GadgetsLoverz: 07/01/2010

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Funny, My License Says "WHERE2CHRG"

For only $101,500 plus the cost of a custom plate, you too can laugh at the thought of using gas to run your Tesla Roadster.

Remember those cartoons you watched as a kid? You know, the ones that were really thirty minute commercials.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Gundam plastic models, aka "Gunpla" in Japan. Bandai is commemorating the occasion with another 1/1 scale Gundam and a new show called "Mokei Senshi Gunpla Builders Beginning G".

Doomsday arks on the moon, switching your house to all-electric, best apps for the oil spill, a microhouse you can build yourself, solar airplane setting a 2-week flight record, and disgusting light switch designs.

Ask Pablo: Why Should I Switch My House Over To All-Electric?

Lenovo Commits to LePad Android Tablet By End of LeYear

Lenovo's finally made a definitive statement on what they're doing in the mobile computing space, and they're going to finish the year differently than they started it: the Android-powered LePad is coming in the next few months.

After confusing the world by saying it would use Windows EC7 as the OS for its upcoming10.1" EP101TC EeePad, Asus has now seen sense—and stuck Android in the thing instead. Goodbye, familiar bland Microsoft leafy background image.

DECE's 'digital locker' take-anywhere DRM dubbed UltraViolet, launches later this year

We're still not sure if we believe in the promises made by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) yet -- buy a piece of content once in physical or digital format, and gain access across all formats and devices via a cloud based account -- but we're closer to finding out for ourselves now that it has a new name, UltraViolet.

Whoa! After breaking the 1GHz barrier just three weeks ago, dauntless modder unixpsycho is back with yet another insane hack for the aging Palm Pre. What's new? Why, this "SR71 Blackbird" custom kernel,

While Amazon is being as coy as usual when it comes to an actual number (still keeping to the vague "millions" figure), the company has revealed that sales of its Kindle hardware has tripled since the price took a plunge from $259 to $189. While it's hard to gauge just how many champagne corks are being popped over that statistic, news that downloaded kindle books has overtaken its hardcover brethren is certainly cause for major celebration.

Cellphone concepts are a dime a dozen, but a couple of particularly interesting ones have cropped up in recent days, including Andrew Kim's HTC 1, and this so-called Nokia Kinetic concept from British designer Jeremy Innes-Hopkins. Obviously, the most eye-catching aspect here is that prominent base, which is not simply a design flourish but actually houses an electromagnet that allows the phone to spring up on cue -- when an alarm goes off, for instance, or during a hands-free video call (simply flip the phone back down to dismiss the action).

It's certainly not the first homegrown Iron Man repulsor to surface, but it's definitely one of the best. And frankly, we're fond of any mod where the modder details the build process to the rest of the peons in attendance (us included).

It's hardly the first company to implement the technology in a smartphone, but it looks like RIM finally has an answer for folks not satisfied with the GPS capabilities of their BlackBerry.

It certainly looks like Aptera co-founder is Chris Anthony is intent on making a name for himself with his own company, Epic Boats, which has recently be renamed Epic Electric Vehicles to better suit its more ambitious goals.

So, the iA100ZE iPad dock isn't anywhere in the same league as the iTar. To be fair, you can't fault iHome for trying to stir up some interest in an over-saturated market by strapping an iPad onto a fairly typical FM radio / alarm clock / dock. And if that's your bag,

The Ribbons Of Life Lamp Draws Inspiration From The Source

The DNA inspired double helical design would look especially great in any mad scientist's lair, or geneticist's dining room. Tough to believe this popped out of a 3D printer.

How To Hide a Cell Tower

While older cell towers were topped with those those unsightly satellite-looking antenna fixtures, newer ones can be contained entirely in sleek, featureless polls and thus disguised as trees.

iPad Projector Renders 3D Objects for the Naked Eye

N-3D DEMO from aircord on Vimeo.

Experimental design team Aircord Labs has released a proof of concept videodemonstrating an iPad with 3D capabilities visible to the naked eye. The effect is achieved with a specially designed projector that beams images into a pyramid shaped screen.

Airbus' Lightweight Plane of the Future Features Holographic Projections and Invisible Floors

What sorts of airplanes will we be flying in 2030? According to Airbus, this "fantasy plane" concept is a reasonable guess, a lightweight model with curled wings and a U-shaped tail. Oh, and invisible floors.

Feed This Machine Rice And It'll Spit Out A Fresh Loaf Of Bread

If you want to make delicious bread out of rice, you normally have to get rice flour and work from there. But with the Sanyo Gopan rice bread machine, all you have to do is pour in handfuls of rice.

Holy Giant Steel Balls!

What weighs 4.5 tons, measures 8 feet in diameter, it's made of pure steel, and can destroy 50 acres of woods per hour? The bowling ball lumbering machine, that's what.

"Smart" Alloy Will Make Your Air Conditioner 175% More Efficient

Leaving your air conditioner on full blast all day might soon come with a little less guilt,thanks to an alloy developed by the University of Maryland. The "thermally elastic" material could allow air conditioners to run 175% more efficiently.

Sony Explores Alternative to Split-Screen Multiplayer

A couple of patent applications published recently show that Sony's looking at stereoscopic video for more than just 3D gaming; it could take the place of split-screen local multiplayer.

Night Light Table Provides Ambiance And Utility

Let the subtle glow from one of these colorful bedside tables set the mood in your room, or, pull up a tiny chair, pretend you're in elementary school, and use it as a super rad (albeit small) desk.

This New Combat Jet Is Actually a Cheapo Chinese Copy

They copy computers, cellphones, cameras, video players, watches, bags, and everything man-made—but did you know that the Chinese also copy entire combat airplanes? It's simple: They buy one and measure every part and system to clone it.

This thing is called kinetic wall. Made with 250,000 aluminium panels that are sensitive to wind currents, its 53,819-square-feet surface (5,000 square meters) looks like a vertical lake. Watching it in motion is a surreal experience:.

With July in full force, it already feels like the Sun's rays are slobbering down our necks. But what if it were closer to us? Say, 90 million miles closer? Popular Science investigates how near we could go and survive.

Samsung Creating Unbreakable AMOLED Screens

Samsung is planning to launch a display with an AMOLED plastic panel on the universal board within two years. Why? Because by switching to the plastic panel, the AMOLED display would become unbreakable.

I'm not making a tired funny! Dick Cheney's new implant—a ventricular assist device—needed 'cause his heart is screwed, "leaves most recipients without a pulse because it pushes blood continuously instead of mimicking the heart's own pulsatile beat."

This Inflatable Camera Bag Is An Idea That Could Blow Up

The Kata ABS-HD starts as a pouch about the size of a book. One minute of blowing later, it's a carry-on bag that can protect a full-size camcorder. And that is a really excellent idea.

Watch the Navy shooting down an airplane over the Pacific ocean using the new LaWS (Laser Weapon System) guided by Raytheon's Phalanx Close-In Weapon sensors. Welcome to the future, where we all die in the hands of angry laser-firing bots.

Microsoft Patent Shows A Dual-Mode Xbox 360 Controller

A Microsoft patent shows off a new dual-mode Xbox 360 controller that can be used both wired and wirelessly. Unlike the current play and charge kit, this controller would give you the accuracy of a true wired mode when plugged in.

This Is the Watermelon Cooler You Were Looking For

In the future, when humans are extinct and watermelons evolve into sentient beings capable of mastering fusion energy and interstellar travel,

PCs Get iPad-As-Second-Display Powers With MaxiVista App

Hey, you with the PC! Instead of sitting there sulking because iPad-as-second-monitor app Air Display is Mac-only, you might want to give MaxiVista a shot. It's the PC equivalent, it works wirelessly, and for now it's your best/only option.

On one side, you have a flush-less urinal design that could save immense resources.

Dell Precision M6500 Shoves 32GB of RAM Into a 17-Inch Notebook

Whatever you do with 32GB of system memory in a workstation notebook is strictly your business—but man, am I curious. Still, impressive of Dell to make the M6500 the undisputed champ of laptop memory.

Tron For iPhone: Glorious Multiplayer Light Tanks, With More To Come

The official Tron app just hit the App Store, and it is stunning. The free app currently offers a (very good) tanks game, just with Tron-style weapons and laser-light levels, but even more premium games are on their way.

Livescribe Echo: The Smartpen Gets Some Brilliant Upgrades

The Livescribe Pulse smartpen showed that there was demand out there for a ballpoint pen with a computer inside. Now the Echo has arrived, bringing with it additional capabilities like password protection, increased storage, even more apps.

Windows Phone 7 In Depth: A Fresh Start

"What's this?" a girl at a party asked, as I handed her my phone. She touched a square, and everything flipped away. "It's Microsoft's brand new phone. Kind of like a fresh start," I explained. "Oh. It's... neat."

Japanese Subway Grows Its Own Hydroponic Lettuce

Imagine a Utopian future, one where not only could you score an affordable foot's length of sub from a dispensary on every street corner, but one where every said sub-dispensary actually grew their own raw ingredients.

Lockheed Martin HULC Exo-Skeleton Prepares to Smash Human Beta Tests

The HULC exo-skeleton, Lockheed Martin's prototype heavy lifter for infantry troops in the field, has its battery and is now ready for human trials. If they're successful, field tests could be close on their heels.

It was inevitable. Everything we do will eventually be reduced to a game played with a plastic accessory that costs $149.99, and now it's the turn of hopscotch—which has been turned into an in-house art installation.

Shark Faucet Just Wants to Be Touched By Your Dirty Hands

Lately there's been no shortage of sleek, designer faucets here at Gizmodo, and today is no exception. Called the Shark, this touchscreen faucet won't devour your hands, but it will be touched by them.

Prototype Vehicle Warning Seat System Vibrates When Danger Is Near

Is my ass vibrating again or am I about to run headlong into a Mack truck? Well, if a prototype out of the Yale School of Engineering comes to pass, in my hypothetical future both could be true! Wild ride!

Okay, this one's a complete and very welcome surprise -- some extremely blurry pictures and a quick video of what appears to be a smaller Motorola portrait QWERTY Android slider for Verizon just popped up on the Chinese Hiapk forums -- and yes, it's got the glowing red Droid eye.

Sharp, you see, hasn't had much luck with its North American phone efforts as of late -- they've made almost all of the now-dead Sidekick series, and the Kin... well, you know how that ended up working out.

For those of you hoping that RIM could pull off a handset capable of challenging the incredibly slim and futuristic tree-borne Android handsets in the touchphone hardware arena, you'll have to dream past theStorm 3.

We're admittedly using our Jump To Conclusions Mat a little bit here, but we're pretty sure Apple'sMagic Trackpad (or whatever they'll end up calling it) just got FCC approval -- and considering how tightly Apple usually manages its FCC dealings, this could mean it'll be announced as early as this week.

Welcome once again to "Who should I follow?" where we spend countless hours trolling Twitter finding the best and most knowledgeable peeps for our readers to follow. So, you love Microsoft. You really love Microsoft. You're in luck, then: we've searched high and low for anybody and everybody you should be following if Redmond is your thing.

ASUS' VG236H was quietly announced back at CeBIT, but the 23-inch 3D monitor is just now getting around to making itself known to worldwide retailers.

A solid four months after first seeing thing plastered across half of Las Vegas, Motorola's i1 finally has a date with Sprint.

If you've been busy wondering what a 1,000mph car might look like, here is your answer. A full-sized model of the Bloodhound SSC has been hammered together and is currently on show at the Farnborough International Air Show.

Looks like Seagate's not content with giving users a choice of connector -- the outfit's latest GoFlex apparatus utilizes a docking system to give users an easier way to upgrade their NAS.

If the pint-sized ASUS laptop above looks a wee bit familiar, it's because you've seen it before -- the 12-inch UL20FT is basically a refreshed UL20A, but with the surprisingly elusive Core i3 ULV guts.

If you carry your sheet music in a laptop, AirTurn's got a USB dongle for that, but if you've migrated your musical cues to an certain slate, never fear, Bluetooth is on the way.

Apple has just let word out that it'll be bringing its super-selling slate to nine new markets. The Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore are all getting their hands on the device this Friday, July 23.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Monday, July 19, 2010