• December 31st, 2008

    Zune bug explained in detail

    Earlier today, the sound of thousands of Zune owners crying out in terror made ripples across the blogosphere. The response from Microsoft is to wait until tomorrow and all will be well. You’re probably wondering, what kind of bug fixes itself?

    Well, I’ve got the code here and it’s very simple, really; if you’ve taken an introductory programming class, you’ll see the error right away. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Girly guitar controller for PS2

    If you are a girly girl, or if for some reason you love someone with an obsession with hearts and the color pink, then you may be interested in this pink heart-shaped wireless guitar for the PS2. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Pilots can now spy on you at night, look creepy

    Want to live out your “Blue Thunder” fantasy? Now you can legally get military-spec night vision goggles for when you are flying your helicopter. In the past, there were no FAA approved night vision goggles for civilian use — you were taking your chances when you were flying at night, and typically doing instrument based flying. Now you can use night vision, assuming you buy your gear from this company.

    Having flown at night in a small plane, I think this is a really good thing. It should help keep me safe when I’m “importing” goods across the Mexican border. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    My Prosthetic Lung

    Welsh company Haemair’s prosthetic lung just won UK Institution of Chemical Engineers’ Stopford Projects Award for Bioprocess Innovation.

    Normally, when a patient’s lungs don’t function, the patient is put on an ECMO system, an external machine that functions like a lung. The problem with these machines is that they are pretty bulky. Haemair has made a system that is much smaller and can be worn outside the body or placed inside the body. This will allow patients to be mobile and potentially live a more normal life. Plus, if you believe the pictures, it makes you look like the T2000. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Twin Draft Guard = Stoner's BFF

    Image courtesy of Nataliedee

    I just saw this infomercial so forgive me if you’ve already seen it but I immediately thought of my days living in the dorms as a freshman. My roommate Justin and I would conjure up various ways to keep in our dope smoke without alerting the RA of our nefarious ways. Maybe it’s the booze talking but I thought I’d share. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    New Rock Band mic and portable drums

    Mad Catz has released two new accessories for Rock Band. One is the M.I.C., a microphone with integrated controller. The other is a portable drum kit. Mad, indeed! → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    China licensing Western 3G standards

    Because of numerous delays, China has had trouble rolling out 3G on its TD-SCDMA cellular standard. Now they are allowing construction of CDMA 2000 and WCDMA networks, North American 3G and European/Asian 3G respectively. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Oregon governor takes crazy pill, wants to tax using a GPS

    Because Oregon doesn’t have enough taxes (like personal income tax and really high property taxes), the governor is proposing a mileage tax, based off of a GPS unit installed in your car. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Amazon isn't the only one smiling over holiday sales

    Amazon may have had their best ever Christmas, but they weren’t the only ones who witnessed record holiday sales over the past month. One of Amazon’s competitors, LightInTheBox.com, is a China-based global online distribution company that tripled its fourth-quarter sales over last year. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    CES: A primer

    In exactly one week, the CrunchGear team will be descending on CES for your benefit. Why should we be going? Because it’s the biggest consumer electronics show in the world? Why are we going? Because we’re dumb suckers.

    CES, if you’ll recall, is huge. It takes over Las Vegas for most of a week and the products announced there will grace shelves over the next year. However, to clear up misconceptions about the event I’ve created this primer for you, the reading public. Using the mneumonic device CES SUCKS THE BIG ONE you can easily remember everything there is to know about this great show. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Start your own internet business for $399

    If you’re bored or out of a job in these difficult times, or if you’ve always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur, then this Internet Entrepreneur Starter Kit will not help may be for you. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    The Day the Zunes Stood Still: Update

    As you guys well know, there are zillions of Zunes out there stricken with a mysterious malady. According to a new statement from the devs, it is (as we all suspected) a bug having to do with the internal clock and how it deals with leap years.

    The “fix” is less than elegant: let the Zune run out of battery and the clock bug will essentially fix itself as the date switches over to January 1. If you have a Zune Pass (and you should, because they’re a great deal), you may have to re-sync with your PC to ensure your subscription songs work. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    A Look At Some Of The Best iPhone Apps Of 2008

    The iPhone and iPod Touch have taken the world by storm. In just a little over six months time we’ve witnessed the doors of the iTunes App Store opening to the 10,000 app marker being crossed. In between that time we’ve see the $999 I’m Rich make several people poor, fart joke apps earning over $25K in one day, and Apple still looking the other way when users mention copy and paste. And with the number of total apps reaching over 13,500 less than a month since the 10,000 mark was passed, that growth is showing no signs of stopping. But some of these stand out much more than others do, so we’ve tried to hone in on the cream of the crop. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Kissing USB octohippo shocker: A-Data ripped off the Octorok!

    I knew these things looked familiar! They’re trying to cash in on that “nearly-forgotten cute many-legged land-dwelling octopods from Zelda games” market. I think someone owes Nintendo an apology! → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Rumor: Quad-core MacBook Pro at MacWorld

    I’d say this irresponsible and inflammatory rumor is half-true. With Snow Leopard likely being shown off at MacWorld (by Schiller, alas), Apple will want something to make the OS pop a bit. Since Intel’s new budget quad-core processor is just starting to make its rounds, it’s not totally out of the question that Apple will want to include it in the comparatively old 17-inch MacBook Pro. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Audiolizer Puts Your iTunes Library In The Cloud, But Lala Does It Better

    Audiolizer is a new music streaming service that lets you put your iTunes library in the cloud. After uploading your iTunes Library database file, the site will automatically compile a list of links to every song, allowing you to access your favorite music when you’re away from your home computer. Users can also manually search for individual songs.

    As with a number of streaming audio sites, Audiolizer makes use of the YouTube API to serve its music (this ostensibly makes them less of a target for lawsuits, as they aren’t hosting any music). The system seems to work fairly well, through the presentation is strange – the “music video” shown alongside the player is only thumbnailed sized for some reason. You can still access the full sized video by clicking on the thumbnail, but it’s a bit odd. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Interview: Pytey of the iPhone Dev Team

    Have you ever jailbroken an iPhone? Ever used a software solution to “unlock” the iPhone’s SIM slot, freeing it from the shackles of its original carrier? Chances are, the iPhone Dev Team had something to do with it. This group, made up of some of the iPhone development scene’s finest minds, spends countless hours tearing apart the iPhone to make it do all of the things Apple won’t allow – and then figures out a way to make it work for everyone. It’s tough, unpaid, and often thankless – but they keep cracking away. Later tonight, the iPhone Dev Team is expected to release “yellowsn0w“, a long-awaited software-based SIM unlock for the iPhone 3g. Though they don’t often do interviews, we were able to gab with one of the members, Pytey, just hours before their big release for a chat about who they are, how they operate, and a whole lot more. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Active Park Assist demo'd on video

    Info ’bout Ford’s Active Park Assist parallel parking wizardry recently broke cover and now the Blue Oval released a video demo of the system. It seems to work well in the company-made video but excuse me while I hold judgement until a real hands on emerges. Video after the break. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Survey says: U.S. consumers don't trust mobile banking security

    A new report entitled “2008 Mobile Banking Security Standards” by Javelin Strategy & Research finds that less than 10% of U.S. consumers use mobile banking tools.  47% of those surveyed do not use mobile banking due to security concerns and 73% are afraid that hackers will remotely compromise their handsets. Consumers are also worried about losing private banking information in the chance that they lose or have their mobile phones stolen. → Read More

    December 31st, 2008

    Whoa, dude: Yoshimoto Cube

    Whoa, dude. Slow down.

    It is actually a transformation of two stellated rhombic dodecahedrons. I drank Stella once. It was good. Whoa. → Read More

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