Hasta La Gadget!

You might think twice about shoving mail into this.

(Credit: SenseiMonkeyboy)

Deviantartist SenseiMonkeyboy went a little overboard with a friend’s request for a Darth Vader paint job for her mailbox. It started innocently enough. Probably with a, “Hey, you’re a good artist. Can you slap together a Darth Vader look for my mailbox? Thanks.” It turned into a mailbox that is nearly as epic as the “Star Wars” series itself.

The Darth Vader mailbox is pretty much all black, naturally. It has a full-on Darth Vader mask and helmet head on the front, creating what may be the most intimidating mailbox ever conceived. There is a handy pull loop on top of the nose for opening it to deposit mail into the angry void beyond.

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It’s been made official – Jay-Z’s move with the album Magna Carta Holy Grail and a total of 1 million “free” downloads has pushed the RIAA to update their rules on Gold and Platinum records. Mentioning specifically the Magna Carta album and the Samsung deal made with the artist, the RIAA has made it clear: “a common sense update” is in order. The 2004 “Digital Single Award” will be updated to reflect the “wild wild west” of modern times.

What we’ve got going on here is a re-examination of the RIAA’s Gold & Platinum (G&P) Program award rules, going back specifically to the 30-day specification for certification of an album. The organization has suggested that the original 30-day rule was put in place specifically for physical albums and the way they were sold to record stores:

“One of our program’s requirements is that an album can become eligible for certification 30 days after release date. (There are other rules, of course – such as requiring that the price of the album meet certain requirements.) The 30-day rule exists to take into account potential returns of physical product – CDs, cassettes, vinyl, etc. that could be shipped to brick and mortar retailers and returned, in which case our auditors do not count the sales. ” – RIAA

Obviously this same sort of situation does not match up with the sale of digital copies of albums or digital singles. The RIAA suggests that when they created the Digital Single Award in 2004, they did not impose a 30-day rule because of the major lack of digital returns as such.

Here in 2013 the RIAA notes that they’re still without an award with mention of full digital album sales. Because such a thing makes sense to exist – and because the album Magna Carta offers up such a unique – and important – example of massive sales in the industry, digital albums are now added to the RIAA’s G&P Program rules:

“Going forward, sales of albums in digital format will become eligible on the release date, while sales of albums in physical format will still become eligible for certification 30 days after the release date.” – RIAA

Meanwhile Billboard has suggested that they’re not about the change the way they certify, not for Jay-Z, not for anyone. Their Letter from the Editor still stands:

“True, nothing was actually for sale — Samsung users will download a Jay-branded app for free and get the album for free a few days later after engaging with some Jay-Z content. The passionate and articulate argument by Jay’s team that something was for sale and Samsung bought it also doesn’t mesh with precedent.” – Bill Werde for Billboard

Werde suggested that they’ll need more time between learning of a new method for inclusion in Billboard listings, and: “Should we decide changes are in order, we’ll give the business advance warning so the game stays fair, and certainly run test charts with our data partner Nielsen SoundScan to ensure the charts are up to our historic standards of integrity and accuracy.”

It’s suggested by Werde that, “Learning about Jay-Z’s enormous and admirable ambition two weeks ago simply didn’t leave time for this,” and that they’ll continue to examine their methods through the future, but at the moment they’re sticking with what they’ve got.

Magna Carta: Jay-Z Samsung downloads change RIAA rules for Platinum Certification is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Vintage oscilloscopes are amazing devices. It turns out that they make great clocks too. It was around 1960, when Aaron’s grandfather purchased an Heathkit OR-1 oscilloscope, which he passed down in his family in excellent condition. Aaron later used his electronic hacking skills to turn the oscilloscope into a clock.

Turning an oscilloscope into a clock is no easy task. It takes some interesting control circuitry to get its display to show anything other than waveforms. So Aaron created a custom control board that can draw any shape on the CRT screen using just circles. It also squashes circles to draw a line, and cuts the beam entirely to slice a circle in half.

The end result looks spectacular and I bet you want one now. So do I. The good news is that Aaron sells custom-built oscilloscope clocks, as well as circuit boards for you to convert your own scope with. For more information, check out his website, Oscilloclock.com.

[via Hack A Day]

Until now, Logitech’s Harmony line has been the name in programmable remotes. Now the company’s back with three follow-up products, and they differ enough from earlier models to warrant an explanation. Instead of using a programmable IR remote, the Harmony Ultimate, Harmony Smart Control and Harmony Ultimate Hub each offload the IR-emitting duties to a networked device, allowing smartphones and tablets to act as remotes too. Additionally, the Hub uses Bluetooth to control your game console. Ranging in price from $99 to $349, the lineup covers almost every budget, with the Hub sold as a standalone accessory for smartphones and tablets. Meanwhile, the Smart Control includes a simple remote, and the high-end Ultimate Hub swaps a basic remote for the Harmony Touch. How exactly might these enhance your home theater enjoyment? Read on to find out.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

Comments

Chrysler recalled a handful of different vehicles totaling almost 500,000 vehicles due to an active head restraint issue that could cause it to not work properly due to a potentially faulty microcontroller. The head rests are meant to move forward during a car accident, but the issue could prevent that from happening as it should.

Around 442,000 of the recalled vehicles are located in the United States, with 25,000 of them located in Canada, 10,000 in Mexico, and 12,000 in other regions of the world. As for what vehicles are affected, Chryslers says that Chrysler Sebrings, Chrysler 200s, and Dodge Avengers from 2011 and 2013 are affected, as well as 2011 to 2012 Dodge Nitros, and 2011 to 2013 Jeep Libertys.

So far, Chrysler says that no accidents or injuries have been reported dealing with the head restraint, but it seems the company isn’t hesitating on this one, unlike recently when Chrysler initially refused to recall some of its vehicles over a fire hazard. They eventually pulled a 180 and recalled the vehicles, but without putting up a fight first.

Furthermore, Chrysler is also recalling over 65,000 2013 Dodge Ram pickup trucks due to an issue with a warning light that would falsely show that stability control has been disabled. This brings the total number of recalled vehicles over 550,000, which is quite a lot, but not even close to the 2.7 million of the company’s last recall.

Earlier this month, Chrysler received word from the NHTSA that it’s recommended for the car manufacturer to recall 2.7 million Jeeps due to a fire hazard that allowed the vehicles to catch fire more easily than usual. Chrysler resisted at first, but eventually succumbed to the pressure and issued an official recall later in the month.

VIA: CNN

Chrysler recalls nearly half a million vehicles over head restraint issue is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.