marcin Wichary] Realizing that a little 6 inch obstruction on the windshield is probably a better solution than forcing people to take their eyes off the road, the State of California will once again allow windshield-mounted GPS units when the new year rolls through. Taking a break from solving economic crises and fighting crime, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put his penned blessing on the bill over the weekend. You can’t just go plopping your GPS unit wherever you want, however – as we understand it, you can stick it anywhere within 5-inches of the lower left corner of the windshield, or 7-inches of the lower right corner. Lower right corner? Does anybody actually do that? Come January 1st, 2009 you’ll be free to roam without having to choose between getting lost and driving blind. Just don’t text at the same time. [SFGate via Engadget] → Read More
Gnip, the guys that are helping move data around from one social network to the next, launched v 2.0 of the service tonight.
The new version of the service allows data consumers (services like Plaxo that take data from other services, like Twitter, Friendfeed, Digg, Delicious, etc.) to have data from requested users pushed to them. It’s no longer “Hey, TechCrunch just tweeted. Go query the API to get the data.” Now it’s “TechCrunch just tweeted – here’s the data.” Data consumers are no longer required to build pollers for any of the publishers pushing data into Gnip, they just give Gnip an endpoint and they push the data to them in real time. → Read More
I know, I know. The headline may be a bit repetitive. I just wanted to make sure that no one walked away from this story thinking that the Penguin Ice Box Buddy Ice Mold made kittens out of fire. Penguins out of ice, people. That’s it. I’ve never wanted something so useless so much. Look at that penguin. He’s too small to be an effective ice sculpture, but he’s too big to fit in a glass. Maybe I’ll make a bunch of them, pass them out to friends, and insist that I check in on their well being every 2-3 weeks. At right around $10 bucks, you could buy a few of them to speed up your penguin army cloning process. [Via Cooking Gadgets] → Read More
After a nearly endless stream of hearsay and rumors on the matter, Adobe has now gone on the record about Flash on the iPhone. During a presentation at the Flash on the Beach expo today in the UK, Adobe’s Senior Director of Engineering Paul Betlem mentioned that the Flash development team was actively working on a release for the iPhone, but due to the closed nature of the handset, the final call would be Apple’s. Betlem didn’t specify whether Adobe is working on embedding Flash within the Safari browser, or if Flash playback would require a standalone application. While Apple has yet to allow any sort of plug-in to run within Safari, making the exception for Flash may be necessary. Read more… → Read More
Toying with the fragile memories of our youth, Japanese toy maker Takara-Tomy is working on an alternative universe Transformers line of 1:32 toys called “Alternity”. In this crazy backwards universe, Optimus Prime (or Galaxy Convoy, as he’s known in Japan) masquerades as a Nissan GT-R rather than the oh-so-classic Big Rig we all know and love. As Autoblog points out, the new and improved Optimus is a bit rough around the edges. The car form (shown after the jump) looks surprisingly jagged, and the robot form doesn’t seem fully transformed. That said, the toys are made entirely of good ol’ fashion diecast. Do you have any idea how many times I was smacked in the head with the old metal Transformers? Because I don’t. → Read More
Recommendation engine StumbleUpon has been facing some tough times lately: earlier this month we reported that eBay was looking to sell the startup less than 18 months after acquiring it (the company refuses to comment). And its traffic has been showing signs of stagnation (though the number of registered users to steadily rise). But tonight, the site is launching a new feature that may very well turn things around: a long awaited install-free web toolbar.
Update: CEO Garrett Camp says that usage of the service isn’t stagnating – the unique views have leveled off because users tend to Stumble without returning to the site’s homepage, so their hits aren’t recorded.
StumbleUpon has long been hindered by the fact that it requires a browser plugin that users have to download and install. Such plugins create a large barrier to entry, as they are time consuming and tend to be associated with malware. These problems are magnified by the fact that StumbleUpon’s purpose isn’t immediately obvious – many users have to actually try it out before they understand what it does (for the uninitiated, it uses an algorithm based on your preferences and other users to direct you to websites that you’ll find interesting). → Read More
Why would Germans bling up a clock radio? We don’t know, but this $2,500 monstrosity can be yours provided you suffer from brain damage. Sonoro Audio, a German designer of high-end audio products, announced Tuesday that it is releasing a clock radio that’s decorated with about 4,000 black and white Swarovski crystallized stones. Yeah, guys. Sorry. There’s a global economic crisis on. → Read More
This Nikon ad apparently features a lens mount and camera grip that isn’t like any currently offered by Nikon. Could this be a the upcoming MX? Possibly, but it doesn’t match the last picture dug up. Or it could be a viral ad, photoshop’d by an agency to stir up buzz about the brand. Looks like it’s working. → Read More
In yet another ridiculous and short-sighted move, “the nation’s top movie companies” have filed suit against RealNetworks due to the release of RealDVD. Oh my god. Every time I think these heads of industry can’t get any more stupid, they do something like this. What are they going to accomplish here? They’re telling consumers that they can’t back up their own DVDs — because that’s all RealDVD can do. It’s designed to respect DRM and restrict the DVDs’ usage, and whatever your position is on that, there can be no question that the MPAA’s position should have at the very least been one of grudging acquiescence. But these dinosaurs seem hell-bent on dragging the world kicking and screaming into the last century. If it’s any consolation, in a few years they’ll be fossils. → Read More
Sorry Kim. I’m sure you’re a nice lady and all, but after being forced to sit through umpteen seasons of Sex and the City and the 3 hours of bonus drivel provided by the movie, I don’t think I could handle it. If anybody hopped in my car with your new voice pack installed on a TomTom, I would smash said TomTom with a brick. If you think you can bear your way through such classics as “This is the city, darling. Anything goes.” and “Don’t touch my manolos!”, you can grab the new pack here for $12.95. These celebrity voice packs are suddenly like the GPS unit version of ringtones; Expect shady late night commercials and crazy babbling frogs soon. → Read More
There isn’t another website out there that serves up more modern day myths than YouTube and so MythBusters is reaching out to the YouTube community for their ideas. Adam and Jamie are asking that ideas are submitted either by replying to the video above or posting it in the MythBusters forum. I vote for the cell phone popcorn thing. My mom stopped using her cell phone ’cause of that video. Me? I love popcorn. → Read More
This clock has been slowed down by 61,320 percent so each minute now represents approximately a year and the face, of course, has been renumbered for the new setting. Not a good grandparent’s birthday gift. swissmiss via designboom via onoffart → Read More
As part of its 10th birthday celebration, Google has opened the doors to an antiquated version of its search engine that dates back to 2001. The portal has all the trimmings from the old site, including the goofy logo (complete with exclamation point), a missing “I’m Feeling Lucky” button, and the not-so-modest claim of having indexed 1,326,920,000 web pages.
It’s cool to see things the way they were (though they haven’t changed all that much), but the real fun lies in running a few searches. Google’s blog post offers a few examples: The iPod referred to a Document Processing System, and YouTube gets zero hits.
And most humbling: a search for TechCrunch yields a single link to a now-defunct learning website. → Read More
Thank you, lord. And by lord, I mean Toshiba. Now, if you believe everything you read, it appears that these new SCiB batteries last longer, charge faster, stay cooler, and survive more recharges. If I’m not mistaken, that’s an improvement on every single aspect I care about in a laptop battery. The one thing they don’t mention is price. And you can bet that if these things were cheap, they’d have said so. So while I’ll be happy to rock these new batteries when they make it to consumer devices, I’m pretty sure we’ll be paying a premium for a little while. Yes, I know it’s not that kind of battery. → Read More
