Gadgets Inspector | Hot Gadgets and Gizmos

Digg is rolling out a new recommendation engine this week. The new feature’s goal is to help users discover content from like-minded individuals amid the clutter of the 16k+ stories submitted to Digg.com each day.

You know how when you are browsing Amazon.com and the site suggests related products based on what you are viewing and what you’ve already purchased? This new Digg feature works kind of the same way. It analyzes your previous “diggs,” or stories you’ve voted for, then lets you know what other users with similar tastes have recommended.

If you want to know more, Digg execs Kevin Rose and Anton Kast go into detail about how it works on the Digg blog.

Rose will also probably explain the new feature during his next Diggnation podcast.

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Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the latest stats show that Gmail users skew younger and richer than those on Yahoo Mail and Hotmail.

Gmail opened up to all comers in February, with Gmail’s market share of US visits climbing 17% from February 2007 to April 2007. However, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail are still much bigger by comparison, says Hitwise: Yahoo had 13x the market share, and Hotmail had 6x the marketshare of Gmail.

The good news, if you’re a Gmail user, is that you may be part of the elite: while Yahoo and Hotmail users are decidedly average, Gmail users tend to be young, have a high income, and be early adopters of technology. 54% of users are between 18 and 34, while 18% have an average annual household income between $100,000 and $149,999 (compared to 15% for Hotmail and 13% for Yahoo Mail).

Another stat, probably related to the young age of GMail users: they’re more likely to be Facebook users than those on the other services.

As for performance in the bedroom - well, we kinda lied. In fact, the stats show that solitary Gmail users are far more likely to Google themselves.

[Via mashable.com]

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If you are a regular reader of Entertainment Weekly, then you might have seen the first photo of the upcoming Iron Man film they published last week. The picture got such a huge fan reaction in the blogosphere that Paramount decided to release a high resolution version of the photo.

Jon Favreau (Swingers) will direct Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. (Less Than Zero) has the lead role of Tony Stark/Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges have also been cast in the film. Iron Man is slated to hit theaters on May 2nd 2008.

The high rez photos are definitely worth checking out.

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The bathroom. It’s one of the most important (and hopefully used) rooms of your home. So much so, that people usually add radios to their bathrooms and provide a soundtrack to their personal grooming and thinking. But isn’t this the iPod generation? Why just settle for a radio? The iCarta iPod dock lets you bring and enjoy your iPod into your private sanctuary.

This iPod dock is integrated into a toilet paper holder and is compatible with all dockable iPods. It features four integrated high performance moisture-free speakers and is powered by an AC adapter… so you can power up your iPod while you download.

For showering, shaving, and all other things you might use your bathroom for, enjoy your music your way. Bring in your iPod. Let it enhance each moment of your life.

Power Requirements:

• 12V, 1.5A AC adapter Unit Dimension
• Width 8.25 x Height 3.68 x Depth 7.12 inch, 210mm x 93mm x 181mm
• Accepts standard toilet paper rolls

You can charge your iPod while playing music. The only problem is that it isn’t waterproof – but then again, neither is an iPod. By the way, that song stinks. Light a match.

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Maybe it’s something in the air. Maybe they were just having a bad day. Or maybe it was the handful of painkillers they swallowed moments before going on air (right Paula?). But whatever the explanation, weird, awkward interviews seem to be occurring at an ever more frequent rate. The website Double Viking has gathered the top 10 most awkward interview moments of all time.

The list includes such gems as Barbra Walters asking Katherine Hepburn what kind of tree she’d be and Tom Cruise attacking Matt Lauer about Scientology. But by far, my favorite moment is when Vanilla Ice grabs a baseball bat, destroys part of a TV set and makes Jon Stewart crap his pants.

Want to watch these YouTube clips on your iPod? Then check out this tutorial: How to Copy Files Off YouTube and Convert them for your Video iPod

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Want to make it big as a music video director/editor? The band Modest Mouse wants help making a video for their new song “Missed the Boat.” With the help of Apple, Modest Mouse posted 12 high quality videos (each shot at a different angle) of them performing in front of a green screen.

The public is encouraged to download these video clips and edit them together into one final music video. Feel free to use your own footage and experiment the green screen.

Why is Apple generously providing massive amounts of bandwidth for people to download these giant high resolution video clips?

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Sci Fi.com and Sci Fi Magazine are asking Internet users if they should pick up a new sci-fi comedy called Outer Space Astronauts.

Visitors are given access to 5 vignettes from the show on the SCI FI Pulse Broadband Network and asked to fill out a survey explaining what they think. Sci Fi says it will also take traffic into account when deciding whether or not to pick up the show.

Think you know how to program the American Sci Fi Channel better than NBC Universal? After they started airing wrestling on the Sci Fi Channel… who doesn’t.

You can watch the Outer Space Astronauts clips here.

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Recently Bob Garfield, from AdAge, got to interview Bill Gates during the Corbis Creativity 2.0 panel in Manhattan. Garfield asked Gates about a number of topics from Vista to IPTV. He also tried to get Gates to comment on a very sensitive topic… Apple’s “Get a Mac” advertising campaign. The campaign features actor/author John Hodgman who looks like Bill Gates and personifies a PC.

As you can imagine, Bill Gates is not amused by the ads. Here’s the portion of the interview transcript where Garfield asks Gates about the ads. Enjoy:

GARFIELD: I want to ask you one more thing: Those Mac ads — how do you feel about the John Hodgman character?

GATES: I can’t comment on someone else’s ad.

GARFIELD: OK … but he’s you.

GATES: Yeah, I’m not gonna comment on someone else’s ad.

GARFIELD: OK, well, Bill Gates, thank you so much for joining us.

(Silence)

GARFIELD: Can I just have a clean goodbye?

(Silence)

GARFIELD: OK, can you just say goodbye? Thank you or goodbye or something like that?

GATES: Goodbye.

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Last week Apple sent out an email (screenshot courtesy of TechCrunch.com) to video podcasters asking them to increase the quality of their productions and start formatting their videos for the big screen. Since the launch of the Apple TV (full review here) in March, Apple TVs have been selling like hotcakes and video podcast subscription numbers have skyrocketed.

Apple TV owners, who don’t necessarily want to spend lots of money in the iTunes Store, are gobbling up video podcasts like never before. Even though there currently isn’t any HD quality videos for sale in the iTunes Store, the Apple TV is capable of HD video playback. So several popular video podcasters, including The Washington Post, TWIT (MacBreak), Revision3 (Diggnation) and Vintage Tooncast, have decided to fill the void of HD content by distributing their podcasts in HD or hi res quality.

Why hasn’t everyone started distributing their video podcasts in HD? Money. Not only does producing an HD podcasts require extra hard drive space (roughly 4 times more), special cameras and editing software, but just hosting these giant video files on the Internet can be enough to bankrupt your entire production. For example, the iPod Video version of MacBreak episode 63 is 21 MBs. The HD version is 93 MBs. To help alleviate increased HD production costs, many podcasters have reached out to HD television manufacturers like Samsung and Panasonic to get them to sponsor their new HD podcasts.

For video podcasters who are still producing content at 320×240 but want to do something to increase quality, there is an intermediary step before going HD. Podcasters can start by migrating their productions to 640×480, or even 640×360 (letterbox). This way their video files will still be compatible with portable media players like the Zune and iPod, but will also work on the Apple TV. If the material is carefully encoded, it will look as good or better than typical TV.

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In 1998, the “Today” show started sending co-host Matt Lauer to far off locations like Mt. Everest and Machu Picchu, for a feature on the show called Where in the World Is Matt Lauer? But this week, American broadcasting network NBC decided to send Matt Lauer somewhere he’d never been before… a microsite. In a clever mashup of entertainment and promotion, Matt Lauer now has his own interactive Flash gaming site (followmatt.com). I blog for a site called Brand Appeal and thought this Matt Lauer microsite deserved a closer look.

Using a fun object-based interface, the site encourages users to explore Matt’s possessions on his desk. You can watch clips on his video iPod, check out his car keys (sponsored by by Hyundai), download themed ringtones from his mobile phone, and see all of the places Matt has traveled to by opening up his passport. Visitors can even use his digital camera to upload a brief video clip explaining why they deserve a vacation. Apparently the best sob story wins a free vacation.

By far, the best part of the microsite is the “Where’s Matt?” game. It’s like an interactive version of the children’s book “Where’s Waldo?” Matt randomly gets inserted into different exotic locations and you have to find him. Do it fast enough and you’ll get your name listed in the top 10. When I last played the game someone named “Imus Sucks” was in 10th place. Obviously a reference to the radio host who recently made racist comments about the Reuters University women’s basketball team. Imus does suck by the way.

Overall, the online experience is great. However, the execution of this site’s design feels a little disjointed. Several components of the site launch in separate windows making the experience feel less contained. Even though I feel a more controlled experience for visitors is needed (like on my blog called Brand Appeal), the site really does a nice job of pushing Matt Lauer’s celebrity brand and attracting more interest in the Today show. Don’t give a crap about a free vacation or ring tones? Me either. But at the very least check out the “Where’s Matt?” game and try to get your name in the top 10. I did. Just once.

by CAM

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