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Shopping Research
Samsung adds new LCD, plasma HDTVs, plus Blu-ray HTIB This week, Samsung offered a sneak preview of some of its flat-panel TV offerings that will hit stores shelves starting next month, including models with color accents (Touch of Color) on their frames, super-slim designs, and LED backlights. The…
Posted 54mins 27secs ago From Consumer Reports.
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Cutting open a person for surgery using a plain old scalpel seems pretty barbarian compared to this new cutting tool from Peak. Instead of a sharp metal edge, or even an electrosurgical cutter, the Plasmablade uses pulses of plasma generated around its tip to locally cut and cauterize flesh such as…
Posted 55mins 27secs ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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A year ago we reported on Intel's nifty technique for 22nm chip fabrication, which may extend the life of Moore's Law. Now MIT is reporting a new technique for optical lithography which should make 12nm chip manufacture possible, making for smaller, denser future chip tech. By combining laser interference…
Posted 1hr 35mins ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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It's the 9th annual Sysadmin day today. You know... sysadmins? The people without whom your entire computing network would come crashing down in flaming ruins? According to the System Administrator Appreciation Day website, "on this special international day" you should "give your System Administrator…
Posted 2hrs 49mins ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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George probably deserved to be encased in Carbonite for corrupting the Star Wars Universe with Jar Jar Binks... but it's waaaay more satisfying seeing the floppy-eared one himself frozen in the same state, unable to frolic and waggle his tongue. Its actually part of an Industrial Light and Magic display,…
Posted 4hrs ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Filed under: Aftermarket, Tuners, Coupes, Japan, Supercars, NissanNissan maintains that the GT-R is mechanized perfection that could never be improved upon (never mind that V-Spec over there), but that's not going to stop owners from attempting to extract every last bit of performance from Nissan's…
Posted 4hrs 47mins ago From Autoblog.
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Scientists at Ohio State University have taken a thermoelectric material that's been used for decades to power deep-space probes, and worked out how to double its efficiency. That's good news: thermoelectrics convert heat directly into electrical energy. By catching exhaust heat, the new material may…
Posted 4hrs 51mins ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Filed under: Supercars, Lexus, Misc. Auto ShowsClick above for a high-res gallery of the Lexus LF-A concept.The Lexus LF-A has taken the crown from the Chevy Camaro as the perpetual show queen that we're tired of seeing in concept form. Granted, it's already run the Nurburging 24 Hour enduro and has…
Posted 5hrs 17mins ago From Autoblog.
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Maybe I'm not a slope-wise skier, but when I'm hurtling down a mountain I love to hear wind sounds—not music from my iPod. Other people are different, and this waterproof MP3 player from Lancer certainly fits the "rugged enough for big snowboard crashes" bill. The Laqa3's design is a plain metal…
Posted 5hrs 26mins ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Filed under: Spy Photos, Trucks/Pickups, VolkswagenThe Volkswagen pickup codenamed "Robust" has been caught testing again, this time in the U.S. They aren't too different from these spy shots, both sets showing that VW is not going for any kind of flash with its newest pickup. At one point, the regular…
Posted 5hrs 43mins ago From Autoblog.
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Buffalo's upcoming internal and external BD recorder units can burn both single or double-layer BDs up to a sizzling 8x speed, and DVD ±R up to 16x. Of course Blu-ray technology is going to improve, probably following a similar pattern to DVD burning tech. But here's a funny: these drives use Panasonic…
Posted 5hrs 46mins ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Filed under: Car Buying, Earnings/Financials, By the Numbers J.D. Power and Associates have lowered their U.S. sales light-vehicle forecast for 2008 to just 14.2 million units. This is the third time the global information services company have updated their numbers. In March, they announced that sales…
Posted 6hrs 13mins ago From Autoblog.
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Comparing mileage: Not all mpg's are created equal When thinking about saving gas, it's useful to remember that not all mpg's are created equal. Among very fuel-efficient cars, the incremental savings for every extra mpg is small. However, among very inefficient cars, even a 1 mpg savings can be significant.…
Posted 6hrs 15mins ago From Consumer Reports.
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Radon in countertops question stays in the news Do granite countertops emit dangerous levels of radon? That question continues to get attention, as evidenced by a front-page story in the Home section of the July 24, 2008, edition of The New York Times. “What’s Lurking in Your Countertop?” the…
Posted 10hrs 14mins ago From Consumer Reports.
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Filed under: Motorsports, Euro, Alfa RomeoClick above for a high-res gallery of our time in the Alfa Romeo driving school. Let's take a quick vote here. We won't be tabulating the totals, so we'll keep this unofficial, but we want you to be honest. How many of you, deep inside, wonder if you couldn't…
Posted 18hrs 13mins ago From Autoblog.
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Saving a little extra money on your next power bill is as easy as unplugging your power cables now and then. After all, those greedy gadgets keep sucking power from the grid even when not in use. Designer Paulo Oh has come up with an extremely simple solution to this problem with an outlet that includes…
Posted 18hrs 35mins ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Filed under: Supercars, Mercedes-BenzClick above for a high resolution image Mercedes-Benz recently launched a dedicated website for the SL65 AMG Black Series, and it's loaded with goodies for anyone who can't get enough of the uber coupe. The site has detailed info on all of the Black Series' features,…
Posted 18hrs 49mins ago From Autoblog.
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Filed under: Motorsports, Videos, Supercars, ChevroletWe've all watched the video of Mr. Mero's fantastic ride around the Nurburgring in the Corvette ZR1; not even the horrid compression that YouTube serves up could ruin the sound of a force-fed LS-series V8. Rides are nice, and we'd hop right on in…
Posted 19hrs 18mins ago From Autoblog.
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Filed under: Aftermarket, Tuners, SUVs, Cadillac, Special/Limited Editions Click the image above for more shots of the Becker/STRUT Cadillac ESV limo If you're buying an Escalade, there's a good chance that even the Platinum Edition ESV won't be enough for you. That's why companies like Becker and STRUT…
Posted 19hrs 42mins ago From Autoblog.
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Filed under: Coupes, Sports/GTs, GreenHydrogen has been touted as a viable fuel source for decades, and seemingly every day, some new or upcoming hydrogen-powered milestone is reached or discussed. However, in nearly every case, hydrogen is being touted as a standalone fuel source. But what about using…
Posted 20hrs 17mins ago From Autoblog.
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Filed under: Economy, Hybrids/Alternative, Green, TataClick above for a high-res gallery of the Tata Nano.Tata's diminutive Nano will soon be hitting the market with a standard 30-horsepower, 624cc gas engine mated to a four-speed manual transmission. While that may seem a bit small and underpowered,…
Posted 20hrs 46mins ago From Autoblog.
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Filed under: Coupes, Sports/GTs, Chevrolet, GM, Misc. Auto ShowsClick the above image for a hi-res gallery of the RC-painted CamaroThe British are good for all sorts of car-centric goodness. When they're not busy building zippy little monsters remarkably ill-suited to their weather, they're... making…
Posted 21hrs 18mins ago From Autoblog.
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For this week's Photoshop Contest, I want you to insert gadgets or modern technology into famous works of art, be they paintings, drawings or photographs. A pretty straightforward challenge, but I'm looking for some real quality this time around. Don't just slap a photo of a Bluetooth headset on the…
Posted 21hrs 35mins ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Filed under: Motorsports, Tech Following two incidents in two weeks, it looks like the ballyhooed KERS hybrid system might not make it onto Formula 1 cars for 2009 -- at least, not the first races. Teams have begun to talk about how much difficulty they're having in building a safe system. KERS not…
Posted 21hrs 43mins ago From Autoblog.
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Filed under: Aftermarket, Tuners, Sedans/Saloons, Mercedes-BenzClick above for a high resolution image We usually try and reserve judgment when it comes to aftermarket styling packages. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and different people prefer different styles. In this case, however,…
Posted 22hrs 13mins ago From Autoblog.
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Filed under: Etc., Tech, GMWe've heard it before: "We're going to collect the information, but it won't go beyond..." The latest take on "Let us help you with technology" comes courtesy of GM's OnStar, which is offering you the opportunity to have your annual mileage tracked. The info will be given…
Posted 22hrs 43mins ago From Autoblog.
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Filed under: Aftermarket, Tuners, Coupes, HyundaiEven before the Hyundai Genesis coupe made its big reveal in New York, its aftermarket potential was apparent. While the 3.8-liter V6-equipped model will undoubtedly find an audience with the hairdresser set, the 223 hp, turbocharged 2.0-liter model -…
Posted 23hrs 13mins ago From Autoblog.
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Dirt Devil vacuum tool recall The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on July 23, 2008, announced the recall of 987,000 tool attachments for Dirt Devil vacuums (shown) because of a laceration-hazard risk. For full details on the recall, read this entry on the Consumer Reports Safety blog. Essential…
Posted 23hrs 33mins ago From Consumer Reports.
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Filed under: Car Buying, Green, Japan, Tech, Honda, NissanHonda and Nissan are looking for ways to make cars lighter, better, and more recyclable, both for their own benefits and their customers. We've heard about the increased use of aluminum to save weight; next on the heavy R&D frontier could…
Posted 23hrs 42mins ago From Autoblog.
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Filed under: Economy, Marketing/Advertising, Hatchbacks, FIAT, TataClick above to view more images of the Tata Nano Fiat and Tata already have a joint venture to distribute commercial vehicles. If they can do the big stuff, why not the little stuff? Tata and Fiat are looking at an agreement to sell…
Posted 1 day ago From Autoblog.
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Filed under: Convertibles, Nissan, Rendered SpeculationUnfortunate image by Trung NguyenThe Nissan GT-R is a fire-breathing monster, both on the track and on the canyon roads of Southern California. It's been the biggest buzz vehicle of 2008 and could be the most impressive sports car in the history…
Posted 1 day ago From Autoblog.
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Science lab night-time routine goes like this: the experiment concludes, equipment winds slowly down. You rub bleary eyes, stretch your stiff neck, hit "save" on the data for analysis tomorrow. Then you deal with the forest of coffee mugs, flick the light switch and bumble out of the door. But the lab's…
Posted 1 day 1hr ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Filed under: Convertibles, EuroWe've lost track of how many times we've watched Clarkson's track test of the Ariel Atom. It solidified the Atom's place in the track-day hierarchy, impressing with its insane speed, lateral grip and face warping abilities. But for those of us not content to look like…
Posted 1 day 1hr ago From Autoblog.
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Filed under: Motorsports, Government/Legal, Earnings/Financials Remember the good old days when a prominent chief executive would have disappeared into obscurity after having been exposed by the newspapers? Well those good old days are gone, and Max Mosley is happy for it. It's been a long and hard…
Posted 1 day 1hr ago From Autoblog.
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Robotic hands and arms may be getting more sophisticated, but they don't really rival what we think C3-PO would have poking out of his torso. That is until now: an European science team have been busy creating the Sensopac robotic limb, and it's arguably the most human-like robotic limb yet. And partly…
Posted 1 day 3hrs ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Sky-High Wi-Fi If you're planning any air travel this summer, you might find yourself surfing while you fly. American Airlines is one of several carriers offering Wi-Fi in the sky, having just rolled out a trial of a broadband Internet service called Gogo on some of its Boeing planes, most of which…
Posted 1 day 4hrs ago From Consumer Reports.
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At a recent presentation, Toshiba demoed a little hand-held UMPC prototype, indicating that the company is considering that product market. The silver-framed machine has a 5.6-inch touchscreen, and runs Windows Vista on an Atom processor and 64GB of SSD storage, and even packs in GPS. Though the onscreen…
Posted 1 day 4hrs ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Creative is clearly in some kind of rush to get new media players out into the world: first the X-Fi, then the Krystal and now the Mozaic. It's a pretty standard offering, with music and video playing function, a 1.8-inch screen, FM radio and voice recorder, but, like the Nokia Prism, it's its keypad…
Posted 1 day 4hrs ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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It's been a while since we've shown you anything with Sanyo's Eneloop label, but this new product bearing the wireless charging tech will sound like good news for Wiimote users fed up of awkward battery/charging solutions. Sanyo have teamed up with Nintendo to make the Eneloop Wiimote charger: and it's…
Posted 1 day 5hrs ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Back in January, Hitachi released the BD9H Blu-ray camcorder, and it's taken just six months for the next generation to come along. The DZ-BD10H takes the same core design, but squeezes it into a slightly smaller package. It's still a full HS palmcorder, recording to 8-cm BD, DVD-R/RW/RAM or a 30GB…
Posted 1 day 5hrs ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Buzzword: Earth Energy What it means. Earth energy is the newfangled name for the time-honored tradition of tapping the earth’s underground energy to heat or cool a building by running various liquids through a network of buried pipes. You’ll often see the term as part of an earth-energy system,…
Posted 1 day 10hrs ago From Consumer Reports.
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Small pickup truck crash tests - Some results are dismal For the first time, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has tested side-impact protection on small pickup trucks and the results are not favorable. (Learn about how the IIHS crash tests cars.) The Toyota Tacoma was the only pickup…
Posted 1 day 10hrs ago From Consumer Reports.
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HDTV: Adjust the picture for best quality When you turn on your new high-definition TV, it probably won't look as stunning as it did in the showroom. The default, out-of-the-box settings on most HDTVs are designed to create a super-bright, vividly colored image, but they're almost always a bad choice…
Posted 1 day 16hrs ago From Consumer Reports.
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It's funny how technology can really put a wedge between two people in a relationship. That is to say, finding a couple where both parties share a genuine love for gadgets seems pretty rare. This issue is especially problematic when video games are involved. We are constantly hearing stories about how…
Posted 1 day 16hrs ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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How's this sound: rather than hopping on the subway, when in a large city you'd hop into a little pod hanging from an elevated track. It would have pedals. You would then pedal yourself around the city, working up a lovely sweat before you reached your destination. Sound good? No? Well, thank your lucky…
Posted 1 day 17hrs ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Getting the most out of that new car, part 2 In the first installment, we offered tips for new-car owners to help them get the most from their shiny new vehicle, starting with initial inspection, studying the owner's manual, and essential road gear. Here, we continue with advice on proactive car care…
Posted 1 day 18hrs ago From Consumer Reports.
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Spilling soda is a death sentence for gadgets. Even if it still works, that damn thing is going to be sticky forever. The new "Pour Thing" helps prevent spills from awkward 2-liter bottles using a container that can be manipulated with an easy push. To be honest, it seems that this thing could actually…
Posted 1 day 20hrs ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Shopping carts are festering hotbeds of germs and disease, or so one would think seeing the expense Chevy Chase Supermarket has put into installing shopping car washing machines in their store. The fancy new machine sprays down every cart in the store between uses with a peroxide solution that kills…
Posted 1 day 22hrs ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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New Feature: Refrigerator video buying guide If you're in the market for a new refrigerator and are on a tight budget, you're in luck. Relatively basic $500 refrigerators now come equipped with rimmed glass shelves that catch spills and gallon-size-storage on doors. And more manufacturers are adding…
Posted 1 day 23hrs ago From Consumer Reports.
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This concept USB watch, dubbed "Timeless" is either a fabulously ironic piece of deconstructivist electronic art, or a geeky overload. Whichever way you look at it, it's kinda neat: basically it's a simple digital watch, with an internal battery that's charged when you plug it into a USB socket. And…
Posted 2 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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For those of you who're into a little bit of creative electronics as well as fancying yourself as a bit of a mean DJ, this DIY laser light show may be just the thing to spice up your parties. Not only will the project spray laser light around (and who doesn't like laser light shows?) but it also reacts…
Posted 2 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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A team at Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Portugal have produced the world's first field-effect transistor based on paper. The paper layer acts as an "interstrate", with the actual FET components being fabricated onto both sides: so the paper holds the transistor together and acts as an insulator. Amazingly…
Posted 2 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Over at Sound and Vision Mag they're asking exactly this question, and there's a lot of logic behind it. Current flat-screen TV tech favors the 16:9 (or 1.78:1) dimension ratio, but many movies are shot in Cinemascope 2.35:1, around 32% wider. That's why you still see letterboxing on your HDTV, or the…
Posted 2 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Vintage Consumer Reports: Lightbulb testing The big round object in the photo at right isn't some early satellite or a giant fitness ball. It's an integrating, or Ulbricht, sphere that we used for an August 1965 report on incandescent lightbulbs to check the quality and quantity of their light output.…
Posted 2 days ago From Consumer Reports.
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Renzo Rosso, the owner of Diesel. has bought a controlling share of Victor and Rolf, the hot Dutch fashion label owned by Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren. On Tuesday, Only the Brave, Mr. Rosso's Italian holding company, announced the new venture, which marks Viktor & Rolf as a brand with an imposing…
Posted 2 days ago From ShoppingBlog.com.
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Natalie Portman goes Bollywood in this music video by her musician boyfriend, Devendra Banhart. The song is called "Carmensita" and stars Portman as a princess that the exiled prince must save with his "rebellious beard." Dancing, snakes, fire and mistranslated subtitles ensue. Doesn't Natalie look…
Posted 2 days ago From ShoppingBlog.com.
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Dangers of hot cars Summer is in full swing and that means it's not only hot outside, but the temperature inside your car can be life-threatening. Each year, an average of 36 children die from hyperthermia after being left inside a hot car. At least 18 infants and children have died so far this year,…
Posted 2 days ago From Consumer Reports.
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Last week, I called on you to create and submit some brutally honest gadget ads. And you did! While I'd say about half of the entries were ads for the iPhone 3G (I get it guys, you want copy and paste), we also got some pretty awesome ads for other devices. From the predictable (red-ringing Xbox 360s)…
Posted 2 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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In a world where fonts are people, Times New Roman is king. But also, Wingdings is annoying and talks in gibberish, Arial Narrow is a racist, and Futura is a sexy lady from the future. How awesome is this? [CollegeHumor]
Posted 2 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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We'd previously suggested a May 8th date for the much-anticipated Nokia E71 cellphone, but it looks like the actual US launch is about to happen. Rumors are that Nokia's Flagship Store in Chicago has already got its first shipment, and has been contacting customers on the waiting list. The dual band…
Posted 3 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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It may be tired to bring up Minority Report, but remember the scenes in the movie where our hero gets bothered by interactive targeted advertising wherever he goes? Thanks to dear ol' NEC, this nightmare of advert pestering may really be in our future: its new ad display panel watches its watchers with…
Posted 3 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Garmin has just announced a new member of the Nuvi GPS range, the 500 series. In a first for Nuvi, the rugged, waterproof 500 units are specifically designed to be multipurpose, with maps for driving, walking, cycling and boating built in. For out-doorsy types, there's a shaded digital elevation map…
Posted 3 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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The 2008 International Design Excellence Awards are in. These are like the Oscars of the industrial design world, taking the pulse of what's going on, highlighting tons of weird and wonderful gadgets. We have picked the best, the weirdest, and the most wonderful, from laser liners that look like Wall-E's…
Posted 3 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Repurposing the design of a kid's toy rocket into an innovative gun may sound pretty dark, but it creates a weapon with selectable lethality. Rockets made by Lund and Company Invention of Chicago use a liquid hydrogen variable fuel-air mix to give a selectable-power launch, and now the US Army is funding…
Posted 3 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Previously named the DS400GB, the SmartMirror is a GPS system that is mounted in place of your conventional rear-view mirror, and has a rear-facing cam input. With Navigon Mobile Navigator 6.5 inside, it's got "reality view", a 4-inch touchscreen, integrated speakers and Bluetooth and takes SD cards.…
Posted 3 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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Recovering lost photos: A quick how-to It's not very hard to lose hundreds of photos from your digital camera's memory card in the blink of an eye. Just ask my colleague, Eileen McCooey, who asked for my help after accidentally erasing pictures of her recent summer vacation when she unintentionally…
Posted 3 days ago From Consumer Reports.
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It's the third birthday of Sony Ericsson's Walkman phone label, and to celebrate it's launching three new music-based cellphones. The W302 and W902 (left, center in the image) are both candybar cells, with the 302 having an FM radio, and 2-megapixel cam, and the 902 with a 5-megapixel cam and apparently…
Posted 3 days ago From Gizmodo: Gadgets.
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