File this under “sounds too good to be true”. A Chinese artist has designed a projector into a clamshell, with a built in speaker. The unbelievable part? It’s only $50. I question what type of quality you are going to get from a projector that only costs $50. → Read More
So here’s a problem many face: You’ve got your various remotes for you home theater set up, and you haven’t gotten yourself a high-end universal yet. The problem is the less you use certain remotes the more likely they are to become lost in couch cushions and the like. That’s why some people think you need this remote control finder. You attach these space-age caddies to each of your remotes (the kit comes with three) and keep the included whistle handy. Each time you need to find a remote, blow the whistle! Like a faithful do the remotes will alert you of where they are, so you can reach down into the couch and get M&Ms stuck to your hand trying to get a hold of it. Neat! Really, you could stick these caddies to anything you lose often. You could affix them to your keys, your wallet, or even your girlfriends. Your imagination’s all that’s limiting you! And at only $17 (plus shipping) it’s a bargain for anyone who loses stuff all the time. But I wonder, what do you do if you lose the whistle? → Read More
Admit it: at some point, you’ve lost your cellphone. That’s why we don’t see any reason to spend $134,000 on a new one, even if it is gold-plated and encrusted with more diamonds that Liberace’s Cadillac. That’s what designer Peter Aloisson is pitching to the ultra-upper class. Based on a luxury Nokia handset, the small slider is completely covered in white diamonds, except the screen and keypad, meaning it would double nicely as emergency brass knuckles. Why would you want a phone worth $134,000 dollars? Because one worth $135,000 would be ostentatious. → Read More
We make fun of Uwe Boll quite a bit on here, mostly because he’s a horrible director who seems to specialize in destroying would-be cool films based on video games. Not only is he bad at making movies based on popular video games, but also movies of games that make you question why they’re made at all. If any proof was ever needed of the suckitude that Boll puts out, one needs only look at last weekend’s free screening of Boll’s latest, a film adaptation of Postal. So bad was this movie, especially a scene spoofing the 9/11 attacks, that 150 of the 200 attendees walked out. I’ve seen very few films bad enough that I’d walk out of — Spy Kids 3 and Speed Racer come to mind — but the idea that 150 people would walk out of a free screening is telling. Please stop letting this man make movies, waste money, and ruin video games. → Read More
Verizon Wireless is running a large, nation-wide 3G network. This much is known. They don’t yet have a 4G network, though we know they’re doing trials now of LTE, or Long Term Evolution, a GSM variant, but it’s not open to the public. Reader Jonathan snapped this shot of a Verizon Wireless reseller advertising 4G service. “4G Premium Retailer,” it says. Of course it’s just a stupid ploy to get attention, but could it also be false advertising? We think so. Jonathan says, I called that specific store by the way and I talked to some guy and I asked him if they were doing the 4G trial and he just answered with a sarcastic no. My cousin also said that he saw some of the stores by his house with them as well. Where is this happening? We’re going to do some digging and see if we can get some answers. But we know this: Verizon’s not selling 4G devices today. Thanks for the tip, Jonathan! → Read More
Comcast doesn’t like its customers. Well, not all of them, especially those who actually take advantage of the massive amounts of bandwidth it makes available, and is preparing to penalize those of you (or of us) that download tons of content. Rumors from Broadband Reports, the excellent connectivity ratings site, show that Comcast might be considering 250GB per month caps on individual lines. That really isn’t a lot of data, especially if you work from home and use your connection to download docs or other files from your work servers. Comcast is already on the hook for arbitrarily sending out “dude, you’re downloading too much” letters to customers, but this is just getting silly. If as an ISP it’s going to offer unlimited bandwidth, it needs to truly be unlimited, or else we’re going back to the 25MB a month AOL stuff from the mid ’90s. → Read More
[photopress:08426s1.jpg,full,right]In Japan, people are fat because the food looks too good. Or so the reasoning goes behind these blue-tinted shades which, according to the company that makes them, will make food look so unappetizing you won’t want to eat it. This is total bullshit. The theory is that the red wavelengths in food make you want to eat it. Not true. I know this because I’m colorblind and eat the hell out of a pizza. And a sandwich. And pasta. And chickenwings. Don’t fall for this gimmicky crap. → Read More
[photopress:blogger.jpg,full,center] The US Governemnt is staging a terrorist-like War Game, called “Cyber Storm”, to simulate an attack against our country’s infrastructure, ala Die Hard 4. Attacks would be carried out against transportation and utilities, using hijackers, hackers, and bloggers. Wait, what? Apparently Homeland Security is worried that us troublesome bloggers will reveal vital gas lines or something in the case of an attack, so we’re a threat. Watch out for bloggers! We can spout all kinds of stuff that the Terrorists can use to blow you up. We’re dangerous! This is such crap. U.S. Mock Disaster Drill: Trains, Planes and Bloggers [News Factor] → Read More
[photopress:crapface.jpg,full,center]Recently, a friend of mine from Nepal admonished me that if I took 1/10th of the money I spend going out on the weekends for three months, I could buy books, food, and salary for an impoverished school near his home. It made me think about globalism, humanism, and my place in it. But more than that it made me realize anyone who’d pay $1.2 million for a diamond-encrusted cellphone deserves more of a guilt-trip than I. This phone by Emmanuel Gueit has 120 carats of diamonds. Why does this phone have 120 carats of diamonds? Because 121 would be ostentatious. Guiness Certifies the Worlds Most Luxurious Phone – $1.2 million “LeMillion” [Textually] → Read More
Sometimes when you see something, you immediately wish you could un-see it. That is where I stand with the Vibram Fivefingers sports sandals. These “shoes” are like ruggedized toe socks, with individual toes. There is no excuse for this, and by god the first person I see wearing these gets a punch to the head. Really, I’ll suffer having to see your toes as you wear flip-flops on even the rainiest of days. I’ll even abide the recurring trend that is Ugg boots. But this is taking footwear evolution too far. You should not want the bottoms of your feet to resemble those of burn patients, which is what happens here. I can’t find words to describe how wrong these are. This is even worse than those glue-on flip-flops. This is worse than Hitler. This is worse than a sober Lohan. This is worse than Windows Mobile. If you even think about buying these for a moment, I will strike down your kids with the Ass-Cancer of Thor. Do you hear me? Vibram Sandals [Product page, via Boing Boing (curse you, Cory Doctorow!)] UPDATE – We actually love these shoes. Check out our reviews of the Vibram Five Fingers Classic and Vibram KSO Trek. → Read More
This morning, we happened to find a particular “web application” that was already being touted as an “iPhone application”. It’s called OneTrip and guess what? It’s supposed to be an amazing shopping list app. designed specifically for the iPhone! According to OneTrip’s help page: → Read More
While I agree that pocket bloat is a problem that needs a solution, the gadget holster is not it. In short, it’s a belt that has a bag attached with pockets for your iPod, cellphone, memory stick, pride, virginity, etc. Not to sound all erudite, but didn’t we used to call these fanny packs? For serious, this is worse than wearing your phone on your belt. And yes, wearing your phone on your belt makes you a douche. And before you call me out in the comments, I know what you’re going to say: Here I go again, positing a problem without offering a solution. Well that’s the way I roll. What do you think we should do about this ever escalating issue? Gadget Hip Holster [Think Geek, via Tech-e-blog] → Read More
The Roll Shades aren’t just convenient, they’re badass. Collapsable sunglasses have been around since the ’80s, which is when these were apparently designed. Unlike most collapsable sunglasses, these Durkl Roll Shades don’t require a fancy faux-leather bag to be retained. Instead they become a wristband when not on your noggin. Uh, ok. Besides being a dork for having sunglasses on your wrist, you get the added bonus of looking like a killer cyborg from The Future. I don’t care how bright The Future is, though, we’re not wearing these. Roll Shades [Charles and Marie] → Read More
In the latest in my unofficial series on questionable hi-tech apparel, it pains me to bring you news of T-shirts you shouldn’t buy that feature my favorite robots in disguise, the Transformers. These aren’t just T’s emblazoned with the likeness of Bumblebee. No, these shirts feature some Las Vegas-esque light up tackiness, including Prime’s flames. Way to go, guys, reminding us of the one glaring problem with the new film’s incarnation of the great leader. Jerks. Don’t buy these, I’ll kick your ass. Also, I don’t care what the shirt says, that glob is not Megatron. Sorry. Animated flames on moving Optimus Prime T-shirts? Check out these sweet TRANSFORMERS shirts!!! [Ain't It Cool (Nope, They're Not)] → Read More
If you’ve got $12 to blow and want to guarantee I never speak to you again, you might consider investing in a Magic Ringtone MP3 Ringer. Sure, ringtones are nothing new, but this horrid little device takes things a step further by providing ringtones for your landline phone. No, read that again. It typed it correctly. This USB-connected box stores a single MP3 ringtone. It’s then connected to your landline. When a call comes in, it plays “My Humps,” or anything by Keith Urban, or whatever else your poor judgment has allowed you to load up. If you think owning one of these is a good idea, I mean, then you probably have pretty crappy taste in music, too. I’m making an assumption there, but I’ve got a good feeling it’s right on target. → Read More
When I first came across the “car costumes”, I was confused. Then I saw the photograph, and I was aghast. They are, sadly, exactly what they sound like: costumes for your hoopty. The first one of you pukes I see sporting one of these on your ride gets to find out what a blogger’s roadrage can be like. All that taser stuff we write about? We keep the demo units, pal. The thing is, then I’d be a jerk. I know who’s going to be the first to pick these up: 20 year old sorority types named Jennifyr (that’s with a “y”, jerk) who will put them on their white Cabriolet convertibles (no bio-deisel here!), and drive them around on the weekend shouting things like, “Party!” and “Whooooo!” and “OMG do you think Brad will be there?” Sadly, Jennifyr, no. Brad’s hanging out with that high school girl who wanted to party with the college kids and is feeling the effects of her first Bud Lite. But look at it like this: if you’d saved the $19.89 from your trust fund these cost, you could have bought your own drinks. See you at sports bar, babe. Car Costumes [via Nerd Approved] → Read More
One of the staples in any good geek-tastic film is unusual gadgets. How many of us lust after lightsabers? You know you’d love to have a real one, so would I. But not everything that screenwriters, producers and directors come up with for films carry the same cachet. In fact, some fake gadgets are so lame that they become legendary. This list is not complete, far from it. I encourage you, the reader, to add your own favorite lame gadgets in the comments. And feel free to disagree with me. Some of the entries in this story have a way of being both lame and not lame at the same time, but for whatever reason, they make it onto the list. → Read More
Dear Millionaires, When I came across the Million Dollar Laptop, I was astounded by the idea that anyone would pay one million dollars for something like this. As near as we can tell, it’s a fairly standard high-end laptop with a slick-looking docking station. Don’t get me wrong, it looks really, really cool, check the video after the jump for a demonstration. I wouldn’t expect to pay, say, normal laptop prices for this thing. But a million? Really. → Read More
Wal-Mart has landed what at first blush appears to be a solid punch to Apple’s gut, signing a deal with all six major movie studios for movie downloads, a feat the inventor of the marketplace couldn’t achieve. Apple landed the first contracts to sell movies over iTunes, but not all studios got on board. So how did Wal-Mart convince the hold-outs to join in the game? With built-in suckiness. Wal-Mart doesn’t want you to actually download media from its website, you see. Wal-Mart wants to frustrate you into buying physical CDs. No, really, let’s think about it. Why would Wal-Mart’s sevice suck so bad? And yes, it does suck. Simply put, it rolled over. Before they’d let even Wal-Mart begin with digital downloads, the studios wanted full DRM control, sub-DVD quality, and a pretty penny for each download. This is because they see a potential marketplace, but don’t see a viable business model yet. It’s there, but they’re not willing to let it threaten their bread and butter business. Thus the crappy downloads. Let’s look at the store itself. → Read More
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