This is the Phoenix. See how it resembles the mythical creature? As if being green were some passing fad, HP announced two new desktops and a display today. The HP Pavillion Verde Special Edition a6645f (really?) and Pavillion Phoenix SE a6655f have energy-efficient AMD procs and they’re Energy Star qualified. The SE desktops can handle up to 5GB of RAM, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit… → Read More
The Frankfurt Book Fair just wrapped up, and one clear theme emerged from the show: people are willing to embrace digitized books, à la the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, but they may need some time to get used to the idea. For example, Penguin called such gadgets “mainstream” and no longer in “the province of geeks any longer.” Meanwhile, plenty of people were on hand to defend the… → Read More
This came straight from the CrunchGear chatroom minutes ago… → Read More
Two-man startup AppLoop has added to its suite of self-service tools for iPhone developers by launching App Generator, which automatically turns any blog with an RSS feed into a native iPhone app modeled after that of the The New York Times.
To create an app, all you have to do is answer a series of questions for the App Generator’s setup wizard. These include your blog’s address, name, icon and… → Read More
Samsung’s latest S60-based smartphone, the I7110, has just been announced and it comes packing with some impressive specs. The Symbian-powered phone is equipped with a gorgeous 2.6-inch AMOLED display, 3G HSDPA quadband GSM/EDGE network, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, and a 5MP cam with an LED flash. What more can you want from a smartphone? What’s that? A front facing camera for video… → Read More
If you’re willing to tough your way through Beta browser territory, Opera’s got some goods for you to check out. This morning, they released Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta 2. Sure, it’s faster, and it’s more stable – but it’s also got some tricks up its sleeve. This is the first mobile release to support Opera’s Widget platform, which allows users to install… → Read More
There are lots of GPS units out there, talking to lots of drivers. Some people may even enjoy the voices produced by their GPS units. But only the Mio Knight Rider GPS can speak to you in the voice of William Daniels, the original voice of KITT from the Knight Rider television show. Sure, it’s gimmicky, but it’s also a lot of fun to hear Daniels’ voice giving you turn-by-turn… → Read More
Okay, this has to be the coolest hack of the week. Visual search engine SearchMe has just added a music search tab that brings back results with free, legal, unlimited full-song streams and cover art you can flip through. It’s CoverFlow on the Web. And it actually trumps the experience one Yahoo’s music search, which also offers free full streams through Rhapsody—but those are limited to 25… → Read More
You know that little feeling you get when you see someone doing something stupid? Kind of like flop sweats but it’s emphatic, like you actually feel for the performer but you know he’s oblivious? I got that most of the time while watching this. But then again, when’s the last time someone wrote a rap about Symbian? → Read More
LittleBigPlanet has been delayed by about a week over concerns that it may offend Muslims. The game, which was supposed to ship today, was found to have a song that contains phrases from the Koran. As such, Sony has pushed back the game’s release to October 29. The offending phrases were found by a Muslim gamer who was playing the beta. The singer of the song, “Tapha Niang,” is Toumani… → Read More
Another day, another deal on a netbook. Today it’s the Acer Aspire One, which Buy.com has for just $309.99 – that’s cheap! You’ll get a 1.6 GHz Atom processor, 512MB of RAM, 8GB solid state drive, 8.9-inch 1024×600 screen, built-in webcam, and the Linpus Linux Lite operating system. The whole thing weighs just 2.19 pounds. Acer Aspire One [Buy.com via dealnews] → Read More
Gateway’s new MC Series of laptops are for those of you who demand better a better-than-OK multimedia performance from your laptop. That’s why the Intel Core 2 Duo-based line has a 16-inch (1366×768) glass display (like the new MacBook, just not LED-based), 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650, 4GB RAM, built-in HDMI 1.3, Draft N Wi-Fi—we’re still only at Draft… → Read More
I’ve been trying to be a bit easier on Motorola lately, as I feel some of my comments toward their devices have been a bit crass. Sorry Motorola – I can’t cut you any slack for this one. When it first leaked back in August, I declared it the ugliest handset ever created. I’ve since searched high and low for a handset to take that title, and nothing challenges it. Nothing… → Read More
PCs and Macs are always poking and stabbing at each other; Genius Bar this, everyone uses Windows that. Can’t we all get along? Everyone knows which one is superior. Second video after the jump. → Read More
The advertising war between Apple and Microsoft continues. Apple’s latest TV spots mock Microsoft’s $300 million ad campaign for Windows Vista, suggesting that some of that money would be better spent fixing Vista. The ad is funny (see above), but it does seem petty and elitist. After all, the new Microsoft ads got much better… → Read More
It’s not exactly the Time 100, but Glam’s new men’s network (see previous post) has its own list: the Brash 100. This is the sort of list you’d expect to see in Details, an attempt at an iconic list of “unforgettable” men. It’s filled with everyone you’d expect: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tiger Woods, Barack Obama, John McCain, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Al Pacino. Even our own Michael Arrington… → Read More
Panasonic today announced [JP] it developed the world’s smallest fuel cell for use in notebooks, reducing the size of its predecessor by 50%. The new model is sized at 270cc, which makes it as small as existing lithium ion batteries used in notebooks currently on the market. Panasonic says the fuel cell will be positioned at the underside of notebooks and provides about 20 hours of power… → Read More
First the awesome emergency shoes, now another shoe-related technology from Japan: NTT, the country’s biggest telecommunications company, presents sandals that are able to generate electricity when walking. Each step users take puts pressure on the liquid-filled sole. Two tanks are positioned below the toe and heel and connected via a small pipe. Every step creates water flows within the… → Read More
Tokyo-based Green House, a “Thanko light” of sorts and the company that introduced pig-shaped earphones back in June, today presented the so-called “Angel and Devil” earphones [JP]. The earphones, which feature a frequency response of 20Hz -20,000Hz and an impedance of 16Ω, come in five different colors for the devil part: red, pink, purple, magenta and of course black… → Read More
Fast growing women’s network Glam Media is now a fast growing women’s and men’s network with the launch of a sister (err, brother) site Brash.com later this week. Update: Brash moved up its launch to today. The site will target 18-49 year old men and will, like Glam, bring in content from a network of third party sites. Glam will focus its efforts on ad sales and gathering content… → Read More
Line 6 releases POD Studio and POD Farm Review: Penguin Home Soda Maker Japan gets a portable Hello Kitty DVD player, the rest of the world doesn’t Dude, no way – blender uses wireless power The giant glowing envelope means you’ve got mail → Read More
Popular music service iLike has teamed with TuneCore, a music distribution platform, to help artists promote and sell their music as easily as possible.
TuneCore (whose CEO thankfully seems to have stopped handling the site’s PR) actually has an intriguing business model. For a flat fee, TuneCore will help artists distribute their digital music to a collection of music stores that the company… → Read More
Yahoo started out the year with layoffs, and it is going to end the year with more. The layoffs have been expected ever since Yahoo hired hatchet men from Bain & Co. to come help with the downsizing. The exact number of layoffs is still not known—between 1,000 and 3,000 are the numbers being discussed. During its earnings conference call on Tuesday, Yahoo is expected to announce how many… → Read More
Motorola, which is recruiting as many as 350 people to work on Android phones, is gearing up to make its first one:the Android Social Smart Phone. Last week, Android Guys spotted a job posting for the project, and now BusinessWeek has more details, including a mention of the Motorola job posting pictured at left on Monster looking for an Android application developer. If the people pictured in… → Read More
Gartner and IDC are reporting that netbooks, those ultralight PCs everyone loves, have taken Europe by storm, hitting about 10 percent of the PC market. These mini-PCs are essentially a brave new world for PC makers who have been facing falling prices, profits, and demand in standard laptops and desktops. Asus and Acer are winning the race and many of the sales come through cellphone suppliers who… → Read More
Are you compatible with your car? A new site set to launch in a few days called CarZen aims to help you find the car that is perfect for you. The main feature of the site is a car consulting tool that asks you basic questions about the qualities you are looking for in a car (price, size, fuel economy, reliability) and then spits back a list with the best matches.
CarZen is extremely detailed. … → Read More
The Vacheron Constantin Quai de I’lle can be specially customized using 400 little deterrents and styles including impossible to recreate ink patches and mini writing on the clear watch face. The watches cost between $6K and $12K. Sadly, these things will probably be sufficiently knocked off next week. If the watch is popular enough, China will stop at nothing to sell the bastards for $4… → Read More
In an enlightened effort to prevent terrorism, you may soon need a passport to buy a cellphone in the UK. The Times is reporting that officials are thinking of creating a register of prepaid phone purchasers. The pay-as-you-go phones are popular with criminals and terrorists because their anonymity shields their activities from the authorities. But they are also used by thousands of law-abiding… → Read More
Who doesn’t enjoy a little James Bond trivia? The influence of the Bond films is so great that Nasa was thrilled to let 007 give the world its first view of the Space Shuttle in Moonraker - two years before the launch of the real thing. Jane Seymour was cast in the role of tarot priestess Solitaire in Live And Let Die after producers saw her in the BBC shipping saga The Onedin Line. → Read More
Obama’s ad spot in Burnout Paradise garnered both praise and criticism - mostly the later – but in case you wanted to see it for yourself, the map above marks the location. Just like we said originally though, this ad will only appear in the Xbox 360 version and you have to live in either Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio or… → Read More
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
Boston, MA
