In Your House
I have an admission to make: I'm a little obsessed with numbers.
Specifically, I'm a little obsessed with equations relating groups of numbers to each other. I can often be found staring at a phone number or address and thinking through all the permutations of equations that would encompass all the numbers in the sequence.
I've developed it into a mnemonic device that helps me remember everything from the page number I left off on in the current book I'm reading (I don't use bookmarks because of this) to my extremely long and complicated random alphanumeric mixed case passwords.
Imagine my joy at seeing the Pop Quiz clock from DCi that, in place of numbers, has mathematical equations whose answers tell you the time!
... Yeah, I know I'm a nerd.
For those fellow nerds out there who also want this: no price is listed, but hopefully DCi makes it available for sale soon!
Product Page [DCi]
[via: BBG]
Ever wanted to buy that economy sized box of popcorn while watching your favourite show, but felt like too much of a lazy fat ass to get up from your couch?
TiVo and Amazon are here to help with their newest service! Now you can browse Amazon.com's product catalog right from your couch on your TiVo! You'll never have to get up from the comforting womb-like depression your body's made in your living room couch to order that Bowflex gym you'll never use!
Isn't technology amazing?!
But the fun doesn't stop there! TiVo has also added the ability for shows to trigger banner ads that will refer you to whatever product is being referenced to on a show:
Starting today, TiVo will launch the new service to consumers by merchandising products related to several high profile shows, including but not limited to The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Colbert Report, and Burn Notice. Consumers will also be able to use TiVo's Universal Swivel Search to easily explore and buy products associated with their favorite shows, movies, actors, and directors, directly from the television set.
Wait... pop up product advertising from my TiVo during a show?!
I swear, the first time I see a banner ad popping up during a show, there will be an extremely angry phone call from me to TiVo's customer service line, and I'm sure I will not be alone.
Don't screw with us, TiVo.
Hit the jump for TiVo's press release.
[via: Zats Not Funny!]
I have no clue why this video is 5 minutes long, since nothing—literally nothing—happens besides some creepy Eyes Wide Shut music and smoke drifting lazily from the mouths of the dead, but it's super cool.
Using incense and creepy Eyes Wide Shut music, you too can have specters of the undead haunting your garden. Bring the young un's outside and tell them if they don't respect Daddy, they'll become lawn ornaments, too.
Pair this with the Zombie Lawn Ornament, and you're sure to never have guests over ever, ever again.
Oh, and don't forget this.
Showing once again that they're the current masters of animation (surpassing the levels even Disney put out in its heyday), Pixar has somehow imbued more soul and emotion into a robot than the comparably zombie like visage of most people I know. What better way to celebrate the tear jerking cuteness of this adorable little guy than taking our favourite little cube shaped console and remaking it to WALL*E's likeness?
Unfortunately, the case modder didn't give us a step by step build so that we can replicate his success with our own GameCubes, but we can certainly stare at the results in wonder as another tear comes to my eyes in recollection of the more emotionally loaded scenes of the feature film.
If you haven't gone to see WALL*E yet, do yourself a favour: go see it.
You won't regret it.
Resurrect Your Gamecube With the WALL-E Case Mod [Smashum]
Popular Internet game "Catch 21" has been adapted into a TV show, and will be popping into your living room like pornography spam via the Game Show Network ... oh wait, they're called GSN now, not the Game Show Network. Cause it makes a difference.
Hosting the show is recently bloated D-list star, Alfonso Ribeiro, whom you may remember from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air or may have forgotten completely.
"Catch 21" is the first Internet game to be adapted into a television show. I think. Who cares? The idea might be interesting if "Catch 21" could be played interactively from your living room. Instead, you'll have to log on to the Internet and play separately from the squealing Midwestern housewives and out-of-work accounting assistants, just like you were doing before.
There are plans to recruit the most die-hard "Catch 21" players to become contestants and, if all goes well, adapt other Internet games for television. But what?
I say Snood. Snood with real-life alien creatures. Kinda like Nickelodeon's Double Dare, but with guns. And children.
[via New York Times]
May saw the arrival of Roku, the first device to stream Netflix's "Watch It Now" service directly to televisions - and its $99 pricetag helped to instantly put Roku on the map.
Now Roku VP of consumer products, Tim Twerdahl, has announced that additional content providers will be joining up with Roku's service, although no specifics have been announced.
Speculation has fingered both YouTube and Hulu, but speculation has also fingered the PS3 and Xbox 360 as possible carriers of the Netflix "Watch It Now" service, so the leak of a name or two of Roku's future partner(s) could be imminent.
I'm pulling for Hulu on Roku, and for Netflix to spread to the 360 - Microsoft has been eager to dominate the discless video market for ages, and if it's only a matter of time until they take more aggressive steps, they might as well welcome a great service like Netflix into the fold.
'Netflix box' to carry more than just Netflix [CNet]
Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com, knows a good opportunity when he sees it. When he started Monster.com fourteen years ago, it was all sorts of awesome and gave typical newspaper classifieds a run for their money. Then along came Craig's List (I refuse to write "craigslist" ... except for right then) and knocked Taylor's britches off.
So Taylor took a look out the window and thought, What's the next commodity? Why death of course!
All you baby boomers out there are falling and not getting up, and all us dutiful young 'uns pick up the pieces, type out a few words, and post them on Tributes.com. The site—which I barely checked out due to a crippling fear of extinction—even shows glossy, hip obits from celebrities! Because we all like re-reading the death cries of famous movie stars!
But what if your grandchildren hate your guts because you extinguished cigarettes on their arms and made them fetch you beers in their diapers at 14-years-old? Tributes.com will glean information "through alliances with funeral homes and groups directly as well as trade associations and public information about deaths from Social Security..."
To answer your question, your grandchildren are rotten shits anyway, and a ghostly floating website will write you up for you.
Monster founder sets sights on online obituaries [AP]
Netflix has sent out the following e-mail to users of the Profile feature, who had been told earlier that the Profile feature would be phased out:
You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are.
We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you.
All of you Profile users can lower your pitchforks; all 4% of you.
Todd on the official Netflix blog had a bit more information on the situation:
For users of Profiles, I have good news to report: we will keep the feature with no plans to discontinue it.
We were persuaded by the well-reasoned, sincere responses of loyal members who very much value this feature. As someone who enjoys helping his four-year-old daughter manage her one-DVD-at-a-time, G-rated sub-account, I identified with these thoughtful pleas to maintain Profiles.
Because of an ongoing desire to make our website easier to use, we believed taking a feature away that is only used by a very small minority would help us improve the site for everyone. Listening to our members, we realized that users of this feature often describe it as an essential part of their Netflix experience. Simplicity is only one virtue and it can certainly be outweighed by utility.
As for improving Profiles, there are no definite plans in place yet, but, like everything at Netflix, we seek to make it better and we are open to suggestions. Non-users of the feature and new members will be able to access Profiles in 2-3 weeks. Existing users will be able to continue their use, uninterrupted.
We apologize for any inconvenience the previous announcement caused.
I have my account all to myself, so I can indulge in my guilty pleasure for romantic comedies and foreign documentaries all I want, but with the level of addiction I've achieved with only one week as a customer, I can totally understand the almost rabid response those 4% of the customer base that use Profiles probably deluged Netflix with.
Profiles feature NOT going away [Netflix Community Blog]
Netflix is Keeping Profiles [Hacking Netflix]
Fruit Brute posted the following PS3 firmware update information on GayGamer, and I wanted to make sure it made its way over to the Homotron laboratories and experimental dungeons. This update adds some major features to the market's best Blu-ray player:
Sony has finally announced the arrival of PS3 firmware 2.40! The update will arrive this Wednesday, July 2nd, just in time for the holiday. It will include the oft requested and much anticipated in-game XMB which will allow players to access the Cross Media Bar while playing a game (amongst other features). The other big addition will be Trophies, Sony's version of Xbox achievements. The list of first party games that will support trophies at launch is as follows:
- Super Stardust HD
- BUZZ!(TM) Quiz TV
- LittleBigPlanet
- MotorStorm: Pacific Rift
- NBA 09
- PAIN
- PixelJunk(TM) Eden
- Resistance 2
- SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation
- Warhawk
You can check out a full description of each of the new features
(and another video detailing Trophies) after the jump.
A couple of weeks ago, Jesse James brought you news of Signal, a third party application that allowed you to control your iTunes playback over your network from your iPhone/iPod Touch. But what if you didn't want to fork over $25 for that app?
Apple is here to the rescue, with their own free first party app, which was hinted at today with the release of the iTunes 7.7 beta to developers:
Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home -- a free download from the App Store.
Come July 11, when the App Store and iPhone software v2.0 hits, you control freaks can get the action you want, for free and straight from Apple.
Apple to Offer iTunes Remote Control App for iPhone and iPod Touch [MacRumors]
1Up gives us a crazy rumour, telling us that Microsoft may be planning to open up and license the Xbox 360 platform to third party manufacturers:
We'll tell you what's up with Microsoft: new hardware options. It may sound totally insane -- trust us, we did a double-take the first time Qmann whispered it in our ears -- but word has it that Microsoft may begin allowing third-party manufacturers to create Xbox 360 hardware. And we're not talking about peripherals, people; we mean hardware that runs 360 game discs created by someone other than Microsoft. It's a novel way of dealing with that red ring issue, don't you think?
It's common knowledge that the console hardware doesn't make the game companies money (in fact, they usually loose money on the sale, the notable exception being the Nintendo Wii) so perhaps this would be a novel way for Microsoft to offload some of their hardware costs to third parties, while simultaneously getting more Xbox 360 capable hardware out to the world.
What do you folks think? Would this be awesome, or just plain stupid?
Quartermann: God of War Meets Soul Calibur? [1UP]
[via: BBG]
My theme today is "weird enclosures," and so far it's a success. I've found electronic womb eggs, a solar powered teepee with WiFi, two queen beds, solar-powered DVD player and more, and now this.
The Quantum Sleeper. Where crazy people and vampires lay their heads to rest.
As much as the Ovei pod failed to inspire claustrophobia, the Quantum Sleeper makes up for it: designed to protect sleepers from "Bio-Chemical terrorist attacks," stalkers, kidnappers and natural disasters, the Quantum Sleeper has "creepy rich guy" written all over it.
Let's examine the creepy features. Rebreather and filtered ventilation. Control panel, of course. One-way see through head cover (weird) and proximity/motion/smoke/oxygen sensor. Emergency CB and short-wave radio (are you getting the picture yet?). An audio amplifier so you can hear anyone whispering or creeping about, should their government technology jam the motion sensor. An external override key and emergency release. And, of course, for truly creepy effect: a toiletry system.
For just a few shekels more you can also get a TV, PC, DVD player, microwave or refrigerator.
Quantum Sleeper, a Safe Night's Sleep With Space For a Tin Foil Hat [Uber Review]
And girls who like girls who like fembots!
Gadget of the Week
Even Hope wants an iPhone 3G!
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