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Researchers to map Ozzy Osbourne's genome
Ozzy Osbourne is about to join the ranks of a very fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) minority. DNA research lab Knome has announced that it is going to sequence the lead singer of Black Sabbath's entire genome. Knome, -- which focuses on DNA sequencing in the interest of disease research -- has said that Ozzy's "extreme" medical history (i.e., years of hard partying) makes him an ideal candidate for their purposes. Very few people have had their entire DNA mapped, and the sequencing will take about 3 months to complete, so we'll just have to make do by watching the video after the break until we get the results.
iPod nano modded to play inside 8-track player, blow minds with ease (video)
Oh, sure -- they've a place in history, but the 8-track ain't got nothing on the record player when it comes to retro audio sources. This, however, is no vanilla 8-track deck. The Mad Hacker decided to add a little 2-oh-oh-to-the-dime to his Channel Master by modding a Beach Boys deck to connect to his iPod nano. He even threw a headphone socket and USB port on the front for listening on the go and charging (respectively), but the real amazement comes when you plug the thing in. Somehow or another, he hacked the 8-track to transfer iPod signals into the antediluvian source, providing a bona find plug-and-play solution that's (way) more awesome than practical. Seriously, it needs to be seen to be believed -- lucky for you, the video demonstration is just a click away.
Engadget dines at Taipei's Windows 7-themed restaurant (video)
Taiwan may be a comparatively small place, but it's well known for a few things: incredible eats, incredible technology, and the best Little League World Series teams this planet has ever seen. We're experiencing the best of those first two this week at Computex, and since we were all the way over on the other side of the planet, we couldn't help but stop by the Windows 7-themed eatery that opened up for just a couple of months surrounding the nation's only hosted consumer electronics show of this magnitude. The place, as we were told by the one and only Andy Yang from Engadget Chinese, is Taiwanese through and though. It typically goes by 100 Seafood, but for a couple of months it has been transformed into a 64-bit dining location with Windows 7 wallpaper, stickers, banners, and even mugs. Each day there's a special menu item that sells for just NT$77 (around $2.38 in the US), but considering that said special was some form of intestines on the evening that we showed up, Engadget and company sprung for dishes with a bit less relation to the digestive system. In all seriousness, the grub hit the spot after a long day on the trade show floor, and the take-home mugs for us media folk made the journey even more worthwhile. Now, to see if the lid closes over if we don't activate the thing in 30 days... Take a trip to this magical place yourself in the galleries below, or do one even better and jump past the break for a video! %Gallery-94338% %Gallery-94337%
Boss turns DS-1 Distortion pedal into USB mouse, changes the game forever
Any touring guitar player worth his / her salt likely owns a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner pedal, and while he / she certainly balked at the MSRP at checkout, they probably couldn't live without it now. And this, friends, is yet another item that you surely cannot live without... but sadly, you'll have to. As the story goes, Boss was offering up this DS-1 Distortion USB mouse as a limited run item on its UK website, but at just £29.99 ($43), they unsurprisingly sold out in record time. Now, there's nary a trace of the device on the outfit's webstore, but at least you've got MusicRadar's hands-on images in the source link to soothe the hurt. What's that? It only makes things worse? Dim the lights, grab the eye-black and cue the Brand New, please. [Thanks, Geoff]
Sony's last cassette-blastin' boom box is precisely how Ruff Ryders roll('d)
Sony may not shed a tear for the 3.5-inch floppy disk when it meets its maker in March, but you'd better believe the company's crafted a retirement plan for the format that propelled it to fame: the compact cassette. To be fair, the CFD-A110 CD / cassette boom box above isn't actually a new product -- it's a relabeled CFD-A100TV from 2003 minus the nigh-obsolete analog TV band -- but if you're rocking magnetic mix tapes we're guessing you'll welcome this blast from the past. For your projected ¥20,000 (about $215) you'll get a pair of full-range speakers, 14 AM/FM presets, an external microphone port for karaoke and a remote when it launches in Japan this June 21st. What that won't buy you, however, is an obnoxiously large gilded chain, a beefed up left shoulder for carrying it around, and a time machine needed to actually fit in while using this. Ya heard?
Caption contest: Windows 7-themed restaurant serves 64-bit grub in Taiwan
We (falsely) assumed that the Windows 7 Whopper would be the last food item ever associated with an operating system, and now we're quite literally eating our words. As the story goes, a Hot Fried 77 restaurant has opened up over in Taiwan, offering tons of "Windows-themed meals" for NTD $77 (around $3 in Greenbacks), and judging by the cornucopia of images down there in the source, we're guessing this is no prank. We're debating whether laughing or crying is the appropriate emotion here. Josh T.: "While you're throwing .bak some fries and a burger, you should enjoy a .dll pickle." Nilay: "This is not what we meant by Windows 7 Server." Chris: "I'm a PC, and putting down a pint of Beast while installing Windows 7 was my idea." Richard Lai: "This is the real Windows Genuine Advantage." Joe: "We like to believe that Microsoft started with the restaurant and then reverse engineered an OS." Richard Lawler: "Obviously, there's no word for Seagrams in their language." Darren: "You haven't heard? Alcohol consumption by end-user is now listed in Minimum System Requirements." Josh F.: "When reading 'serve it to us on a plate' in a literal sense goes horribly right." Joanna: "Everything I come up with is just wrong." Don: "Can you tell me where the XP Cafe is?" Paul: "Would you like that in 32-bit or 64-bit?" [Thanks, Chris]
LinnStrument multitouch music maker gets demoed on video, grasps for investors
Roger Linn. Ever heard of him? He's only the man behind the modern day drum machine and the original MPC-60, and he's also the man behind the concept you're inevitably peering at above. For now, Roger's calling this beaut the LinnStrument, and there's quite a back story to go along with it. The design began way back in 2006, with the goal being to create a full-on multitouch instrument with the ability to let one's finger dictate volume, timbre, pitch and pressure. No doubt, many have tried to concoct something similar, but Roger's discovery of TouchCo enabled him to create one sans the limitations of imitators. Unfortunately, Amazon quietly scooped up the startup in January of this year (to have this sort of technology available for the Kindle product line), and in turn, shut down TouchCo's involvement with the outside world. Now, Roger's being forced to reveal his unfinished work in hopes of attracting investors or unearthing another company that could mimic this sort of awesomeness en masse. Jump on past the break and mash play to get a better idea of what the world's missing out on, and be sure to tell Jeff Bezos "thanks" the next time you bump into him. [Thanks, Peter]
Canon produces 40 millionth EOS-series SLR, half of 'em digital
Oh, Canon -- you and your milestones. Just under two years ago, you took time out of your busy schedule to gloat about the shipment of your 100 millionth compact camera, and today you're bragging about the production of your 40 millionth EOS-series SLR camera. In all seriousness, we're pretty proud of ya. After all, it took a full decade (1987 to 1997) for you to conjure up 10 million EOS film cameras, and six more after that to hit the magical 20 million mark. Once you blew through 30 million in 2007, it took but 28 months to get where you are today. What's really wild, though, is that half of the milestone is all digital, and given the state of film today, we're guessing that the delta between the two will only grow larger in the future. You've come a long way since the introduction of the EOS-1, but we know you've got a few surprises in store yet -- how's about a sub-$1,000 DSLR that shoots native 4K video and has an ISO ceiling of 1,000,000 to celebrate the rapidly approaching 50 million mark? %Poll-46360%
Motorola Droid solves Lego-encased Rubik's Cube in 24 mind-melting seconds (video)
Oh sure, you've seen your disgustingly hairy cousin solve a Rubik's Cube in 3 minutes and 13.4 seconds, and we've seen quite a few sophisticated robots do it in far less time. But in the latest episode of "Yes, Droid Really Does," we've got Motorola's darling solving a Lego-encased Cube in just over 24 seconds. Let's recap: a Droid, a Mindstorms NXT monstrosity, a Rubik's Cube and faux techno. Is there any chance you aren't clicking through to watch this video? Update: Whoops -- had the wrong image in there somehow. Fixed now! Update II: Drats -- the video owner removed the clip. We'll keep it embedded should it return. Update III: It's back! Check it after the break.
Shocker: CEA's spending report finds Americans buying more technology
Guess what kiddos? That recession that harshed your mellow all last year is officially over and done with... according to the Consumer Electronics Association, anyway. Based on a new report put out today by the CEA (you know, that organization that sets up CES each year?), the average US household spent $1,380 on consumer electronics over the past dozen months, which represents an increase of $151 from last year. The report also found that the average household spent 12 percent more on CE devices over the past year, and individual consumer spending shot up 10 percent year-over-year. Other tidbits included: ladies spent more on CE wares than the did last year (but still trail the guys overall), and the average home reported owning 25 consumer electronic products, up from 23 in 2009. We're also told that 86 percent of all US households own at least one computer, making it the third most owned CE product behind TVs and DVD players. Oh, and as for those pesky netbooks? 12 percent of US households own one of those, while 58 percent own "laptops" of some sort. Head on past the break for the full skinny -- we hope you're in the mood for good news, 'cause that's all you're getting. [Image courtesy of TooMuchNick / WireImage]
eBoy's FixPix iPhone game is basically the greatest thing ever made
Okay, so this isn't out yet, but it's hard to deny that the eBoy-designed Delicious Toys-developed game FixPix is probably the best idea anyone has ever had since the wheel or sliced bread. Maybe that's a little hyperbolic, but as you know, we are huge fans of eBoy and their mind-boggling pixel art. Now the design collective's cityscapes and fantastical scenes have been turned into an iPhone app where you can piece the 3D milieus back together by tilting your phone this way and that. As we said, the title isn't available, but there's an awesome demo site where you can play around with the concept, and it's likely FixPix could see Apple approval any day now. We can barely contain ourselves. Check out a video of the game in action after the break.
Keepin' it real fake: GiPhone F98 is the KIRFiest next gen iPhone KIRF to ever KIRF
It's been nearly a month since a China Grabber employee drunkenly left his experimental prototype next gen GiPhone at a Sushi Bar in Shenzhen, where it was found and sold to Shanzai.com for several thousand Yuan -- and the gadget world hasn't been the same since. The GiPhone F98 features, as all of these KIRFs do, dual SIM cards, an FM Radio, an "iPhone style" UI, WiFi, Bluetooth, and compatibility with 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, and 1900MHz GSM. And it's one of the thickest phones we've seen in a long time! (See for yourself after the break.) Available now for $150, if you dare. [Thanks, Jessica]
Crapgadget: countdown to extinction, home edition
Feast your eyes upon the bloated list of horrific wares we've dug up from the dregs of the 'net for you this fine, delicious afternoon. Most of these "gadgets" are of the home-making variety, so will you waste your money on the R2-D2 vacuum, telling yourself that it'll motivate you to do that spring cleaning before fall arrives? Or will you lay down a bit of cash for the "toilet sound blocker" which spares you the intense, buzz-killing embarrassment of allowing other people in the vicinity to hear you flushing the toilet? Will you instead reach into your wallet to make the USB seat cooler your own (you know, since seats are so very hot)? No? Well, there's some other, even less interesting crap available too. Enjoy. Oh, and be sure to check out the Chicken Burger USB hub. It's the breast. Read - R2-D2 vacuum Read - Toilet Sound Blocker Read - USB seat cooler Read - Soccer ball headphones Read - Windshield mount Read - Chicken Burger USB hub
Engadget test-drives Festo AirMotion Ride, humiliates self (video)
Festo may've already stirred up plenty of attention with its mesmerizing AirPenguin blimp, but let's not forget its other weapon -- fluidic muscles (elastomer tubes that contract when filled with fluid). At The Gadget Show Live in the UK, this German company was also showing off its AirMotion Ride car-racing simulator -- essentially a driver's seat suspended from just six fluidic muscles for the six degrees of freedom, while sound and vision are handled by its 5.1 surround sound speakers and a projector. The company claims that each of these lightweight muscles can generate forces of up to 1,600N, and since there are no mechanical parts inside, they make an ideal replacement for conventional hydraulic plungers as used on Force Dynamics' and Motion-Sim's simulators. You can see Festo's machine in action after the break, but promise us that you won't judge our driving ability.%Gallery-90032%
Yale students build spokeless bicycle in one semester, now looking for jobs
Here's something that'll make you think twice before your next bike purchase -- the geniuses (genii?) at Yale University have built a pretty rad spokeless bicycle, which was somehow inspired by the lack of "pictures of a real spokeless bicycle online." Sure, strictly speaking it's just a half-done product due to time (one semester) and budget restraints, but that rear wheel -- driven by the pedals on its geared inner rim -- alone should be enough to make you gasp. Practical hipsters might even be able to fit an electric motor or some sort of container inside the wheel, although we're pretty content with the futuristic hollowness. Either way, the Yale grad who posted these photos is now available for hire, so pay him well and you can have it your way.
Puppy Tweets lets your puppy... tweet
Apple might think it's going to change the world tomorrow with some sort of crazy tablet, but we're here to tell you that the world has already changed. American humans will soon be able to buy a product called "Puppy Tweets," a product actually designed, tested, and released by the Mattel corporation. First, you need a dog with a Twitter account. (Who doesn't have one of those?) Then, you need to use $30 of your actual money to buy Puppy Tweets, a plastic sound-and-motion sensor that clips onto your dog's collar and sends out several pre-written tweets that have extreme amounts of dignity, like "YAHOOOOOOO! Somedays you just gotta get your bark on." Then you have to weep gently for the future of our society.
Wiiwaa is the greatest Wii game ever made, we assume
Wiiwaa is a forthcoming Wii game which involves you cramming your Wiimote into the mouth of the bizarre stuffed animal you see... oh just watch the video after the break.
Confused school district fires sysadmin for running SETI@home: 'As an educational institution we do not support the search for E.T.'
We've dealt with a number of confused and outright foolish school administrators in our time, but it seems like Arizona's Higley Unified School District might be run by the most bonkers of the bunch: they've fired IT director Brad Niesluchowski for running SETI@Home on some 5,000 of the district's machines. Why? According to confidently-underinformed superintendent Denise Birdwell, Higley Unified "certainly would have supported cancer research," but does "not support the search for E.T." Well, that's just peachy -- except that her flippant dismissal of SETI belies a complete ignorance of one of the oldest and most respected distributed-computing projects in the world, and what it's actually looking for. Oh, but it gets worse: Birdwell thinks SETI@home -- which primarily runs as a screensaver -- was somehow slowing down "educational programs in every classroom," and magically estimates that it's cost her district "$1 million in added utility fees and replacement parts," with a further huge cost required to remove the software. Completing her transformation into the worst-possible stereotype of a school district superintendent, Birdwell's even got the local cops on the case. Yeah, it's idiotic, but it could be worse -- we can only imagine the hell that would have broken loose had Higley's machines been a part of the renegade Engadget Folding@home team. Update: So there's apparently more going on here as well, including allegations of stolen equipment and -- inevitably -- downloaded porn, but none of that explains why Superintendent Birdwell is giving press conferences where she slams SETI. Check the more coverage links for the full story, and make sure to hit the source link for the video.
