Comments are the greasy oil that keeps the blog machine running. Here are three great (and 100% unedited) comments recently posted by your fellow readers.
Jarett
Wow. Wal-Mart, the epitome of contemporary capitalism, is stocking a PC running Linux, the epitome of contemporary communism. Does the ground feel cold to anyone else?
Gentle readers, congratulate us. We, as bloggers, are now legally protected as “journalists”. Or at least we’re getting there. Take that, legitimate press.
Phillip Smith has just won an important case that sets a precedent that we’re going to use at some point. He’s a blogger. He was an angry blogger due to some bad experiences working with an eBay listing company. The blog posts got him in trouble legally, but he claimed journalistic protection.
After a protracted case, the judge agreed with him, stating that use of corporate logos are OK in blogs, just as they’re protected in newspapers. Likewise, opinion and linking are tolerated.
This is good news for us. Regular readers will know that we’re always in trouble, hopefully this new status as “journalists” will get us out of trouble earlier. And into the Playboy mansion easier.
John Biggs wanted me to post some Halloween gadgets today. Here’s a remote controlled pooping, talking skeleton. You won’t see one in my yard. Only $3000 from the nice people at the Horror Dome. Happy Halloween.
The Crapper [Horror Dome]
We like it when companies introduce products that just might start up a whole new market, like this Anyware (geddit!?) PC from Audiovox/Jensen. It’s a tablet-like thing that runs Windows XP, has a 30GB HD, GPS, touchscreen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and much other goodness. It’s basically a detachable car PC. Think of it in the category of devices like Nokia’s N810, but a little more robust. And you pay for that: at $1,500 it’s not for the hobbyist. But if you’re a truck driver or other type of road warrior, it could be just what the doctor ordered.
NVX3000PC [Jensen]
Like I said last week, my random endorsement column will be a little unorthodox sometimes. It won’t be all Product A is great, I endorse it. No, sirs.
Today I endorse you all, the CrunchGear readers. And a special endorsement+ to all you who leave comments. Aside from our delightful chat room, y’all make it worth getting up stupid early to do this.
Take a bow.
Everyone’s favorite BitTorrent tracker (now that OiNK is gone) will try to develop a new P2P protocol. The Pirate Bay doesn’t like how the BT protocol is controlled by BitTorrent, Inc. It also only gives the BT protocol about one more year until it’s no longer viable. Hence the new protocol.
No details of how the protocol would work, how it would be better than BT or anything, etc. I also didn’t know The Pirate Bay guys were programmers, but here we are.
I really enjoy how The Pirate Bay has taken us all under its wings, protecting us from the evil forces of copyright.
The Pirate Bay developing new P2P protocol to replace BitTorrent [Tech.Blorge.com]
What’s small, cool, and made by Motorola? Not much? HA! We beg to differ. Take a look at the Sidekick Slide. It’s sexy, slidy, and runs Danger’s OS just fine. I only have time to do some photos and this video today but look for a full review this week.
We don’t link much to DailyKos here. We try to keep away from politics, lest we finally piss off everyone, but this is something worth sharing. There is a man with an eighth-grade education who has developed a way to mod cars for biodiesel in a way that doubles their horsepower and doubles the gas mileage. It makes them faster and more powerful, using off-the-shelf parts. Detroit says it’s impossible to increase fuel economy without sacrificing horsepower. Jonathan Goodwin says that’s total crap.
In the video above, we see a 1965 Impala Goodwin had modified blowing away a Lambo in a straightaway. It runs clean. This is what we want. Read More
If nothing else, these renders look absolutely amazing. It’s the LG Touch All-in-One, a tablet PC-looking device that uses touch screen technology like nobody’s business. (Aside: I need a new phrase to replace “nobody’s business.” I feel like I use that every day.) Apparently the designer, one Yeop Kim, was a little skittish when it came to giving out “specs” (keeping in mind it’s just a concept), so we’ll just have to make do with the eye candy.
You know that cool thing the iPhone does when you turn it to landscape, it automagically knows to turn the content to match? That’s an accelerometer. The iPod Touch has one as well. And so does the Nokia N95, though Nokia doesn’t do much with it. And that’s the issue Mark at the Nokia Blog took up in this dope video. It’s not particularly usefull right now, but app developers could do some interesting things with the technology.
MacBooks, for example, can utilize the sensors to turn into lightsabers. Why not smartphones? Makes more sense to me.
Video: Nokia N95 Accelerometer Demonstration [Nokia Blog]
Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Halo 3 shorts that stormed both my computer and television, but I can bet that millions of gamers around the globe are. If you’re itching to see all of the live-action shorts direct by Neill Blomkamp in one movie rather than scattered around, then press play above and sit back whilst you enjoy a cold Mountain Dew.
I gotta say though, that plasma ‘nades being thrown at soldiers is always good fun.
Halo 3: Landfall – all three Blomkamp shorts cut together [Joystiq]
Artist’s rendition of your last acid trip.
Every few years someone pulls out the old “project the scene behind the object onto the object” trick to make something ostensibly invisible. Well, now the English Army will now win the war with invisible tanks designed to disappear using cameras and projectors. I’m going to call “bollocks” on this and wonder why/who the Daily Mail wrote this story up without first realizing we’re talking about a freaking tank here and no matter how big a projector you throw up I suspect you’ll be able to see the bastard from fifty miles away, camouflage or not. Let me know when we can cover tanks in resilient e-paper and then maybe I won’t puke a little when I read about “invisible” anything.
Army tests James Bond style tank that is ‘invisible’ [DailyMail]
Got the chance to play with the Bell&Ross BR02 diver’s watch. If you’re not into watches, you can probably skip this but generally it’s a nice diver with great styling. It’s based on B&R’s Instrument Series and you can really see the pedigree. Unfortunately, this was only a show model so it didn’t run but if you want one that tells time you’ll probably have to pay in the $3000 range. Fancy! Click through for a few more pictures.
I bring you the most amazing Optimus Prime costume I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen many. Hit the jump to see it in all its Megatron’s-ass-kicking glory.
Now that I’ve been reunited with my Xbox 360 and Halo 3, I’ll probably be singing the same tune.
Wal-mart just plotzed out the Everex Green gPC, a low-end machine with low-end specs running Ubuntu Linux and a version of Enlightenment that its creators called GOS. Some may say that this is the “Google PC” but it’s actually running a version of Linux specially tweaked to let you “launch” Google apps — still in the browser — from the task bar. The PC runs a 1.5GHz VIA C7 CPU and is already up on Wal-Mart’s homepage so W00T W00T. Eighty gigabytes of hard drive space and 512 MB memory really seal the deal. Seriously. It’s only $199 so pick it up, try Ubuntu for an hour, and then install an copy of XP. Your sanity will thank us.
[UPDATE - I've seen the error of my ways. A $199 Linux PC is a pretty good deal, no matter how you slice it.]
Hey, now THAT’S a good idea. This $99 2GB SD memory card has built in wireless.
You pop it in your camera, take some photos, and it automatically uploads (via your Wi-Fi connection) those photos to one of 17 online photo websites including Shutterfly, Snapfish, Photobucket, Facebook, Picasa, and, of course, Flickr.
Best of all, it works in any digital camera that supports SD cards. I don’t know how they crammed all that into a tiny card but, hey, I’m just a guy with a keyboard.
It’s available now at a variety of stores. Hot damn, I’m getting one.
Eye-Fi [Company Website] via Wireless-Watch.com
The first of our Tech Horror Stories. If you have one you’d like to share send it to john at crunchgear.com ASAP. Spooky!
So I was an IT contractor working in Honolulu. Except there’s a small part of the Hawaiian heritage they don’t promote along with the palm trees and beaches featured in the travel guides.
One night I was working late. It was probably two in the morning and I had been at my cube, pulling an all-nighter. We had a massive requirements review coming up and I was working round-the-clock to get it done. I was the only one left in the office.
It’s no secret that OiNK was full of different people, ranging from teenagers in high school to accountants from Sweden. Now Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor himself is publicly admitting he used OiNK for pirating music. “I steal music too, I’m not gonna say I don’t” says Reznor.
In a recent interview with New York Magazine, Reznor talks about how OiNK was the “world’s greatest record store” thanks to its content and quality. What really bugs him is iTunes and Apple’s way of selling music.
“iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don’t feel cool when I go there. I’m tired of seeing John Mayer’s face pop up. I feel like I’m being hustled when I visit there, and I don’t think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc.”
I’m sure many of us feel the same way – especially regarding John Mayer’s face popping up every second. Glad to see that a huge player in the music industry like Trent is on our side.
Trent Reznor and Saul Williams Discuss Their New Collaboration, Mourn OiNK [NY Mag via TorrentFreak]
