Gizmodo

Second Generation Pet Rock is USB-Powered, Still Does Nothing [USB]

Rosa Golijan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:20:00 -0500

Maybe I'm just not a good pet owner, but I never understood the original Pet Rock. Mine just sat there holding down papers on my desk and refused to eat. Looks like this USB-powered one doesn't do much either.

Like the tauntaun sleeping bag, the USB Pet Rock is another case of an April Fools Day joke turning into a real product. This is the joke video from earlier in the year:

You can order your own USB Pet Rock for $10 at ThinkGeek. Just don't ask me to tell you what to do with it. I still try to feed Fido without success. [ThinkGeek via OhGizmo!]

Cylon Cake: I Got Dibs On The Working Red Eye [Cake]

Sean Fallon — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:00:00 -0500

Kudos to the talented chefs behind this Cylon cake with a working red eye. Of course, I wouldn't want to be the one cutting this thing up with a knife. [SciFi Wire]

Get Your Hands on a Non-Functioning WETA Ray Gun [Ray Guns]

Adam Frucci — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:20:00 -0500

WETA, the special effects studio behind movies such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has a new line of prop rayguns, and they're actually sort of affordable this time.

WETA has been selling incredible ray guns for a while now, but they've run into the hundreds of dollars range. The new line, Dr. Grordbort's Rayguns, are made of molded plastic instead of metal, bringing those prices down to a less-unreasonable $40-$115. And they look pretty awesome to me. If you're looking to spring on a nerdy toy for your desk, you could do a lot worse. [Dr. Grordbort's Rayguns via Boing Boing]

DIY Light Bulb Planters and Mini Terrariums Bring Too Many Puns [DIY]

Rosa Golijan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:40:00 -0500

The ever-present flower on my desk sits in a skinny vase that doesn't exactly scream I'm-kinda-geeky-but-hey-it's-ok-because-I-make-cool-things. Time to start using a funky DIY planter or mini terrarium made of repurposed light bulbs. Maybe the what-a-bright-idea puns will be a bonus.

Check out the Instructables guide for details on how to hollow out light bulbs and build the necessary stands without cutting up your hands. There are even some bonus light bulb projects on there.

Now, how about a few "How many ___ does it take to change a light bulb" jokes before you run off to DIY? [Instructables]

Do You Know When Fedex Drops Your Package? Senseaware Does [Tracking]

Jason Chen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:21:03 -0500

Package-tracking sensors aren't super new, but Senseaware is one that's unique because it tracks multiple criteria—temperature, location, drops and light exposure—and updates those to the web constantly. Useful when you're transporting organs and not MP3 players.

Senseaware is going to be using these sensors in the medical transport field, who distribute organs on a regular basis, and offer it as a simple drop-in addition to the package. How this affects you is that Fedex is working on lowering the price so that not-so-essential packages can also get the same detailed tracking. [Fast Company]

Google Search's New Interface Being Tested Now [Rumors]

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:13:00 -0500

The rumors published last week may be true after all: Google is testing a new search interface on random people, as these screenshots from Gizmodo reader Matt Karolian confirm.

Like the Google Wave-inspired interface for Gmail, the new user interface is cleaner and bolder than the current version, offering more options to the user. It may still be far from deployment, however, but it's good to see some changes after so many years of same all same all.

Car Gifts Too Dangerous To Actually Use While Driving [Gift Guide]

Brian Lam — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:00:00 -0500

Theoretically, we shouldn't drive while playing with gadgets. But at stop lights and while we're waiting for roadtrip passengers to finish buying cornchips at the gas station quickmart, well, OK.

BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the Grinch hated Christmas, click here.

Scrolling LED Message Sign With Remote: There's so much to say to your fellow drivers on the road that the finger, two signal directions, high beams and horns don't cover. Can you really put a price on the ability to articulate "YOU DRIVE LIKE SHIT", "PLEASE SIGNAL", "DO NOT TAILGATE" and "PLEASE LEAVE THE FAST LANE IF YOU ARE DRIVING 50MPH". $40 [Thinkgeek]

Valentine One Radar Detector: It's still the best radar detector. With sensors forward and aft and an increasing frequency of beeps correlating to strength of signal, you can tell if smokey was passing you on the highway, is creeping up from behind or is sitting dead forward in a speed trap. $400 [ValentineOne]

MiFi Wi-Fi 3G Wireless Router: Car internet was but a dream. Then people started cludging together routers and 3G cards, and it was a little bit more of a nightmare. The little MiFi runs on Verizon's reliable 3G network, supports a few clients and has more than enough Wi-Fi range for your car (or a giant RV). Since it fits in the palm of your hand, stashing it under a seat or in a glovebox is easy. We don't recommend hard wiring these things, either, since they run off batteries for awhile, too. $100 with two year $60 contract [Mifi on Giz]

Duracell Powerpack 450 Talking Portable Power Unit: This portable battery has enough 110v power to run a laptop for 8 hours, jump start a car and inflate tires with its built in air compressor. It also has built in voice prompts to walk you through the process of jump starting, in case you or your loved ones don't remember if its black before red or the other way around. $120 Bonus: Black and Decker's 200-watt inverter turns your 12v cigarette adapter into a 110volt plug for $35. [Duracell Powerpack on Giz]

Wagan Ergo Comfort Rest Heated Massage Car Seat Cushion: The good doctor has made this 12v car seat cover that heats and massages. Knowing the power output a 12v plus is capable of, I'm doubtful this thing will do anything but get warm and vibrate a little bit. But if you need a car cover, a few degrees and some artificially induced butt modulation never made a long car ride any worse. And for $33, it's not such a big risk. [Amazon]

Wavebox Car Microwave/cooler: I don't think this is a good idea. I just think it's kind of cool to be able to make popcorn while you drive. I mean, with the proper in-dash DVD system, I'm halfway to feeling better that drive-in movie theaters are dead. Halfway. I wouldn't rank this a do not buy, but I wouldn't want you to ignore the 1.5 star Amazon rating, either. $300 [Wavebox on Giz, Amazon]

DON'T BUY My Pee Pee Bottle: A nalgene-style bottle for peeing in on road trips. Bad idea. Just pull over — you're not on the Cannonball Run nor are you some trucker late for his interstate Ikea drop off. Just pull over! [Jalopnik]

DON'T BUY Top of the Line Garmin GPS: The Nuvi 1690 is great. It has wireless search and traffic, lane suggestion and a Bluetooth speakerphone with dialing for your cellphone. It's also $500 and is a total waste of money. Smartphones are going to replace these sorts of connected GPS. One day. For now, a good touchscreen GPS should be bought from Garmin by checking prices to see what's on sale for a little over $100. Like this Nuvi 260W that is on sale for $117. For GPS apps, we recommend the free and built-in Google Maps Navigation program on Android, and Motion X GPS for the iPhone, which is a great value at $25 per year. (But not a very visceral good gift, as an app, especially since there are subscription fees after awhile.)

Don't forget to recommend your own favorite Car Gadget in comments-include pics and pricing if possible.

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favorite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We'll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

CoPilot Live GPS App Is $20 During Thanksgiving Special [Dealzmodo]

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:36:06 -0500

ALK is dropping the price of CoPilot Live North America from $35 down to $20, starting tomorrow. Since CoPilot was already our favorite non-subscription budget GPS app, this is nice to hear.

We're not sure when the sale ends—maybe ALK hasn't decided—but if you have at least a marginal interest in GPS apps for your iPhone or Android, it might be time to plunk down some cash for it. $20 ain't free, and CoPilot's looks sometimes verge on gaudy, but it's a competent, frequently updated app, and now a steal compared to even the cheapest subscription GPS app. [Android Version; iPhone Version; iTunes Link]

Verizon Whines About Sprint's "Most Dependable" Claims [Advertising]

Rosa Golijan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:31:14 -0500

Apparently Verizon has gotten cocky after its court victory over AT&T and decided it wants an encore. This time the wireless provider is playing the bully as it demands that Sprint cease claiming that it's "America's most dependable 3G network."

Sprint isn't giving in to the request and is proceeding to argue independent test results. I quite frankly don't care whether they give in, keep the claim, or change it to say that they're the best thing since sliced bread. I just want reliable service and calls that actually go through. [Electronista]

How Your Brain Will Betray You in a Court of Law [Crime]

matt buchanan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:20:00 -0500

I know it's science, which is ostensibly more objective than human intuition, but there's something unnerving about an MRI brain scan being admitted as evidence in a murder trial in Chicago, the first in the US.

True, here the fMRI is being used by the defense as a means to elude the death penalty, and only in the sentencing portion of the trial—not as a tool of conviction, as a dubious EEG scan was used to convict a woman of murder in India last year. Specifically, the fMRI scan is being submitted as evidence that the defendant Brian Dugan's brain is abnormal—psychopathic—and so he shouldn't be subject to the death penalty. The jury disagreed, but took 10 hours to reach the decision that the state should kill Dugan for his crime. Without the scan, Dugan's defense attorney says it would've take them an hour.

It's kind of hard to grasp, conceptually, looking inside somebody's brain, literally peering into their mind. It's something from fiction, something paranormal—mind readers and psychics—as a means of detection, a means of determining right and wrong, truth and lies. Brain scans to determine how much punishment your crime merits logically leads into brain scans that figure out whether or not you committed the crime, into scans that reveal every crime you have committed, a persistent and inescapable confessional. What secrets would your brain spill? [Science Mag via Wired]

Don't Miss Objectified on PBS Tonight [Movies]

Rosa Golijan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:14:15 -0500

We've shown you Jonathan Ive's segment in Objectified before, but the whole movie is on PBS later tonight. Check out PBS for the schedule and watch the fantastic Ives clip once more while you wait. [PBS via Michael Gartenberg]

What Word Would You Use To Classify Your Relationship With Gadgets? [Question Of The Day]

Sean Fallon — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:40:00 -0500

Passionate? Combative? Maybe even...sexy? Pick a word, any word, to describe your relationship with gadgets and share it in the comments.

The Perfect Solution for Leg Room in Airplanes [Cartoon]

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:00:00 -0500

Looking at the most recent solutions to save space in airplanes, I wouldn't be surprised about this being the future of air travel. Add astronaut leggings to every hole, and you are done. [Runway Girl]

Gift Guide for Space Jockeys [Gift Guide]

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:20:54 -0500

Hey you, Ground Controls and Major Toms orbiting out there! If you're a space aficionado or know someone who'd like to blast into the cosmos, it's time to take your protein pills. Here's the definitive go/no-go holiday gift list.

Click here to see all the gifts in a single page.

From the Earth to the Moon - The Signature Edition: This is one of my favorite TV series of all time. It's well scripted, acted, filmed, and directed, to the point in which you will get glassy eyes at some of the most dramatic and epic moments. My favorite is still the episode in which Apollo 12 arrives at the Moon, perhaps the most anticlimactic moment in the history of space travel. Even if you watched this on TV, each of the 12 episodes are a must to fully understand the titanic scope, knowledge, and courage that took humans into their trip from the Earth to the Moon. $15 [Amazon]

Lego Saturn V: This one is a given: Saturn V + command module + lunar module + lunar rover + Lego = Insane win. I wish it was as big as the gigantic Millennium Falcon, but it's good enough as it is. Everyone will like the set, and it's a perfect way to celebrate the 40 Anniversary of humankind's first trip to the Moon. $139 [Amazon]

Moonfire: At $1500, this is one very expensive book. But it has a real lunar rock inside. Not all of them, however: Only 12 of its limited-edition 1969 (numbered from 1958 to 1968). And the moon rock is not from the Apollo mission, but from a certified meteor. Alternatively, you can always buy the beautiful—and a lot cheaper at $31—Full Moon. $1500 [Taschen]

Trip to the Kennedy Space Center to watch a shuttle launch: Going to the Kennedy Space Center is always fun. Going to see a launch and feel the ground tremble below your feet while the sky fires up in Halloween orange and chimney red? Simply amazing. Going to watch one of the last shuttle launches next year? An absolute must. If you give this trip to any space aficionado out there, he or she will love you forever. $38 adult/$28 child for the admission ticket, add $21 adult/$15 child for guided tour, plus cost of flight and hotel. [Kennedy Space Center]

NASA Flight Jacket: The other day I got a real USAF fighter pilot jacket at a second hand shop. I wish I had that for a perfectly dorky Tom Cruise impression at the Dubai Air Show. This NASA Flight Jacket is the next best thing. Kind of. And it comes with all the patches. You only have to provide the Right Stuff. $79.99 [The Space Shop]

American Optics Pilot Eyeglasses: OK, so you got the jacket. Now you need the sunglasses. Forget about Ray-Bans. These American Optics' Original Pilot Sunglasses are the real thing, used by astronauts since the beginning of the human space program. You can choose different colors, lenses, and temples at their web site. Unfortunately, they no longer make the yellow bayonet model used by Michael Collins during the Apollo 11. Those are my favorites (pictured here). $70. [American Optics]

IMPOSSIBLE Ride in the Space Shuttle: Even if you had all the money in the world, NASA would never let you ride the shuttle. A Soyuz spacecraft, sure, but no space shuttle. Nosir, no big bang for you on top of this Reagan era wonder. You will have to enjoy this video and get over it, because sadly it wouldn't happen even if you were Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and JesusChrist all rolled into one. No price tag. [NASA]

DON'T BUY Astronaut ice cream: This thing is disgusting. I want to like it every time I try it, but it has the most horrible taste. Maybe they should clean those astronauts more throughly before making ice cream with them. Die space ice cream, die! Give me Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie any day. $4 [The Space Shop]

Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy [Prof. Dealzmodo]

Sean Fallon — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:30:00 -0500

Black Friday may be when prices drop, but if you've carefully read the list of deals, you can tell it's also a BS marketing gimmick. Here's how not to get fooled (plus, what gadgets to avoid at any price):

In other words, many of these "deals" really aren't deals at all. Often, Black Friday sale products are priced differently between stores, or they are priced at or above deals you can find elsewhere any day of the week. You might see a particularly juicy deal in a flyer on a big ticket item like an HDTV, only to discover that the store only had a few units to sell. The bottom line is that you need to do your homework, and this is a good place to start.

After digging through a mind-numbing quantity of deals, I came away with a few impressions about how some major retailers do business. Simply put, they are taking advantage of the herd mentality. Losses taken on truly great deals (which are often in limited quantities), are made up by selling high volume products or crap products at or above their normal retail value.

The companies examined here have different angles on Black Friday, though. Amazon always has volatile pricing, so some of its Black Friday prices are already above the current going rates. Besides that, because it shows you its own prices and prices of its third-party vendors during searches, sometimes its own prices look high. Walmart has great prices, but you have to watch out for crappy products. And Sears and Best Buy, well, they just have bad deals—many of the hottest items on their list are available cheaper right now at other retailers.

The way I see it, your odds of scoring a big-time deal at a brick-and-mortar store are slim, and catching the best deal online is often based entirely on timing, maybe even watching the price of a product over an extended period of time. So this year I plan on skipping the crowds (and a potential trampling) on Black Friday in favor of shopping through some online comparison engines, setting up price alerts and doing some price trending analysis to give myself the best chance of scoring real deals.

The following lists feature some of worst deals on hardware offered up by four major retailers. At the bottom is a supplemental list of products you should avoid at all costs.

Best Buy

While Best Buy's offerings during Black Friday are decent, there are an alarming number of instances where they are getting beat on the price—sometimes badly.

• Cellphones: Motorola Droid priced at $199.99 w/contract, available at Dell Mobility for $120.
• Cellphones: Motorola H710 Noise-Canceling Bluetooth Headset priced at $39.99, currently available from Wireless Emporium (via Amazon) for about the same price with shipping.
• Electronics: Bose in-ear headphones priced at $89.99, found on Amazon for $89.95 right now with free shipping.
• Home Theater: Monster HDMI Cable priced at $49.95, see our piece on the Truth About Monster Cable
• Home Theater: Sony 7.1 Channel 770-Watt A/V Receiver priced at $279.99, currently available on Amazon for $262.91
• Home Theater: Samsung Home Theater System priced at $399.99, currently available at Best Buy and Amazon for the same price.
• Televisions: Sony 46" 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV priced at $852.99, but on Black Friday, Walmart will sell it for $798
• Televisions: Sony 40" 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV priced at $662.99; Walmart's Black Friday price is $598
• Televisions: Samsung 42" 720p Plasma HDTV priced at $547.99, only $2 cheaper than current Amazon price with free shipping
• Televisions: Samsung 40" 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV priced at $597.99, only $2 cheaper than current Dell price with free shipping
• Televisions: Samsung 32" 720p LCD HDTV priced at $397.99, only $2 cheaper than current Amazon price with free shipping
• Portable Storage: Sandisk Cruzer 8GB priced at $19.99, available at Office Depot and Office Max for $14.99
• Blu-ray: Samsung BD-P4600 Blu-ray Disc Player priced at $279.99, available online for $278.75 with free shipping
• Blu-ray: Samsung BD-P1600 Blu-ray Disc Player priced at $149.99, currently available from Amazon for the same price with free shipping
• Digital Media Cards: Sandisk 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo priced at $14.99, on Black Friday available from Staples for $12.99
• Digital Media Cards: Sandisk 8GB SD Card priced at $19.99, on Black Friday available from several retailers for $14.99
• Digital Cameras: Nikon Coolpix P90 priced at $299.99, currently available at Adorama (via Amazon) for the same price with free shipping

Walmart

Not surprisingly, Walmart is pretty good about setting the lowest prices. They don't always have the most eye popping offerings, but their deals are solid. Out of their Black Friday electronics lineup, I only found a few questionable (and relatively minor) issues.

• Blu-ray: The hot $78 Magnavox NB500 Blu-ray Disc Player deal is well priced, but keep in mind that this is the same player they have discounted during the holidays for the last couple of years. It's great for entry-level users, but don't expect streaming Netflix or Amazon on demand, or any of the other features found in sub-$200 Blu-ray players.
• Digital Media Cards: Sony 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo priced at $20, available from ABX ProTech (via Amazon) for $13.63 with shipping
• Electronics: Philips 6-foot HDMI cable priced at $19. While that's still a lot cheaper than Monster cable, it's overpriced. You can get cable just as good at Monoprice.com or Amazon for under $4.

Sears

Sears has something of a reputation for bad Black Friday deals, and this year appears to be more of the same. Looking through their offerings, I noticed a significant number of electronics being sold at or above prices that you can find at other retailers on any given week.

• Digital Cameras: Sony DCR-SR47 60GB Hard Disk Drive Camcorder priced at $299.99, on Black Friday available at Best Buy for $249.99
• Televisions: Sony 52" LCD HDTV (Model KDL52V5100) priced at $1599.99, available for less than $1400 from several online retailers with free shipping
• Televisions: Sony 46" LCD HDTV (Model KDL46V5100) priced at $1239.99, available for less than $1000 from several online retailers with free shipping
•Televisions: Sony 40" 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV priced at $664.99, on Black Friday available at Walmart for $598
• Televisions: Samsung 55" LED HDTV (Model UN55B6000) priced at $2469.99, currently available at or below that price from several online retailers with free shipping
• Televisions: Samsung 50" Plasma HDTV (Model PN50B530) priced at $899.99, currently available from Crutchfield for the same price with free shipping
• Televisions: Samsung 46" LED HDTV (Model UN46B6000) priced at $1599.99, currently available via ecomelectronics for $1574.95 with free shipping
• Televisions: Samsung 46" 1080P Class LCD HDTV (Model LN46B500) priced at $899.99, on Black Friday available for $848 at Walmart and Best Buy
• MP3 Players: GPX 4GB MP3/4 Player priced at $32.99, available from Kmart for $24.99
• Home Theater: Sony Bravia 5.1 Channel 1000 Watt Integrated Home Theater System DAV-HDX589 priced at $329.99, available at Best Buy for $279.99
• Home Theater: Panasonic Blu-Ray Home Theater System (Model SC-BT200) priced at $399.99, currently available at 6ave (via Amazon) for $376.84 with free shipping
• GPS: Magellan RoadMate 1220 GPS priced at $89.99, on Black Friday available at Kmart for $84.99
• Blu-ray: Sony BDP-S360 Blu-ray Disc Player priced at $149.99, on Black Friday available via Target with a $20 gift card and currently priced at Amazon for $133.89 with shipping
• Blu-ray: Samsung BD-P1600 Blu-ray Disc Player priced at $149.99, currently available from Amazon for the same price with free shipping
• Digital Media Cards: Sony 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo priced at $12.99, currently $12.82 on Amazon with shipping

Amazon

While I expected Amazon's prices to fluctuate from one minute to the next, I did not expect some of their current prices to be far below the price they planned to offer as part of their Black Friday deal. It's almost like they are using Black Friday fever as an opportunity to jack up the profits on certain items. Both price points are competitive, but it appears that scoring the best deal is more about price trending over an extended period of time than it is about Black Friday. Amazon also has a funny situation with its third-party retailers. You can see in the list below that many partners are already underselling Amazon's Black Friday prices. It's a good issue to have if you're in the market for particular items—provided you trust the third-party retailer.

• Computers: ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook priced at $349.99, amazingly it is currently available on Amazon for $339.99—so the promoted Black Friday price is $10 higher.
• Computers: Samsung N120-12GW 10.1-Inch White Netbook priced at $363.32, again, Amazon is selling it cheaper right now—only $319
• Computers: Toshiba Satellite T135-S1307 TruBrite 13.3-Inch Ultrathin Black Laptop priced at $699.99, selling on Amazon right now for $599.99
• Electronics: Archos 5 250 GB Internet Media Tablet priced at $259.95, currently selling on Amazon for $229.99
• GPS: DeLorme Earthmate PN-30 Green Handheld GPS priced at $224.37, currently selling on Amazon for $179.99
• GPS: DeLorme Earthmate PN-30 Realtree Handheld GPS priced at $236, currently selling on Amazon for $179.99
• GPS Garmin Nüvi 780 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with MSN Direct Service priced at $179.99, important to note that MSN Direct is shutting down in 2011
• GPS: Magellan RoadMate 1220 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator priced at $96.94, currently available on Amazon for $89.99
• GPS: Magellan RoadMate 1440 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator priced at $149, currently available on Amazon $138.91 with shipping
• GPS: Magellan RoadMate 1470 4.7-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator priced at $149, currently available from Electronics Expo (via Amazon) for $139.39 with shipping
• Home Theater: Denon S-32 Internet Radio with Built-in Speakers and 2-Alarm Clock priced at $319, currently available from One Call (via Amazon) for $299
• Television: LG 37LH55 37-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV priced at $866.97, currently available from Adorama (via Amazon) for $849.99
• Television: Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P42G10 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV priced at $909.69, currently available on Amazon for $897.87 with shipping Update: price jumped overnight to $916.42

The Worst Gadgets of The Year

There are bad deals, and then there are bad products. Except where otherwise noted, the gadgets in the lists above are more or less worth it if you can find the best prices. The stuff below appear under the Worstmodo tag; it's the stuff we don't want to see any of you people buying. We've mentioned a bunch more Don't Buy products our continuing gift guide series, but here are the most egregious offenders of the year.

TwitterPeek: If you are going to make a gadget that only handles Twitter, it had damn sure better provide an experience that outstrips what I could do with just about any ordinary cellphone. By most accounts, the TwitterPeek fails in this regard. If you spend $99 for 6-months or $200 for a lifetime of service on this, you have lost your mind.

Garmin Nuvifone G60 GPS Phone: As our review clearly states, the Garmin Nuvifone G60 should be taken out back and put out of its misery. Besides functioning poorly, it charges you for what other devices can do better, and for free.

Sony PRS-600 Touch Edition Reader: Sony has long been a proponent of the e-ink ebook, but they keep messing it up by overlaying it with a resistive touchscreen. The trouble is glare—even in the gentle light of a reading lamp, you can see your reflection as you try to make out the page. Some reviewers don't mind this for some reason, but we do, and besides, with so many ebook options out there, why settle for a compromised machine? (We haven't reviewed the upcoming Sony PRS-900 Daily Edition, but we have been told that the touchscreen is constructed the same. This is bad news for Sony. Steer clear!)

Windows Mobile 6.5: With the bar being set by the iPhone and Android, and the Palm Pre doing a nice job of keeping up, Microsoft needed to get their act together with Windows Mobile if they really wanted to compete. The 6.5 update doesn't bring anything new to the table outside of some UI tweaks. As we noted in our review, it's a major letdown...and then some.

Panasonic SDR-SW21 Waterproof Camera: Despite a $400 price tag, the SDR-SW21 takes 640x480 SD video and 0.3MP stills, putting it the same league as some of the crappiest cameraphones. It's also billed as being waterproof and rugged, but can only be used at depths above 6-feet. A complete piece of garbage, pure and simple.

CatGenie Litter Box: A litter box that does all the cleaning for you sounds like a cat lover's dream come true—that is until you realize that the CatGenie creates as many problems as it solves. It cleans up well, but it's also an enormous, power sucking money pit. Check out our review for the full details.

Cell-Mate Hands Free Cellphone Holder: How could wearing a Bluetooth headset in public make you look like a bigger idiot? Answer: when the Bluetooth is coming from the phone strapped to your head. The product page doesn't explain where you can actually buy one of these cellphone-holding headsets, but if you come across the Cell-Mate in the wild, just keep on walking.

[Image via Flickr]

Offline Gmail Gets Attachment Support [Gmail]

Sean Fallon — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:29:00 -0500

According to Google, one of the most requested features for offline Gmail users was the ability to include attachments in emails. Well, that problem has been solved.

Starting today, users can attach all types of files—except images embedded in the body of the email. These messages now go through the outbox when you're online or offline, allowing Gmail to capture the attachment either way. [Gmail Blog via TechCrunch]

Ecomodo - The Best of Treehugger [Roundups]

Jaymi Heimbuch — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:28:00 -0500

RoboClams, stylish solar speakers, compressed air cars...and if that's not enough for you, make nano solar cells from powdered donuts!

Cheap 3D Solar Cells Are 6x More Efficient, Work Underground
Scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology have created the world's first 3-D photovoltaic solar system that actually works underground.

Drool-Worthy Wooden Mouse Has Debatable Eco-Credentials
This absolutely gorgeous AlestRukov wooden mouse is usually the type of gadget we love to see, but unfortunately we're on the fence about just how eco-friendly it is. Weigh in...

Is There a Future for Compressed Air Cars?
A new study published in Environmental Research Letters pours some cold water on those who think that compressed air cars are the future.

Razor Clams are Inspiration for RoboClam, a Robotic Sand-Digging Anchor (Video)
Scientists have taken a keen look at the mighty clam and have come up with a robot that can mimic how the clam digs itself into the sand, named, aptly, the RoboClam.

TED Talk - 13th Century Astrolabe, the First Popular Computers
Sometimes event the newest gadgets are overshadowed by really, really old gadgets. Ancient technology is amazing, and Tom Wujec shows the astrolabe, one of the earliest computing gadgets.

Qualcomm's Upcoming e-Reader Will Mimic Butterfly Wings for Energy-Sipping Color Displays (Video)
This technology which uses butterfly wings for inspiration for creating ultra low energy, ultra bright color displays will play a prominent role in the new e-reader, which might just give theKindle and Nook a run for their money.

How to Make Nano Solar Cells from Powdered Donuts (Video)
In addition to powdered donuts, you'll need some Passion tea from Starbucks and a bottle of Everclear. Enjoy.

Are Solar Chargers Turning Into Flowers? Beautiful iPetals Concept May Set Trend
Designers seem to be setting a new trend for solar chargers, turning small scale renewable gadget charging into something resembling a bouquet of flowers.

Regan's Beautiful (and Big) Reverb Solar Powered Speakers
The super sexy Reverb can play between 20 and 40 hours on a full charge. And this is no wimpy counter-top speaker, either.

GoodGuide's Newest iPhone App Lets You Scan Barcodes In Stores And Get the Scoop on Products
GoodGuidehas announced the first iPhone application that scans barcodes to "provide impartial health, environment and social responsibility ratings of products and companies." And what's more - it's free.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Video Surfaces of Man Taking Anime Video Game Character To Be His Lawfully Wedded Wife [Gaming]

Sean Fallon — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:27:36 -0500

As promised, the wedding ceremony between a man named Sal9000 and Nene Anegasaki, a character from the Nintendo DS game Love Plus, was filmed and broadcast across the internet. It's predictably sad.

Fortunately, a shred of hope for humanity was preserved when it was revealed that Sal9000 orchestrated the event as a piece of performance art—although it is unclear how serious he is actually taking the relationship. Apparently, he has sexed up his fair share of virtual girlfriends, so it is probably only a matter of time before technology progresses and he finds himself another woman with bigger and better...rendering. [Boing Boing]

Name Your Own Forum Section - Need More Entries [Announcements]

Jason Chen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:12:17 -0500

As you know, our comments recently got overhauled to allow you to contribute and make commenting pages of your own. Now we're making an entirely new section just for you guys to talk. And we want you to name it.

Which comment tag would you like to have your discussions under? For example, we have lots of tips under the tips tag, and that's the way the forum tag is going to look. A couple ideas that could work are #jibberjabber and #discussion, but we wanted to make it open to YOU, since YOU are the ones that are going to be using it.

So give some suggestions in the comments. Try and make it tech themed, since this is Gizmodo after all.

Update: We need more entries for this, so keep them coming. And keep it semi-serious, since you know we won't name our chat section something super absurd. Oh, and stay away from chatmodo. We don't want to make everything we do *modo.

Black Friday 2009 Projections Are Go! [Infographic]

Mark Wilson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0500

Mint.com analyzed the shopping patterns of a million users going into Black Friday, and they condensed their findings in this still-giant infographic. (Things are looking up.) The big winners? Electronics and luxury outlets, like Neiman Marcus. [Mint via FastCompany]

Gifts For Pets Owned By Geeks Who Treat Them Like Spoiled Children [Gift Guide]

Brian Lam — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:20:00 -0500

In all honesty, this entire list is a "do not buy" for normal people, but I love my dogs beyond reason. So, here are some unreasonable gifts for them, your pets and your pet loving geek friends.

BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the Grinch hated Christmas, click here.

Remote Fetch: Ball chasing is very good exercise for pooches, even if it can cause obsession and anti social tendencies that will result in thousands of dollars in dog therapy. Capable of being remote triggered at 7 or 15 second intervals, or just automatically throwing balls your dog drops in the bucket, it might be worth the trouble. Think of it as the equivalent of a video game for a dog. And it's better than a doggie treadmill, which you can't really leave a dog unsupervised on for very long. $120 [Remote Fetch]

Hotdoll:Ugh! Someone actually went and turned the hotdoll dog sex doll concept into an actual product. The doll has a silicon...nevermind. We had one at Gizmodo Gallery and one owner brought one in to see if their dog—that loves humping—would hump it. He did not. I guess just like real people, it takes a flexible sexual orientation to find comfort in inanimate figurines. Price TBD [Hotdoll on Giz]

Indiana Jones and Star Wars Dog Costumes: Remember when Indiana Jones shot that guy with the swords in Temple of Doom? What if, no, listen, wait, what if Harrison Ford was a dog and in that scene and, instead of shooting the assassin, he used teeth! And, like in Star Wars, instead of light sabers, they had swords made of bones. Oh man, hilarious! Earnestly, these costumes are the only items on this list you should legitimately buy for your dogs. Roughly $14 each. [SpoiledRottenDoggies]

Autofetch Motion Pet Ball: It looks like the famous Super Happy Fun Ball* from Saturday Night Live sketches in the 90s, and although not radioactive, the Autofetch ball acts freakishly similar. The motorized dog toy takes a cookie and then spins around, wildly, til batteries go out, or your dog goes insane and crushes the life out of it. Recommended! *Do not taunt! $27 for two. [Autofetch]

Bissell SpotBot Pet: Puppy training is basically like potty training a kid, except your whole apartment is the diaper. Here we have a steam cleaner that sprays cleaning solution to the mess on your carpet, a rotating brush that scrubs while the vacuuming action drinks—sorry, that may have not been the best choice of word—up the dirty water, storing it in a reservoir for disposal later. Basically, it's an automatic poop/vomit/pee cleaner. I'm surprised they don't make one for frat boys. $140 [Bissell]
Catgenie: Look, I know I said this whole list is a bunch of things you shouldn't buy, but this is the one you should especially not buy: CatGenie is basically an automatic literbox that takes 45 minute to cycle out the poop. Until humans engineer smarter pets that can be potty trained, there is no tech that can avoid domestic animal excrement handling. $329 [Catgenie review]

Sleepypod Air: This is a travel bag for little animals. What makes it different from other bags is that it has special deceptive fold-in panels that squash your animal while going through security checkpoints, so no one can tell you your bag is too big. (Don't worry, I don't think it'll kill your cat.) Then, after you board, it expands a few inches but fits under a chair. It also has a slot for slipping through a rolling luggage handle, so the bag can rest on top, and has seatbelt clips for placing it in car seats. $150 [Sleepypod Air]

The Hydroglass: For those who believe fish are pets, even though you can't hug them, I'd find it hard to believe you could do better than this fish tank, which has a seven-head horizontal shower on top. $14,500 [Hydroglass]

Don't forget to recommend your own favorite pet gifts in comments-include pics and pricing if possible.

No, This Is Not Another Slow Shutter Photography Trick [Image Cache]

John Herrman — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:00:58 -0500

As much as the Artikcar looks like it was drawn with light during a 20-second photo exposure, it's actually a real thing: a rolling, glowing, neon-enveloped quad bike.

Neon (or more likely, fiber optic) framing aside, the Artikcar sounds like it'd actually pretty fun to ride. Powered (obviously) by pedal, the Artikcar is steered by passenger leaning, rather than any kind of hand-control mechanism.

Be the star of your very own rolling neon sign. It's what you've always wanted. [Deezen]

Gadget Deals of the Day [Dealzmodo]

Kyle VanHemert — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0500

What we're now entering isn't the holiday season but is, rather, the season of deals. That means that Black Friday is drawing nigh, gifts must be given, and you can count on Dealzmodo posts to be plump with savings.

Top Deals:
• 12" Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Mobile Laptop for $767 plus free shipping (normally $1,399 - use coupon code USPBLKFRIDAY).
• Left For Dead 2 (360) for $39.99 plus free shipping (normally $55).
• Customized 20 Page Photography Book for $0 (normally $40 - use coupon code BONNIE).

Home Entertainment:
• 52" Samsung LN52B630 Red ToC 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV for $1,349 plus free shipping (normally $1,429 - use coupon code LN52B630).
• 50" Panasonic TC-P50C1 VIERA Plasma HDTV for $650 plus free shipping (normally $800).
• 46" Sony BRAVIA KDL-46V5100 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV + PS3 Slim 120GB for $999.98 plus free shipping (normally $1,250).
• 46" Samsung LN46B630 1080p 120Hz LCD TV for $999.00 plus free shipping (normally $1087 - use coupon code LN46B630).
• 32" Samsung LN32B460 720p LCD TV for $449.00 plus free shipping (normally $483 - use coupon code LN32B460).
• 19" Samsung LN19B650 Gray ToC 720p LCD HDTV for $239 plus free shipping (normally $285).
• Sharp Aquos BDHP21U Blu-ray Player for $110 shipped (normally $137).
• Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote for $150 plus free shipping (normally $179).
• Klipsch WB-14 Espresso Bookshelf Speakers for $248 plus free shipping (normally $523).
• Logitech Harmony ONE Advanced Universal Remote w/ Touchscreen for $119.99 plus free shipping (normally $179).

Hobomodo:
• Customized 20 Page Photography Book for $0 (normally $40 - use coupon code BONNIE).
• Ryko: Flash Of Light 9 Song Sampler for $0 (download here).
• Neocell Fighters (iPhone/iPod Touch) for $0 (normally $.99).
• Hidden Expedition: Everest (PC) for $0 (normally $6.99 - use coupon code EVERESTFREE).
• PS3 Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Beta Key Code for $0 (use this form).
• Small Chocolate Pinkberry with equivalent purchase for $0 (use this form).
• Subscription to Yachts International for $0 (use this form).
• MP3 from Amazon-Ziggy Marley/Walk Tall for $0 (use this form).
• Redbox DVD Movie Rental for $0 (use coupon code:DLLNS26 and this form).

If a deal looks too good to be true, investigate the store and see if it's a good, reputable place to buy. Safe shopping!

[Thanks TechDealDigger, Dealzon, Logic Buy, GamerHotline, Cheap College Gamers, CheapStingyBargains and TechBargains.]

Palm Pre Experiencing Big Ol' Backup Failures [Palm Pre]

Adam Frucci — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:58:21 -0500

If you've been backing up your Pre, you might think that if you, say, drop it in the toilet, you'll be set to have all your data placed on a replacement. That might not be the case.

It looks like the Palm Profile has been having issues with corrupted backups, leaving users trying to restore from a backup without their data. It's not everyone who's had this problem, just more people than can be called a fluke.

Here's Palm's statement on the matter:

We are seeing a small number of customers who have experienced issues transferring their Palm Profile information to another Palm webOS device. Palm and Sprint are working closely together to support these customers to successfully transfer their information to the new device.

Good to know, clumsy Pre owners. [PreCentral]

Godfather of Spam Sentenced to Four Years in Jail [Spam]

Kyle VanHemert — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:46:30 -0500

A Detroit judge sentenced Alan Ralsky, a spam mastermind who headed an elaborate international organization, to 51 months in prison. Ralsky was convicted of wire fraud, mail fraud and violation of the CAN-SPAM act for his schemes.

Ralsky and his cohorts netted millions from pump and dump stock scams which were bolstered by their spamming. He pleaded guilty in June and will be serving time along with his son, who was sentenced to 40 months. [Ars Technica]

Okay, It's Time to Break Up With Hulu [Hulu]

matt buchanan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:40:00 -0500

Hulu is the best video site on the internet. There's a price though, for being able to watch 30 Rock whenever we want. And clearly, it's going to get steeper.

Hulu's corporate masters have reared their dragon heads from time to time in the past, like when it nuked Boxee and PS3 access, so you couldn't watch Hulu on your actual TV, and made it even harder to watch Hulu outside of the US.

Now, Hulu's blocking startup video discovery sites like Rippol, Yidio and Clicker from embedding its videos. Likely, again, because Hulu's content providers aren't too happy about somebody throwing all of that content into a single place that's not Hulu, even though theoretically, embedding is harmless—the video goods aren't being stolen, and Hulu still makes money off of the ads in the stream. I mean, we're talking about embedding here. This is about control.

And, given that Rupert Murdoch is publicly entertaining the idea of de-listing all of News Corp.'s content from Google (with Microsoft offering its own cash incentive to do so), a Hulu you have to pay for, or at least, is even more tightly controlled is more feasible than we'd like to think. (Hulu is a joint venture between Murdoch's News Corp. (which owns Fox), NBC Universal, and Disney (which owns ABC).

Ads, those I can deal with. Alec Baldwin's genius isn't free. Arbitrary restrictions that make it harder to watch what I want to—that, not so much. I'd rather watch nothing at all. I'm pretty lazy, after all. I can't even muster the energy to figure out when a TV show actually airs. (When does 30 Rock or Dexter run? I don't know.)

The way Hulu's going, it looks like I'm going to have a lot more time to play Modern Warfare 2. You know, TV dudes, the biggest entertainment event in history. The kind of thing that's pulling people away from their TVs, ripping their eyeballs away from the ads you sell to survive.

The sooner we quit Hulu, the less painful it'll be in the long run. [GigaOm]

25 Ways Black Friday Could Be Even Worse [Photoshop Contest]

Adam Frucci — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0500

For this week's Photoshop Contest, I asked you to envision true disasters befalling the dreaded Black Friday happening later this week. And yeah, I think it's safe to say crappy sales aren't as bad as this stuff.

The Superfriends of Publishing Have a Grand Digital Plan to Save Magazines [Time]

matt buchanan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:50:36 -0500

That "Hulu for magazines" is happening. It's impressive in its sense of scope and desperation, with Time, Hearst and Conde Nast—bitter rivals that publish more than 50 magazines altogether—coming together to save print magazines by mummifying them digitally.

The New York Observer reports that the company formed by publishing's Superfriends—perhaps Legion of Doom is more appropriate—will format and publish rags that "work across multiple digital platforms, whether the iPhone, the BlackBerry or countless other digital devices," though they're not developing their own reader hardware.

Which is where it gets a little sticky, says one of the Observer's sources: "The really, really hard part is that you've got so many different kinds of devices running on different operating systems. And how do you handle that? The consortium provides one point of contact for the consumer. When you come to the main store, you can get the content any way you want."

In one sense, the venture will be very much like Hulu—a separate company from the publishers, run by Time's John Squires, who's been behind the whole initiative, as All Things D originally reported. It's like Hulu for another reason, in that it's more like a disjointed confederation whose motto is hanging together or hanging separately since every publisher clearly rolling their own, separate gambit as well: We've got the tabletized version of Wired (Conde); Heart was planning its very own ereader at one point; and Time too.

It feels like the early, disjointed days of digital music, at best. There's a good chance stuff you buy now (well, soon) isn't going to work forever. Time's thing. Maybe Apple's thing. Some kind of Adobe formatted thing. Amazon and Barnes & Noble's thing. One of them will stick and we'll have our digital magazines preserving an old print format in a digital way—hey, the publishing industry might even save itself—but I'm just going to cower in a corner with free stuff in my web browser until this all gets sorted out. [Observer]

Stair Dismount Gloriously Tumbles Onto the iPhone Soon [IPhone Apps]

Jason Chen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:49:08 -0500

Stair Dismount for the iPhone is a spiritual descendant of the Stair Dismount Porrasturvat game back in 2001/2002 where you try your hardest to launch a ragdoll as painfully as possible down a flight of stairs. It was brilliant.

The current iPhone version (not out yet, but supposedly will be by Thanksgiving) has a larger number of stairs and stair types, but seems to be a little slower in rendering the "falling" animation than its PC ancestor—probably because the emulator is running as well as the recording software. It still has the delicious crunching sound and wiggly ragdoll physics, which means we'll still be first in line to get this for our iPhones. [YouTube via TUAW]

5 Games That Play Nicely on Netbooks [Gaming]

Mark Wilson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:20:00 -0500

Liliputing put together a list of 5 decent, recent PC games that play smoothly on netbooks. Also, we would add the classic Half Life to their list, along with Diablo 2 (obv). Your recommendations? [Liliputing]

Amazon's Kindle 2 Gets 85 Percent Battery Boost, Native PDF Reading [Kindle]

Jason Chen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:13:05 -0500

Amazon claims that all it took was a six month firmware improvement test to get the Kindle 2 to run for 85 percent longer than before, which is a pretty damn impressive feat of engineering.

It also gets a native PDF reader, previously only found in the Kindle DX. The total battery life for the international version measures at seven days with wireless on (up from four days), and two weeks with wireless off (same as before).

It looks like Amazon just improved the wireless usage, which might have come as a result from switching from using Sprint as the provider to AT&T as a provider? Probably not, seeing as previous Kindle users also get the 85% battery life from a firmware upgrade delivered automatically. PDF support comes over OTA upgrade as well, but no timeframe was announced for either. [Press Release]

LaCie LaCinema Classic HD: 1TB Media Player for $250 [Media Players]

Mark Wilson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:56:34 -0500

LaCie makes design-friendly, premium hard drives. But while it's no surprise that their LaCinema Classic HD looks this attractive, the $250 price is shockingly reasonable.

The LaCie LaCinema Classic HD is, at its heart, a 1TB hard drive with HDMI-out. You can load up media through USB from a PC or Mac (or flash drive). Then you can carry the drive to your television and watch DivX or MKV H.264 movies.

But it's always a DLNA-compliant HD media player. In other words, you can hook it in to your network through ethernet (Wi-Fi dongle available) and stream media without copying the files over.

Time will tell if LaCie's player can compete with the rest of the competition (see our full Battlemodo here), but available now for $250, it's certainly the best-looking media streamer we've seen to date. [LaCie]

Google and TiVo Team Up To Ruin TV's Day [Advertising]

John Herrman — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:54:19 -0500

With data, of course! Google, which sells TV ads, is now subscribing to TiVo's user data, so they can make ads more "accountable," just like online. This is good, right? Depends on who you ask.

Google's game here is obvious: by analyzing this anonymized sea of TiVo viewer data, they can help customers target their ads more accurately. Ad buyers also win, because they have a better sense of exactly how many people are actually seeing their ads. Guess who doesn't like this plan!:

Now, with TiVo's data, collected from millions of digital video recorders across the country, Google can tell exactly which of those commercials are being bypassed. If all the commercials are being skipped, the channel gets no money. It's easy to see why TV executives get heartburn over this.

Between my cable box's DVR function and my computer, I rarely watch live TV. And when I do, I usually end up flipping around during commercials. I know I'm not alone, and I know this is causing problems for networks, who are pushing more and more of their advertising into show, instead of between them.

Google, which already licenses similar data from Dish Network, is giving us a preview of how this kind of thing will work for everyone in the future—soon, data detailing what people are and aren't watching will be too present, too obvious to ignore, and networks will have to acknowledge that hey, nobody is watching ads anymore. In the long term this will make advertising more effective and efficient, but it could also kneecap TV ad sales as a whole. Or not! Says Google:

Our system makes it easy for people to buy TV ads. We're lowering the barriers to entry, which has the effect of growing the market.

Somehow I imagine "lowering the barriers for entry" isn't on the top of NBC's to-do list right now. Google will kill all. [LAT]

Kill-A-Watt's Updated Graphical Version Has Programmable Timer [Kill-a-watt]

Jason Chen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:52:29 -0500

The original Kill-a-Watt was a barebones, if efficient, way of monitoring how much energy an appliance used. But what if you want more features? Like a timer or programming. Here it is.

Kill-A-Watt's latest version lets you see three stats at once: the current voltage, elapsed time, and cumulative use (which has an unfortunate abbreviation). You also get the programmable functionality, letting you set up unique times for each day of the week and 96 on/off settings per day. It's also a surge protector, which I'm not sure the old one had.

You'll have to pay $70 for this updated version, which still only supports one outlet at once, as opposed to the $10-$20 that you can get the original for. [ThinkGeek]

Tiny Wooden Speakers for All iPods Make Me Hungry [IPod]

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:40:00 -0500

You know I need breakfast asap when I read maple and cherry and the only thing I can think about is syrup, pancakes, and pie. And a giant coffee, please. Unfortunately, these wooden speakers for all iPods are not edible.

Fortunately, I've a nice diner near my house. For those of you interested in these Buffalo wooden speakers, however, you should know that they work without batteries. That's convenient, although you shouldn't expect boombox thump. [Buffalo via Akihabar]

Xperia Pureness 2 In Development With Even Fewer Features [Cellphones]

Mark Wilson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:03:07 -0500

Electricpig got word that a second gen Xperia Pureness is in the works. But believe it or not, the designers actually want to cut down on the phone's functionality, even referencing "removing the keys." [Electricpig]

The Four Gaming PCs Worth Lusting After [Buyer's Guide]

Will Smith — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0500

We asked Maximum PC editor-in-chief Will Smith to name the best gaming PCs in four categories: monster laptop, value laptop, over-the-top desktop and "cheap" desktop. Though that last one is still a bankbuster, his picks are hot as hell:

Desktop Replacement Notebook: iBuypower M865TU

You want a speedy desktop replacement notebook wrapped in an unassuming, businesslike shell? That's precisely what the iBuypower M865TU delivers, courtesy of an 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo Mobile and a GeForce GTX 260M under the hood. Like the classic mullet, this speed machine lets you work all day then party all night, for a mere $2000. [Review]

Inexpensive Gaming Laptop: Asus G51Vx-RX05

If all you wanna do is have some fun, the G51Vx-RX05 gives you all of the raw gaming performance of the M865TU—it sports the same GeForce GTX 260M GPU—but instead of a spendy 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo, the Asus economizes at 2GHz. While the G51Vx's dual-core is down two cores and about a gigahertz from the iBuypower machine, when it comes to games, the big videocard is all that matters. For a cool grand, you can pick up this laptop exclusively at Best Buy. [Review]

Over-the-Top Crazy-Awesome Desktop: Velocity Micro Gamer's Edge DualX

What do you get when you put a Core i7 CPU overclocked beyond 4GHz, three GeForce GTX 285 GPUs in tri-SLI, four lightning-fast Intel solid-state drives running in RAID 0, and a shiny new copy of Windows 7 Ultimate in one case? Enough computing power to make your Xbox 360 piss itself and run screaming for mommy. This machine doesn't just demolish benchmarks, it rapes and pillages them, leaving nothing behind but a smoking crater and a host of lesser machines. The downside? It costs $9000. [Review]

"Cheap" Crazy-Awesome Desktop: Falcon Northwest Talon

From one of the original boutique PC manufacturer's comes the Talon. Packing 90% of the raw performance of Velocity Micro's $9000 wonder for a mere $4000, the Talon's watchwords are "extreme" and "efficiency." With a new Lynnfield Core i5 CPU and a pair of ATI's hot-off-the-presses Radeon 5970, this rig uses all four GPUs and all four CPU cores to deliver kick ass performance. [Review]

Will Smith is the Editor-in-Chief of Maximum PC, not the famous actor/rapper. His work has appeared in many publications, including Maximum PC, Wired, Mac|Life, and T3, and on the web at Maximum PC and Ars Technica. He's the author of The Maximum PC Guide to Building a Dream PC.

Razer Imperator Gaming Mouse With Slip-Slidey Thumb Buttons [Mice]

matt buchanan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:59:23 -0500

Razer's Imperator is pretty standard right-handed Razer gaming mouse (5600dpi tracking, etc.), but it has sliding thumb buttons, so you can adjust exactly where they sit on the mouse. Could be gimmicky, but I'm definitely intrigued. [Razer]

Xbox 360 Wireless N Adapter Review [Review]

Mark Wilson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:20:00 -0500

Sure, wireless n is great and everything, but if you told me I'd be streaming media between 2 and 3x faster through Microsoft's new Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter (802.11a/b/g/n) than their old a/b/g version, I'd never have believed you.

The Price

$100ish (cheaper at retail)

The Verdict

If you upgrade to the new Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter from the old, 802.11g version, you won't notice any difference while gaming. But media streaming over your home network will see a legitimate speed increase.

For a moment, let's ignore Microsoft's traditionally ridiculous price for their Xbox 360 Wi-Fi adapters. Instead, let's just focus on performance.

Upgrading from 802.11g networking to 802.11n has a few key advantages: range is longer, speeds are faster and, since 802.11n sits on the 5GHz band, you won't interfere as much with 2.4GHz frequencies used by 802.11g and basically everything else in existence.

But there's one big thing that stops 802.11n from being any better than 802.11g for gaming: latency. Overall throughput may be faster on 802.11n (the pipe is bigger), but latency is really no less present than on 802.11g (it takes just as long for that first burst of water to come through). So those quick gaming commands aren't faster on n, and my multiplayer testing (Modern Warfare 2 and Borderlands...it was a real chore) confirmed it. Then again, I didn't really notice any lag over my 802.11g adapter to begin with.

Media streaming, however, is where those big throughputs pay off. Using Connect360, I streamed HD episodes of Mad Men from my Mac to the Xbox. I timed from the moment I hit play to to the first frame of video playback. And the difference was noticeable.
Buffering occurred between 2 and 3x faster, which was well beyond my expectations, despite how fast 802.11n is on a spec sheet. Clips went from taking as many as 15 seconds to playing (rounding up) to actually breaking the 5 second barrier. I'd love to have tested 1080P streaming over Live as well, but my DSL is the bottleneck in that scenario.

Yes, the Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter is still profanely expensive. No, if you have an older adapter (or you're just using some other solution), I wouldn't recommend the upgrade (nor do I think Microsoft is even marketing it that way). But it's nice to see a tangible improvement all the same.

Streams intra network media between 2 and 3x faster

Tiny formfactor still unique to the industry

No perceivable speed increases gaming

It's $100.

Costs half the price of a new 360

It'll set you back a month of dinners at McDonalds

I don't even want to think about what that is in White Castles

iPhone Translation App Speaks Three Languages With Your Mouth [IPhone Apps]

John Herrman — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:19:12 -0500

Somewhere on the App Store spectrum, between the travel phrasebooks and those apps that replace your mouth with a slightly weirder mouth, you'll find iLingual, an app that steals your lips, and uses them to speak three different languages.

Here's how it works: you snap a picture of a mouth—yours, your girlfriend's, or just a photo from a magazine—which iLingual then analyzes and converts for animation. Then, you choose a phrase from the app's 400-strong library, hold your iPhone over your mouth and there, you sort speak French, German or a little bit of Arabic, with a disconcertingly segmented, animated pair of lips. Félicitations!

This really shouldn't be more useful than a standard prerecorded phrasebook, but it definitely is. Nobody likes tourists, and the genius of iLingual is that by using it, you're making fun of yourself; you're giving people something—a small amount of your dignity, or if you're lucky, a laugh—in exchange for their help. iLingual is a sponsored app, so it's completely free. [iTunes]