Gadgets Inspector | Hot Gadgets and Gizmos

Don Herbert, who explained the wonderful world of science to millions children on his Nickelodeon cable TV show “Mr. Wizard’s World“, has died after a long battle with multiple myeloma. He was 89.

Herbert used basic experiments to teach scientific principles to his TV audience via an in-studio guest boy or girl who assisted in the experiments. Herbert liked to perform his scientific experiments as “tricks” to get the kids hooked, then explain the science behind it later.

Herbert wrote several books, including “Mr. Wizard’s Supermarket Science” and “Mr. Wizard’s Experiments for Young Scientists.”

In recent years, he helped set up his website mrwizardstudios.com.

[Via latimes.com]

BeSocial: digg story | methodshop

Today Apple posted a page detailing the cost of the iPhone rate plans (US). And they aren’t as bad as most people had thought. All plans have unlimited data (nice!) - $60 for 450 minutes, $80 for 900 minutes and $100 for 1350 minutes. Existing AT&T customers can add unlimited data for $20 - $40 with a varying number of text messages.

• All iPhone service plans include Visual Voicemail and unlimited data — Internet and email — so you only have to decide how many minutes and SMS text messages you need. You’ll select your plan when you activate your iPhone using iTunes on your computer.

• If you’re already an AT&T customer and want to keep your current voice plan, you can just add an iPhone Data Plan with unlimited data (email and web) and Visual Voicemail for just $20 per month.

BeSocial: iphone plans | digg story | methodshop

Good news for Apple TV and the iPhone. Starting today, Apple TV owners can start watching YouTube content on their TV sets. YouTube content will also be available to the iPhone when it officially launches on June 29th.

Apple TV users can download a free update via the built-in software update option to enable a new YouTube content menu. An option to “check for updates” is listed under the Apple TV settings screen.

iPhone users will be able to enjoy YouTube’s originally-created content on their iPhones when they begin shipping on June 29. A YouTube player application on the iPhone will wirelessly stream YouTube’s videos to the iPhone over Wi-Fi or EDGE networks and play it on iPhone’s 3.5 inch display.

Both AppleTV and the iPhone will play YouTube content that has been reencoded into Apple’s h.264 video format. 10,000 of YouTube’s videos have been converted so far with the remainder expected by the fall. An Apple press release claims that h.264 was chosen “to achieve higher video quality and longer battery life on mobile devices.”

Reports coming out of WWDC 2007 say that one of Apple’s justifications of avoiding Flash video playback on the iPhone is improved battery life. The iPhone contains dedicated hardware capable of playing h.264 content, while Flash content would require more intensive use of the iPhone’s CPU, resulting in higher battery drain.

You can read a review of the Apple TV here.

BeSocial: macrumors | digg story | methodshop

Chances are, you have at least one coworker with a tendency to “let one go” at the office. Hopefully you don’t work in cramped cubicle farm. It’s not exactly a fun time. Especially when the said fart “lingers” and someone has overkill the room with Axe Body Spray (Paul).

Honestly, we all blow hot air from time-to-time… whether it be talking smack to our boss about how busy we are, or literally blowing hot air after a big Mexican lunch (Chris). In the latter case, it’s good to know we have back up from the good folks at Thanko.

She looks pretty happy. I wonder what she ate for lunch.
The Thanko USB seat vent is designed to cool off that hot seat of yours while increasing air flow to the immediate area. Greg at GetUSB.info proudly filed this under useless USB gadgets. That’s probably because he doesn’t know Chris or Paul.

BeSocial: digg story | flickr | methodshop

It’s been an interesting few days for Apple and their Safari web browser. On Monday, Apple released a PC version of Safari 3 (beta) at the 2007 Worldwide Developers Conference. But within a few hours, Internet security specialists and hackers had uncovered several bugs capable of crashing the Windows operating system as well as a major security flaw making it possible to remotely take control a PC without the owners knowledge.

Just hours after Apple made Safari 3 available for Windows, David Maynor from Errata Security and independent expert Aviv Raff both blogged about the Safari security bugs they found.

“I can’t speak for anybody else, but the bugs [I] found in the beta copy of Safari on Windows work on the production copy on OS X as well… The exploit is robust mostly thanks to the lack of any kind of advanced security features in [Mac] OS X.” erratasec.blogspot.com

“A first glance at the debugger showed me that this memory corruption might be exploitable. Although, I’ll have to dig more to be sure of that. Again, this is just a beta version. But, don’t you hate those pathetic claims?” net-security.org

At last count, 6 total bugs in Safari have been recorded despite this claim on the Safari 3 download page: “Apple engineers designed Safari to be secure from day one.”

But hell, Safari 3 is just a beta version, it’s supposed to have bugs, right?

So why did Apple decide to make their Safari web browser Windows compatible in the first place? Three reasons come to mind:

• A cross platform web browser will encourage web developers to create web-based programs for the iPhone and make their sites more compatible for existing Safari (Mac) users.

• A PC version of Safari is an opportunity to expose Windows users to another Apple product. Apple hopes PC users will enjoy their Safari experience and think about getting a Mac the next time they get a new computer. So far, they are off to a pretty bad start.
• Search dollars. The little search box in the upper right corner of the Firefox web browser is a major revenue generator. Every time you use that little search box, the browser manufacturer makes money off the search ads you are exposed to when you are taken to the results page. I’ve seen reports that Firefox (an open source project) made around over $50 million dollars from that little search box in 2006 alone.

You can download Safari 3 (beta) from Apple.com.

BeSocial: digg story | methodshop

On Tuesday, the American soap opera, Days of Our Lives, debuted on iTunes (US). Full episodes of the soap will be offered at the standard $1.99, but consumers will be able to shave off 50¢ per episode by ordering a 20-episode multipass for $9.99.

iTunes Link: Days of Our Lives

The producers of the show have had several conversations about including bonus scenes from Days of Our Lives in the iTunes version, though nothing has been decided yet.

Days of Our Lives will now be the most widely distributed daytime soap in the U.S., with episodes available on broadcast (NBC), cable (SoapNet) and online (iTunes).

BeSocial: flickr | methodshop

Every once in awhile I’ll find something really random or weird on Amazon.com (can you say Mongolian Goat Hide Pillow?). But I think that a personal land cruiser/tank named after a giant ‘ass’ takes the cake.

The JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser is a custom made tank modeled after Jabba’s Sail Barge from Star Wars. The exterior is a steel shell with a rust patina. Remember this is a “tank” so there’s lots of protective armor like fixed slats protecting the windows, and a unique industrial-strength rubberized flexible skirt that shields and protects the wheels to within an inch of the ground, while still allowing for enough flex to give clearance over bumpy and uneven terrain.

And if you wouldn’t be noticed enough just by driving around in a mini tank, the Donk features lots of exterior lighting. We’re talking head and tail lights, turn signal lights, trim lighting, and underbody lighting (did they have ground effects on Tatooine).

Don’t forget to bring your iPod while you’re cruising around in the Donk. Inside there’s a 400 watt premium sound system with PA system that you can use to blast sound outside the vehicle.

Continue Reading >>

Ready to get some digital gear for summer? Nothing would fit that ticket better then a USB 2.0 SurfDrive. With its innovative surfboard design and colorful graphics, you can transfer your files in true nerdy surf style.

The USB SurfDrive is Windows and Mac OS compatible and does not require any drivers (except for Windows 98. Why are you still using Windows 98 anyway?). USB SurfDrives are available in several sizes ranging from 256MB to 2GB with free shipping on Amazon.com.

Who says USB novelty items are worthless?

[Via GetUSB.info]

BeSocial: methodshop