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What privacy?

Tiwi Blackbox for the Car Tattles When Your Kids Speed

I love driving fast, but when I have kids, I'm going to put them in the slowest, safest car imaginable, wrap pillows and old tires around the outside and install this Tiwi blackbox to let me know when they're speeding. It has GPS and some cellular connectivity. When a driver goes too fast, it issues a verbal warning: "You're exceeding the speed limit; please slow down." Then it emails, text messages, or calls the proper authorities (mom or dad) if the speeding continues. Only $549 and $35 a month to totally mortify and alienate your kids for life. [Tiwi]

Iphone ringtones

Video Ringtones For iPhone Revolutionize Answering Your Phone

What's more awesome and annoying than regular music ringtones? Video ringtones. iFoneTec has developed VideosTone, which lets you play back a standard formatted-for-iPhone video whenever someone calls. You can pick different ones for different people, like Devo for Lam and Ricky Martin for Jesus. We've been trying to try this app for ourselves but our download from Installer.app keeps timing out. The people on ModMyiPhone have had more luck getting Coldplay to dance on their phones, apparently. [ModMyiPhone]

Mac Mini

Mac mini Rack Lets It Hang Anywhere, Adds Front USB 2.0 Ports

The Mac mini looks good because the front is completely minimal. Unfortunately, that makes the front completely useless, and a pain in the ass if you have it set up where you need spelunking gear to get to the USB ports. Enter the unfortunately named Hang With Mi, which lets you mount your mini anywhere and adds four USB 2.0 ports to the front. Downside is that it needs its own power source, but the overall neat and convenient factor definitely adds up to the $50 pricetag. [macessity via Unpluggd]

Comments

Hey Commenters, Can We Have A Talk ?

For all you commenters, this post is intended for you. We at Gizmodo want to go over a few things. Off topic comments, a new comment specific email address, and reasons we ban are on the agenda. So if you're a frequent commenter or just starting out, let us have a few words with you. Oh and, if you haven't already checked out Lifehacker's amazing commenting user's guide, you definitely should. More »

Contests

Gizmodo's iPhone Application Contest Reminder

Developers, developers, developers! Our iPhone Application Contest is still going on and we're just waiting for your juicy submission. Did you make something that will revolutionize the (fill in your industry) industry? Send it on in! See here for details. There's are even fantastic prizes waiting for you.

DIY Flight

Chinese DIY Helicopter is the Culmination of 10 Years of Ingenuity, Possible Mental Illness

A DIYer from the Guangdong Province in eastern China has finally perfected his sub-$3000 home-built helicopter, taking it for a demonstration flight in what appears to his back yard. A tinkerer since he dropped out of school in his teens, Chen Zhaorong has been working on this project for nearly 10 years, but only began flight attempts a few months ago. The first attempts were neither successful nor fatal, (a remarkable combo) but this time around he not only got liftoff, but seemed to be in complete control. More »

BlackBerry

PS3 BlackBerry Skin: Pretend You've Got a BlackBerry Bold

We're not the only ones who've noticed the resemblance between the BlackBerry Bold's new UI and Sony icons and the PS3's XMB. So if you want a taste of that on your BlackBerry Curve or 8800 without upgrading, you can just grab this pretty solid PS3 skin by CS Designs. It's $7, but that's cheaper than the Bold will be. [Crackberry]

Digital Cameras

Official Nikon D700 Photos Leaked?

Nikon Rumors offers this photo and more as official pics of the D700, with no text explanation. Look real to you? Either way, the rumors are true of a midrange cam with a D3 sensor are worth getting excited over. [Nikon Rumors]

Htc touch pro

Verizon and Sprint Both Getting Blessed With HTC Touch Pro and Diamond

If you're craving HTC's Diamond or Touch Pro (aka Raphael) it looks you're going be satisfied no matter what carrier you're on. Phone Arena says the CDMA flavors of both will hit Sprint AND Verizon, so there's no need to bounce to another carrier to get your hands on one. No word on the dates. In a side note, Moto's Blaze is due on Big Red by Sept. 22, if you're interested in a meh touchscreen phone. [Phone Arena, Thanks Matthew]

Unconfirmed

Sprint Airave Femtocell Launching Nationwide July 15

It's been a while since we've heard about Sprint's Airave femtocell—basically a little box connects to your router and sends your calls over the internet so you have cell service even where you don't—but it looks like it's finally set to launch nation-wide, maybe as early as July 15. (It's been (in Denver and Indianapolis since Sept.) The Sammy-made station is apparently set to go for $99 at retail, which ain't so shabby. We're guessing the $30 per family (or $15 per user) monthly fee will either stick or actually go down (undercutting is one of their major strategies of late). [Sprint Users, Thanks Art!] More »

Cellphones

Verizon's LG Dare Full Review (Verdict: Best iClone Yet)

"Dare to be different," the saying goes, but the LG Dare is really Verizon Wireless's attempt to fit in, to offer a phone that's more like the AT&T LG Vu and Sprint Samsung Instinct, not to mention Apple's similarly priced iPhone 3G. The truth is, the Dare may not be as glamorous or well-priced as the Instinct, but it has a better browser, a motion sensor and some cool software tricks that make it a fine phone for people who choose to remain in Verizon's walled garden. And it puts Verizon's previous iClone attempts, the LG Voyager and the Samsung Glyde, to lowdown dirty shame. More »

Plasma

Panasonic TH-50PZ850U Reviewed: Beats Pioneer Kuro in Color and Detail, But Not Black Level

Gary at HD Guru probably puts TVs through the most insane, obsessive test gauntlet of anyone. He just stacked one of Panasonic's latest, the TH-50PZ850U, against a Pioneer Kuro, once and future King of Plasmas. Basically, while Kuro is blacker (courtesy of its screen's darker tint) and brighter, Panny's color reproduction is much deeper, you get better dark detail, more accurate gamma, it uses 30 percent less power, AND it's cheaper ($3500 to $4600). Everything else is about even. For more grisly details, head over there: [HD Guru]

Patents

Sony Patent Hints at PlayStation Phone, Possible Mystery Device?

The prospect of a PSP phone looks even more likely now that we've seen Sony's patent for a touchscreen handheld. The patent describes a device with "digital tactile pixels" that respond to touch and give feedback via vibration. This patent was submitted by Sony Computer Entertainment, the group behind PlayStation, and not Ericsson, like the last alleged PSP phone patent. The mystery device is covered to play games and music and browse the web, but also make phone calls, so what else could it be? [patent via Tech Digest]

Overclocking

Mac Pro Overclocking Tool By ZDNet Boosts Cheapo Model to Whoa Mama Model

ZDNet's come up with a software-based app to overclock processors on the Intel 5000 and 5400 chipsets, which (as of right now) is the Mac Pro and Xserve. Apparently ZDNet Clock is so good, the cheapest 2.8GHz Mac Pro outperforms the 3.2MHz Mac Pro, saving you $1600. You'll have to fiddle with the slider to get it customized for you, so don't think you can just drag it to the right and not have a crashfest on your hands. Hit up ZDNet to see the details. If you can get this to work right (and have enough cooling), it could be fantastic for heavy computational tasks. [ZDNet via Wired]

Famicom

Nintendo Famicom Business Card Holders Combine Your Idealistic Childhood With Your Sellout Adulthood

What better way to bring your childhood into the present with these Nintendo Famicom business card holders. Your $8.80 will get you one random cartridge or controller, which may or may not be a that really horrible knockoff one made by that one lousy company in the mid '80s. We're looking at you, Ice Climber. If you're lucky, you'll get Zelda, Ballon Fight, or Mario instead. [GameAsylum via Nerd Approved]

Magic water cooler

Kilmatec's AirWater Machine Can Extract 5 Gallons of Water From the Air in 24 Hours

According to Kilmatec, their Base 1 AirWater Machine can extract up to 20 liters (around 5 gallons) of water from the air in a 24 hour period. Unlike a common dehumidifier, it also makes that water suitable for drinking by running it through a carbon filter and ultraviolet light chamber to eliminate any pollutants or bacteria. It can even dispense the water hot or cold. So, in essence, the Base 1 is like a water cooler that never needs refills. More »

tivoremote

TiVoRemote App Updated with Slick GUI and Handy Features

TiVoremote, the iPhone / iPod touch Telnet TiVo Remote app, was finally updated a few weeks ago with an ooey gooey GUI, and some really useful new features. Now at version 0.23, the app can now detect TiVos on your home network, allowing for easy selection of the TiVo you want to control. What's even better is the app now has the ability to download the Now Playing list data from the TiVo, allowing the iPhone to show what's been recorded and display each recordings data info. The app can also use the NPL data to start playing the recordings automatically. So if you've got a Jailbroken iPhone / iPod touch, and a Series 3 TiVo, I would suggest giving the app a try, it's surprisingly useful. [TiVoRemote]

NetFlix

Netflix Keeping Profiles! The Internet Works!

Thanks to the uppityness of internet users, Netflix is keeping their profile scheme. Brian will be able to keep his Blaxploitation movies separate from his girlfriend's "morbid documentaries," which should keep both of them happy enough to not kill each other. Who says signing internet petitions is the nerd equivalent of throwing a hot dog down a hallway?