October 20th, 2007 — Mods, macbook, Apple
Do you own two Macbooks? Would you like to reconstruct a Pelican crossing? You could line them up against each other for said effect. However, if you want the Pelican crossing effect specifically on the keyboard area, you will have to switch all of the keys around. Why would anyone do this? We can’t say, but does the result make us feel queasy? Yes. Still, it does remind us of our crazy mad Chess skills. Don’t test us; we’ll have our bishop at E3 before you can say, “It wasn’t that impressive this year. Checkmate? I lose.” [Apple Macbok]
Original post by Haroon Malik
October 20th, 2007 — Communism, politics, Space, China
Filed under: Transportation
Chinese astronauts want to turn the vast emptiness of space a disturbing shade of red — and steal the solar wind’s precious bodily fluids — by establishing a space station, along with its very own branch of the Communist Party of China. China’s still a long way from setting up its own space station, so General Ripper hasn’t got anything to worry about just yet, although next year the country will send a three man crew into space: let us remind you that China is only the third nation on earth to achieve the feat of sending people into space. Anyway, once these “space communists” manage to set up shop in orbit, they’ll be looking forward to activities such as “learning the Party’s policies and exchanging opinions on the Party’s decisions”; potentially including discussion of the Party’s decision to send people 200 miles up, only to require they […]
Original post by Conrad Quilty-Harper
October 20th, 2007 — The South African National Defense Force, Oerlikon GDF-005, Robots
Noah over at Wired has produced a fantastic article looking into the tragedy that surrounds a recent incident, involving a robotic cannon at The South African National Defense Force, which left nine soldiers dead and fourteen more wounded. According to Noah’s article, during a training exercise last Friday (10.19.07), the cannon began to fire ammunition in an unusual manner, shortly after this initial abnormality the gun was seen to become physically jammed, an explosion then followed and finally the training device began shooting indiscriminately. The majorities of the deaths and injuries were sustained in the final, uncontrolled bout of shooting.
The official bodies in South Africa are reeling from the shock of the accident, but what caused such carnage? Initial suggestions have it that a software error was responsible for the guns errant behavior, but investigations are, as yet, at preliminary stages.
The anti-aircraft unit, an Oerlikon GDF-005, is used […]
Original post by Haroon Malik
October 20th, 2007 — kirf, keepin' it real fake, Keepin'ItRealFake, KeepinItRealFake, keepin it real fake, IpodTouch, germany, ipod touch
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
German publication Welt Online has the scoop on a killer KIRF: the Loomax Ii touch, which rips off the iPod Touch and sells for less than half the price. It has all the usual ingredients — it plays music, has a touch screen, and Apple-esque icons — but this time, Apple gives a damn. Apple spokesperson George Albrecht commented on this specific example, saying something along the lines of “we’ll examine this case closely,” which is a lot more than can be said for the multitude of other iPod rip-offs we’ve seen in our KIRF series (and beyond.)
[Thanks, David K.]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Original post by Conrad Quilty-Harper
October 20th, 2007 — messaging, Zune, Microsoft
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
We’ve gotten a small flood of emails from readers today concerned with a certain page found in last night’s leaked Zune support training manuals. The conclusion immediately drawn was that the portables would start communicating with one another via WiFi text messaging; quite the surprising revelation given the near total lack of (reasonable) text input options available in the hardware. The more likely reason why the documents would outline the ability to share songs with typed-in messages with your friends? Well, it might have something to do with that Zune Social music community site Microsoft is launching alongside the new players — you know, the one they were touting as the place where Zune users and music fans could go to meet, communicate, share tunes, create “Zune cards”, etc. Still, if Microsoft wanted to do for the Zune what Apple did with the iPod touch, […]
Original post by Ryan Block
October 20th, 2007 — Virginia, Mona Shaw, Comcast, Verizon
If there is one 75-year-old you do not want to piss off, it’s Mona Shaw. Ms Shaw was in the process of switching her phone service from Verizon to Comcast’s Triple Play, but after multiple failed attempts, she went ballistic—with a hammer! Ms Shaw vented her fury by smashing up the local Comcast payment center in Manassas, Center Street, Virginia.
As Mona went ape shit with the hammer, destroying inanimate objects around the office, she was reported to have been screaming, “Have I got your attention now?” The mental image of which has us laughing so hard we think we peed our pants a little. Ms Shaw was later arrested for disorderly behavior, after which she received a three month suspended sentence, a $345 fine and was barred from Comcast’s offices for one year.
We’ve heard that Comcast’s customer service is so pants, it was only a matter of time […]
Original post by Haroon Malik
October 20th, 2007 — Prius, MPG, Electric, mod
Filed under: Transportation
Being shown at the Clean Vehicle Technology Expo in Ontario, California is Hymotion’s modified Prius that can hit up to 150MPG in city areas. By adding a 175 pound battery pack to the trunk of a Prius — which fits conveniently under the floor panel — and charging overnight using a regular power plug, owners will be able to drive for up to 50 miles on battery power alone: that’s well over the average motorist’s daily journey. It’ll cost $9,500 including installation, but according to one of the staff at the show, half of that could be covered by rebates as part of a new electric cars bill soon to be before Congress. Onwards we go, tip toeing towards a petrol-free future.
[Thanks, I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games […]
Original post by Conrad Quilty-Harper
October 20th, 2007 — iPhone
If you’ve unlocked your iPhone (v.1.0.2), but are after that 1.1.1 update, a new method has been found to “rivirginize” the phone to the factory locked state. Be warned: we do not think this is ready for the mainstream just yet, despite the excellent guidance manual. [Hackintosh]
Original post by Haroon Malik
October 20th, 2007 — Peterbilt, OptimusPrime, Replica, eBay, Optimus Prime
Filed under: Transportation
Focusing on the untransformed Optimus Prime is this $50k replica that has hit eBay’s Canada store. The seller converted a 1994 Peterbilt into Hollywood’s version of Optimus, complete with blue and red flame paint job, dozens of chrome switches, and a 17-inch entertainment system floating above the bunk in the back (and yes, the bunk has those Transformer sheets you had when you were 10 years old.)
[Thanks, Jonny B.]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Original post by Conrad Quilty-Harper
October 20th, 2007 — social, text messaging, Corrections, Wi-Fi, Zune, Zune 2, Microsoft
Original post by Haroon Malik