By John Brownlee at 11:59 pm Tuesday, Nov 18
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Today on
Boing Boing Gadgets, we took Google's new
iPhone voice search app for a spin, and reflected on the nostalgic smell of old
NES cart sleeves, as well as the
analog fluttering of old clocks.
Brownlee wrote a post in
morse code about a morse code watch, and admired an ad-hoc
iPhone number pad for MacBooks. Meanwhile, Joel
flustered about Apple's crappy hardware DRM and made an
Arrested Development connection in regards to a busted philanderer's dirty iPhone pics, which he swears are a firmware "glitch."
Guest blogger Tony Hightower gave us the scoop on
organic motion: motion capture without the suit. A carbon-fiber acoustic guitar was attractively
lute-like. Covert gamers cram
old GameBoys into their graphing calculators. Joel deeply inhaled the
miasmic retch of a Stitch himidifier.
Also in the day, Joel invited readers to goatse
his new picture frame (email 2062270093 DERP tmomail.net if you'd like to get in on the fun). Brownlee wanted to play his complete Tiny Tim collection on a horrifyingly surreal
SpongeBob SquarePants dock. We took a
Tesla for a spin by proxy, and made a call on our
banana phones.
Otherwise, Beschizza ripped apart a
Boeing 788 in a stress test. and discovered a surprisingly cheap
MacBook Air prototype that may not be all it seems. And Dan Lyons, aka "The Real Steve Jobs", is now being
censored by Newsweek for doing exactly what he was hired for.
Oh, also. The Zune?
Prepare for its imminent release.
Link
By John Brownlee at 11:50 am Monday, Nov 17
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Today on
Boing Boing Gadgets, we started the day with an arboricultural look at a genuine
power plant, then mocked CNet's
inability to indentify a blue screen of death. A
matrioshka-like nesting bowl captured Brownlee's fancy, then railed against
the aesthetics of bacon.
There were
iPhone cases that glittered like Christmas lights and a Lilluputioan
Mac Pro. Eyes rolled back, Joel
spent himself lusting after a 1970 Nissan 270X Concept Car.
We spotted a
watch made of old spaceship parts that had a dash of
Le Voyage Dans La Lune to it. Joel looked at a strange
wireless peripheral that tickles the O-ring during gaming or movie sessions and a
wind powered Times Square sign.
Neat:
pictures with their own moving shadows. Neater: an
African incerator that turns slum garbage into heat. Beschizza spotted a
watch that gloats at your gastropoidal lack of inertia, and a
stick-of-gum sized set of speakers that are dismal, but less dismal than most of their ilk. And he openly pined to
strap a boombox to his wrist.
Otherwise, Joel had
no idea that Jodorowsky, Giger and Floyd (Pink) conspired to make an adaptation of
Dune. Jury's still out on how this is about gadgets. An awesome
clavitar one-upped the ageless keytar, and Joel inadvertently revealed some bedroom awkwardness as he admired some
easy apply prophylactics.
Finally, there was a
giant rubber band perfect for Road Runner style pranking, an
electronic chewing sensor, a
sci-fi novel delivered by mobile phone and a
horribly racist Christmas ornament. It was a fun day.
Link
By John Brownlee at 1:57 pm Thursday, Nov 13
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Today on
Boing Boing Gadgets, we inspected the geometric beauty of a
Linux boot sequence, prefered to pay $50 than
deal with an Apple genius and contemplated the creepy uses of a
realistic mask of our own face.
Brownlee liked a webcam very similar to a
War of the Worlds Tripod. He laughed at Valve Software's schemes to
arrest a hacker by offering him a job. He found a neat iPhone app to
measure his blood alcohol level, and he found a
141 MPG scooter that he can't ride at any time according to that same iPhone app.
Joel remains defiantly supportive of the
new Enterprise design and applauded the shutdown of a rogue ISP that reduced spam by
seventy five percent. Rob meanwhile sneered at a scamgadget that promises to
increase fuel efficiency up to 30 percent by plugging into your cigarette lighter. We made Beschizza a
Muppet in his own likeness and Joel contemplated on
how little geek grousing changes.
And then there were the reviews: with an arch of an eyebrow, Beschizza reviewed some high-tech
bubble wrap, while Joel reviewed a
toy helicopter and looked
more fabulous than he ever has.
Link
By John Brownlee at 2:23 pm Tuesday, Nov 11
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Today on
Boing Boing Gadgets, we got an eerily prescient look at what
an Apple netbook might look like, and laughed along with the Onion at the
Windows 7 and Snow Leopard rivalry. A cell phone for the elderly was admired, and the delicious
design fubars of the IBM PCjr were applauded after twenty five years.
Target introduced some new gift cards with an
oddly humanizing digicam built-in. Joel admired a
beautifully simple African bottle opener and a
LEGO meets Mega-Man stop motion video; meanwhile, Beschizza liked a
cool transparent Goldbergian coin bank.
There was a
heart shaped box made of gears and a
genuine Pip Boy for the exploration of the nuclear wastes. Rob told us how to build a
wasp sucking machine and the curiously named Mgestyk lets you play videogames with your
thumb and forefinger.
Also:
disabled gamers can play PlayStation with their feet. Also also: the e-waste situation in China is
super disturbing.
Link
By John Brownlee at 11:50 am Friday, Nov 7
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Today on
Boing Boing Gadgets, we looked at a nifty little
traffic loop sensor activator that lets bicyclists get their fair place on the road, and
rounded up the best speakers in every class.
An
anti-static keychain prevents you from turning into a human tesla coil, while a
Darth Vader toaster proves the divinity of Darth Vader.
You may think you can shop at Circuit City's liquidated stores for a good deal on HDTVs:
you can't. But you can soothe a tattered soul with a beautiful
ocarina solo on your iPhone.
We looked at
motorcycles made of watch parts and
what PhotoShop's interface would look like in the real world.
Ericsson has insanely lofty plans for mobile phones, an
electric bullet train will carry 100 million Californian passengers a year by 2030, a
buttonless Xbox 360 controller improves your FPS gaming, and
Windows 7 comes in 2009;
And Nintendo's new DSi handheld?
Comes with a virtual budgie.
Link
By John Brownlee at 11:41 am Friday, Oct 31
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Today on
Boing Boing Gadgets, there was the usual spurting of Halloween themed posts:
a little boy dressed as
Wall-E's Eve, a
spinal cord beer funnel, some cute
Pac-Man pumpkins and the awesomest
little boy mech walker costume.
Otherwise, we started the day by watching two
robots box and
do their best Lou Bega impression. We looked at a
futuristic car straight out of an MGM cartoon, and as agony aunts
cackled over Apple's blunders.
There was a
baby carriage for larval Slim Pickens, and an examination of a modern-day
masturbation table for the treatment of "hysteria" / "stress."
In realer tech news, Brownlee despaired that the
new PSPs are hacker proof, while Rob looked at a
joystick for sweaty gamers. Rob spotted a
fax machine that can send and receive email, and a
keyring that infinitely simulates the fun of popping bubble wrap. There was an
expensive sudoku watch with only one puzzle, and Beschizza got all sweaty when looking at a
tiny wireless router that plugs into any antenna.
Otherwise,
Asus threw a customer in jail for threatening to report their shitty tech support to the press, and we stole a tank as
Barack Obama. And, as always, much more besides.
Link
By John Brownlee at 11:45 am Monday, Oct 27
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Today on
Boing Boing Gadgets, things started as usual: with Napoleon popping
a wheelie on a motorcycle. Apple censored all mentions of
hot teen p***y on the iTunes UK store, a deliriously nerdy gamer
proposed to his girlfriend by hacking the video game
Chrono Trigger and
Dell announced a new netbook that is being favorably compared to the MacBook Air.
Rob looked at a
not-so-humble four track and a new
Casio camera phone with an 800x480 screen, as well as a
silvery steampunk Motorola Aura. Also, did you know that you can buy a stungun for $13?
Rob didn't.
A car engine that
fits on your finger, an
Australian perpetual motion machine. Joel liked an alarm clock called the
Bandai Gun O'Clock and puzzled why
Google released Google Earth on the iPhone before Android.
There was a clock with
a thousand gears, a giant
human skull made out of kitchenware, a bench
made of Nokias, an
Open Source GameBoy and an
Atari Punk Dreamcast. And that's not even to mention an invasion by
LEGO bots.
And the headline of the day was:
I have no mouth and I must bark.
Link
By John Brownlee at 4:57 am Friday, Oct 24
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Yesterday on
Boing Boing Gadget, it was review Thursday and we flushed our systems clear: Joel posted a thoughtful review of
the Android G1 and horrible hair review of an
iPod dock while Beschizza reviewed the
self-moving chess set he always wanted as a youth.
Otherwise, Brownlee's glasses are
disgusting, and Korens invent a system of
radioactive hamster droppings to help save firefighter lives. A bedside table that breaks apart into
bludgeoning weapons will make an excellent gift, although a
scanning dictionary the size of an adult forearm would probably not.
The new MacBooks can indeed use
both GPUs at once, and we looked at rumors that
a new Apple device is being spotted in the search engine wild. Beschizza, a shut-in, dreamed of an
electric sunset, while Brownlee's inner eight year old squealed for a DVD playing
Darth Vader head.
There were also
boxing robots, industrial
Margarita makers and Joel
imagining Opera on a Sybian.
And, as always, a stop-motion nightmare chicken laid an egg that
hatched into a car.
Link
By John Brownlee at 11:59 pm Wednesday, Oct 22
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Yesterday on
Boing Boing Gadgets, we applauded Microsoft's attempts at creating an
booze detecting bar countertop, and tested it with some rotgut served in Rob's tacky
Pac-Man shot glass set.
Our thirst for alcohol temporarily satisfied, we looked to slake our thirst for violence, and fell in love with a
Mac vs. PC video that was one part
West Side Story, one part
Reservoir Dogs.
A
walking house was discovered, although it was slightly disappointing and nowhere near as arachnid-like as we'd all hoped. Beschizza liked an
iPhone speaker system that looks like a
Star Wars trash droid and a
Bluetooth keyboard with "industrial anti-charm." Brownlee, meanwhile, liked an attractive watch with a
futuristic occulus and a pair of
color changing spectacles only David Pescovitz could ever get away with wearing.
There was a
stupendous set of home-made steampunk goggles and a
wonderfully morbid hangman lamp. Google added
WiFi geolocation to its services, and the Nintendo World Store has a
hard drive Wii.
And finally, at midnight, we turned out the lights and communed with the dead with an
automated Ouija board.
Link
By John Brownlee at 11:59 am Thursday, Oct 16
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Today on
Boing Boing Gadgets, we looked at the T-Mobile Android G1's "not evil"
killswitch and a tiny little Korean monitor for
corralling your contact lists.
Joel Johnson — Obama supporter — said "so what?" to a
report that Verizon and AT&T provided temporary cellular towards to McCain's ranch, and Brownlee looked at a gorgeous refreshof a
1960's Italian stereo
Joel loved a 64K
intro by a Hungarian demoscene group, puttered a 3D printed car
around his desk while making puttering noises with his mouth, put a paper plate made out of
leaves through the dish washer and the old
Lemonaid Loaders his grandfather used to make.
Brownlee liked a
Space Invaders alarm clock, an
R2D2 backpack and a
suicidal light night.
The newest
3D webcams will stab porn into your eyes, Studio Ghibli is
doing a DS game, Joel needs advice on
building a gaming PC for $1k and Rob got some hands-on time with
Sony's hot new all-in-one desktop.
Oh, and according to Apple France, the new MacBooks are
perfect shit.
Link
By John Brownlee at 1:25 pm Tuesday, Oct 14
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Today on
Boing Boing Gadgets, the timestream temporarily spat us all out of
Infomercia, and so we did as we usually do. We ridiculed the photoshop disasters of
Lexar and
puked in our mouths a little about e-mail notification lamps.
Beschizza considered
buying a rug covered in roadkill and lusted after Nokia's
WiMax tablet. We chuckled over cornflakes at
XKCD's oh-so-true take on piracy, and our mouths watered when we considered
a cotton candy machine that could make a spool of fluff out of any hard candy.
Engadget was declared the
blog partner of CES, prompting a WTF from Joel. Brownlee marveled at an HDTV
easel and channeled Robert E. Howard as he wrote about a
cell phone stand. A 1942 Philco Radio was converted into a swank
Mini Mac jukebox and a
dubious device claims to be able to carve your CDs into perfect circles for better music.
Oh, and yeah:
Apple announced some new MacBooks.
Link
By John Brownlee at 1:52 pm Thursday, Oct 9
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Today at
Boing Boing Gadgets, the morning started with the shrill tintinnabulation of a
green tea telephone, which we profusely stabbed with a handy philips head.
That accomplished, dived into the techno-flotsam: Beschizza claimed to have
a thousand uses for a pocket LED scroller, yet cited none. We looked at a
fake electro-cigar for cyborg cigar aficionados, and then dug into our breakfast with
LEGO fork and spork.
Realish news: the
360 may get Blu-Ray and the new
Nintendo DSi will get more RAM. Brownlee revealed his lack of foresight by oggling some
L-bent HDMI cables, and admired a
Portal-style oviposited recycling egg.
Tron?
It really happened!
Toy Story's creepy
baby doll robot spiders crawl all over you. A backseat car window becomes a
kick-ass SHMUP. And Disney's latest DVD release contains a
120 page EULA.
Joel looked at a
swank calculator made in a video game and reviewed the iPhone's surprisingly wonderful arcade RTS,
Galcon. We learned that there may well be an
$800 laptop announced by Apple at its
October 14th notebook event, and Rob crunched some numbers, proving its physical dimensions.
And finally, an egregious lapse in geek cred:
Joel "Rainbow" Johnson has never seen Aliens.
By John Brownlee at 4:58 am Friday, Oct 3
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Update: Game's Over! Look for a transcript tomorrow! But we're all still chatting, so why not come in and say hi anyway?
It's been quite a while since we held our last IRC event, but with the solstice drawing the summer days to a wane, it's time once again to dust off the
#boingboing IRC channel and spend a few hours in a rousing community game of an old favorite,
Rule 34 Showdown.
Rule 34, as all men know, is the cosmic rule that demands that porn can be found on the Internet to fit any concept. The rules are simple: numerous times over the course of one hour, I will shout out a random Rule 34 Challenge.
"RULE 34: Obama French Kissing Joe Biden!" I might cry. The denizens of #boingboing will go scrambling to find a link that illicitly matches the challenge. The first three people to come up with separate links and images for the same concept will be awarded first, second and third place points of decreasing denominations. At the end of the hour, the person with the most points will be declared the official RULE 34 PORNOGRAPHER OF #BOING BOING! At least for the week. And to make it all timeless fun, we'll knock up all the links we accrue in the official transcript of the event, with the best images highlighted for fun.
This week's game will be held tonight at 4PM EDT / 1PM PDT / 9PM GMT. To play, simply come to the official #boingboing IRC channel on Freenode about 15 minutes before the game and /msg Brownlee that you'd like to play. Don't want to play? Come on by and watch.
If you've never used IRC before, you can find instructions on how to
get to the channel here, or simply use the
Java chat applet.
To discuss or ask questions, head on to the discussion thread over at
Boing Boing Gadgets.
Discuss
Update: Sorry! Huge time mess up in the title. It's at 4PM EDT. See you then!
By John Brownlee at 4:23 am Wednesday, Oct 1
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Yesterday on
Boing Boing Gadgets, we discovered the best place to buy a 3G iPhone are in the electronics black markets of
Hong Kong and were surprised by a remarkably candid admission by an Apple engineer about
what went wrong with MobileMe.
Lustfully, Brownlee coveted a
bowling ball bag for DSLRs and a
candy-colored crapgadget of cuteness. Meanwhiizza admired a D12
media server, a Fujitsu
12-inch tablet and puzzled over how the
ancient Romans used a speculum to remove a wine cork.
There was (probably unwarranted) speculation that Apple's new
"Brick" product will be an Apple TV with built-in DVR. Pac-Man morphed into a line of designer
Italian furniture, and Goofy taught us all the proper way of
hooking up a home theater system.
Meanwhile, Joel looked at a Fujitsu flip phone that can
break-in half on purpose and a new environmentally-friendly
Ben and Jerry's freezer. He also coveted after some
junk cars turned into furniture and the
Open Pandora handheld gaming system.
Link
By John Brownlee at 11:59 pm Thursday, Sep 18
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Today on
Boing Boing Gadgets, after we booted up with a
sunrise test, we asked ourselves: do women really
need a
wild cherry steam thing, as LG implies?
Brownlee wondered if
people were really canceling their landlines because of the economy, and admired a
DaVinci alarm clock and an
ice pack for hemophiliacs. There was also musing on the
base functions necessary for even the simplest cell phone. Conclusion: text messaging, at least, is a must.
Joel likes an
iPhone amplifier made without electronics and an
airplane made out of rubbish. Brownlee snickered at a
skull-painted netbook for "unique souls."
Finally, Joel's green streak goes one step too far: he's now
eating his food off of rotting leaves. Meanwhile, Brownlee spells
fancy words in paper clips.
Link
"How can you be serious?" Not by wearing this T-shirt! The classic Mark Pawson T-shirt, updated for 2012.