Working on a sex farm
Hosing down your barn door
Bothering you livestock
Payin’ your pigs to watch em’ hump
Apparently, there is also a “sex zoo” somewhere with humping elephants. All it takes is a few coins and they go at it like crazy. [Rakuten via Rinkya via Tokyomango]
This supposed Mac Mini 2009 spy shot from Macrumors Forum shows the bum-side of the new small-Mac design. What’s new? Besides the aluminum finish, there’s FIVE USB PORTS.
There’s also an Ethernet port, Firewire, Mini DisplayPort and the old style mini DVI Mac display port? Two display ports? That seems odd. In any case, if this is real, it looks quite nice—and you can probably bet it’ll run with at least the new Nvidia 9400 graphics chipset found in the newer MacBook and MacBook Pros. [Macrumors Forum via Apple Insider via 9 to 5 Mac]
Update: Adjusted credit. The image actually wasn’t from Apple Insider, it was from Macrumors’ Forums. Apple Insider just watermarked it for some reason.
For most, cellphone trade shows mean carefree gadget porn. For some, they’re an assault on beleaguered gadget egos. Last time we helped straggling WinMo users. Now, dear last-gen BlackBerry users, we’re reaching out to you.
Users of the Pearl, Curve and 88xx phones, despite being highly capable devices, are getting it from all angles; on one front, RIM left these handsets behind for OS 4.6, and the touchscreen Storm looks like it’s from a different planet. Other phone makers are moving into exciting new territory, releasing totally new hardware and software at steady clip. In short, it can be rough to own a last-gen ‘Berry, not to mention one of the older 7000 series handsets. But the theory here is the same as before—just because your handset is technically last-gen device doesn’t mean it has to feel like one.
Ditch the BlackBerry Browser for Good
RIM’s newest browser, bundled with 4.6x and 4.7x handsets, is good. It renders like a modern mobile phone should. NOT SO for the 4.5 and earlier browsers. They might be fine in the exciting world of WAP, but that’s yesterday’s mobile web.
Opera Mini: This feisty little browser has been backing up RIM’s stock software for years, and with good reason. It’ll run on almost any BlackBerry, with (old version) support spanning back to the ancient, black-and-white 5810, which was released in 2002. Opera uses server-side optimization to speed things up, but the end result is an experience that at least resembles browsing as we know it today.
Bolt Browser: Bolt, which I made note of a while ago for “not looking horrible“, is now available to the public, and it’s quite good. It uses server-side compression just like Opera Mini, but generally achieves more faithful results in a shorter time. Most of its magic lies in its rendering engine, the same soon-to-be-ubiquitous WebKit found in Mobile Safari, Mobile Chrome and the Pre’s new browser.
Dress Your Interface Up Like a New BlackBerry, Or Pretty Much Anything Else
Pre-4.6 BlackBerry OSes share the same awkward aesthetic. It’s at once dry and businesslike, pastel and cartoonish. A relic for sure, but one that takes customization quite well. Plenty of themes are floating around on the internet, but loads of them cost money and nearly all reside in horrible, spammy website. Oh, and 95% of them are terrible. But that means that a few aren’t—here they are:
Go to Themes4BB. Seriously. Registration is required to access the forums, but once you’re done you have access to a huge number of free, occasionally decent BlackBerry themes for almost any model. The obvious iPhone, Mac OS and Windows skins litter the message boards, but the best will give your interface a near-full conversion. If feeling left behind is your problem, there are high-contrast 4.6-inspired skins for most models.
Fill Out Your App List:
While you’ve got a prime messaging device in your pocket, there are areas where the standard BlackBerry apps are lacking. We’ve covered browsers, but there are other apps that can have an equally transformative effect on your handset.
Google Apps: Aside from plethora of mobile web apps offered by Google, there are a few native ones as well. Google Mobile provides access to Gmail (possibly a bit redundant), GPS-compatible Maps (a must-have) and Google Sync, which will keep your contacts and calendars neatly paired with Google Apps.
VoIP: BlackBerrys have been sadly neglected by Skype, but that doesn’t mean VoIP is out of the question. iSkoot is a surprisingly functional 3rd-party app which uses Skype’s network and is able to make and receive relatively clear Skype voice calls, even over 2G networks. Truphone is a simple app that’ll route international calls at local call rates. Gizmo5 is one of the better of the sea of second-tier Skypes out there, and their VoIP app, which offers not just free calls to other Gizmo5 users, but instant messaging on a range of popular networks, is worth a download.
WebMessenger Multi-Protocol IM: Some BlackBerrys are blessed with a bundled AIM app; most aren’t. WebMessenger does a handy job of combining most popular messaging protocols into an easy interface. And honestly, what is your BlackBerry good for if not furiously typing short messages to all your friends through as many channels as possible?
TwitterBerry: Further facilitating the aforementioned HAVE QWERTY, MUST COMMUNICATE ethos is TwitterBerry, the preeminent Twitter app for any BlackBerry. The iPhone may have seized the attention of the Twitterati, but any BlackBerry, new or old, is better suited to the service that the Apple’s buttonless handset. TwitterBerry has the potential to bring upon the world heretofore unseen levels of oversharing, courtesy of you, last-gen BlackBerry users.
Viigo RSS Reader: Viigo is a fantastic RSS reader, able to consolidate any number of feeds—website content, Google Alerts, social networking sites—into a friendly, simple interface.
Dealzmodo Hacks are intended to help you sustain your crippling gadget addiction through tighter times. If you come across any on your own that are particularly useful, send it to our tips line (Subject: Dealzmodo Hack). Check back every other Thursday for free DIY tricks to breathe new life into hardware that you already own.
Michael Jackson needs money, so he’s selling all sorts of completely insane stuff from Neverland Ranch. I’m guessing we can come up with some even more insane things.
For this week’s Photoshop Contest, I want you to create some items that Michael Jackson would sell to help pay the bills. Gadgety is good, funny is better. Molestation jokes are too easy, so if you must, they’d better be really, really good or I won’t include them. Think outside the box here people.
Send your solutions to me at contests@gizmodo.com with “Michael Jackson Auction” in the subject line. Save your files as a JPG, PNG or GIF, and use a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention, using whatever name you want to be credited as. Send in your entries by next Tuesday morning, and I’ll through them and pick the winners and put the best of the rest in our Gallery of Champions. Get to it!
Now that that’s in your head for the next 60-90 minutes, you can consider plonking down $3 to stream PUSA’s complete catalog to your iPhone/iTouch. Is this the future of iTunes music distribution?
Since it’s only a streamer, the app basically serves as a $3 rental of the band’s entire catalog, including the rare 500-cassette-only demo FroggyStyle which you’ve been scouring for on eBay. If you want to listen to the music outside of the app, there’s a handy link to the iTunes store to purchase everything you’ll stream.
Eliot “All In” Van Buskirk over at Wired talked to PUSA’s lead singer Dave Dederer, whose post-PUSA ventures in online music streaming as the vice president of nuTsie led to the app’s creation. It’s definitely a cool way to give fans the chance to try before they buy, without actually giving away the whole album for free. That is, until Audio Hijack comes to the iPhone and the currently safe-from-P2P streaming previews get ripped—then it’s all over. But for now it’s a cool way for indie bands (who have the rights to their own music like PUSA does, which isn’t always the case) to make their music available in an interesting way, and to collect a little dough in the process. [The Presidents' Music - PUSA - iTunes via Wired and PC World]
When I cook, I generally just estimate my butter measurements. One tablespoon equals half a stick, two tablespoons becomes a whole stick. What can I say, I like to keep things simple.
The KitchenArt Buttermate adds overrated precision measurements to the butter+me-life=happy equation. Using an admittedly interesting slider system, you can select teaspoons, tablespoons or even pats, slicing the required allotment with an integrated stainless steel blade.
If you feel the need to better apportion your butter, the Buttermate is available for $6.50. [Amazon and The Home Marketplace via bookofjoe]
Blu-ray movies and free tacos sounds like a pretty great way to spend a Thursday night for us, but today we also have some deals on the MacBook Air, flash storage and gasoline!
Home Entertainment
• Westinghouse 47″ 1080p HDTV for $899 plus free shipping (normally $1,499).
• Sharp Aquos 46″ 1080p LCD HDTV for $1,429 (normally $1,799).
• Pioneer 5.1 Surround Sound Home Theater System for $168 (normally $299).
Gaming
• 80 GB Playstation 3 for $319.99 plus free shipping (normally $399. Use coupon code PLDWH47D$6BT2J. Valid through 2/25.)
Movies
• Blu-ray Action 3-pk with Casino Royale, Black Hawk Down & Hellboy for $33.95 plus free shipping (normally $97.86).
• Blu-ray Comedy Bundle with Superbad, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby for $40.95 plus free shipping (normally $117.87).
• Firefly – The Complete Series on DVD for $21.99 plus free shipping (normally $49.99).
Computing
• Apple 13.3″ 1.6GHZ MacBook Air for $1,149 (normally $1,249.99. Use rebate form).
• Apple 13.3″ 1.8GHZ MacBook Air for $1,399 (normally $1,649.99. Use rebate form).
• HP 22″ Widescreen LCD Monitor for $179.99 plus free shipping (normally $338).
• Lenovo 3000 N500 15.4″ Laptop for $399 (normally $499).
Storage Devices
• Kingston 2GB SD Flash Card for $4.55 plus free shipping (normally $19.99).
• Kingston 32GB DataTraveler Flash Drive for $59.97 plus free shipping (normally $99).
Miscellaneous
• $300 Gas Coupon with any product $99.99 and up (normally $300 – deal is limited to the first 2,000 customers).
Hobomodo
• Dunkin Donuts Dark Roast Ground Coffee for $0
• 2 Jack In The Box Tacos for $0 (Valid only on 2/24.)
• Subscription to Soap Opera Digest for $0
• Neru Patch for Foot and Leg Discomfort for $0
Save $300 on a Sony® BRAVIA® HDTV. Turn your 1040 into 1080p from Sony.
Cameraphone pictures suck, generally speaking. It’s because the lenses are tiny and garbage. But this Jabil cameraphone module with a physical shutter could change things.
The module measures 10 x 10 x 8mm and has a moving blade-style shutter that prevents light from entering the lens until you’ve press the shot button. It also has an autofocus feature.
Of course, problems may very well arise when you try to stick moving parts like that onto a phone that’s going to be sharing pocket space with your keychain, but it’s good news that they’ve shrunk a physical shutter module down to a size that would be reasonable on a smartphone. It’s advancements like this that are going to kill the point-and-shoot market. [Reg Hardware]
I still have serious doubts about 3D PC gaming actually taking off, but Maingear’s Nvidia-powered Prelude 2 3D gaming rig neatly bundles everything you need into a $2000 package.
For two grand, I’d like the specs on the PC itself to be a little beefier—a step above the default GeForce 9800 GT, at least 320GB hard drive and 64-bit Windows—but you’re paying for convenience of a pre-built 3D gaming setup. It’s based on Nvidia’s GeForce 3D Vision (which uses rapid-blinking LCD shutter tech) and comes with a 22-inch Samsung LCD monitor, and the Core i7-powered guts are in a decent, though not amazing, Lian-Li case.
Is it worth it? Well, 3D Left 4 Dead is pee-in-your-pants awesome, but you could always build your PC and just buy the $199 GeForce 3D Vision gear. [Maingear]
Guitar Hero has been available on other cellphones for a while now, but far be it from Activision to pass up an opportunity to cash in on a big platform like Android.
The game will be a port of Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile with touchscreen gameplay and 15 tracks (mostly classic rock). An exact date of the release has not been announced, but it is expected to hit the Android Market soon. [The Guardian via Kotaku]
