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Oh, and This post, backs up my assertion that Brian was a Blogger. Not press.

The sad thing is, this isn't out of line for Gizmodo. I'm a regular reader, and they do post some useful gadget information (sometimes sooner, sometimes later than other other places), but they are all about "boobies lol!".

I love me some fart jokes, but I'm not terribly interested in them when I'm reading news (comments are another thing). Humor mixed with news isn't a bad thing, especially considering a blog atmosphere, but it should be reserved. This prank wasn't.

And it's not the first time they've been in hot water. They can't even lay off their own sister site, Kotaku, as they posted a tubgirl image to Kotaku's front page (don't worry, links are tubgirl free) during some build up to a Halo 3 match between the "editors" of the two sites.

To read the comments here and on Digg, you'd be lead to think this man had raped, looted, and plundered. All he did was turn some televisions off and interrupt a few demonstrations.

He.Turned.Off.Televisions. This is now a heinous crime? It's vandalism? It deserves flogging and imprisonment?

Yes he disrupted a couple of demonstrations, how many times had the presenter been through his script? For how many days? What exactly was lost by this disruption? How will the consumer electronics industry survive this loss?

Yes he went beyond the news and created the news. This is a time honored tradition and I'm sure Hunter S. Thompson would approve, particularly in light of what CES truly is. To quote Gizmodo "a disgusting, bloated beast oozing everything that makes this industry horrible. Nay, everything that makes our culture horrible"

I congratulate the inventors of the TV Be-Gone device for coming up with a wonderful gizmo and then Gizmodo for using it to demonstrate how pathetic our society has become.

Gizmodo's assessment of the CES show is particularly interesting: http://gizmodo.com/342495/ten-reasons-were-doomed-ces-edition

Alternately, you FAIL at the internets as the substance to which I am referring is detailed here http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/wireless-power-pad/plastic-sheet-delivers-40-watts-of-power-to-nearby-gadgets-256701.php
Your Wiki article has no such example of the technology in action.

To be fair, I didn't figure this out myself, someone else did: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/rock-band/ps3-rock-band-drums-work-with-garageband-330641.php

GM needs to come out with some crazy stuff like this soon because they're failing in their core products.

Actually, it proibably WAS the smart thing to do, since it likely earned them TWO payoffs, one from HD-DVD last year and probably one from Blu-ray this time around (similar to the one Warner just got)

Apparently that link has been ./ Here's a link to the same story CLICK HERE

I smirked at first when I saw then office pod-- I mean, who really needs such a form fitting cube? (well, form fitting for some of us). But then I saw the built in 'teleconferencing' projector: http://gizmodo.com/photogallery/eclipseofficepod/1000101428.

Just re-route the video-out to come from your workstation, and bam! you've got the ultimate Counter Strike gaming pod! I tell ya, these pod people are marketing in the wrong direction.

XBox 360 does indeed playback DivX. For over a month now. Good quality, and passable ease of use.

Please define "cheap cables". Because I see lots of people who believe that the price of a cable only matters in special circumstances (in-wall installation or runs longer than 20 meters), and maybe not even then.

Been done. Here's an article about a "black" projection screen for daylight use:

      http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB108742977261939595-IRjg4Nllal3nZyva3qHbqyCm4.html

And a picture:

      http://gizmodo.com/archives/better-picture-of-sonys-black-backed-projection-screen-016964.php

More googling revealed these are now sold under the ChromaView brand. Check out the price on that puppy:

      http://www.tvcity.tv/productview.aspx?ID=1274

-- Marcio

For those of you still thinking in the present and near-future (2010 is considered near-future in this case), stop it. It's bad for personal welfare and certainly a negative characteristic to have in the tech industry. Myself, on the other hand, prefer to operate 7-10 years ahead of the present and offer the following for your own edification:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/bell-curve/google-sees-the-world-in-an-ipod-by-2020-333439.php

Certainly with the ability to save all the world's content, archiving all of your orgs data to your iPod won't be a problem.

Yes, this was discussed in an earlier Slashdot story, " RIAA Argues That MP3s From CDs Are Unauthorized", and in a bunch of other places:

* Boing Boing p2pnet reddit Heise Online (German) Truemors BlogRunner/Digital Rights Hugh Casey IDG (Polish) Geek News Central CE Pro Gizmodo TechDirt Read/Write Web Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection TDPRI WhatReallyHappened.com Slyck Root.cz (Czech) Craigslist Forums Hard OCP Wired.com Uneasy Silence Overclock.net Wake World SpaceBattles.com Hydrogen Audio BrickFilms.com Hockey Zombie iLounge Zune Scene AllmanBrothersBand.com Golem (German) PC Magazin (German) Tweakers (Dutch) Mackauf (German) Wake Space Kino-eye.com Digital Copyright Canada Northwest Progressive Institute Louisville Music News Frant

Are you referring to this Star Trek apartment?

does my dog run linux?

yes:
http://uk.gizmodo.com/2007/07/09/bj_linuxbased_robomutt_is_smar.html

We don't need censorship. There are better solutions to make things more comfortable for fellow passengers. Stuff like privacy filters and some headphones should allow you to watch or browse whatever you want on your laptop without bothering fellow passengers.

To test how lemming-like guide-makers were in picking all the same stuff, I chose 10 popular tech toys--iPhone, iMac, MacBook, any iPod, TomTom GPS, any game console (Wii, Xbox 360 or PS3), Vizio HDTV, Slingbox, any Blu-ray or HD DVD player, and any Canon PowerShot or Sony Cyber-shot camera--and checked which of the major guides were serving them up. Here's how the mainstream gift lists panned out...

Music lovers listen to music, audiophiles listen to stereos. Whatever you 'audiophiles' say, a lot of it is pure nonsense. I cannot tell about the tube/transistor discussion (I think it is *very* hard to find the difference if you do not know), but there is a lot to be found (this, and this (sorry Dutch, couldn't find an English article). And then, you decide to buy a 20,000 euro set and put it in a room with the acoustics of a cardboard box. Good luck trying to find the 'perfect sound', I'll just play my lossy mp3s over EUR2,95 cables and a second hand stereo. And guess what, I think I enjoyed it even more.

PS
I am not tone deaf.

Seeing as Datamancer's site is slashdotted, you can catch the laptop on Gizmodo . Better still, here's their interview with Richard Nagy, its very talented creator. Cheers, Fzz

Seeing as Datamancer's site is slashdotted, you can catch the laptop on Gizmodo . Better still, here's their interview with Richard Nagy, its very talented creator. Cheers, Fzz

Hey 2006! It's great to meet you. I'm so happy you didn't notice the price drops this year. Yes, they sold the console for $600 one year ago. But I think you'd have to be a moron or live in Europe to pay that much at this point. And based on the fact that you cite dollars and not euros/pounds/yen/canadian, I doubt the latter applies to you.

You didn't hear the news then.

HD DVD Paid $150 million to Studios for "Promotional Consideration"

This payoff for Paramount exclusive support of HD-DVD (instead of Paramount's previous support of both HD formats) directly affected the release of Micheal Bay's big movie: Transformers.

Not a PR guy? No, of course not.

Wal-Mart Joins Amazon to Push Labels to Ditch DRM Once and For All: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/drm-deathwatch/amazon-and-wal+mart-push-labels-to-ditch-drm-once-and-for-all-329105.php

You can't write this shit.

Actually, Microsoft would rather you pirate Windows than leave the fold.

I think this article from when the first Zune was first released really sums it up.

Its important to remember that there have been over 110 million iPods sold as of September 2007. Yes the new Zune could make a dent but it doesn't have a big enough percentage of the market share to rip all the 3rd party developers away from Apple.

When automakers start giving the option to have a Zune specific music dock in their new factory cars, then I'll say that the Zune has had a profound effect.

Right now, most of the 3G chipsets are still relatively bulky and draw fairly high-power

Sorry, but that's uninformed drivel.

3G and 3.5G handsets come in slivers that are a few millimeters thick and have excellent battery life:

http://www.mobilegazette.com/nokia-6500-classic-07x05x31.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?Sony-Ericsson-W-880i-Black---Experience-the-Walkman-Phone&id=534534

Some of them even throw in WiFi. Those phones aren't even particularly expensive (about $15 for the Nokia with activation).

The US phone market is several years behind Europe technologically. In part, that's because it's so fragmented and because the US chose frequencies different from the standard ones used mostly everywhere else.

Oh, and you can get a 3.5G iPhone-like phone: the Samsung F700; it looks superb, and squeezes a full keyboard into something with roughly the same form factor and look as the iPhone:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/apple-iphone-vs-samsung-f700-which-is-touchscreenier-235112.php

Why when you buy a 100GB hard drive does it only have about 96GB available on it?

Great example. You were listing examples of fraud correct?

Because Western Digital just settled a lawsuit over this.

Finally! I was worried that Google maps with GPS would be exclusive to Helio, and I was beginning to begrudge Google for the apparent exclusivity.

According to this video, the ASUS Eee PC is pronounced "ah-seuss ee pee cee"

You've got a great point. Toshiba wouldn't ever push restrictive DRM on consumers, own an RIAA member company, or pay a major studio to adopt their technology after it couldn't gain adoption on its own merits. They've actually got a squeaky-clean corporate reputation. Hugely ethical...

True but anecdotally, I know of no one with a Zune player and I know a few more than 10 people (yes, some have creative players and even iRiver) - I am not in the US though.
NPD statistics are mainly US only and does not include some major retailers within the US (Costco and WalMart are two that I know of and I am unsure if NPD has access to Apple store sales figures which would skew their statistics on this particular comparison - this says it does, but he is contradicted on that page and hasn't confirmed either way and I would be loathe to use that site as proof they do, just from the "perceived bias" angle without corroboration) not casting aspertions at NPD, I'm sure they would love to have access to the other retailers statistics as well but it doen't and I don't kow of a source that might be better (just because there might not be better statistics available does not make NPD statistics accurate).

Also, given enough anecdotal evidence (just thought it sounded like an interesting idea, tongue-in-cheek) to the contrary.. IMO it is worth being as cautious with anecdotal AND "statistical" evidence - especially when large amounts of marketing dollars are being thrown around at "spin doctors" (AKA professional distorters IMO) and brand religions are involved.

Just to let you know, I have neither - I use my mobile to play my music with, a bit bulkier but it saves me money and it means one less item to lose (I lose things a lot).

The DS already has VoIP.

Can you transfer documents straight to the device? In our testing, we only got MP3s to show up when we transferred them via USB. PDFs, RTFs, and JPEGs did not appear when we copied them to the Documents folder on the Kindle. But according to the online manual, you should be able to transfer any Kindle-compatiable file via USB.

Unfortunately, with HDMI cables they actually have a point. But that is more because HDMI is so lousy and requires it; cheap cables won't do on longer runs.

The sad thing is the professionals have HD-SDI which does long runs on cheap 75 ohm coax.

It seems the answer to the headline is "no."

In related news... the Pear cable calls James Randi's million dollar challenge a hoax.

Uh you're forgetting the fact that is is high resolution and lasts 30 hours on a 2 hour charge. A good eBook reader should have twice the resolution of the iPhone (which is already much higher than your average PDA/Laptop). Here's a link to one with 1200 x 1600 http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/e_ink/seiko-high+res-super+thin-ebook-reader-323502.php.

So you are correct that amazon's offering is less than ideal but don't discount the idea of a good ebook reader... prices will fall when people start buying them and the tech will improve at the same price point.

I'd like to see Apple's version of an eBook reader... some say a tablet form factor is in the pipeline... maybe it has high res display and can be a good reader (but will probably cost more than $399!)

Ugh, or RAM just keeps on getting cheaper for the same reason hard drives keep getting bigger and processors keep on getting faster: competition between hardware vendors. Vista has nothing to do with it - don't be ridiculous. You can't say Vista sucks and it has no market share at the same time as you credit it for driving down memory prices.

Additionally, do we have to go through this with every release? Every update to Windows has required more resources. I remember balking because you couldn't run XP without 256 MB of RAM (128MB is the minimum, but it's a joke). Now Vista requires 512 MB (ok, we know that's really a 1GB, but whatever). Looking back, a 2-4 times increase in memory requirements is pretty standard. Brush up on your history. Does everyone have long term memory issues? Maybe you spent too much on "cheap vista RAM" and should have bought a bigger hard drive for long term memory support. I don't blindly love Microsoft, I'm just sick of the mindless bashing on /.

What's to prevent someone from kidnapping you, putting a gun to your head, and demanding your World of Warcraft password?

It's happened before!

Indeed, reverse-engineering Warden and injecting complex code to alter its behavior is so much easier than getting access to your machine in the first place and installing one of a gazillion keyloggers written by script-kiddies.

I think both the Samsung and Super Talent SDDs are over-priced. For those that are in the market today for a solid-state-drive (mainly laptop owners), they will likely care the most about 2 things - power consumption, and weight, and any SDD will outperform a magnetic disk in those categories. I would recommend 32 GB 2.5" SATA SDD from Transcend at 1/3 of the cost of the 64 GB Samsung model. Aside from that, and especially if gigabytes are not the highest priority, there are also excellent, and much cheaper solutions for those who are willing to take the time to play around, such as this CF / IDE adapter from Addonics. Last, but not least, if it isn't already obvious, solid state disks only have a limited lifespan, and it's usually much shorter than the lifespan quoted by the manufacturer, unless they came up with a new, super-advanced wear-leveling algorithm. Never estimate the value of making periodic backups to a more reliable permanent storage facility!

I DARE you to take steel wool to a BD-ROM and play it flawlessly in a Blu-Ray player. Throw it across the room a few times like a frisbee, run it along your carpet, data-side down. Scratchless? No, clearly not. Scratch resistant? Yes, yes indeed. It needs it, because Blu-Ray's data surface is so close to the outer coating.

I've got a Blu-Ray player (PS3) and I bought it figuring that I get a HD video player plus I can play games. In the end if HD-DVD becomes more popular, then I'll just pick up a player for $100 and be done with it.

But really, here's where it all ends up:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/ricoh-announces-blurayhd-dvd-combo-player-186735.php

A player that will play both formats and make this entire "war" irrelevant. They'll start off pricier, but in a year or two they'll be down to $100 like the single format players, and the game will be over. The result will be that the manufacturers of those players will pay a royalty to both Toshiba and Sony, and then some combination of royalty rates and features will determine what studios release on what formats.

Agreed. Some sales reports of the recent Wal-Mart price cut of the Toshiba HD-A2 suggest sales in excess of 90,000 HD-DVD players in the last couple of weeks... http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6498141.html Whereas Blu-Ray players are gathering dust.

I'm personally staying out of this mess until there's a single, industry-wide standard. And it doesn't look like Blu-Ray is going to be it. Take a look at this Gizmodo article http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/exclusive/the-state-of-blu+ray-320077.php describing the THREE Blu-Ray ""Profiles". Holy crap. As if there wasn't enough confusion in the typical consumer's mind.