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Gigabyte gets official with 8.9-inch M912V swivel screen netbook

Darren Murph — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:04:00 +0000

It has taken long enough, but Gigabyte finally saw fit to make official its intriguing M912V. If you'll recall, this critter popped up and caught eyes at Computex, as it's essentially a netbook with a swivel screen -- think Tablet PC, but miniature. Specs wise, you're looking at an 8.9-inch WXGA (1,280 x 768) LED-backlit panel, Intel's 1.6GHz Atom processor, a 2.5-inch HDD (120/160/250GB), 1.3-megapixel camera, twin 1.5-watt speakers, 1GB of RAM and your choice of Windows XP, Vista or Linux. Furthermore, you'll find Bluetooth, WiFi, an ExpressCard slot, a wide of array of ports and even an option for HSDPA expansion. It should be noted that there's no internal optical drive (nor a price or release date just yet), but at least Gigabyte's offering up a netbook with some inkling of innovation, right?

[Via PCLaunches]

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Water Balloon Slingshot Brings the Wet into Hot American Summers [DIY]

Elaine Chow — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:30:00 +0000

Now that we're headed deep into the middle of summer, it's time to bring out water balloons and figure out ingenious ways to fling them at your enemies. Here's a great tutorial at Instructables for making a wicked water balloon catapult using surgical tubing, a rag and other random doohickies from around the house. According to the dude responsible for this weapon of watery destruction, this shooter will never explode the water balloon prematurely, unlike some of the types you get in stores. [Instructables]

Punk Rock Robots Rock Out to Punk Rock ONLY [Rage With The Machine]

Elaine Chow — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Making robots even more hardcore, British roboticists have designed machines that will only dance to punk rock music. Standing 2 meters tall, padded in leather and decked in various punk scene insignias, the pogoing robots wait until they hear the familiar strains of anti-establishment rock before they start dancing. Is it just me, or do these things sound like they'd be a minor threat in the mosh pit?

The machines were designed by a collaboration of artists and scientists from Queen Mary University in London. They use neural networks, a collection of computer processors that function like a simple animal brain, to differentiate between Black Flag and say... Bob Marley. The result: robots that can dance to a genre of music even if they've never heard the song before. Check out the BBC link to see a video of the robots gleefully pogoing to The Fumadores. []

First Full Facebook App for Windows Mobile [Windows Mobile]

matt buchanan — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Windows Mobile users have had to look on in envy as people poked and drew penises on their friends' walls with dedicated apps for BlackBerry and Palm, wistfully hoping that joy could one day be their own. And now it is! Apparently the first full Facebook app for Windows Mobile, FriendMobilizer will let you do all of the basics like stalk your newly single friend, send messages or ignore requests from people you've never met. It's a lot greener (and uglier) than the Centro's app (which I like a lot) but hey, beggars can't be choosers. And I mean, you guys were begging for this, right? [Face of Mobile via ReadWriteWeb]

3D mammograms increase breast cancer detection by 23 percent

Joshua Fruhlinger — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:57:00 +0000

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Scientists have developed stereo mammograms -- breast X-rays taken with special cameras and at multiple angles -- that they say can help them increase detection of breast cancer by 23-percent while decreasing false alarms by 46-percent. By overlaying images taken at different angles or using 3D glasses, Researchers at the Mayo clining say they can now see behind dense tissue that would normally block potential problem areas. Since early detection is a key factor in beating breast cancer, this is an exciting new development.

[Via Slashgear]

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Flying Priest Found Dead in the Atlantic, God Positioning System Still Missing [Rip]

jesusdiaz — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:30:00 +0000

Father de Carli, the flying priest who got lost last April, has been found dead in the middle of the Atlantic. In an effort to raise funds for a local charity organization, De Carli planned to stay for more than 19 hours up in the air using a thousand party balloons, taking a GPS with him to communicate his position in case emergency. Unfortunately, the trip ended in disaster.

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The body of the priest was found yesterday by the Anna Gabriela, a tug working for Brazilian oil company Petrobras, 683 miles (1,100 kilometers) from Father De Carli's starting point. His trip started on April 20 after a mass, and his last contact was a desperate attempt to learn how to use his GPS and communicate his position as the wind took him deep into the Atlantic Ocean.

I need to contact someone who can teach me how to operate this GPS, so I can give the latitude and longitude coordinates, which is the only way that people on the ground can know where I am.

Not much of el Padre has been found, but a Petrobras official spokesman said that "his clothes and shoes indicate that it's him." And now I don't know if I should say "Godspeed, Padre De Carli" or "Another potential winner for the Darwin Awards," so I guess a "rest in peace" will do. [Bloomberg]

Solar-Powered LCD Brings TV to Anywhere the Sun Shines [Solar]

Elaine Chow — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:00:00 +0000

As part of Sharp's recent efforts to shove itself to the forefront of solar innovation, the company is showcasing a prototype of a 26-inch LCD Aquos TV that can be powered entirely by the sun. Now even the 1.6 billion people on earth without electricity won't have an excuse to miss the next season of Lost.

The set has a contrast ratio of 10000:1 and a 20mm thick display panel. It requires about 30% less power than regular LCD TVs and gets its juice from one of Sharp's triple-junction thin-film solar cell modules. The modules are about the same size as the television's screen.

Sharp plans to market the LCD and the energy system as a pair and says that its product could be a hit with both people living off the grid and environmentally-conscious consumers. The company will be exhibiting this, and other energy-saving technologies, at the G8 summit on Monday. [Physorg]

Nintendo Game & Watch collectors poked, prodded, exposed

Joshua Fruhlinger — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:20:00 +0000

Filed under: Gaming

When their moms told them that they needed hobbies, collecting Nintendo Game & Watch machines was probably not what they had in mind. We're not about to judge Andy Cole or Michael Panayiotakis, two collectors who have all 60 Game & Watch handhelds ever produced. New in box. Untouched by human hands. So why did they do it? Because they could, we suppose. In an interview by DS Fanboy, the two Game & Watch collectors are deconstructed and investigated, revealing such nuggets as once spending $1,200 on a boxed Super Mario Bros. Special Edition, keeping their products out of the sun and air, and some advice on starting a collection of your own. Hit the read link to see the collectors in action.

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Futurama: Bender’s Game DVD Preview [Futurama]

Jason Chen — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:00:00 +0000

The second Futurama DVD hasn't even stopped spinning in our drives and we're already looking forward to the third one. It's a much geekier affair than even Futurama fans are used to, as they're delving into the world of Dungeons and Dragons. Will this Ender's Game Futurama movie be any good? We're pretty sure it will, seeing as the Kirk and Spock heads are back, and that was probably one of the best episodes ever.

NASA Shows Off Fireworks In Space [July 4th]

Elaine Chow — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Before we completely bid adieu to our nation's birthday, we here at Gizmodo would like to give one more shout out to the fourth of July. Seems like even the stars in the sky can't resist putting up a display for good ol' American freedom. These red-white-and-blue pictures of Supernova remnant SN 1006 are what's left over from a star explosion first observed by humans in year 1006.

The flash in the sky is a remnant of a blast 7,000 light-years away in the Lupus constellation. Scientists say that it was the brightest observed supernova in recorded history, and that the light from the explosion could be seen in the daytime for weeks afterward.

The supernova sent a shockwave that traveled outwards at nearly 20 million mph. In the 1960s, radio astronomers first detected the ring of material pushed out by the shockwave. With the latest imagery, released by the Hubble Space Telescope's science team, you can see a gossamer stripe with starlight shining through it – the rocket's red glare indeed.

[Cosmiclog]