Yes, folks — things are about to get really real. We have managed, through a series of delicate negotiations, to get our hands on an honest-to-goodness Meizu M8 — heretofore the stuff of pure legend. At first glance, the build quality of the phone is actually pretty decent — it’s mostly plastic, but everything seems to snap together firmly. The battery (which is removable, naturally) is quite large, though we haven’t had a chance to test its life in any significant way. Of course, the real showpiece here is the software — which admittedly owes its entire existence to the iPhone. We’ve found that it’s quite snappy, and the styling and functionality of the UI is really kind of impressive (though this did spend a long time in the oven). Still, the phone’s KIRF roots are clear — you can judge for yourself in the gallery below. Thanks to the good folks at MP4 Nation for the hookup!
There are twittering celebs (hello Ashton!), twittering athletes (get well soon Lance) and even a twittering toaster.
For greener gadget enthusiasts there’s the new Tweet-a-watt kit from Adafruit Industries that lets users post the daily energy consumption of their refrigerator or TV set to a Twitter account. The idea won the Greener Gadgets Competition earlier this month and now the kits are on sale.
"We feel there is a social imperative and joy in publishing one’s own daily KWH (kilowatts per hour)," says Adafruit on its blog. "By sharing these numbers on a service like Twitter users can compete for the lowest numbers and also see how they’re doing compared to their friends and followers."
Tweet-a-watt is an open source hardware project that builds on an off-the-shelf power monitor called Kill-a-Watt. Kill-a-Watt is a power meter with a large LCD display that connect to appliances. When connected, the device assesses how efficient they are and display consumption by the kilowatt-hour.
Tweet-a-Watt takes that gadget to the next level. With help from Xbee, open source networking receiver and transmitter modules that comes as part of the kit, users can transmit power usage information to a computer receiver. The receiver can log, graph and even tweet that information.
Putting another nail in terrestrial radio’s coffin is DLO, which just announced the availability of the TransDock Micro for iPhone. This oddly-named gadget is an FM transmitter that lets you wirelessly broadcast your iPhone’s music over any free FM frequency.
Finding a clear frequency can be a pain, so I’m glad the TransDock includes the company’s IntelliTune frequency-finder, which saves the user the hassle. The TransDock also offers simple one-handed operation, so that you can rotate the dial interface–checking the frequency setting on the bright OLED display–and adjust the car stereo without being too distracted.
At $69.99 the TransDock isn’t cheap, but consider this: It also charges your iPhone, and it works with all dockable iPods, so it’s like getting several devices in one. If that doesn’t give you a reason to abandon terrestrial radio’s terrible coverage and limited playlists, then nothing will.
If there’s a more disturbing image than a naked Wilson Tang eating a stuffed pepper and doing his taxes, it’s got to be a naked Tim Geisenheimer’s sockless foot stuffed into a suede moccasin. We invite Tim into the studio anyway and he surprises us with some bad news: turns out the economy ain’t doing so well.
World famous weather-forecasting leg predicts spring is finally here.
(Credit: Tim Geisenheimer/CNET)
Do not attempt to adjust the white balance on your monitor: Tim Geisenheimer’s legs are actually that pale. I guess he and Michael Jackson share more in common than their tastes in footwear. Anyway, for some reason Wilson felt the need to stay at home today to do his taxes, which means being a good Chinese boy and writing off everything he possibly can. Why he decided to get nakee and do said taxes is another issue entirely, and one that teases my upchuck reflex anyway, so let’s move on.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, ’tis I, Justin Yu–on the poop deck, handling the blogging for the day. The first half of today’s show is pretty random, since it’s just Jeff and I riffing on a few stories, including one about Japanese space underwear.
I feel compelled to break out Space Beer guy, but mixing beer and underwear just doesn’t feel right. Leave it up to the Japanese to reinvent the last thing you should worry about in space–forget the zero gravity, space debris, and Klingon warlords. Nah, nah, let’s make a pair of underwear that you never have to take off.
Next story is about a Jewish Facebook group whose name suddenly changed from “I Heart Jews” to “Hitler: Great Modern Man of History.” While we disagree with that statement, Jeff Bakalar (devoutly Jewish, FYI) gives the rest of us a free pass to laugh at the prank. Hey, at the end of the day, if Mel Brooks can laugh at Hitler, I think we’re all safe.
After long calls from the public, we finally decide on a date for The 404 Meetup: APRIL 16. Everyone living in the Tri-State area should definitely clear their evening hour for a night of fun with The 404. We decided that two weeks is enough time for everyone to plan ahead, and it gives Jeff, Wilson, and I ample time to exercise our wrists and buy as many sharpies as possible. Riiight. Finally, check out some of the submissions below for our running contest. Can you write a funny caption for this photo of your humble 404 host? Here are some of our current favorites:
“Do these glasses make my eyes look less asian?” – Will Chan
“The 404’s Justin Yu was taken into custody shortly after molesting a lumberjack, a 90-year old woman, and robbing a Radio Shack in China Town last evening. Luckily there was no evidence of dicktopping at any of the crime scenes.” – Andrew Teachout
“What? I swear that printer was d**kto**ed before I got it!” – Jeff from Calgary
Send us your funniest caption to the404{at}cnet[dot]com and you could win a copy of Wheelman for XBox 360!
Nearly five months after HTC launched the first phone based on Google’s new Android mobile operating system, the company is set to do an encore.
HTC’s filings with the FCC show that the company’s second Android phone–so far known as HTC Magic/Sapphire–is on the way. And in a move that shouldn’t surprise anyone, T-Mobile is the carrier again for the phone.
HTC and T-Mobile launched the first G1 Android phone on Oct. 22 for $180 in the U.S. with a two-year contract. Since then a number of companies including LG, Samsung, Garmin and Asus have said they are working on Android-based devices. But so far, none of them have made it to the market.
Meanwhile, the HTC Magic/Sapphire is gathering steam. Vodafone has said it will offer the phone starting April in parts of Europe. Now it seems likely that T-Mobile could be looking at a similar time frame for launch in the U.S.
Not digging that $299.99 on contract pricing for RIM’s BlackBerry Bold? If you’re kosher with placing previously loved gadgets in your presence, you can score one today for the low, low price of absolutely free. Apparently the deal is only valid on AT&T’s website and only for today, so you might want to pull the trigger now and think about it later.
By now you’ve probably seen Microsoft’s latest ad featuring Lauren, a woman who claims to be neither cool nor rich enough for a MacBook. Well Lauren, one of our readers has a gift for you.
Mitch Gewirtz of Michigan would like to give you his 17-inch PowerBook. For free. From Mitch:
Subject: I AM UP FOR THE CHALLENGE!
To whom it may concern,
I recently watched the new PC ad on television the other night about “Lauren” purchasing a laptop for under $1000.00. It was a great advertisement targeting everyday PC users. My only concern is that I feel the computer “Lauren” chose will not provide an overall positive experience. I am asking for your assistance to help me locate “Lauren”. I am willing to give her my 17″ Mac laptop “FOR FREE” so she can decide which laptop is superior without putting a price tag on it.
I do believe everyone on this planet is “cool enough to be a Mac person”.
Sincerely, Mitch Gewirtz
We of course wrote back to Mitch to gauge his level of seriousness in this matter. His response:
Absolutely! I am serious!
I believe my 17″ G4 powerbook is still more advanced than any PC out there today. It is a very healthy laptop that has given me a wonderful experience the last couple of years. I truly believe if “Lauren” had a chance to use this laptop she would change her mind.
Can you help me locate her?
While Apple fanboys are a dime a dozen, we like Mitch’s attitude, a guy willing to put his money where his mouth is (even if that money is invested in an older machine he may be planning to replace). So Mitch, Gizmodo would like to support you on your quest to gift Lauren your PowerBook. We’ve got your back, buddy.
Lauren, where are you? Drop us a line (you can find my email on the side of the page). Let’s make this love connection happen.
I can take apart the remote control and I can almost put it back together. Oh, and I can also bring you the day’s best tech deals.
1. Say it with me: “Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler…” Now we can all have Milton’s stapler. Amazon is offering a super deal on a red Swingline (keep it, because it doesn’t bind up as much). Grab one for only $14.55 and don’t let anybody take it, ever. “If they take my stapler then I’ll set the building on fire…” Easy, Milton.
2. A penny doesn’t even buy you a real blackberry, let alone the phone named after the fruit–except that it does right now on Amazon. Get a BlackBerry Curve 8310 with a new service plan from AT&T for $.01.
3. How about getting a robot to vacuum your house? Rosie from The Jetsons isn’t available, so pick up this iRobot Roomba instead. Buy.com is offering the Roomba 530 for the fantastic price of $159.99 (a 60 percent savings), and that includes free shipping.
A tipster just leaked these Dell Latitude 2100 ‘Welch’ laptops to us, which have a 10-inch display and are aimed under $600. The best part are the names: School Bus Orange and Red Apple.
Here are the details: they’re a new Latitude notebook design branded for the education market using the Atom architecture. They can support an optional SSD, hold up to 2GB RAM, hit 1.6GHz and weigh in at under 3lbs.
In other specs, there’s three USB ports, SD/MMC slot, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 a/g/n, Bluetooth, 3 and 6-cell battery options and a possible Touchscreen. Dell’s trying to launch this around May 2009 in time for back to school season. If this leak is true, this is a pretty snazzy netbook for schoolkids for a pretty decent price. [Thanks Tipster!]
It’s the weekend, folks, and you know what that means — time to blow off a little steam. By way of example, the folks that brought us that Wiimote coil gun a while back have returned to the scene with a little something they like to call OfficeDefender. Using the very same servo and ioBridge module as the last time, this hack finds the gun replaced with a Beretta 9mm replica airsoft gun. Also note the nice use of Construx in a non-beer or iPhone related context. If that weren’t enough, this bad boy has a full-auto mode, moves 180 degrees horizontally, can be sighted with the head-mounted webcam and fired via Wiimote. We’re not telling you that you can use this to hassle folks in the office come Monday, but you totally could. Videos after the break.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Thanks to the good folks at MP4 Nation for the hookup!
By now you’ve probably seen Microsoft’s latest ad featuring 
A tipster just leaked these Dell 
