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And the flipside happens too - scientific instruments are used for cooking. In this case, it's for cooking delicate foods using a thermal immersion circulator to cook sous-vide.

http://gizmodo.com/5346014/what-is-this

It's used because it's the best way to do precision temperature control.

The thing that got me excited about the Google phone were the initial rumors that the phone would would be data-plan only and would use Google Voice. I don't need a smartphone enough to want to pay for the data plan on top of the voice plan, but I would have no problem doing just the data plan. Of course, the latest rumors from this article mention the need to buy a SIM card, which makes me think it's going to be voice plan + data plan like every other smartphone I know of in this country. My excitement level has decreased significantly as the rumors have changed from a completely new way to do data plans to the Droid with Google branding but without the price partially subsidized.

Here in the UK, you can currently pick up a T-mobile Pulse Android phone, and add an 8Gb micro SD card, for less than the price of the 8Gb Touch.

Here in the US, how much would shipping and customs cost?

Pre-paid 3G net access is only 20 GBP for 6 months on T-mobile

Would such a plan allow free roaming on T-Mobile's US network?

the PAYG iPhone

Doesn't exist.

Gizmodo reports rumors that it's going to be an unlocked GSM phone sold directly bypassing the carriers. If true, it could be awesome for international travel.

http://gizmodo.com/5425146/the-real-google-phone-everything-is-different-now

Looks and sounds real to me.

I think Gizmodo said it right in this article http://gizmodo.com/5424261/the-crunchpadjoojoo-lawsuit-has-been-filed-preorders-are-officially-a-gamble "if Arrington's lawsuit has even a hint of truth to it regarding the lack of lack of Fusion Garage's sound capital resource—is no longer an option for the sane or even marginally patient. I mean, just wait til it ships and gets reviewed before giving these guys any money, ok?" One, I wouldn't put 500 bucks down on a device that is a web browser, and looks like e-ink. I want something very fresh. I've never owned an apple product, but if the rumored tablet is real, and is off the charts, I'll buy it. Otherwise I'm going to wait a year to see what other products come to light.

This is stereo vision, not 3D. Two images taken from a single, locked human-like perspective (meaning they're about an eye-width apart.) This is precisely the same technique the toy View-Master has been using since 1939, only with a stream of frame-pairs instead of a single pair.

Actual 3D allows you to see from multiple perspectives, defined by your angle of view. If you move your head, the scene changes. In a fully implemented display, if you went behind the display, you'd see the rear of the scene. That's 3D.

If you allow the manufacturers to pervert stereo views into "3D", what will you call actual 3D when it becomes available?

The thing I want is quite simple: a Nokia web tablet but with a Bluetooth connection to a very small, very simple phone handset that has dialling buttons and makes calls. I want to be able to use this with the actual phone safely in a bag or inner pocket. A handset the size of the Toshiba G450 would be ideal. If the thing could also be used as an occasional mouse, that would be perfect.

So the Microsoft I'm a PC, and Windows 7 was my idea campaign is doomed to failure?

Why is this a hard idea to you? Japan has had similar ideas for years. The idea even floated around the US a bit previously .

Add google's location tagging, even if they just use the wifi one that is probably about a 1/2 mile radius of the picture location, and they still could be quite reasonably accurate (and quite easily at that).

So actually, the chance for you understanding the article seems to be smaller than the supposed chance of them doing an easy task which you deem insurmountable.

A bit like the Microsoft Courier? Though that's a tablet. I'd like one if they work well though, they look really nifty. :P

According to Gizmodo, this is actually a cost-effective way to reload an HP printer, even if you don't use your own blood.

I read this differently than /. ... I don't think they are arrogant. Nor are they being generous to the IT world. The second one is closer but... I picture it more like this.

"Excellent~~ peons work WORK! All you are doing is further building my Empire. When you ripen we shall pluck you harvest you and enjoy your labour fully. MUAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!"

Seriously, anything beneficial to the tech world is good for google. More computers, more screens, more eyes on them, more integration. All good for Google. And if you think of it that way you can still be negative towards Google for doing something that is probably good for the IT sector generally.

Note: I imagine it would look like this

I wish they would had done it the same way Courier is. After thinking about it, flat pad is kind of clumsy. Book like device seems a lot nicer for surfing and reading in couch/bed. You can go into a much more comfortable position too.

Someone should create such with Chrome OS, actually (with an option to install another linux distro)

I shudder to think how much uglier they could make Enlightenment after their recent work on Android: http://gizmodo.com/5406912/samsung-behold-ii-non+review-oh-god-the-ugly

Thankfully, their lawyers are a little more grown-up than the average Mac fanboy.

I'm really not so sure about that...

It's about pay-per-view.

Yeah, that's what they said about the Broadcast Flag. Most people didn't believe them then, and rightfully so.

let's compare it to iphone tethering. oh wait, they don't even have the option. if you read the latest buzz, the cost will be the same for iphone, when (and if) it is released, and it will also have a 5Gb cap. what are people comparing this to? just a wishy washy feeling that $30 is too much?

tethering adds a second device onto their network. a device that is considerably more bandwidth hungry than a smart phone. did you think that your carrier was going to give you an (almost) free data plan for general usage just be because you are a nice person?

At first I thought these two stories were related.
http://gizmodo.com/5399583/famous-paintings-reproduced-in-coffee
I was about to download the MS tool so I could create my own spectacular tasting, eye-opening, knock-off classic art.

They aren't out yet, but there are some android home phones coming.
NIMble Android desk phone
T-Mobile Android home phone

What means anti-technology? and what is suprising? There are two different things, the technology its self and how and for what you use it. Electricity is great, this doesnt means that I have to put electrodes in my ass...and laser is great but this doesnt means I have to etch my kids foreheads with their names to remember them...

I thing that is very common and normal for close-to-tecnology people to see critically the applications of technology.

And for this case, I dont thing there is really something technologicaly new in essense, the CO2 laser is here for years, it can etch many materials, and I cant see how the stickers in the fruits are a problem. Instead I read this is a patended (!) technology and in my oppinion is more marketing-oriented. In the end, WHY EVERY fruit must has its label if this isn't just marketing ? I say its insane. Also thing that, appart from this is very impressive (or digusting) to see this, that etching is not-removable, and everyone has to see it until he actualy eats or dispose the fruit.(you fork a tomato piece from the salad, and before you eat it -ofcource you look at it- and what you see?? a "SUPER TOMATO COMPANY" etch....common...mercy...the next thing is that when you fart, your ass will sing the company's advertising song of the food you had eaten.

There already is an international standard. The problem is that no one is going to invest a ton of money to scrap their current system (pun?) and switch over to it.

http://gizmodo.com/5391271/giz-explains-why-every-country-has-a-different-fing-plug

Verizon seems very confident int their network, however they are apparently already preparing for a backlash from any network degradation by smartphone users by doubling their cancellation fees on smart devices.

Even with the decrease of $10/month, that's still $110 to cancel your contract in the 23rd month of a two-year contract.

Because the maps have a giant "3G" label, and they're both quite accurate and easy to compare...

http://gizmodo.com/5024163/att-3g-coverage-maps-updated-now-with-more-3g

You'll have to pull up a 3G map for a city then zoom out to the national level on their own site.. (http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/#?type=voice&3g=t).

AT&T really doesn't have anything on Verizon's 3g network.

Man, he was robbed...
http://gizmodo.com/5393626/ataris-lunar-lander-made-real

You mean this one

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/apple-ibook-g4-12/4505-3121_7-31466301.html

That's was $999.

Or the MacBook Air

http://gizmodo.com/348753/macbook-air-review

. It has Wireless N/B/G, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, and is available in two basic configurations: $1799 for a 1.6GHz chip, plus 2GB of RAM and a 80GBs 4200 RPM Drive. For almost double the price at $3098, you can get a 1.8GHz chip with the same 2GB of RAM and a 64GB solid state drive module that, like all SSD, is shock resistant.

Neither of these are Netbooks. Netbooks are small (9"-10") cheap (<$500) minimalist (cheap but slow Atom processor, tiny SSD, horrid graphics/chipset) notebooks. Apple do small but they don't do cheap. The marketing term for Apple's small notebook is ultraportable - i.e. you pay a premium for a smaller machine. It's actually the opposite concept of a netbook. Now if you're a manufacturer it's better to make "ultra portables" than "netbooks" - you put a bit more powerful hardware in and charge higher margins than than regular notebooks (ultra portables) rather than lower ones (netbooks). Unfortunately in the world of PCs it only takes one manufacturer to break ranks and make a netbook and they will sell millions - like the Asus EEE pc or the Acer Aspire One. At that point everyone else is forced to compete with them. Of course there's only one vendor of Apple hardware and so they can just keep making "ultra portables" and ignore the netbook market.

Of course this is the reason it's better to be a user of an open, multi vendor platform like the PC than a closed, single vendor one like the Mac. But if you're Apple a closed platform is obviously better for you.

Who says it doesn't?

I think I got just the thing. It's called Microsoft Courier..and hopefully it will be available first quarter next year. http://gizmodo.com/5369493/leaked-courier-video-shows-how-well-actually-use-it

The media companies even told Hulu to shut off access to the PS3's web browser because PS3's are hooked to TV's in the living room and not monitors on desks Though my PS3 is hooked up to a small HDTV that has a VGA input in addition to HDMI, on a desk.

http://gizmodo.com/5315896/hulu-speaks-on-ps3-blocking-its-the-content-providers

The IBM updater is great. One-click updating updates every device driver, updates your BIOS, updates firmware...

Yep, and it also updates the adware on your laptop.

(This hit me too - I updated the software on my T60 and up pops some Lenovo ads)

I can replace my racks with a three-ring binder!

It would seem viable until you realize that $99 printer has $4999.99 cartridges and the first one only comes 1% full.

I'm not expecting anything else.

I dont really have a problem reading from LCD screen, I kind of prefer it to normal paper actually. I think the parent meant sitting on a computer and reading from that, which isn't really as comfortable as laying in a bed or sofa. Yeah I do sit on computer pretty much all the day anyway, but it's not nice to concentrate on a book that way. Laptop either doesn't have the same comfort, even if you can take it with you to bed.

Personally I'm waiting for Courier Tablet, which seems just perfect for reading ebooks in bed (with the added ability to do other computer stuff too)

Or Courier. By the look of it, it could be great, and it's not just for ebook reading but more general tablet pc.

Infected copies of Apple's iWork are already floating around.

http://gizmodo.com/5139116/os-x-iwork-trojan-revamped-repackaged-rereleased-in-photoshop

Under the draft rules, subject to reasonable network management, a provider of broadband Internet access service may not:

1) prevent any of its users from sending or receiving the lawful content of the user's choice over the Internet;
2) prevent any of its users from running the lawful applications or using the lawful services of the user's choice;
3) prevent any of its users from connecting to and using on its network the user's choice of lawful devices that do not harm the network;
4) deprive any of its users of the user's entitlement to competition among network providers, application providers, service providers, and content providers.
5) A provider of broadband Internet access service must treat lawful content, applications, and services in a nondiscriminatory manner.
6) A provider of broadband Internet access service must disclose such information concerning network management and other practices as is reasonably required for users and content, application, and service providers to enjoy the protections specified in this rulemaking

Where are they controlling/enforcing what is being transmitted?

Sounds like you need to upgrade the firmware..

People are reporting huge speedups after doing so.

The MS haters are running scared right now. Windows 7 seems to be getting extremely favourable press overall, and the public is highly interested in it. Apparently on Amazon UK, Windows 7 preorders are not the highest for any product they've ever sold, a Harry Potter book holding the previous record. http://gizmodo.com/5386553/windows-7-amazon-preorders-beat-even-harry-potter

Thus it isn't a surprise we are seeing zealots step up the FUD machine and try to spin anything they can as Windows 7 being bad. They are worried that people are going to like it and use it and Microsoft will continue to maintain a position of dominance.

Interesting tidbit: Alinea provided a "legal" reason to allow herbal vaporizers to be imported into the US.

As to the comments that "it's a locked down console platform", the digital camera market (esp. pro- and semi-pro dSLRs) is probably more mission-critical in terms of stability expectations than the console market. Yet the major digicam makers haven't done anything so daft as to lock themselves down to a few SKUs of memory cards.

Batteries, on the other hand...

Not to mention the fact that Acer has taken the #2 spot away from Dell, so is it a surprise to anyone that Dell is singing the praises of Windows 7 and trashing Netbooks?

I bet there are two words that scare the living hell out of somebody like Michael Dell...good enough. If you think XP is good enough, you won't be in a hurry to jump on the upgrade treadmill, if you think your Netbook is good enough there is no reason to buy an expensive laptop, etc. And with the economy in the shitter I'm sure the words good enough cause old Mike to wake up with the cold sweats. I myself have been doing pretty decent business selling 3 to 5 year old off lease office machines. Why would anyone be lining up for 5 year old tech? Because for the jobs the average Joe does (web surfing, video watching, disc burning) any machine over 2.4GHz with more than 512Mb of RAM is good enough, and they save quite a bit by going used.

So Mike better hope that Windows 7 is the second coming of WinXP, because his business is getting seriously hammered. And considering the fact that I've had quite a few customers lately that came to me after seeing Windows 7 wanting to know if I could build them a new WinXP machine...well that ain't a good sign. For them WinXP is more than good enough and by the time that WinXP hits EOL they'll be ready for another machine anyway. And I've had a lot of customers wanting to know about "those cute baby laptops" so good luck Mike, you're gonna need it.

Buzzz.. WRONG!

Chuck : Pretendo is planning on their next home console to only support 640x480 so why will this be any different? It is a fact that Microsoft and Sony give you 1080 while pretendo will always give you piss as in piss on you. Pretendo has never given a fuck about their developers. Of course you shitdot sheeple will continue to lock to Pretendo even if they repackage their crappy NES. Gene tell us what this fucktard will receive?

Gene : A razor, so he not have to search for a razor when he slits his fucking wrists. All of his fucktarded fudgepacking shitdot sheeple butt buddies will receive one as well. Back to you chuck.

Chuck : Only one other thing needs to be said to these fucktards Gene.

Gene : I know what it is.

Chuck and Gene : GO AHEAD! FUCKING FLAME AWAY OR WASTE YOUR GODDAMNED MOD POINTS FUCKTARED SHITDOT SHEEPLE!

Actually, the Nintendo system that is slate for a 2011 release will support 1080p as well as 480p.
http://gizmodo.com/5364077/next-generation-wii-coming-with-hd-graphics-and-new-controller-in-2011

What do you mean?

http://www.justnews.com/news/14708354/detail.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/business/worldbusiness/27iht-drone.4.11474996.html
http://gizmodo.com/5167853/the-draganflyer-x6-uav-police-edition

Except for FAA approval, there isn't much stopping our police state to use them.

From gizmodo:

iTunes LPs: These are effectively like bonus CDs for digital albums. Each one comes with extra songs that you only get if you plunk down nearly $20 on the whole album -- you can't download these individually. Along with that, you get video content -- in most cases, live concert recordings -- as well as photo albums and lyrics, which serve as a sort of modern-day liner notes, I guess? It's a bit like buying one of those loaded-up "Digipack" CDs record companies used to release, except on iTunes.

Oh, the irony.

There's an article claiming that users of time capsules have a lifespan of 17 months and 17 days. Not sure if there is any truth to this, but it does seem that there is more than one bad apple here.

"The average lifespan shown here is calculated from the registered dead Time Capsules. We don't want to suggest that this lifespan figure is indicative for all Time Capsules."

Oh, the irony.

There's an article claiming that users of time capsules have a lifespan of 17 months and 17 days. Not sure if there is any truth to this, but it does seem that there is more than one bad apple here.

What comes to UAC, it's the correct direction

Agreed, given Microsoft's backwards compatibility constraints. However, Microsoft made a terrible error: Microsoft opened a gaping hole in the UAC security model by --- wait for it --- not protecting the UAC-enabled switch with UAC.

According to French newspaper Le Figaro, judicial sources point that the man—who has been working as a particle physics contractor since 2003—has links to Al Qaeda groups in the Islamic Maghreb. Le Figaro said that he had suggested terrorist targets in French soil. There's word if the target list also included the LHC, however.

What did he do? Well, if we are to believe Le Figaro, he made a list of targets and suggested ones on French soil ... possibly even the LHC where he worked.

I like how you accuse the world of jumping on people of 'brown skin' but you do not hesitate at all to instantly question French authorities. Let's not judge either way before all the facts are in and public, okay?

http://gizmodo.com/5293404/zune-hd-packs-nvidia-tegra-better-video-and-better-battery-life

Clock rates aren't everything. Whether Tegra actually makes such a big difference (supposedly 1080p playback is possible on the ZuneHD?) remains to be seen...

  Going by the sample output they published, I'm a little doubtful this was attained with just a "doodle and compile" concept. This from a short bit of time with the binaries. IF anyone can create anything similar, let me know.

Come on, don't plagiarize! At least give credit to Gizmodo for your cut and paste.

http://gizmodo.com/5374890/this-is-a-photoshop-and-it-blew-my-mind