Japan gets official on plans and details for world's fastest maglev

We'd already heard about Central Japan Railway Company's not-so-near-term intentions to deploy a speedy new maglev system in the country, but it looks like it's just now getting official with things, and it's still promising to have it up and running no soo... full story

updated Wed December 26, 2007

Switched On: The grouch

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment. [We have a special treat today -- our Ross Rubin has penned yet another amazing poem, for which w...

updated Wed December 26, 2007

JR Tokai plans maglev railway for Japan, won't open until 2025

So here's the good news: Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tokai) has announced its intentions to construct a swank maglev railway in Japan. The bad news? It's not scheduled to open until 2025. Reportedly, JR ...

updated Wed December 26, 2007

DIY robotic foosball table is ready to throw down

Finally, your dreams of a constant foosball opponent have become a startling reality. Some clever DIY-types have come up with a solution for how to fill all those long, lonely nights -- a computer-controlled f...

updated Wed December 26, 2007

Adtec intros diminutive AD-HSM10 Bluetooth headset

Considering the multitude of Bluetooth headsets out there which claim to be the smallest this world has to offer, we're not apt to believe that ADTEC's AD-HSM10 is actually the most diminutive, regardless of ...

updated Wed December 26, 2007

AMD's triple-core Phenoms to launch in March?

Earlier this year, we heard that AMD would be unleashing a few triple-core Phenoms in Q1 of next year, and now DigiTimes has a few more details surrounding the forthcoming launch. Reportedly, the B2 stepping Ph...

updated Wed December 26, 2007

Master Lock unveils smartTouch garage door opener

Let's face it: there's a myriad ways to open one's garage door, but you won't find us kvetching over a new, relatively affordable alternative to the tried and true numeric keypad. Master Lock's smartTouch GDO ...

updated Wed December 26, 2007

Rockefeller University scientists figure out how to see smells

We already knew that select scientists were working up an advanced electronic nose, but now a team at Rockefeller University has apparently figured out a way to actually see smells. Supposedly, these gurus clos...

updated Wed December 26, 2007

Optimus Maximus delayed until February, unless you skimp on firmware

We've been waiting this long, what's a couple more months? Art Lebedev has announced that the Optimus Maximus keyboard isn't quite ready for prime time yet, and will be delayed until late February. Lucky for y...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

Revo intros Blik RadioStation DAB / WiFi radio

It's just been a few short weeks since Revo trotted out its Blik WiFi internet radio, but it looks like the company has already outdone itself, with it now introducing the new and improved Blik RadioStation,...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

iRobot adds swank mapping kit to PackBot

iRobot has unleashed yet another semi-autonomous robot ready to take on whatever the battlefield throws at it, but this one's got a much better feel of where it's headed. The PackBot with Mapping Kit ups the an...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

Greener Gadgets conference in New York, February 2008

Our gadgets may be getting slowly greener, but consumer technology is still one of the world's dirtier, more pollutant industries, and it's about time we all rounded up some electronics heavyweights and had a ...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

Xenics Music Cube speakers disassemble, can't conceal their ugliness

Portable speakers always bring with them a few compromises -- namely, they either aren't very portable or they don't sound very good. Korea's Xenics now looks to have come up with a solution to that first prob...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

Rhapsody users experiencing login issues?

Though not what we'd deem "common," outages extending beyond a few hours have been known to happen to the services we love so dearly, and it seems that some Rhapsody users have become the latest to fall victim ...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

NAVTEQ shareholders give thumbs-up to Nokia acquisition

Maybe they were just full of holiday cheer, or maybe they just felt like the match really was made in heaven, but whatever the case, NAVTEQ shareholders "overwhelmingly" voted to approve the Nokia acquisition a...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

Kindle DRM hacked to allow protected Mobipocket ebooks

We knew the Kindle's DRM would be cracked the minute we heard about it, and it looks like the first chink in the armor is here courtesy of Igor Skochinsky: he's discovered the algorithm the Kindle uses to turn ...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

Palm laying off employees?

We haven't heard any confirmations of this just yet, but PalmInfocenter has it that a number of Palm employees have already been shown the door and asked not to come back. Citing "reliable sources," it goes on ...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

Slew of retailers to carry TV converter boxes; coupon requests open in 2008

Yeah, we pretty much expected every big box retailer known to man to carry these things, but just in case you were worried about locating a TV converter box in preparation for the upcoming cutover, here's some ...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

Nintendo offers official downgrade to Photo Channel 1.0, MP3 addicts rejoice

Generally speaking, the reaction to Photo Channel v1.1 wasn't exactly positive -- especially when the MP3 faithful banded together to protest against the update's newfound adoration for AAC. Thankfully, Nintend...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

ITC dashes Qualcomm's hopes, rules in favor of Nokia

No, this isn't some horrific dream stuck on repeat. The legal quarrels between Nokia and Qualcomm are actually still ongoing, and while a US International Trade Commission judge has indeed issued an initial det...

updated Thu December 13, 2007

AMD admits it overpaid for ATI, will take unspecified charge

Although you may not have been paying close attention to the actual breakdown, $3.2 billion of the staggering $5.6 billion AMD coughed up in order to acquire ATI last year was simply an estimated goodwill value...