Here’s a worthy weapon to bring to a pillow fight, an officially-licensed Thwomp pillow. If you’re wondering why Nintendo would bother releasing a merchandise for a semi-living obstacle, remember that in some Mario games these dudes are flat out invincible. If they could move Bowser wouldn’t be king.
You can order the Thwomp pillow from ThinkGeek for about $35 (USD) or from Amazon for $25. Or you could always just paint a cinder block and sit on that instead.
This week, Bonhams hosted an auction of historical space items in Manhattan. The Space History Sale featured troves of objects and documents, both American and Soviet, dating back to the heyday of the space race. And Gizmodo got the chance to take a peek.
“We don’t have limitless resources. We wanted to bring the game to as many people as possible and right now that was the 360 and PS3.” That’s what 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil’s lead producer Mat Prior had to say about the title not launching on Xbox…
Google isn’t doing its consumer launch of Glass just yet, but it is doing the next best thing: Opening up the Glass Explorer program to anyone in the U.S. starting April 15. That’s right, as of next Tuesday, any American resident can grab a Google Glass unit for $1,500 plus applicable taxes, and these will ship with your favorite shade or Glass-specific frame included, too. The program… Read More
Facebook recently laid out its ambitious plans of using drones to spread the internet in far flung areas of the world. This novel idea can also improve internet connectivity in conflict zones where infrastructure is under constant threat of being reduced to rubbles. Looks like the military has also been thinking along the same lines. DARPA’s Mobile Hotspots program aims to give unused drones from the war in Iraq a second life by transforming them into aerial Wi-Fi hotspots.
Instead of the well known Predator drones, which are actually quite lethal, DARPA is using the much smaller and less-deadlier RA-7 Shadow drones. They will be retrofitted with equipment, though their 185 pound and 11 feet long constitution makes it hard not to overload them with heavy equipment.
Therefore the tricky part is to be able to actually fit the required equipment on the drone. DARPA researchers are believed to have developed small antennas that operate on the millimeter wave band, at an extremely high frequency. The antennas are coupled with special amplifies that boost the signal while only generating half as much noise as conventional amplifiers.
The pod that researchers have developed for this equipment is said to weigh less than 20 pounds. A RA-7 Shadow with one of these pods could remain airborne for nine hours at a stretch, but we’ll only know for sure once field testing begins after DARPA actually starts hooking up the drones with the pods.
DARPA Gives Drones Second Life By Turning Them Into Wi-Fi Hotspots , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Military, drones, 
Ah, France, the land where your boss is no longer allowed to contact you by email once you have clocked out from the office. Of course, a whole lot of that remains as theory, as enforcing it is going to be a whole lot trickier than expected. While Japan is the country with the highest number of vending machines per capita, this does not mean that other countries, too, are able to have some of the more unique vending machines to serve the masses. Take France for example – Operator Free Mobile, famous for their extremely cheap phone contracts, will enable one to pick up a contract from a vending machine kiosk in a matter of minutes.
Such a machine will follow up your registration by spitting out a mini-, micro- or nano-SIM card that has already been activated, where all you need to do then is to place it into an unlocked phone and you’re good to go. Of course, this is not the first SIM card vending machine in the world, but it happens to be a unique one simply by the fact that it offers an all-inclusive, ready-to-go package from a major mobile carrier. That ought to count for something, no?
France Offers Phone Contract Via Vending Machines , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, sim, 
The Kolibree electrical connected toothbrush got a lot of traction at CES and today, the company launched its Kickstarter campaign with pre-orders available to the public.
The device features Bluetooth connectivity, sonic technology, an 8-axis accelerometer, a magnetometer, and a gyroscope. The companion application will show people how to brush their teeth more efficiently and will record their brushing sessions to show their progress in a user-friendly mobile dashboard.
Kolibree is also providing an API that will allow developers to create compelling games to motivate kids (and adults) to brush their teeth better, and turn a chore into a fun experience. See below two screenshots of future games, please note that we did not see any gaming demo.
Similar products have been spotted recently, such as the Oral-B electrical connected brush developed by giant Procter & Gamble, however the device I saw at MWC does not feature the same 3 sensors except for a pressure sensor, and no word was shared on the future plan to build a gaming ecosystem. Most recently, I met with Grush co-founder who showed me a prototype of a non-electrical connected toothbrush with an early stage demo of 3D games. Grush will be available for pre-order in 2015.
On Kickstarters the first 500 funders will be offered a Kolibree toothbrush for only $99, with a price point of $129 for the next 1,000 supporters.For only $149, backers will be able to choose from a rnage fo nice colors: Feather White, Dove Gray, Berry Blue or Cerise Pink.
The development kit is available for $199 with beta access to API. The dentists can buy an educational software package for $299.
Kolibree First Electrical Connected Toothbrush on Kickstarter , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Breaking, Cellphones, connected object, connected toothbrush, Wearable Tech, 
For those of you out there who love to use Skype across numerous platforms, even on a console like the Xbox One, here is news for you – Skype has announced that there will be an update to Skype for Xbox One rolling out some time next week, although the exact date has not been determined yet. This upcoming update would see Skype for Xbox One bumped up to version 1.3, where it will arrive with a slew of improvements (which ought to be expected with any update), including the camera auto zoom feature for video chats.
Skype mentioned, “We found ways to better identify people in the picture, especially when there are multiple people in the room. The camera can adjust and see the entire family, even the little ones.” Apart from that, the app will also enable Skype users on the Xbox One to capture a new profile picture using the included camera on the console’s Kinect, now how about that? In addition, the Skype app will also support the use of one’s Xbox Live gamer pic as their Skype profile picture too if that is what you prefer.
As for whether Skype for Xbox One will enter Snap mode on the right hand side so that one can handle a video call while continue playing their game in the main window will be seen remains to be seen, although you can be sure that this is one particular feature that many would look forward to. [Press Release]
Skype For Xbox One Getting Update Next Week , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Gaming, Skype, Xbox One, 
These are The Kelpies, an impressive monument in The Helix, a land transformation project in Scotland. The two metal horse heads stand 98 feet high. This time-lapse video—created "over 60 days of stop-motion filming across 7 months"—show how they were built.
Back in February it was announced that Facebook had agreed to buy WhatsApp for $19 billion. Privacy advocates raised their voice against the deal and even called upon the FTC to look into the deal. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission today signed off on the sale, clearing the way for Facebook to absorb the most widely used cross platform messaging service in the world. Though the FTC warned both companies that they must continue to honor their privacy obligations.
FTC Clears Facebook/WhatsApp Deal, Must Honor Privacy Obligations original content from Ubergizmo. 
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