We get it. Linux is just for nerds. Not mere nerds—we’re all nerds—Linux nerds. It’s a hobbyist OS for contrarians. It’s an antique. An oddity. Pointless. Right? Very, very wrong. Happy birthday, Linux—let’s celebrate you like we should More »
Continue reading ‘Kraftwerk Who?’ Pioneering ’50s Synthesizer unearthed in French Barn
‘Kraftwerk Who?’ Pioneering ’50s Synthesizer unearthed in French Barn originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Aug 2011 03:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
New Scientist | 
Boing Boing, Oramics (iTunes App Store) | Email this | Comments
Why is this phone staring at the ground in dismay? Because it can’t believe that it’s been 30 years since it made history. On this day three decades ago, this 14 kilogram beast was used to place the very first call on Australia’s very first mobile network — the Public Automatic Telephone System, operated by Telstra (or Telecom, as it was known at the time). Back then, the network could only support 1,000 users at once and provide coverage for the greater Melbourne area (things have since changed for the better). The device, meanwhile, was known simply as The Mobile Phone and, in retrospect, wasn’t all that mobile; the carphone system included a 45 centimeter handset, a transceiver and rooftop antenna — all for a little over $5,000. It could also store a whopping 16 phone numbers and would notify users of incoming calls by sounding the car’s horn and flashing its headlights. The Mobile Phone’s Australian reign, however, would be relatively short-lived, with the DynaTAC 8000x ushering in a new handheld era, just two years after Telstra’s inaugural call. Dial past the break for a Wagnerian commercial that’ll tell you everything you always wanted to know about antiquity, but were too afraid to ask.
[Thanks, Vincent]
Continue reading Australia’s first mobile network celebrates 30th birthday with a quiet night in
Australia’s first mobile network celebrates 30th birthday with a quiet night in originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Space Shuttle Program’s 30 years brought great success—but also terrible failures and sadness. Today, as the program ends, we wanted to remember the heroes who fell along the way, and celebrate their lives. More »
This article was written on November 25, 2010 by CyberNet.
I do a lot of my shopping online, and a majority of my purchases come from either Newegg or Amazon due to their competitive pricing and speedy shipping. The big problem I have is that prices change on these sites so frequently that it can be hard to know whether the price has recently been raised or lowered.
A free Chrome/Firefox extension called Camelizer makes figuring that out a lot easier. If you’re shopping on Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, Newegg.com, Backcountry.com, Overstock.com, or zZounds.com you can grab a quick price history chart for just about any item. One great example of when this can be useful is depicted in the screenshot above. You can see that Newegg is indicating the price of this particular computer memory “was $114.99″ and has dropped down to $89.99, and normally I’d have no way of knowing when that happened. With Camelizer I just click on the icon that appears in the address bar to instantly see a graph of the price history. Now I’m able to see that the price they’re referencing was from about 6-weeks ago, and had actually dropped to around $105 before it fell to the current price.
As you can imagine Camelizer is a great way to figure out how much money you’re really saving. If you decide that you want to holdout a bit you can set a price alert and Camelizer will send you an email or Twitter notification when the item drops below the threshold that you set.
Camelizer Chrome Extension or Firefox Extension
Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com
Related Posts:
Oh paper, ye olde guardian of human wisdom, culture, and history, why must you be so fragile and voluminous? Not a question we ask ourselves every day, admittedly, but when you’re talking about the British Library’s extensive collection of tomes from the 18th and 19th century, those books, pamphlets and periodicals do stack up pretty quickly. Thankfully, Google’s book digitization project has come to the rescue of bewildered researchers, with a new partnership with the British Library that will result in the availability of digital copies of works from that period — spanning the time of the French and Industrial Revolutions, the Crimean War, the invention of the telegraph, and the end of slavery. In total, some 250,000 such items, all of them long out of copyright, will find a home on Google Books and the British Library’s website, and Google has even been nice enough to bear the full cost of transforming them into web-accessible gems of knowledge. Jump past the break for the similarly digital press release.
British Library and Google Books partner up to digitize 250,000 out-of-copyright works originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 07:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink The Daily Telegraph | The British Library | Email this | Comments
If you work for Sony you might want go watch TV right now — there’s something on Discovery about ostriches and sand. Meanwhile, Microsoft just let us know that it’s sold 55 million Xbox 360s globally, which is very probably enough to maintain its lead over the PS3. Moreover, 360 sales in the US are still accelerating six years into its life-cycle, thanks largely to updates like Kinect — and Microsoft boasts that “no other console in history can make that claim.” Huzzah. Now, we’re not ones to snatch the pen from the victor’s hand, but remember: this claim is based on US stats, whereas the PS3 has generally been doing better in other regions. What’s more, neither the Wii nor the PS3 has yet reached its sixth birthday, so the story isn’t over. Nevertheless, the chart after the break does make Microsoft’s performance look damn impressive. Why is it that when you’re down, life just keeps on kicking?
Continue reading Microsoft sells 55 million Xbox 360 consoles, claims that’s console history
Microsoft sells 55 million Xbox 360 consoles, claims that’s console history originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
We’re still waiting to get our first big bite of the full Mango experience after this morning’s liveblog, but we were able to get a quick hands-on with a few of the apps making use of the operating system’s new features. Chief among them is the History Channel app, which is making use of the augmented reality features that have been enabled. Using the internal gyro and accelerometer the device was able to overlay landmarks, which with a tap can be added to the phones home screen — you know, in case you really want to know what’s up at the Brooklyn Bridge. We also got a look at the updated Weather Channel app, which will not identify cloud types using any augmented reality trickery, but will give you quick and easy access to what’s up — and about to start falling. Check out the pics below, and get ready for a video after the break.
Continue reading Windows Phone Mango augmented reality hands-on
Windows Phone Mango augmented reality hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 11:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Smithsonian announces titles for Art of Video Games exhibit, snubs Mario Paint originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 May 2011 08:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Kotaku | Smithsonian American Art Museum | Email this | Comments
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.
