Archive for February 22nd, 2009

The Xact XG2500 Headset Cordless Telephone is still atrociously ugly, but that won’t stop it from inevitably appearing in JCPenny’s Christmas catalog in my parents’ mailbox later this year. And now it’s on sale!

Seriously, I think I saw this thing in the Penny’s catalog back when I was growing up in the 90′s, and I know I saw it in Quantum Leap somewhere. And it’s heavy too with the .1-lb. weight drooping more than a few ears to the floor with its massive, eye sore bulk.

At least it’s only $20 now with free shipping. Get it for someone you hate today! [Gear Diary]

Some free advice if you’re ever walking down a dark street in Germany anytime soon: Be sure your cell phone is completely charged.

Why? Because the country is turning out all the lights to save energy, and they’ll only turn on if you point a cellphone at them and command them to do so.

So far, the program has been met with modest success. In the small town with a big name Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz, the citizens were given the ability to turn on street light with their cell. So far, they’ve managed to save $5,300. Not too bad for a town of only 900.

In Döblitz, resident Heinrich Frühauf tripped and fell in the darkness, and before you knew it, that town was turning lights on with their cellphones too. A timer shuts off the lights after 15 minutes.

The systems are so popular in Germany that a company called Dial4Light (so clever!) now charges the cost of a phone call to have the lights come on in the town of Dörentrup. In Rahden, 60 minutes of light costs about $4.65.

The problem with this system, of course, is that people have tendency to cut corners (i.e. not pay for as much light as safety would require). Light or bread? Light or heat? This could lead to a more than a few open manhole accidents, especially in this tough economy. Maybe this isn’t such a bright idea after all. Yes, you can groan about that pun now. [Dial4Light via Treehugger]

I’m actually kind of surprised no one had asked Nintendo this question yet, but today we learned exactly what the letter ‘i” in DSi stands for. Here’s a hint: It’s not “interactive.”

Said a Nintendo rep:

The “i” is symbolic of the subject “I” and its personal aspect.

Plus, the addition of two cameras gives the system its own “eye” on things. (*groan* - J.L.)

“Nintendo hope that the Nintendo DSi becomes more than a game system and more of a personal tool to enrich our daily lives,” the Nintendo rep added.

Hey, kind of like an iPod touch! Except without the accelerometer, slick commercials or VIP preferred seating at Starbucks.

Consider me slightly underwhelmed, but we’ll see. The download store and SD card slot—which may actually introduce a motion control component, if they can translate what Oberthur have done with SIMSense into an SD card—have promise. [TechRadar via Kotaku]

Even as the cable companies seemingly embrace online cable programming, there seem to be as many unanswered questions today regarding this new path as there are answers.

One of the first being, if cable companies are seriously considering a headfirst dive into the world currently being cultivated and pruned by the likes of Hulu, Netflix Watch Instantly streaming, and Amazon on demand, what of their dubious arguments about the Internet not having enough bandwidth and throttling user’s usage? Complete bollocks, as we all thought from the beginning?

Another is new rates and fees. Or those infamous “bundles” that land in our mailboxes every month. What will they be? Will there be any? As the New York Times pointed out this weekend, the CATV companies have no real precedent to work with. Many consumers merely use the cable as a delivery method, preferring to get their content free, with ads, from services like Hulu. How much would you pay your cable company to see your favorite programming, anywhere or whenever you want? Would you even want to? Or, should streaming be included in your subscription price, like it’s been done with Netflix users who watch videos on their PCs or Xbox 360s? Again, many questions.

A final question, raised by a commenter at the NYT, asks why some people have to pay three separate, marked up fees for TV, internet and phone, when what they’re actually paying for is one thing: data traveling through the network. Will the new cable model, whatever it is, change all this?

What we do know is most, if not all, “cable guys” are talking about online programming. Why, just today we received a press release talking about the Verismo VuNow set top box, and how cable execs recently “foamed at the mouth” at the CableLabs Forum over its uncanny ability to stream cable content to a TV screen without a PC middleman. We also know that while the execs were in agreement on the hardware, everything else going on between the major players like Time Warner, Comcast and other programming companies regarding this issue is “tense,” according to a report in the WSJ. A resounding “no shit” seems appropriate here.

Personally, I have 200+ cable channels, watch 12 of them, and catch a large portion of my shows after the broadcast date on DVR or online. And I’ll soon be canceling a large part of my programming because I, like many people these days, cannot afford to just piss money away like that on dormant channels like we all did in the free-wheeling days of yesteryear.

Whether this kind of behavior starts to take hold with the average Joe Cable Watcher remains to be seen. So far the data says it hasn’t, but give it time. That Hulu Super Bowl ad was clever, and some TVs have firmware upgrades these days. It’s all but inevitable. [New York Times]

This upcoming bookshelf or nightstand CD player from Kenwood looks simple enough, but inside the company is promising surround sound quality output from just two speakers.

The setup sort of reminds me of the overpriced Bose 3-2-1 system, which mimics surround sound using just two speakers and a sub, but unfortunately there’s little else to go on. The press release is sparse, as hyped-up marketing materials are wont to be, and not even a release date or pricing escapes its hazy grip. Maybe April. In Japan. Maybe.

What we do know is that this little box will make use of DTS Surround Sensation tech. Nothing more. [Press Release via CrunchGear]

Place you kid in this iPod Bouncer stroller hybrid-thing from Combi and you’re going to need the Light of Earendil’s star to get it back.

Because it looks like a giant spider, get it?

Anyway, for $80, the Combi iPod Bouncer will literally rock and roll your infant with its bouncy legs and rear-mounted electronic sound and vibration controls. Just plug in your iPod and watch the fruit of your loins vibrate and throw up to “Through the Fire and the Flames” by Dragonforce or some other beat-intensive track of your choosing.

Counseling during your kid’s teenage years, when they start having night terrors about the giant singing spiders that shake them with death metal beats is, obviously, going to cost a bit extra. [Think Geek via Red Ferret]

Casio’s taken the wraps off the latest wristwatch in its adventurous Protrek line, the PRX-2000T, and the thin little thing is basically a streamlined weather station for your wrist.

The PRX-2000T weighs in at a scant 105 grams, and is a mere 11.3mm thick. Crammed in that tiny space is a triple sensor that measures temperature, altitude, compass direction and pressure. The watch also receives signals from each of the six time calibration signals used around the world.

It will be available in Japan starting April 1 for about $1,000. Stateside trekking with this titanium/carbide coating watch could come a bit later [CrunchGear]

What’s the best way to create an HR firestorm in three easy steps? If you’re Microsoft, layoff 1,400 employees, give them severance on the way out, and then ask for part of it back.

Better yet, let’s add a step four: Make sure you do all of this during one of the worst recessions in U.S. history. Stir.

Sounds almost too terrible to be true, and yet there’s photographic evidence that exists proving Microsoft overpaid a bunch of its former employees and now wants its money back. Oh, and some employees were apparently underpaid as well. What do you think you would do in this situation? [TechCrunch]

Ready to bow down to the otters as they slowly but inexorably take over our planet with their new grasp on human technology? No? What, you thought maybe it was going to be the dolphins?

HA! Dolphins. Because they have sex for fun? Please. The otters are already making iMovie videos of said “relations” and sending them to TMZ to get some of that sweet famous-for-nothing street cred.

They’re also filming us:

“I was like, did I actually see an otter with a video camera or was I hallucinating?” said Wildlife photographer Enrique Aguirre.

The screen on Aguirre’s digital camera soon confirmed what he’d seen: an otter floating on its back, video camera grasped in its paws, lens aimed at the boat of excited photographers. The humans had a bad angle, but Aguirre managed to snap a single clear shot before the otter dived, video camera in tow.

“He’s the only one who got the photo,” said the boat’s captain, Yohn Gideon.

And just a quick warning about the Santa Cruz Sentinel source link below: It contains one of the most awful play on words headlines I’ve ever read. [Santa Cruz Sentinel via Neatorama]

As Gizmodo reader Christian was walking his dog the other day in Vienna, he stumbled upon what could be considered the original inspiration for Mac OS X‘s “spinning beach ball of death.”

The included pic, supplied by Christian, says it all. We’ve been calling the spinning rainbow cursor the wrong name all these years. Instead of spinning beach ball or “this is what happens to me whenever there’s something NSFW on my screen when the boss walks by” or whatever it is you call it, we should be saying something else.

That something? “Semmel des Todes” (bun of death).

And here’s some bonus trivia for those readers who enjoy dissecting OS cursors all the way back to their humble beginnings. In this case, the “spinning wait cursor” started annoying users way back when Steve Jobs worked with NEXTSTEP, which would eventually become the OS X we all know and love, somewhat, today. [Thanks, Christian!]