I’m no lawyer, but this seems a bit frightening. As the story goes, a well-known hacker named George Hotz—also known as GeoHot—figured out how to “jailbreak” Sony’s PlayStation 3 video game console. The trick essentially lets PS3 owners load alternative operating systems or run games that haven’t been sanctioned by Sony on their …
Four Seasons in One Minute: Instant Virtual 3D Trees from Video
Scientists have created a way to generate realistic 3D computer models of trees, using a short video clip of a real tree as source material.
The technique represents a huge leap forward for people who need to create natural-looking 3D environments, such as animators, videogame designers, and architects.
Until now, if you wanted a …
Apple Looking to Simplify iPhone 5 with Aluminum Body, Internal Antenna?
The above image is not the iPhone 5! It is, however, a mock-up from a Japanese website that cites a Taiwanese source that says Apple’s next iPhone will apparently feature an aluminum casing and an antenna that’s been moved back inside the shell.
It’s a lot of dots to connect—don’t put too much stock into this information, in …
Loving and Hating Twitter’s New Quick Bar
Judging by the number of tweets with the hashtag #dickbar, Twitter annoyed a large number of users with last week’s iPhone app update that added a non-removable Quick Bar showing trending topics to the top of the screen.
The row has rumbled on over the weekend, with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo – after whom the bar was nicknamed by pundit …
TechnologizerGaming & Culture
Don Bluth is Back: The Dragon’s Lair Animator Does Tapper
“We didn’t know anything about videogames–that’s God’s honest truth.” That’s veteran animation director Don Bluth describing his gaming expertise before his studio created the animation for the 1983 arcade game Dragon’s Lair and its 1984 follow-up, Space Ace.
For a guy who says he was oblivious to the world of gaming, Bluth has had a …
ICANN vs. the World
A rose by any other name may smell just as sweet, but if that name is an Internet top-level domain name, world governments may beg to differ.
The “.com” at the end of TIME.com is known as a top-level domain—or TLD—and you may be aware of others, including .net, .org, .edu, and even .ly for Libya. While there are over a hundred …
Will Your Team’s Website Survive an NFL Lockout?
Last week, 330 fresh-from-college players, just under 1,000 coaches, executives and scouts and over 700 credentialed media members flooded Indianapolis for the NFL’s annual scouting combine. It is the closest thing that professional football has to a convention; even a late-night trip to the flagship Steak ‘n Shake downtown yields an …
The Iditarod Gets Some Nifty Gadgets
The Iditarod contenders might still follow the original 1,150 mile trail that was run a century ago, but it’s going to be a completely updated race this March 5. Now, most teams are bringing high-tech outdoors equipment including custom-made sleds with adjustable runners for different types of weather conditions and GPS devices to track …
How to Sell a Tablet: Apps and Price First, Tech Specs Second
I try to keep a level head about Apple products. I own several, but I also own plenty of non-Apple stuff as well (I use a PC! Can you believe it?!).
This whole tablet movement has been fascinating to watch, though, and Apple’s been navigating the minefield impressively. It’s setting up some mines along the way, which helps, but …
E-Silk Makes Devices Literally More Flexible
Rigid e-readers that are too big to fit comfortably in our pockets: Be gone. A Taiwanese professor at National Tsing Hua University and two of his post-grads have figured out how to use silk as a material in flexible e-book readers, LED displays and radio-frequency identification tools, according to PC World.
“We didn’t know at first …
Fastcustomer App Ensures You No Longer Have to Be On Hold
Being on hold can test your patience – not to mention cause you physical pain from cradling the phone between your shoulder and ear. Instead of having to listen to how important your call is to the company, try out Fastcustomer’s new app.
Fastcustomer will have that customer service representative call you, because you wait for no …
What Went Viral This Week
March 4, 2011 –
Superheroines Go Hipster
Jean Grey was reading minds before thinking this was even cool. [via Buzzfeed]
Ashton Kucher Gets Punk’D
Somewhere out there a fully grown man in a backwards baseball cap is snickering and high fiving himself.
And the Most Typical Face on the Planet Is…
[vodpod …