Meet the manikins (not to be confused with mankinis), medical dummies (spelled "manikin", apparently) used to train future doctors on how to do the bare minimum to keep you alive that the HMO will pay for. There are all types, from the sexy Overweight CPR manikin to the Deluxe Child Crisis manikin. My favorite is the Multi Man CPR manikin, because it reminds me of last weekend. Vote on your favorite, then report back here and we\'ll compare notes. Next week we\'ll feature Manikin II: On The Move. [Medical Mainikins on Oobject]
If you want to get your iPhone App into the App Store in time for the July 11 launch, you\'ll have to submit it by July 7. That\'s next Monday. If you\'re one of those kids who always does their homework at the last second, we suspect there\'s going to be less BBQ and more "OMGWTFBBQ we\'re not done!" this weekend. And there\'s no copying off the smart kid now either, so we don\'t want to see Super Monkey Ball and Super Orangutan Ball turn up next Friday. Of course you don\'t absolutely have to be there at launch, but there\'s a much higher chance of more press coverage if you are. Don\'t forget to look at our App Contest as well. [MacRumors]
Jason Kline\'s gesture-based remote looks cool, but might not be practical for everyday usage. You adjust the volume with the left knob and the channel with the right, but there\'s no place to enter in buttons. It does allow you to keep going with the knob turning concept of old time TVs while still allowing you to be lazy on the couch. Not that we\'d ever use it, but it might be a decent concept for octogenarians who still miss the old days. [Yanko Design]
According to the SprintUsers forum, Sprint smartphone owners looking to renew their plans are being forced out of their standalone data plans, and pushed into Sprint\'s All-In-One plan that package voice, data, and messaging under one roof. In many cases, these new plans are costing the user way more than they paid before. Does this mean the days of standalone data are coming to an end? As of now, there is no official word from Sprint. [SprintUsers via BGR via Electronista]
Nowhere in the specs of the Sony Ericsson C720 does it say that it\'s completely waterproof—just dust and splash proof. And if there\'s one thing that a toilet does well (at least when we use it), it\'s splash. This could be one of the more disgusting tests imaginable for a phone. Seriously, are you going to use it now, because the CDC thinks otherwise. [bka]
Sure, the iPhone can help you make calls and check your email and settle arguments in bars, but when was the last time it helped keep a stretch of skin on your leg from getting peeled off on a hot stretch of pavement? Not recently, I\'m guessing. But that\'s just what happened to an avid cyclist who got a popped tire while traveling at about 25MPH.
In the instant just before executing my turn, something in the road punctured my front tire. In two places. 130 psi of traction and control were gone in an instant. I immediately went into an uncontrolled fall at 25 mph. Since I had already started my turn, the vertical stability of my bike gave way to momentum and gravity. I hit the pavement hard, sliding about 20 feet before friction brought me to a stop. Suddenly the pavement didn’t feel so good beneath me. I had a nasty abrasion on the outside of my right leg and right forearm, and a very sore right ‘cheek’, which took the brunt of my fall. I stood up as quickly as I could to
take inventory of my faculties to see if I suffered any broken bones. Luckily, I hadn’t.
Once I gathered myself and my bike to the side of the road, I reexamined my injuries. I was somewhat pleased the abrasion on my arm was not as bad as it could have been, saved by the leather-palmed gloves I was wearing for such an occasion (which were now ruined, but a small price to pay for the protection they provided). And my leg could have been worse, too, had it not been saved by my…my iPhone. “Oh no!”, I yelled.
Panic raced through me. Retrieving the iPhone from my pocket immediately revealed the screen had not suffered breakage, so I pressed the ‘Home’ button and the iPhone sprang to life. I was still about a mile from home, so I unlocked the display and immediately pressed the Phone icon so I could call home for assistance. The ringing sound at the other end was music to my ears; the phone still worked!
Sure, any phone could have protected him just as easily I\'m sure, but could that phone then help you look up the surgery you\'re avoiding due to its protection? I think not. [Gantos]
We were setting up our wireless router in this our new house when we made a startling realization. Our wireless hotspot doesn\'t need to be limited to boring names like LinksysN or 2Wire1969, they can be messages to our neighbors that they see every time they connect to their router. Here are some that our crack team of jerks have come up with.
Sony\'s just pulled the 2.40 PS3 firmware update due to reports of it bricking and causing various other problems. If you\'re unlucky enough to already have installed it and ran into issues, Kotaku has a few solutions up. If not, just hold off until the fixed release is available soon. [Kotaku]
Update: Just confirmed it on our own PS3, which we haven\'t updated yet. It\'s not prompting us for 2.40.
Famous designer Philippe Starck recently revealed he felt a certain shame that all the things he\'d designed were not essential for living. This turbine which he designed with the help of generator company Pramac, can theoretically provide a single home with 20-60% of all the electricity it needs. The name, which needs work, or at least the prefix "turbo" in front of it, is "Democratic Ecology." If the performance is indeed true, at $633, it\'s actually a steal and I\'d order one right now. [inhabitat via Boingboing]
The already impressive Roku streaming box will expand its services beyond Netflix\'s VOD adding new "big name" content providers in the near future. While the existing Netflix offerings are pretty impressive, the addition of some of the free on-demand TV options could set Roku apart from Apple TV and Vudu. Roku is taking the coy approach for now, but rumors of a flash-enabled browser to stream Hulu (which now streams at 480p resolution), Youtube and the various individual network sites are both plausible and awesome.
Silicon Valley Insider thinks that Unbox support is unlikely on account of its status as a direct competitor to Netflix streaming, but TiVo supports it so I wouldn\'t rule it out completely, plus a $99 provider-agnostic box would fill a conspicuously empty gap in the market, and my heart. [Forbes via Silicon Valley Insider]
Deep in the northwest corner of Kobe, Japan, there\'s a factory hidden away among green rice paddies, and sleepy farming villages of tiled roofs. If you were to travel here, to Takatsukadai—the middle of nowhere—you\'d find Panasonic\'s Toughbook plant quietly making notebooks with the world\'s lowest failure rate. Well, not so quietly, actually. They employ a regimen of over 500 different tests, smashing, dropping and soaking Toughbooks, with over a thousand sacrifices each year. This is where I learned how the old computer plant manages to pull it off, miraculously, almost all under one roof.
Toughbooks have been pulled from car fires, blown up and stopped bullets. Their outer strength is derived from magnesium shells; Panasonic says they are 20x stronger than the typical plastic laptop case.
After the design comes the testing, where only the fittest prototypes and models survive. Fittingly, the slogan of the Kobe plant is "Productive Destruction." Toughbooks are put through a battery of tests under MIL-STD-810F. Here are some of the highlights of the super rugged laptop testing:
Drop Test
Also known as the "Transit Drop Test," this procedure involves dropping the powered-down machine from three feet onto each face, edge and corner a total of 26 times. The computers are dropped onto two-inch plywood placed over a steel plate on top of concrete—the triumvirate of hard everyday surfaces. Visual checks and a Windows boot-up are done after each test.
Water Resistance
The Toughbook is placed in a water spray chamber for 12 straight hours, powered on but with its ports closed tight. Afterwards comes an inspection for water "intrusion."
Thermal Shock and Temperature
When shut down, the computer is subjected to three cycles of massive temperature swings, from a balmy 205º F to a chilly -60º F. Separately, Toughbooks are turned on, and tested actually operating at temperatures ranging from -4ºF to 140º F. For these tests, Panasonic uses special environmental chambers made by a company called Espec. (Hopefully they don\'t also build saunas.)
Altitude
With the help of an outside firm, Toughbooks are tested to see if they withstand the most challenging air pressure conditions that could be encountered in military aircraft.
Humidity
This test takes 10 whole days to complete. Toughbooks are placed in a chamber with extreme jungle-like humidity at temperatures fluctuating between hot (86ºF) and impossibly hot (140ºF).
Dust Resistance
Superfine silica flour is applied to the machines in a 140º F environment at a facility in Yokohama; this punishment goes on for 8 hours while the laptops are turned on. They pass the test if moving parts don\'t bind or become blocked, and relays and contacts continue to operate properly.
Vibration
Toughbooks are clamped to aluminum plates that simulate the mounting in vehicles, and then are subjected to various intensities of vibration while turned off and on. When on, the HDD also spins.
Hinge Durability
In a test you can easily envision, Toughbooks are put through 30,000 cycles of open-and-close-and-open-and-close, testing hinge sturdiness.
Keyboard
Nasty-looking typing machines pound Toughbook keyboards through their paces, testing them to withstand 25 million keystrokes. (Wonder how long they have to type before complete works of Shakespeare appear...)
Spills
Toughbooks are tested for their ability to fend off spills, one of the more common assaults to a laptop. Mil-spec requires them to withstand more than 6 ounces (200 cc) of... whatever.
Compression
At the development stage, Toughbook covers and bases are squeezed super hard, tested to withstand over 980N (100kgf) of pressure.
Electromagnetic Interference
During development, electromagnetic wave testing is performed in the plant\'s 10m radio-frequency anechoic chamber, used to check conformity with CISPR and FCC electromagnetic regulations.
Although not to the level of the mil-spec lines, whose testing is detailed above, Panasonic\'s business-rugged models—the kind our Benny Goldman tested in his own, uh, laboratory—are dropped from 3 feet, pelted with dust, doused with 6 ounces of liquid (half a can of Coke), squeezed, pounded on the keyboard, stretched open for hinge reliability, and shocked with an electrostatic discharge. Notebooks also go on racks at the Kobe factory, and are given massages. Using Panasonic-branded handheld massagers (what else?) testers check for vibration resistance as part of an "aging" process. The vibe simulates shaking during shipping.
The plant was established in June 1990 and began PC production in August 1991, now turning out an average of 2,500 to 3,000 Toughbooks a day. In 2007 production hit 660,000 units—Panasonic plans to ramp up output to 800,000 units this year and then 1 million units by 2010. The plant can turn out Toughbooks in up to 2,000 variations of memory, hard disk, LCD panel, software and shiny magnesium-alloy shell, in 10 different colors. Repairs are also carried out on-site 365 days a year.
A Matsushita warehouse in nearby Osaka holds $14 million dollars worth of components, about 2.2 million pieces in 60,000 varieties. The warehouse operates under a system it calls "5S" for five words in Japanese: seiri (arrangement), seiton (tidy), seisou (cleaning), seiketsu (cleanliness), and shitsuke (discipline). Like the factory, which requires all visitors to remove their shoes and don slippers as in a Japanese home, it\'s spotless.
If we didn\'t know that this was done by a user, we\'d swear that this touchscreen Eee PC was made by Asus themselves. The video shows a super sensitive and responsive screen, flicking quickly up and down on a web page with either the finger or stylus. On a laptop of 10-inches or smaller—what we like to call "tardtops"—a touchscreen fits just perfectly. Why get a Kindle when you have a light, touchscreen laptop that can be carried with you and supports lots of colors? Nice work jkkmobile. [JKKMobile]
Drobo, the storage enclosure that monitors up to 4 HDDs, now has an open SDK to go with its ability to protect and share your data. What does this mean for Drobo users? They can expect apps that will allow them to stream data across DLNA devices, work as a bittorrent client, interface with wi-fi devices like the Eye-Fi or set up a simple FTP. The SDK is available now and can be found at [Drobo].
It\'s a classic story: someone comes up with a million dollar idea while sitting at a bar and sketches it out on a napkin to remember it. Later, they profit, and they have a cute story about where they came up with the idea. Well, now\'s your chance. For this week\'s photo contest, I\'m looking for you to get creative without the aid of Photoshop. Instead, I want to see what kind of fantastical gadget napkin sketches you can come up with. What have you always wanted to see on the shelves of Best Buy? What\'s the craziest or most futuristic device you can imagine? Sketch it out on a napkin, take a picture or scan it in, and email it to contests@gizmodo.com with "napkin sketch" in the subject line. I\'ll post the best sketches in our Gallery of Champions next Tuesday. Get sketchin\'!
This lovely faucet uses a sensor to follow your hands as you move underneath it. As you move them from left to right, the water increases in temperature, enabling you to control how hot the water is by placing your hands on one side or the other. It\'s pretty awesome. Hit the jump for a video of it in action.
When the iPhone 3G hits July 11th, it will be available at both AT&T and Apple stores. So beyond a little extra pretentiousness at the Apple stores, is there anything different between them? What if you need to start a new plan? What if you need to transfer a number? Can Apple handle the complicated stuff?
Actually, AT&T has told us that there will be no limiting difference between the two stores, except one thing. If you are a business or enterprise customer, then you should buy your iPhone from AT&T. Here are the full details on business scenarios:
For those business, or enterprise customers, they will get their iPhone 3Gs through their normal IT processes. This will ensure that their business can take advantage of any corporate discounts that may apply.
Activation will work [one of two] ways:
— If your company pays the bill for your iPhone 3G: Your IT department will provide you with iPhone 3G, just as it does any other device. Then, all you need to do is sync it to iTunes from your computer and it will be good to go. You do not need to go to an AT&T retail store.
— If you pay the bill and are reimbursed for it by your company: Buy the iPhone in an AT&T retail store. Give the salesperson your company\'s contract number with AT&T and the device will be activated.
And if you\'re still wondering about details like pricing, be sure to hit up the FAQ.
If you still rock the bunny ears we salute you. But odds are, you probably get TV one of two ways: Cable or satellite. There\'s a newer way: IP, that is Internet Protocol, TV—in this case, the TV delivered over the internet by your phone company. Verizon and AT&T push FiOS TV and U-Verse, respectively, in select regions of the country where their fiber networks have been built out. (Update: As has been pointed out, FiOS TV isn\'t actually IPTV, my bad.) In a lot of ways, it\'s the TV of the future—in part because most of you can\'t get it yet. Beyond that, the technology that delivers it to your home, as well as who is doing the delivering, opens up some pretty sweet new interactive possibilities. And even for regular old boob tubing, the way it\'s architected means its good for HD buffs.
But first, the basics. The difference between the TV you\'re used to and this fancy IPFreelyTV stuff is that IPTV is delivered to you like any other data sent over the internet—in data packets. You even plug an Ethernet cable into your receiver box/DVR. Of course, the internet\'s a messy place with lots of muck bouncing around the pipes and you\'d be really pissed if the Yankees game stuttered or crapped out, so this is all running on the telco\'s "walled garden" network with a fat, dedicated lane for video. (Your internet service, which is bundled since it\'s running on the same network, runs on a different lane, delineated by quality-of-service, or QoS, protocols.)
Now that that\'s out of the way, back to why its good for HD. With a standard cable setup, the channels are basically always being piped into your home, whether you\'re watching or not. To add more channels, they\'ve gotta compress \'em down farther or open the pipe up, especially since HD eats up a lot of bandwidth. Since IPTV is sent in regular ol\' data packets and the system is two-way (the nature of internet protocol), they\'re basically only sending what you ask for, when you ask for it. So theoretically, they could offer way more HD channels than cable, since they\'re not as limited here. Also, like that mythical Xbox 360 IPTV box, the number of streams you can watch/record simultaneously is basically only limited by your bandwidth.
The two-wayness of the infrastructure is another point of awesomeness. It can be used for actually useful interactivity—one of AT&T\'s apps for the Olympics can bring in a stats feed you can check out while watching the game. Or regular internet video, like YouTube, can be piped in and integrated with the other video on your box. It\'s all just regular data over standard internet protocols, so there\'s a lot of flexibility to do stuff you simply can\'t with a traditional setup.
The problem is that building the infrastructure necessary for IPTV service is slow and expensive, largely cause it requires a heavy fiber optic component. Verizon runs fiber all the way to your door (which is why it can offer those crazy FiOS internet speeds), while AT&T runs it to the node, which you\'re then connected to with copper and share with your neighbors (which is why U-Verse internet is slower). So right now, both have puny subscriber numbers—1.2 million FiOS TV customers, and a scant 379,000 on U-Verse TV.
Still, there\'s a lot of potential in IPTV, even if it\'s taking forever to get to your doorstep. AT&T actually showed me some of the stuff that could be at your door in the 6-9 months—and beyond—and it\'s definitely worth getting excited about. We\'ll be telling you all about it later.
Something we missed, or you still wanna know? Send any questions about IPs, TVs, chewing gum or anything else to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.
Asahi\'s first attempt at producing a bartender robot was successful enough to be proclaimed the "best invention ever" by some overzealous technology writer, but this new Asahi bartender robot really may be the best invention ever. After all, it is a robot that can talk and pour beer. Actually, on second thought, that\'s one function too many. Here\'s the clip:
The Gadget: Stitched drum covers for Rock Band from "Premium Rock Band Drum Covers", which give you five different levels of padding for sound dampening. They come in four-color style, all-black, and four-color with a white sidewall for the Wii.
The Price: $34 + $10 Shipping
The Verdict: QUIET! They\'re form-fitting around the drum heads and are tied in place with a shoelace-like string. You can put up to four "pads" under each cover, and at three (which we tested with) it muffled drums quite nicely. This muffling will make your neighbors and family members very thankful when they\'re trying to read or watch TV in the other room. On the other hand, you\'re going to naturally try to drum harder, which tires you out faster, but increases responsiveness of the drums a little bit (no more hits that are too soft).
The downside is that it\'s slightly harder to tell when you\'re hitting the edge of the drum as opposed to slightly inside the edge, but that\'s more of a skill thing that you\'ll overcome as you get better at the game. They\'re quite secure when tied off correctly. On the whole, we\'d pay $34 for a pretty good quality set of pre-made drum covers that actually work and can take a good beating. It\'s better than taking up crochet and practicing for a month before making some yourself. [Drum Covers]
If you\'re an expert at the drums and already memorized which color is which, you can opt for the all-black version, which looks a bit nicer and doesn\'t draw as much attention to itself.
PLX Kiwi, as seen above, is a plug-in device that analyzes how you drive and teaches you how to do it in the most gas-efficient way possible. Although you could easily accomplish the same thing by yourself after reading some tips online—Kiwi says you get about 20-33% improvement in your MPG—it\'s easier to have something always there reminding you to not gas so hard or drive so fast or brake so much. There\'s also "challenges" that teach you how to do this, which could be a fun distraction when you\'re driving along a long stretch of highway. On the other hand, the Kiwi has a MSRP of $299, which takes a bit of savings to earn back. [PLXDevices]
From what we\'ve heard, a 22-foot robot can be a pain to keep. Sure, it sounds great at first—get carried everywhere, never wipe yourself again—but you never know when a robot will reach singularity and gut you in revenge for making it love like a real person.
Luckily these styrofoam robots by artist Michael Salter come with no such caveats. His tallest creation reaches over 22 feet in the air and is held together by a wooden skeleton. But the most interesting part of the work is that he didn\'t know if it would stand until he set it up at the museum.
(this is obviously a different robot)
Salter was forced to build the robot in chunks—arms, legs and torso. It wasn\'t until he reached the San Jose Art Museum (where the exhibit is on display through October) that Salter assembled the robot in full for the first time. And it stood!
But apparently it could fall with a firm push...not that anyone would mess with a giant robot, styrofoam or not. [Komo News via DVICE]
You may disagree, but we think this MacBook Air keyboard mod for the iPhone looks super neat. The package installs directly from Installer.app and gives your on-screen board the black separated look that the standard MacBook and the MacBook Air both feature. It\'s just cosmetic, and doesn\'t affect your typing performance in any way—unless of course you type faster when you see black plastic. It also uninstalls without destroying your phone, which is a plus. Grab it now, but you might have to add this repository (http://planet-iphones.com/repository/) first. [Just Another iPhone Blog via Into Mobile]
There are few things more enjoyable on a hot summer\'s day than an epic water gun battle with some friends. In the end, everybody wins, because everybody gets soaked and cools down. But you don\'t want to be caught with a crappy gun; then you\'ll just be the guy that everyone else gangs up on. We here at Taranfx don\'t want that to happen to our beloved readers, which is why we took on the horrible, difficult task of playing with testing five of this season\'s hottest water guns under $20 to find out which one is going to give you the most splash for your cash.
We tested five guns, the Super Soaker Sneak Attack 4-Way, the Sizzlin\' Cool Steady Stream, the Water Warriors Motorized Tarantula, the Super Soaker Quick Blast and the Banzai Color Stream Blaster.
It should be noted that each gun has its own gimmick that it uses to try to sell you on it while you\'re wandering the aisles at Toys R Us or Target or wherever it is you purchase your weaponry. By far the most useless was the Color Stream Blaster, which comes with little cartridges of dye that turn the water various colors. This means that after you have a water gun fight, your victims will need to go take a shower and do laundry. That seems like it\'d be less fun, not more, so we ignored those things altogether.
Much more fun were the nozzles on the Sneak Attack 4-Way, which let you change the stream by twisting the front of the gun. You could do a thin, powerful stream, a broader misting stream, or fire sideways in either direction. Let me tell you, there are few things more satisfying than saying "Hey, check this out!," pointing the gun off in the distance and then pegging your friend point-blank in the face with a sideways shot. It never, ever gets old.
For the official testing, we first measured the distance that these things can fire compared to their box claims. You never want to be hit by someone you can\'t hit back because your gun sucks and you\'re too far away. Surprisingly, the claims of distance made on the boxes was often wildly inaccurate. The Super Soaker Quick Blast, for example, claimed to shoot 25 feet, while we could barely get it firing past 18 feet. The other Super Soaker, on the other hand, claimed a paltry 20 feet, but in practice the thing shot nearly 30 feet (the best of the bunch).
We then wanted to know just how much pain could be inflicted with a shot to the face from each of the guns. Luckily, Summer Intern Dan was there, so we set him up facing the camera and took turns blasting him in the face from a few feet away, recording his reactions. The most painful shot was the Sneak Attack due to its powerful blast, with the Color Stream Blaster and Quick Blast each delivering paltry bursts that he could barely feel.
So what gun do we recommend for your next battle? Well, the Color Blast is a decent gun if you ignore the, you know, color element, and it comes in a two pack, which is nice. However, you feel like you\'re paying extra for something you won\'t use, so unless you really want to spray red water at someone, I\'d recommend passing. The Tarantula just felt like cheating due to its rechargeable battery that removed the pump action from the mix, and it\'s a pain to have to rejuice a water gun between uses. It has a huge tank and a decent distance, but for $20 it\'s definitely the most expensive gun, so it\'s hard to recommend.
The Super Soaker Quick Blast was definitely at the bottom of our list, with a pathetic stream and a cheap-feeling pump. It doesn\'t hold much water, either, and whoever got stuck using it during our battle royale was at a serious disadvantage. Avoid it if you can.
The Steady Stream, the cheapest of the guns, was actually our runner up, surprisingly. It doesn\'t have any real gimmicks to it, but it\'s a solid gun that fires a good distance and is fun to use, especially for the price.
At the end of the day, however, there was a very clear winner amongst our array of weaponry, and it was the Super Soaker Sneak Attack 4-Way. It shot the farthest, had the most fun gimmick, had a respectable capacity, inflicted the most physical pain on our enemies/intern and was one of the cheapest at under $10. It feels solid in your hands and is just the most fun gun out of all of the models we tested. And really, if a water gun isn\'t really fun to use, it\'s doing something wrong.
Over at The Audiophiliac they\'re running a story about a visit to the house where abstract painter Jackson Pollock used to live with wife Lee Krasner. Apparently the guy had a pretty cool hi-fi: a Bogun DB-20 tube amp, a Crown turntable and speakers built into a stairwell. Audiophiliac\'s Steve notes that the door holding the speakers "is covered with Pollock\'s trademark paint splatters, drips, and blobs," so it probably counts as a minor work of art all of its own. And of course "Pollock loved to play his hi-fi really loud, especially when Krasner was out of the house." I wonder if the volume helped with artistic inspiration? [The Audiophiliac]
Those who threw down the extra cash for a first gen PlayStation 3 got a few bonuses in return—the newer 40GB version is shy a few USB ports, a memory card reader and hardware-based backwards compatibility. Nyko is solving two of these problems with their Media Hub, a 3-port USB hub with media card reader (SD and Memory Stick). Compatible with all available PS3s, the Media Hub snaps seamlessly onto consoles and works from a horizontal or vertical position. Expect the Media Hub to hit stores this August for $20. Sorry you\'re still jacked with the backwards compatibility stuff. [Nyko]
Last time we talked about Blackbox gizmos from Gear4 it was a largeish Bluetooth speaker, but this new one is different. It\'s wired, USB-powered and designed to be a portable companion for an MP3 player. You may think size sacrifices bass power, but apparently it\'s got an "SFX gel" base, meaning it uses any flat surface you stick it to to amplify sound volume and bass. It\'s got a normal driver too, takes line-in, and can be powered with a power-brick. Gear4\'s site doesn\'t reveal exactly how small it is, but it\'s out August in the UK for $40. [Gear4 and Pocket-Lint]
According to DigiTimes, Apple just placed a very large order of NAND flash chips from Samsung, which has in turn forced Samsung to tell other customers to wait. 50 million 8GB chips were reportedly ordered by Cuptertino primarily for use in Apple\'s iPhone (that\'s on top of the 25 million that were ordered in June). So now you know, Apple is that jackass driving the minivan through the McDonald\'s drive-thru, ordering like a million happy meals and slapping their kids in the backseat while yelling, "That\'s it, now you\'re never getting your 32GB iPhone!" [DigiTimes]
It\'s not uncommon for firmware updates to go wonky, and apparently Sony\'s 2.4 PS3 update is no exception. The PlayStation forums are scattered with various reports of bricked PS3s—users report that upon booting their system, the SIXAXIS controller will not sync and the video signal is blank with no sound. Unfortunately, you can never tell how widespread these issues are when the sampling is just one messageboard. And I\'ve updated my 60GB launch unit without issue. Suckers.
Seriously though, any problems to report? (Suckers?) [PlayStation Forums via Maxconsole]
(this is obviously a different robot)
For the official testing, we first measured the distance that these things can fire compared to their box claims. You never want to be hit by someone you can\'t hit back because your gun sucks and you\'re too far away. Surprisingly, the claims of distance made on the boxes was often wildly inaccurate. The Super Soaker Quick Blast, for example, claimed to shoot 25 feet, while we could barely get it firing past 18 feet. The other Super Soaker, on the other hand, claimed a paltry 20 feet, but in practice the thing shot nearly 30 feet (the best of the bunch).
We then wanted to know just how much pain could be inflicted with a shot to the face from each of the guns. Luckily, Summer Intern Dan was there, so we set him up facing the camera and took turns blasting him in the face from a few feet away, recording his reactions. The most painful shot was the Sneak Attack due to its powerful blast, with the Color Stream Blaster and Quick Blast each delivering paltry bursts that he could barely feel.
