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top gear
Top Gear Races Nissan GT-R Vs. Bullet Train In Japan
The Top Gear crew is in Japan for this week's episode and they've got another heated race for us: A Nissan GT-R R35, a gadget car by dynamic handling and Playstation inspired dashboard vs. a bullet train, running both from Japan's northern Hakui-Shi coast to Tokyo. With no surprise ol' Clarkson is driving the fiery beast while Hammond and May are left traveling Japanese public transportation. I'm not gonna spoil the race for ya though, but Jalopnik has the results for you. [Jalopnik]
toys
Infrared Tracking R/C Car is Remote Control Toy for the Truly Lazy
This remote-control car has an infrared follower system built in, so you steer it simply by pointing the IR beam from the controller somewhere ahead of the car, and it works out where you want it to go. So yes, it's a simple remote control for those who can't be bothered to learn how to steer their toys with a joystick or wheel and throttle remote. Or kids. Ah... now I understand. The "magic dot" can be up to five feet ahead of the 9-inch car and it'll still work, and you get about 20 minutes of racing, cat-bothering action from one charge of its batteries. Available now for $49.95. [RedFerret]
blu-ray
Delkin Archival Gold Blu-Ray Discs Keep Your Data Good for Two Centuries
Manufacturers are powering up on their Blu-ray disc development, now the format war's over: just two weeks ago we had the 6x speed ones, and now Delkin has these archive-quality discs. According to Delkin they're the first BDs "guaranteed to preserve data safely for over 200 years" and they use some sort of patented phase-change tech to make the discs resistant to UV degradation. They're also 25GB, 4x speed burnable and have an anti-scratch coating. You're only going to want to preserve really important stuff on them though: a ten-pack will cost you $250. Now, to find a Blu-ray player that'll last two centuries... [Reghardware]
prototypes
NTT DoCoMo Developing Crazy, Eye-controlled Gadget Prototypes
The AP's look into the NTT DoCoMo R&D labs shows the Japanese electronics company is working on some really strange stuff, including music players you control with your eyes, and cellphones that require your fingers for more than just dialing (think Inspector Gadget). More »
5:20 PM on Thu Jun 26 2008
By Adrian Covert
2,519 views,
6 comments
usb
Official Star Wars USB Hubs May be Best USB Products Ever
Forget Dr Who's TARDIS, sci-fi USB hub fans (come on... you know who you are) are going to go bonkers over these official R2D2 and Vader USB hubs. R2's head moves, he lights up and emits genuine Star Wars sound effects every three minutes, while Vader just seems to have the sound effects and glowing eyes. *Shiver*... menacing. Of course they also have four full-speed USB sockets on the front, and come with three feet of USB cable. Available in July for around $66... but that's in Japan, USB hub fans. [JapanStarWars via Technabob]
memorex dvds
Memorex SimpleSave is Easy DVD Recording For Your Grandparents
Memorex has a crazy (and expensive) new DVD-R line called SimpleSave, which automatically scans your computer for photos and videos and burns them to disc. From the description, these $14.99 for 5 discs sound like they're perfect for your parents or grandparents who don't really know how to use a burner and have photos scattered all over their machines. If they've got more pics and vids than can fit on one disc, the software will tell them how many more they need to buy and will parse and burn accordingly. Expensive, but neat fort the new user. [PRNewswire via Coolest Gadgets]
blu-ray
Panasonic is doing its part to see Blu-ray make even more of a success with its new LM-BR25MD and LM-BR50MD disks for home disc-burning. Both are single-sided, write-once BD-Rs, compatible with Blu-ray Disc Recordable Format version 1.3, and they're 25GB and 50GB-sized. They'll be released in Japan in July, at a price of $15 for the single-layer 25GB disk and $37 for the dual-layer 50GB version, but you'll have to wait to find out when they'll be coming to the US. Full press release below.
More »
Panasonic's New Blu-ray Discs are World's First 6x Speed Burnable
Panasonic is doing its part to see Blu-ray make even more of a success with its new LM-BR25MD and LM-BR50MD disks for home disc-burning. Both are single-sided, write-once BD-Rs, compatible with Blu-ray Disc Recordable Format version 1.3, and they're 25GB and 50GB-sized. They'll be released in Japan in July, at a price of $15 for the single-layer 25GB disk and $37 for the dual-layer 50GB version, but you'll have to wait to find out when they'll be coming to the US. Full press release below.
More »
laptops
Toshiba Portege R500 Upgraded to 128GB SSD
That's a lot of numbers in the headline. Just know that the Toshiba Portege R500—an acclaimed 12.1" ultraportable—has officially gotten the rumored upgrade to a 128GB solid state hard drive. That's twice the SSD storage we see in the Lenovo X300 or the MacBook Air. Still priced at $2,999, the new 2.4-pound Portege R500-S5007V also features a 1.33GHz Core 2 Duo processor, DVD burner, 2GB RAM, and plenty of other goodies. For the full details, here's the mega press release: More »
r2-d2 server monitor
R2-D2's In Ur Serverz, Monitoring Ur Packetz
These gigantic Japanese nerds just rigged up an R2-D2 DVD Projector into a server monitoring system that alerts them whenever a system is down. R2's got Nagios, a monitoring app, an IR controller, and the ability to project what's wrong for the people to see. The video illustrates how it works in a dramatically geeky manner. These should be standard issue in every server farm around the world. [Syun - Thanks Motohiro!]
Intel R&D
Over at Intel's R&D fair, Wired got to play with a robot hand that is able to sense an object it's about to come in contact with before actually touching it. Using electrolocation, the fingertips of the robot hand send out a weak electrical impulse, and approaching objects interfere with that impulse, which allows the hand to form to the object before touching it.
More »
Robot Hand Can Sense Objects Before Touching Them
Over at Intel's R&D fair, Wired got to play with a robot hand that is able to sense an object it's about to come in contact with before actually touching it. Using electrolocation, the fingertips of the robot hand send out a weak electrical impulse, and approaching objects interfere with that impulse, which allows the hand to form to the object before touching it.
More »
microscope
Well, it might be for viewing your pocket fluff, if you've got a scientific mind and it's interesting to you. This new 'scope is a little smaller and more portable than ones we've shown before and features 24-90x zoom, a 1.8-inch LCD, 2MB of internal memory and a 300,000-pixel CMOS sensor. If you like exploring the world of the small and wiggly, then you'll have to wait as there's no info on pricing or availability. [Akihabaranews]
3R Systems ViTiny Pocket Digital Microscope, for Viewing Pocket Fluff?
Well, it might be for viewing your pocket fluff, if you've got a scientific mind and it's interesting to you. This new 'scope is a little smaller and more portable than ones we've shown before and features 24-90x zoom, a 1.8-inch LCD, 2MB of internal memory and a 300,000-pixel CMOS sensor. If you like exploring the world of the small and wiggly, then you'll have to wait as there's no info on pricing or availability. [Akihabaranews]
star wars
Do Your Own R2-D2 with Paper, Scissors and Glue
It may not be as amazing as one made out of aluminum, and you won't be able project video with it, but in a day where all news is going to be about you know what, maybe it's time to take a deep breath, turn on the ink jet printer, grab some scissors and glue and spend some quality time with your inner Force building your own R2-D2 paper robot (instead of a mini-Steve .) And it doesn't only look cool: this thing is articulated. More »
apparel
Steampunk R2-D2 T-Shirt Finally Justifies Grown Men Dressing Like They're 10
There are T-shirts and there are T-shirts. And in my humble opinion this garment has fully earned its italics. R2-D2 officially goes "steampunk" in this little parcel of cotton, though "antique" may be a better term. Or maybe "Victorian." (We don't know about this stuff, sorry. Knowledge of pre-colonial design trends was not in the job description.) More »
geek culture
Geek Gang Signs Might Get You Shot In Compton
First came Pharrell's hip-hop funk group N.E.R.D, then Chamillionaire's Ridin' (Dirty) was appropriated into White n' Nerdy, and now the disparate worlds of hip-hop culture and geekdom have crossed once again, with this poster depicting geek gang signs! More »
cia spytech
CIA Spy Gadgets Revealed: Q Ain't Got Nothin' On Langley
This week is Gizmodo's salute to CIA spy technology. What's the occasion? The May 29th release of Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to al-Qaeda, by Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton (with Henry R. Schlesinger). While we don't typically review books, this one happens to be the best we've ever seen on the subject of old-school spyware, a book the CIA itself held up for many many months before just barely deeming it safe for public consumption, a book that pretty much proves that all the freaky spy gadgetry you've seen in movies—and some that you haven't—is ALL TOTALLY REAL.
More »
10:00 AM on Wed May 21 2008
By Wilson Rothman
29,321 views,
33 comments
Latest by phoghat: @GeekyNerdGuy: OK, most of the stuff was rather fantastic plastic, but don't forget that Ian Fleming had a history with MI5 and got these ideas from somewhere. more »
star wars
Your cocktail parties will surely be the talk of the town once you acquire one of these R2-D2 ice buckets. Not only will it keep your ice nice and cold, but it'll do so using Han Solo ice cube molds, providing ice that's shaped like Solo trapped in carbonite. What ladies will be able to resist the combo of your charm, your extensive knowledge of Dr. Who episodes and a vodka soda kept cold by Han Solo? No ladies, that's who. No ladies. [The Green Head via Oh Gizmo!]
R2-D2 Ice Bucket with Han Solo Ice Molds Makes Any Drink Nerdier
Your cocktail parties will surely be the talk of the town once you acquire one of these R2-D2 ice buckets. Not only will it keep your ice nice and cold, but it'll do so using Han Solo ice cube molds, providing ice that's shaped like Solo trapped in carbonite. What ladies will be able to resist the combo of your charm, your extensive knowledge of Dr. Who episodes and a vodka soda kept cold by Han Solo? No ladies, that's who. No ladies. [The Green Head via Oh Gizmo!]
star wars
