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I did not RTFA http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/new-facts/google-phone- prototypes-software-project-costing-hundreds-of-mi llions-of-dollars-285516.php

Have you ever even looked at an iPhone?

No, because, news flash, $500 for a PHONE? Right.

Why should a window be the arbitrary size of the screen, which has nothing to do with the content in the window?

Because I want to see the window and only the window- no other distractions, plenty of room for the application to show me what it wants to show me. This is especially useful for things which can be expanded to infinitely large size, like certain text and picture-based applications.

You fool! There is nothing else worth talking about in the entire industry!

You might think people are obsessed.

You fool! There is nothing else worth talking about in the entire industry!

You might think people are obsessed.

This wasn't done on OLPC laptops. Not only did digg have the story before you, it was correct.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/booby-trap/kids-use-us+ donated-laptops-to-surf-the-porn-of-course-280715. php

The OLPC manufacturers were just asked about what they'd do. That was there only relation to the story.

Yeah, because Vista is selling so well...

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/16/165420 2
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/software/pc-makers-to-m icrosoft-vista-is-not-a-seller-you-suck-248336.php
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/vista _license_sales_in_context.html
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39 636

I love the "more fun" claim being brought up in any conversation regarding consoles. As near as I can tell, "more fun" really means "more nostalgic" or more concretely "more franchises that I remember liking as a kid" or even more concretely "more franchises that I remember being popular as a kid".

It's hard to not come up when even Sony claims the Wii is more fun.

You bought one of these?

First off, popup ads were never implemented. TiVo tested them on a few people, found they didn't work well and scrapped them. I don't know why people always bring this up since there hasn't been a popup ad on a TiVo in over 2 years. There's far more ads on the cable box Comcast gives me (they're all over the guide), than I ever see on my TiVo.

Second, TiVo is the best known DVR out there and the most successful purchasable one there is. When Comcast starts selling their own HD DVR that's as good as TiVo (which will never happen) I'm sure you'll read it here.

Third, TiVo is one of the easiest DVRs to use which is probably why they won an emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Enhanced Television Programming.

as an independent mac support technician (in toronto), i see this all the time. if you tell an ISP that you're not running MS Outlook on Windows, they will often fail to support you. however -- they have often been helpful enough to give you the POP and SMTP server addresses, port numbers, and other general info. sometimes, one can also glean these addresses out of the step-by-step online tutorials (designed for outlook). users haven't usually abstracted the paramaters from the particular workflow (i.e. step-by-step procedures, which include those same parameters). if you have to plug the same parameters into a different place, then, from the user's PoV, the procedures are not the same. they have to relearn the particulars of an OS version and application version in order to find the places where the identical parameters may be hidden -- and for them, this is a pain.

windows and mac users sometimes have different perceptions of this pain. windows users often think windows is 'easy', because all the real hard work the sys-admins do is usually hidden from them by large legions of microsoft-certified navigators -- which act as human wizards to guide them through where to plunk those parameters in (squirt me). mac and linux users, having grown out of a minority, have a history of having to find these things themselves. windows comes pre-installed, so windows users often never realize how much trouble it is to actually install an operating system (and attendant drivers).

users don't ask about the operating system of their clock-radio. they figure why should a computer be any different? they don't understand why they have to worry about this abstract thing called an OS, or why they should have to install it. the user comes in thinking the OS is a part of the thing they hold in their hand, and is busy doing too many other things (having a life), and never ponders why the OS should be abstracted from it. many windows users think of the OS as part of the machine -- i turn on a lamp, the light glows; i turn on my computer, i see my email. they often don't distinguish between email that exists 'locally' or 'webmail' that exists on a server.

there is comfort in the PC system -- once you've bought in to the windows universe, you never need to know or care that there is another world out there (that is not windows), except for the fact that there's a bunch of people that are pesky and incompatible with them. so long as most PCs ship with windows preinstalled, vista will constitute a large growing chunk of the market, and microsoft knows this. arcane software works to their advantage, because then you have to take a long course to learn their labyrinthine pathways, and get paid well for guiding mere users through these tangled woods. since windows is the dominant platform, it pays to support just the biggest chunk and cut your losses -- marginal, at best -- and thus, the hegemony is locked-in.

as many seasoned mac and linux users know, it is a PC world out there. the pesky wizards and clippy-clips are only there to help people put parameters in the right slot. mac users are used to a certain degree of managing our own systems -- moving font packages, control panels, and extensions into and out of the system folder. we never had a registry, and things were always object oriented. its only untidy habits from other platforms that made the idea of an 'uninstaller' necessary. give us an IP address, and we know it goes into the: System Preferences > Network panel. if you entcounter a linux user, and one of their legions of volunteers hasn't written up a FAQ for it -- they may just tell you to recompile the tcp_stack into the kernal so you can access DHCP support and RTFM.

where the windows user looks for the wizard to do it for them, mac and linux users might ask why would you need a wizard to enter an IP address? -- because in the PC world, everything is more involved. you have to poke into dialogue b

There's a great image of the first shot taking with the telescope here

What good points? It has a resource intensive "shiny" interface. It has levels of DRM heretofore unseen in an operating system. It is claimed that it is secure, yet still has gaping security holes. It is claimed that it is safe, yet has to be made un-safe for users to be able to do anything with it. It is expensive, clunky, space consuming, privacy invading, insecure, unsafe, and is more interested in protecting the interests of major Hollywood distributors than its users.

Care to highlight why I'd want to use Vista?

The real elephant in the room is the fact that I just spent $600 on my friggin' iPhone and it can't do some crucial functions that even $50 handsets can. I'm talking about MMS. Video recording. Custom ringtones. Mass storage. Fully functioning Bluetooth with stereo audio streaming. Voice dialing when you're using a car kit. Sending contact info to other people. Instant friggin' messenging. Sending an SMS to more than one recipient at a time.

I expect Apple to fill those holes pretty quickly. But, it's going to take V2 HW to fix some things I'd want like external storage and bigger internal storage.

"What will become clear in time is the role the iPhone will play in the death of the mouse. The version of OS X on the iPhone, not Leopard by the way, is the next big thing - get on board now and enjoy the ride."

And touch is just a proxy by which the brain implements decisions, with the potential to get smudged and the requirement that my multiple monitors be handheld or within 1 foot of my face.

You think the iPhone is big? The iProduct will make the iPhone look like the Newton! It taps in to the reality distortion field and allows you to manipulate your computer directly!

http://cache.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.g if

Hop on now!

If a password lock is still too complicated, I believe a simpler security device is more appropriate for the level of competence you're supporting. (Yes, I waited all day to safely google that.)

BTW, while you were at work, someone might have broken into your home and installed spying software on your PC. Oh, sure, it's highly unlikely, but the risk is real and you must be warned!

75. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 74, wherein receiving said given client request according to said web services protocol includes receiving a document encapsulated according to a version of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), wherein contents of said given client request are included in said document and formatted according to a version of XML.

I'm not positive, but i'm assuming it refers to the electronics company. You know, the ones who sell about a thousand different things, from cell phones to refrigerators. I'm basing that on articles like this one: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/lg-a nd-microsoft-launch-stand+alone-dvr-139115.php As a side note, their DVD burners are apparently pretty quirky.

As irritating as this must be to all the MS fanbouys out there, it's intensley amusing that Apple has "organised" thier priorities the same way MS do, they know they have a product there is demand for, so will use their market power the same way the MS does.

I'll just be happy to wait and watch this unfold over what really is an accessory, few people here will be able to take advantage of 64bit or ever use all the feature of the phone. Personally I think this one is a winner http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/smartphones/fics-linuxb ased-smartphone-213016.php but thats just me, and since it's open source based, it will probably even work with vista ;-)

Yes. Gizmodo reported that it's called Operation Fine Edge.

Looks like asshat AT&T only bothered to upgrade their network for the iPhone, not the rest of us.

Thanks Jobs for busting their balls.

No offense but the iPhone really isn't that great. There is still a lot of stuff it can't do that other PDA phones can. Here is a list from Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/what-the-iphone-d oesnt-have-272571.php:

Songs as Ringtones
Games
Any flash support
Instant Messaging
Picture messages (MMS)
Video recording
Voice recognition or voice dialing
Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Streaming (A2DP)
One-size-fits-all headset jack (May have to buy an adapter for certain headphones)
3G (EV-DO/HSDPA)
GPS
A real keyboard
Removable battery
Expandable Storage
Direct iTunes Music Store Access (Over Wi-Fi or EDGE)

All of those things can be done by the HTC Mogul and I even think the PPC-6700 which has been around for a while now can do most of that. I don't think Apple is trying to push the boundaries or up the bar with the iPhone. I think Apple is trying to do what it always does, make a product that just works and is simple. Multitouch and the visual voicemail seem to be about the only things that it has that nothing else has.

Also important to mention are the things the iPhone DOESN'T do.
(Not bashing the product, I really have high hopes for it.)

What the iPhone Doesn't Have:

- Songs as Ringtones
- Games
- Any flash support
- Instant Messaging
- Picture messages (MMS)
- Video recording
- Voice recognition or voice dialing
- Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Streaming (A2DP)
- One-size-fits-all headset jack (May have to buy an adapter for certain headphones)

Stuff we already knew it didn't have:

- 3G (EV-DO/HSDPA)
- GPS
- A real keyboard
- Removable battery
- Expandable Storage
- Direct iTunes Music Store Access (Over Wi-Fi or EDGE)

Source:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/what-the-iphone-d oesnt-have-272571.php

Meh... In 15 years the thing will wind up as baby furniture with kid puke on it anyway.

I think it will be one of those breakthroughs where you won't even realize how cool it is until you start seeing people wandering around with wireless devices that "just work", anywhere, without much thought of how or why.

Uhm? I don't understand. Did you use html-tags to illustrate something, because in that case (for someone that is part of the slashdot crowd and knows the difference between html and plaintext), you should use html entities. No, really, they are very nifty to actually display greater than and lower than signs. Try this the following time &gt; for >, and &lt; for <

And as for the "modded naked PC", there is weird stuff out there...

From Silicon Valley, that's where, and it's almost here.

... the TESLA Electric Roadster.

..and the new Intel Macs were supposed to be four-to-seven times faster than a 1.7GHz PPC and have 4 hours battery life.

I think I might just wait for the first few 100k sales before I look at the next 'comparison chart' from Apple Corp..

This is the company that sells software to Automatic Teller Machines, which are very important pieces of machinery in how they can effect a person's life. We've all read horror stories about ATM's running windows crashing, but MS expects people to put their trust in them when deciding who runs the country?!? This is lunacy!

Can't wait to get one of those.

Let us not forget "The Most Ridiculous Windows Video Ever".

Actually... Apple isn't the first to use leds for backlighting the screens. If you notice the wording on the announcement they were very careful to say the first 15" led backlight screen. This will be translated by the public as another apple "first". It's all part of the marketing hype. See Fujitsu Beats Apple and HP to the Punch with LED-backlit Ultraportable for more details. (The Fujitsu machine also only weighs less than 3 lbs).

I've got an early '05 Powerbook G4 (first-gen HD motion sensors represent!). It's a great little thing but as I do more photo editing and such I'm starting to feel it's lack of power. I've used Intel Macs with C2Ds and they are very nice. I decided that during the next refresh I would purchase one.

So when I checked the Apple store yesterday and saw it was down, I was thrilled. I had been expecting it (I follow rumors sites and Apple Insider had some detailed possible specs on Monday). When I got to work the store was back up and I ordered one immediately.

It's about time that Apple put 2 gigs in the MacBook Pros by default.

It's expected to come as soon as Friday, and I can't wait. Geek Sugar has pictures of the new one, and they that the display is noticeably brighter, despite the fact it's not supposed to be (according to Apple, there is a mini-interview on Gizmodo).

I can't wait!

Now I just need Leopard...

Ink jet print CAN last a long time, depending on what you use. Obviously if you're using a home desktop solution to print out your prints, they won't last very long, especially if you want to display them in any light. Supposedly Kodak came out with a solution not too long ago for the personal inkjet printer set, but I really don't think that those prints will last up to 100 years. Epson Ultrachrome K3 pigmented inks will last up to 100 years, depending on what stock you use. Papers with optical brightening agents (OBAs) will not last as long as virgin papers. For example, an Epson Premium Luster contains OBAs in order to make the paper "brighter" (i.e. it reflects more light off of its surface, it's not necessarily "whiter"). OBAs have a tendency to turn yellow over time, and that stock is only rated at about 70 years using the K3 inks. However, Epson's Ultra Smooth Fine Art paper, which has no OBAs, is rated to last 100 or more years using the K3 inks. The truth about it is, as long as you're using the manufacturer's ink (not a refill, because in my opinion, refills are worthless) and a manufacturer's paper, you'll get the desired results. That may not jive with a lot of people, they may not want to believe it, but it's definitely true. At least in this case, Epson has developed an extremely stable product, in the printer, the ink, and the paper. Here at RIT, there's something within my school called the Image Permanence Institute where they deal with this stuff day in and day out. I've actually never visited where they're at, but from what I hear, they can simulate putting around 100 years of light on any print to see the effects and rate a paper's or ink's permanence.

..from "decent" sources, and still the submission with a CoolTechZone review makes it to the front page. CoolTechZone sucks, leave it out of here, even if the occasional Microsoft-bashing does go on there..

Cool. Seen this? Could be a nice little add-on to your Prius...

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/hippies/make-your-h ybrid-a-hybrid+hybrid-with-solar-power-265635.php

Check out this Review

here is a link claiming to be the world's first Treo 650 pictures.

http://gizmodo.com/archives/worlds-first-treo-650- pictures-020352.php

From aug 26th, 2004

These are much better looking....
1) http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/selfdestruct-bu tton-usb-hub-188135.php
2) http://www.everythingusb.com/usb_self-destruct_but ton_v2.html

Plus, these give functionality to those of us running an OS that doesn't require resetting regularly.

Ok, now I gotta ask: where is the content coming from (downloaded from Sony? home file server?) And can the PS3 upscale SD DVDs to 1080i/p? Is the interface decent?

I've been pondering my media setup lately, and came to the conclusion that my XBox is no longer suitable for my media needs. I'd been toying with the idea of getting an XBox 360 and finding a good way to stream media to it (currently, I think that the only options are Win/Mac, neither of which I have.) I recently discovered other possibilities , however I'm still leaving my options open. The 360/PS3 would be nice in that the device would also play games, and be a portal to HD media, but both solutions are around twice the price of the standalone players I linked to.

Ok, now I gotta ask: where is the content coming from (downloaded from Sony? home file server?) And can the PS3 upscale SD DVDs to 1080i/p? Is the interface decent?

I've been pondering my media setup lately, and came to the conclusion that my XBox is no longer suitable for my media needs. I'd been toying with the idea of getting an XBox 360 and finding a good way to stream media to it (currently, I think that the only options are Win/Mac, neither of which I have.) I recently discovered other possibilities , however I'm still leaving my options open. The 360/PS3 would be nice in that the device would also play games, and be a portal to HD media, but both solutions are around twice the price of the standalone players I linked to.

Sears recently ran an ad campaign that was a complete rip off of the "switch" apple ads. It's interesting how that was ignored but the iGasm ads call down the thunder. http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/sears/ has an article, unfortunately the video was taken down.

The piss-poor image quality of this LCD panel made all that completely unimportant. The eStarling's screen is absolutely unacceptable. We tried displaying digital pictures of all different resolutions and aspect ratios on it, and all of them looked like we were viewing them on a cheap TV set. Yes, the images were in color, but that's about it. The display was just downright dim, blurry, and you could see scanlines and jaggies all through images that are normally tack-sharp. This display was so bad that it almost hurt our eyes to look at it.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/dragon-skin-bul letproof-vest-repels-ak47-rounds-203003.php
Dragon Skin bullet proof vests are light weight but can stop (multiple) armor piercing rounds. That's rather impressive.

They use silver-dollar sized "scales" of ceramics. If it's as light and flexible as advertised, this is far better for soldiers and law enforcement.

Porn on Blu-ray is okay, but Sony facilities won't be used to press it.
Gizmodo
High-Def Digest
The Inquirer

The story I heard was that walmart bought 2 Million HD-DVD players to be sold around $300. http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/wal+ mart-makes-the-push-for-299-hd-dvd-machines-253950 .php

As seen over here: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/video-spoof/boomerang+s haped-microsoft-ophone-takes-cellphone-world-by-st orm-258921.php

... on the consortium and EU incompetence, apparently from an very pissed off european.

I can't afford a PS3, therefore nobody can afford the PS3 and since I see them on the shelves, nobody must be buying them.

You mean something like this

Pretty good looking too. Hope it won't kill too many birds.