Daily Archives: May 14, 2008

Midi controller with arcade buttons puts the Shoryuken into Schubert

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Rob Beschizza

With its central profusion of arcade buttons, the Midibox promises satisfaction: this is an electronic musical instrument to be pounded like a 6-button fighter. Built around a PIC microcontroller–a low cost computer chip backed by a vast library of applications–it … Continue reading →

Intel: Atom to be heart of larger, hi-res “version of iPhone”

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Rob Beschizza

Intel Germany supremo Hannes Schwaderer just slapped his todger on the bar and demanded service, announcing a 720x new iPhone featuring Intel’s Atom chip. This is according to the Internet. From ZDNet Germany, as translated by MacRumors: “As part of … Continue reading →

Help CMU’s AI research by playing casual games online

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Rob Beschizza

Carnegie Mellon University’s new online games are designed to make other programs smarter by learning from the players. Each multi-player title encapsulates a class of problem that remain impossible for computers to solve. “We have games that can help improve … Continue reading →

Willy Wonka and the Radiation Factory

Posted on May 14, 2008 by John Brownlee

The Habog Facility in the Netherlands is a massive warehouse for decaying nuclear waste, cheerily painted orange and inscribed with pastel-colored physics formulas by Einstein and Planck. According to Dutch law, all nuclear waste must be securely stored for 100 … Continue reading →

The Brannock Device is the iPhone of shoe salesmen

Posted on May 14, 2008 by John Brownlee

Over at the Design Observer blog, Michael Bierut waxes poetic about a triumph of industrial engineering… the ubiquitous Brannock Device. Never heard of it? Your sweaty, calloused trotter has been crammed into one by a disgruntled shoe salesman at one … Continue reading →

Gay consumers love Apple, but hate Samsung for some reason

Posted on May 14, 2008 by John Brownlee

In today’s consumerist age, it’s important, when buying a gadget or gewgaw, to be one hundred percent certain that its manufacturer applauds your choice of whichever gooey orifice you might find yourself drawn towards plunging. So in a recent survey … Continue reading →

MS: No redesigned Xbox 360

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Rob Beschizza

The Xbox 360 will not transmogrify into a slick but faintly unrealistic 3D-rendered fantasy in 2009, according to manufacturer Microsoft. From Engadget: “Microsoft representative let us know today that “While we don’t normally comment on rumors like this, we can … Continue reading →

Puzzle alarm clock demands more than mere wakefulness

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Rob Beschizza

Puzzle alarm clock: the simple, profoundly irritating idea at its heart is easy enough to guess, but why, then, is the puzzle itself so simple? It’s a toddler’s learning toy, a matter of bashing three shapes into the corresponding holes. … Continue reading →

iPhone vs PSP: which has the better specs?

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Rob Beschizza

In response to rumors of an Apple portable gaming machine, Joel pointed out that it’s a completely stupid rumor. This is because the iPhone already exists, and the only thing standing between it and gaming wonder is a pernicious assumption … Continue reading →

New Get a Mac ad

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Rob Beschizza

There’s a new Get a Mac ad. Just assume that this post has gone through the necessary preliminaries to posting a new Get a Mac ad: a lede inoculating the post against criticism by admitting that it’s not funny, followed … Continue reading →