Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

Aptina producing cellphone image sensor that shoots HD video originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Cellphones

Apple approves third-party email client for the App Store, violates its own policies originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Palm axes an undisclosed amount of employees, sort of blames itself originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Tiny Wiimote "projector" is not nearly as impressive as it sounds on paper originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio

T-Mobile G1s now shipping with 3.5mm headphone adapters included originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Laptops

How would you change Apple's unibody MacBook / MacBook Pro? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Gaming, HDTV, Home Entertainment

NXE creating HDMI headaches for UK Xbox 360 owners? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables

sWaP watch phone likely won't change your opinion of watch phones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Cellphones

RAZR stops a bullet, its owner reports "feeling lucky, punk." originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Marantz's IS301 wireless iPod dock elegantly cuts the cord

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Marantz's IS301 wireless iPod dock elegantly cuts the cord originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Switched On: Writers on the Storm

Filed under: Cellphones

Switched On: Writers on the Storm originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

DARPA enlists IBM to build computer brain as smart as a cat originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Cellphones

BlackBerry Storm sells out hard and fast originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 119 - 11.21.2008 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Laptops

ASUS Eee PC 1002HA hands-on and video: looks a lot like the S101 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In a dusty supply closet at 1 Times Square, a computer terminal hooked up to hordes of ethernet servers, RAID arrays and monitors humbly runs the largest LED sign in the world. The sign, a 3-sided, 17,000-square-foot Goliath, debuted last night at the opening of a Walgreens in New York City. Today, I got to see what makes it tick. galleryPost('walgreenssign', 3, '');

Each side of the sign, designed by D3 LED, requires a 48-drive RAID pumping data at a rate of 3.2GB/second to a custom-built PC. From there, the data is fed through graphics cards to multiple DVI pipes, which lead to six DVI pixel splitters (known as a Spyders). The splitters take video data of a specific resolution and upscale it to the size needed for the display. Once the data is crunched and formatted for the sign, it's sent out via 4Gbps ethernet to one of more than 12,000 display modules that make up the ginormous billboard.

Each module is a mini-computer, complete with MAC address, redundant 4-gigabit ethernet ports, power supply and a fan. Each panel can report all kinds of vital statistics, including its temperature. If there's a problem, the panel reports itself to the main computer for easy troubleshooting. (Like a good communist, it can report problems with its neighbors, too.) The majority of the electronics are accessible from inside, so dangerous repair jobs on scaffolding suspended over Times Square are a thing of the past.

The sign's modules are split into three sections, low-, medium- and high-resolution grids based on their distance from the street. (Why waste pixels for objects way high up?) The top, as you probably guessed, has the largest pixels, at 24mm, while the middle has 12mm and the bottom has 10mm.

The animators are faced with a tough challenge when creating content for the signs, as they must keep the different display sizes in mind so the animation appears cohesive throughout the sections. To help out the animators, sign creator D3 LED made a virtual copy of it that is 10,000 pixels high by 4,000 pixels wide, the equivalent of 43 megapixels. (It's 20 times the resolution of HD, too.) They use an Adobe After Effects template to help coordinate placement of the animations on the slash-shaped sign.

As previously reported, a single 30-second spot on the billboard requires a staggering 150GB of data transferred through the system. But before you accuse D3 and Walgreens of hogging all of the power in New York, they attest that they are not. With the Con Ed bill in mind, their design reduced unnecessary copper wiring by over 300,000 feet and increased the voltage for more efficient power. They also set up an auto-dimmer (like you might have on your laptop) that adjusts the luminosity of the LEDs based on the ambient light outside. All of this makes it not necessarily cheap but at least cheaper than you'd think to operate.

The Walgreens sign is a complex, fascinating testament to the sheer power of LED displays. While most people living in New York avoid Times Square exactly because of things like this, tourists will undoubtedly flock to the center to observe the sign up close, even though it can be seen from as far away as Bryant Park and the Port Authority. For now, it's something that even this semi-jaded NYC resident can appreciate. [Walgreens Sign on Giz]

The Gizmodo Gallery lineup isn't just mega gadgets like the Red One Camera and prototypes like the Ancient Apple phone concepts from Frog Design. On a recent trip to Tokyo I raided Thanko HQ for the latest and weirdest USB gadgets I could find, including this USB Tie with a fan in it and a USB heated gloves. I mean, I don't know how anyone gets through winter in NY without USB heated mittens.

[Gizmodo Gallery wouldn't be possible without help from our friends at REED ANNEXand dynamism.com]

GIZMODO GALLERY

Reed Annex 151 Orchard Street New York, NY 10002

Dates: December 4th-7th

Times: 12/4 Thursday 12-8

12/5 Friday 12-8

12/6 Saturday 11-8

12/7 Sunday 11-4

In spite of its mixed reviews concerning software bugs and the controversial click-screen, the BlackBerry Storm drew a heckuva lot of Crack(Berry)heads to Verizon Wireless stores today demanding to get a piece of that action, including some who got uppity when things didn't work out like Christmas morning.

Reuters is saying that "more than 200 people" were hanging out in front of a mid-town Manhattan Verizon store this morning, some who ended up throwing fits when the shop ran out of the RIM goodness just an hour into its morning sales.

If you yourself are concerned about a Storm shortage, Reuters says that Verizon stores that may have run dry are promising a unit within 7 days, as long as you pre-order at the store or online. Given the high profile of this product launch, I figure this isn't a supply problem so much as it is an allocation problem, and that every store will soon have enough to meet demand. Have you had any issues scoring a unit? If so, do share them so your fellow Giz readers don't waste their Saturdays. [Reuters]

The Gadget: Sony's Vaio LV All-in-One PC is the followup to the beautiful (and powerful) Vaio LT that came out earlier this year. This time around, they gave the LV an improved mounting base, slimmer bezel, integrated TV tuner and most importantly, HDMI-in. Has the LV one-upped the LT? galleryPost('sonyvaiolvreview', 3, '');

The Price: $2800 (as tested)

The Verdict: The LV took everything the LT did well, and added more things to make it even better, without sacrificing much. In terms of the exterior improvements, the overall size of the computer is cut down due to the omission of the see through bezel in the LT. And instead of just a spring loaded foot for the computer to rest on like before, the LV now sits on an articulating arm, which is attachted to a base. This makes adjusting the angle of the LV easier than before. And for those who plan to use this away from the desk, the wireless keyboard now has a built-in trackpad, which makes couch surfing all the easier.

But the real new appeal here is the addition of an HDMI-in port, which allows your screen to work with the latest home theater and gaming consoles, independently of the PC. And it pretty much works as advertised. You plug in your HDMI product, switch the input source over from the computer, and voila—your Vaio LV is functioning as a TV. I tested a Roku Netflix Box and Xbox 360 with the LV, and both worked without a problem. The picture looked really sharp, and there was no visible artifacting caused by the display. It should be noted that the HDMI does not work with windows at all, so importing HD content from HDMI products is not a possibility.

As a computer, the Vaio LV performs well, with a few slight spec bumps over the LT. But it's quick, responsive, and is able to take on a decent workload. We even tested Tivo PC on the LV, and it functioned without so much as a hiccup on the hardware side. But there's nothing radically different about the Vista experience this time around, so if you're still curious, check out the LT review.

All in all, The LV really is an improved semi-upgrade from the Vaio LT. It's not different enough that recent LT owners should be cursing the stars, but those deciding between the LV and the still available LT should go with the LV. [Sony Vaio LV on Giz]

Do you think of your MP3 player as the well from whence music springs forth like so much cool, pure H2O? Neither do I, but that didn't stop some brainy (that is, totally insaney) designers from coming up with a painfully elaborate music-player concept based on just such an analogy.

Over at Yanko Design you can see the Music Flow concept by Min-Kyung Kang, Tae-Seung Kim and Jeong-Min Og. As you can see, you turn the faucet knob to initiate the musical stream, which "flows" into the headphones connected to the spigot. With me so far? OK, so the headphone cable is a garden hose, of sorts, and it uses a capacitive sensor to detect pinching: If you pinch the hose, the watery music momentarily ceases to flow! Feel free to take your bong hit now, cuz it's only getting weirder... • The remote "looks like waves" and controls the player without the faucet knob. • The faucet knob is actually also a disguised speaker. • And the spigot, being the player itself, houses a battery that you charge up before attaching to "a wall or window." • None of these pieces, save the spigot and the presumably prohibitively expensive headphones, come together.

It's definitely more, uh, creative than that goofy cow MP3 player, but that doesn't mean it makes any sense. I almost forgot the kicker: It's not waterproof. [Yanko]

Believe it or not, but it has taken 103 years and the combined power of various of the world's top supercomputers to prove Eintein's biggest equation right, resolving e=mc2 at the scale of sub-atomic particles. The feat has been achieved by a team of French, German, and Hungarian physicists led by Laurent Lellouch at the Center for Theoretical Physics in France, and has finally answered a question that has puzzled scientists for decades: The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Atom Mass!

The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Atom Mass

The night that the Frenchy called me I didn't have any plans. Susan took the day off for shopping. Something about new stockings. I said yes. She never seemed to have enough of those. I never had enough of her in them either. Taking her down to the club for the usual bourbon and dancing was out of the question. Maybe that's why I said yes to Lellouch. I never was fond of the froggies. Not even while I was shooting Nazis in Normandy.

Laurent Lellouch. That was the name. I liked it as much as the sound of the case he wanted me to take: Nothing at all. Something about a war between gangs of Prussian gangsters, the Neutrons and the Protons. I didn't know them. It was all weird and related to that stuff they did at Los Alamos and then dropped in Japan. I knew Uncle Sam wasn't going to be far behind this one, but Louis said he was ok to trust him. A bit. I didn't have anything better to do, anyway. Pork chili down at George's while listening to what Lellouch had to tell me was a better plan than going with the boys to the 42nd. I looked out the window and saw it was still raining nails. Hot chili was it.

When I arrived, Lola nodded behind the bar and looked to the table where the guy was waiting. She rolled her eyes and shouted the usual order to George at the kitchen. The Frenchman was nervous, mumbling something about international conspiracies and computers and that guy from Germany who turned everything inside out with his theories. That equation. E=mc2. The told me about the protons and the neutrons. While I was downing my chili he went on and on about it. Inside those families there were quarks, which are bound by gluons. I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. The mass of a gluon is zero, he said, while the mass of the quarks is only five percent. So, where is the missing 95 percent?

Maybe he was onto something. I finished my chili, dropped a couple of Washingtons, and went on to see Janos the Hungarian. He wasn't going to talk. Fortunately for him, I'm a reasonable man. It was nothing that a simple knuckle kiss couldn't fix. Ten minutes and three teeth later he spilled. The key is in the quantum chromodynamics, something about equations running at the sub-atomic level. More gibberish, but I know he was telling the truth. I left him trying to fix his bloody nose and went to meet the Germans. I knew that if anyone had the answer, it was going to be Otto.

I was right. He knew about Janos, so I didn't have to get nasty again. Too bad. I was thinking about how much I wanted to see Susan in her new stockings. Wasting my time listening to this was making me angry. Otto said that the unaccounted mass came from the energy from the movements and interactions of quarks and gluons. The computations involved envisioning space and time as part of a four-dimensional crystal lattice, with discrete points spaced along columns and rows.

I still didn't know what the hell he was talking about, but I crossed the street to call the Frenchy. I had his answer. When he picked the phone he was excited like a little girl in her first date at the back of the movie theater. He wanted to meet right away. Get all the details. I just wanted to get my money and go meet Susan at her place. I told him to meet me at the park, on the corner of Fifth and 64th.

He was there when I arrived, sitting on a bench with a stupid smile in his face. He'd had a lead overdose. Someone got him before I could tell him that Einstein was right. E=mc2 was corroborated for the first time thanks to those computers they stole from the Germans and the Hungarians. I don't know who killed him. Probably the CIA. Or the KGB. Maybe the Italians. Or all of them. I knew it was time for some silk and alcohol. I took the envelope he still had in his coat and I closed his eyes. There are things that mere mortals don't need to know. And none of them were Susan's legs. [AFP]

Back to the usual review this week, after our 20 Essential Apps list last Friday. Thankfully, it's been a pretty good week in the store, with lots of actually useful apps—including a full-fledged four-track recorder and a couple of utilities that actually add some usable core features that I wish would have made it into the 2.2 software update today. Oh, and of course, something Japanese and crazy. Onward!

Four Track: Remember how Keith Richards always said he recorded the riff to Satisfaction on a hotel answering machine? Well, now, budding Keefs can multi-track their sudden inspirations for songs about not getting sufficiently laid. Four Track offers all the controls you would want for a basic deck, has no track length limit, and can sync via wi-fi to import you recordings into Garage Band or Pro Tools. Awesome. It's $10.

Save My Docs: Safari received some nice performance and UI tweaks in 2.2, but it still does one thing a mobile browser should never do—wipe out version of pages you've already loaded for no reason. Multiple times I've loaded a long Wikipedia article on something that I planned to read on the subway, only to find the page totally blank a few minutes later for no explicable reason. Save My Docs does one thing—saves any document loaded in Safari locally, complete with images, to be read at any time later. $2

CalToDo: I can't believe this isn't a native feature: CalToDo easily syncs your OS X to-do lists (found in Mail and iCal) via a lite server app that runs on your machine. Interface is nice, and so is the simplicity. $1

iMarimo: And iMarimo, what can I say? It's floating ball of algae in front of a few blurry pictures that you can spin via touch. Apparently, the Marimo algae is beloved in Japan for its freakish, perfectly spherical growth and its ultra-rarity—found only in a single lake in Hokkaido. Damn. That's about all I can say about this on a Friday, and it costs $1.

This week's app coverage on Giz:

• iPhone 2.2 Update Review: Go Get It Now

• Pocket Jockey iPhone Game Simulates Horse Racing In Most Suggestive Way Possible

• Numberkey Transforms iPhone Into Sweet Wireless Numberpad

• Google's iPhone Voice Search Mobile App Now Available

• OpenTable iPhone App: Easiest, Most Soulless Restaurant Reservations Ever

• iPhone's Gas Cubby Car Care Tracker Is Anal So You Don't Have To Be

• Hands-On With Newber, The Location-Aware Call Redirector For Your iPhone

• Even Google Gets Shafted By Apple's Ridiculous App-Approval Process

• iPhone's Puzzle Quest Hits December For $10 [Kotaku]

This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our original iPhone App Review Marathon. Have a good weekend everybody.

Why go out to the strip club when the strip club can come to you? That's right, for $300 an hour ($200 each additional), you can rent out a rickshaw in NYC from the entrepreneurs at PoleRider. It is your all-inclusive mobile exotic dancing solution complete with a pole and tacky lights. Ahh...pole dancing. It's everywhere you want to be. Thanks PoleRiders—by the way, do you need any extra rickshaw operators? [PoleRiders (slightly NSFW) via CraziestGadgets]

In keeping with its progressive reputation, San Francisco is looking to pave the way for widespread electric vehicle adoption in the US. A Palo-Alto start-up called "Better Place" has received the green light from all three of the Bay Area's big city mayors to begin carrying out an ambitious plan to build a network of 250,000 charging ports, 200 battery-exchange stations and a control center that keeps the system running smoothly. And if that wasn't enough, they hope to have the entire thing up and running by 2012.

Naturally, a project this vast isn't going to be cheap—$1 billion is a lot of money to burden the taxpayers with. Fortunately, that won't be a problem because the project will be funded with an incentive plan directed at companies who install the chargers. Building permits will also be expedited to help move things along. Better Place will also be working with Renault-Nissan to distribute electric vehicles in "much the way telecoms distribute cellphones. Customers will subscribe to drive a certain number of miles and get an electric vehicle at a discounted price. Better Place will own the battery."

Better Place already has similar systems in the works for parts of Europe, but getting a foothold in the US will be their biggest challenge. As San Francisco mayor-extraordinaire Gavin Newsom put it, the goal is to “make the Bay Area—and eventually California—the electric vehicle capital of the US”. [Better Place via Mercury News via Treehugger via DVICE]

Can you feel it? It's the last Friday before Black Friday. You've got exactly one week to plan out where you're gonna hit—what are you're hoping to grab this year, anyway? Today, we've got a few pretty excellent deals: This Double Guitar bundle from Red Octane comes with Guitar Hero III and World Tour, and one guitar from each, for only $120, way down from $230 originally. My personal favorite, though, is the entire seven season run of Buffy for just $70—DVD, but you can't get it in HD yet anyway, boo. (Firefly though, squee!) This way for more savings:

Gaming: • Guitar Hero Double Guitar Bundle (2 Games+ 2 Guitars) on Xbox 360 for $119.99 (originally $229.97). • Guitar Hero Double Guitar Bundle (2 Games+ 2 Guitars) on PS3 for $119.99 (originally $229.97). • Halo 3 for $39.99 plus free shipping (originally $59.99). • Soul Calibur IV for PS3 for $39.99 (originally $59.99). • Hot Shots Golf 5: Out of Bounds for PS3 for $27.01 (originally $59.99 - only available in Sam's Club stores).

GPS: • Nokia 4.3'' Touchscreen GPS for $149 (originally $299.99). • Garmin nuvi 680 Personal Portable GPS (refurbished) for $179.97 (originally $549.99). • Nextar P3 3.5'' GPS with MP3 Player for $69.99 plus free shipping (originally $199.95).

Computers and peripherals: • Dell Vostro 200 Desktop Dual Core for $329 (originally $579). • Seagate 750GB Hard Drive Kit for $79.99 (originally $139.99). • 2.4 GHz, 8M Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Processor for $175.99 (originally $349.99). • Belkin Wireless Ethernet Bridge for $19.99 plus free shipping (originally $129.99).

Memory: • 1GB MicroSD Memory Card for $3.29 plus shipping (originally $9.56). • 8GB SDHC Card for $14.98 plus free shipping (originally $75.75).

Movies: • Buffy the Vampire Slayer - 40-Disc Collector's Set for $69.99 (originally $199.98). • Smallville Seasons 1-6 for $14.99 each (originally $59.98). • Band of Brothers on Blu-ray for $54.85 plus free shipping (originally $99.95). • Black Friday deals on select DVDs for $3.99.

If you have a flat panel TV, wall mounting is the way to go—but getting things set up is an undeniable pain in the ass. Salamander designs have devised an alternative option for lazy people like myself who want the wall mount look without the work. The Synchro Furniture Mate slides in behind your cabinet, resulting in a fairly elegant simulation of a standard wall-mount. It can hold TVs between 32" and 60" with a maximum weight of 110lbs and it features adjustable height and a manual swivel of 30-degrees. The mount itself runs at $599, but for $299 more you can go the extra lazy route and have the remote-control, motorized kit attached—enabling you to make viewing adjustments from the comfort of your couch.

[Salamander Designs]

If you're here reading Gizmodo, there's a good chance you have a hard drive full of video somewhere. And you also probably have a PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii. If those two things aren't working together for you in beautiful symbiosis, allowing you to watch all of your downloaded or ripped video on your TV instead of hunched over a laptop screen, well, this is the guide for you.

Now there are two general strategies you can take: physically copying your files to a USB drive, memory card or CD/DVD, which is pretty straightforward, or streaming your video over the network, which is where things get more fun and interesting. So let's dive in.

First things first, codecs. Now that you're all learn-ed on the ways of video encoding thanks to Matt's Giz Explains from this week, the issue of codecs will make a lot more sense. Thankfully, it's not something you have to worry too much about here, because all three consoles can handle a large number of the codecs you will find commonly: AVI, MPEG (1, 2 and 4), H.264, DivX/XviD, and WMV—and if a particular format you want to play isn't supported, it's often possible to convert it to work on the fly. The PS3 also supports AVCHD, a format used by many HD camcorders. Not all formats are supported with every streaming method though, especially in the 360's case, which we'll get to in a second. Now, for getting all those files on the TV.

Note: if you need to re-encode a video in a different format because it won't play, nothing beats VLC's transcoding wizard. Here's a guide.

Xbox 360: Streaming (PC) In typical Microsoft fashion, there are tons of different ways to pull of streaming your video to the Xbox 360—and the only one that's truly comprehensive, in our opinion, comes from a third party. TVersity is a free UPnP media server that can manage your video and music files anywhere on your PC and stream them out to your 360 over the network. It will also kindly transcode just about any video you can throw at it into a codec your console can definitely read. You might have to install some additional codec packs here and there for Windows but for the most part, you can forget about worrying about codecs with TVersity. This also allows TVersity to handle files not officially supported by the 360, like MKV containers.

1. Grab TVersity here and install it. 2. Click the giant plus sign in the top left corner to "Add Your Media Source" - namely, the folder on your PC with all of your videos. 3. Under advanced options, set your transcoding preferences: "When Needed" will make sure most all of your files play. 4. In the main TVersity menu, select "Start Sharing" 5. On the Xbox 360, TVersity will now appear as a source in the Media blade or under My Xbox -> Video Library in NXE.

The other three options via Microsoft's own various software solutions all have their own drawbacks, which we'll cover here briefly. Our advice? Use them only if you already use the Zune software, Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center to manage all of your video.

Windows Media Player 11: WMP 11 can stream out to the Xbox 360 pretty easily. Here is an in-depth guide. Drawbacks? Somewhat clunky format support. In our tests we could not stream Quicktime video at all, and had inconsistent experiences with MP4 files. MPEG-4 and H.264 support are technically supported via third-party WMP codec add-ons, but even with those, we still had trouble—MP4 files tended to play fine on the WMP 11 end, but not show up as browsable on the 360. Somewhat unbelievably, the Xbox 360 team actually recommends you manually rename your unsupported MPEG-4 and H.264 files, adding the ".avi" container extension to fool WMP into playing them. This worked occasionally, but not for every file and was generally inconsistent.

Zune Software 3.0: Zune offers a much nicer interface than WMP (Settings -> Sharing -> Add is the extent of the setup), and thankfully supports MPEG4 and H.264 much more consistently. Drawbacks? No DivX or Xvid support, which means a huge chunk of your Torrented video probably won't work.

Windows Media Center Extender: If you already have a Media Center setup honking on your network, there's a good chance you won't need this guide, but the Xbox 360 can of course stream your MCE content to your TV seamlessly (a complete guide is here). The interface is really fantastic. Drawbacks? The gimpiest codec support of the bunch: only MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and WMV are supported. So unless you're converting everything you have into those formats, you'll still need something like TVersity to play most files you'll find up for download.

So, in the end, TVersity wins hands down as the easiest and most elegant streaming setup for the 360. But do keep in mind—if you're playing a format that your Xbox can't handle (MKV being the most common of these you'll find), TVersity will have to transcode, which means you will lose a bit of quality.

Xbox 360: Streaming (Mac): UPnP support—the networking standard used by both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 in various flavors to play network-streamed video, music and photos—is not natively supported by OS X yet. And unfortunately, there isn't a stellar all-in-one free package like Windows' TVersity.

Nullriver, however, makes an incredibly slick piece of software called Connect360, which easily streams all of your iLife libraries or any folder full of video on your Mac to the 360. Unfortunately, it'll cost you $20. There is a free trial version that supposedly shuts off after 30 minutes of sharing, but sometimes it seems to forget and lets you play longer. But even so, $20 isn't bad for the convenience factor here. No transcoding, but it will handle every codec the console itself can play back.

1. Download and install the Connect360 preference pane. 2. In System Preferences, start up Connect360 sharing. Here you can also add folders for more sharing. 3. Access the Connect360 source on your Xbox in the usual way. Done.

Xbox 360: Physical Media 1. If streaming isn't for you, and you don't mind hauling a storage device back and forth between your computer and Xbox, then this is super easy: Insert Flash disk/USB/CD/DVD and browse it with the Media blade or the Video Library section of NXE (under "My Xbox"). Enjoy.

Playstation 3: Streaming (PC) TVersity: Again, Tversity is your friend. It works just as well for the PS3 as it does for Xbox 360 (see above for setup).

1. With Tversity set up and sharing turned on, just browse to COMPUTERNAME: TVersity in the XMB and you'll see a listing of all your shared files.

Windows Media Player 11: Just like for Xbox 360, you can use WMP11's built-in DLNA/UPnP serving capabilities to stream to the PS3, too—but with the same codec funkiness as noted above.

1. In the Media Sharing preference box with your PS3 powered on and connected to the network, select "Unknown Device"—that's your PS3. 2. Your library should now show up in XMB.

Playstation 3: Streaming (MAC) Mac: Nullriver didn't just hook up 360 owners—Media Link is the version especially for PS3. It costs 20 bucks, but will give you totally seamless and painless streaming of all of your iLife libraries (photos and music too) as well as files in any folder you can access with your Mac, whether it's on a network or local.

1. Operation is just like Connect360—with sharing enabled in the Media Link preference pane, just browse through all your files under the "Media Link" source in XMB.

Playstation 3: Physical Media 1. Easy as pie. If you're using a USB flash or hard disc or an SD or CF card, just dump all of your videos into a folder named VIDEO on the root of the drive and they'll show up automatically in the XMB. 2. You can also browse the entire drive or disc by pressing triangle and choosing "Display All" to find videos that aren't in the VIDEO folder.

Wii: Physical Media For playing video on your Wii, physical media is the way to go, which is easy to pull off with some homebrew hacking. There are lots of services that will transcode your video and ouput it in a Flash player that you can view through the Wii's Opera browser (like Orb), but you'll take a hit quality-wise and it's not as easy as just playing the source files directly with Mplayer.

1. Install the Homebrew Channel and Mplayer on your Wii. We've got you covered here with our complete Wii homebrew guide—but hopefully you haven't installed the latest System Menu update. In that case, you'll have to wait for a workaround, but it probably won't be long.

2. Install Mplayer via the Homebrew Browser (also covered in our guide).

3. Now, you can use Mplayer to play files off or even an attached USB drive (as long as its formatted in FAT16 or FAT32, which most are). The interface is not nearly as nice, but it gets the job done.

4. Mplayer for the Wii covers a ton of codecs, but sadly, the Wii's processor chokes on HD content. If you've got HD files, you'll need to transcode them into a lower resolution with VLC.

And that's about it. Now, no more huddling around your laptop screen or fiddling with TV and audio-out cables. Welcome to the good life.

Additional reporting and testing by Seung Lee. See more Giz how-to guides here. And as always, if you have anything to add to our findings, please let us know in the comments.

Who says you need drugs to have a good time? All you need is an open mind and a little imagination to tap into the psychedelic potential of your brain. Oh, and gadgets like the 10 featured here can definitely help. Even if they don't work, just remember that even without the drugs you still have sex and rock n' roll. That should be enough for anyone.

Fiber Optic Wallpaper: Designer Camilla Diedrich has added a 21st century upgrade to drab old wallpaper by adding intricate designs illuminated with fiber optics. It's a cool idea—but I would still opt for a fresh coat of paint. [Bodie and Fou via Link]

Primal Source Fountain: Earlier this year artist Usman Haque tripped out all of Santa Monica, CA with a fountain projection that resembled a drug-induced hallucination. [Link]

Genso Kukan Aurora Simulator: This gadget claims to simulate the aurora borealis or "northern lights" on the walls in your home. The 6-inch tall Genso Kukan Aurora also features a 30-minute sleep timer to gently send you off on your own mystical journey through the mind. Plus, you will get a lot more mileage out of the $66 price tag than you would using it to purchase mind-bending substances. [HimeyaShop via Link]

Wave LED Coffee Table: The Wave table utilizes 32 near-infrared sensors to detect movement and follow it with trails of light and color from 480 LEDs. As you move your hand or your glass over the surface of the table, the LEDs follow along—allowing you to enjoy a similar experience as a stoner that becomes momentarily captivated by the movement of his own hands. Tables can be made to order for around $1800-$2000. [Because We Can via Link]

Magic Mushroom and the Incredible Expanding Bunny: Stare at the hypnotic spinning disc for around 20 seconds and then direct your eyes towards the magic mushroom and the bunny. Magically, they will both expand before your eyes. Available for around $6. [iwoot]

Hyposurface: These fabric and plastic walls are driven by thousands of mechanical pistons to create a morphing movement that is mesmerizing to watch in action. I tell you what, you had better be drug-free when standing in the midst of one of these Hyposurface walls—otherwise it will freak...you...out. [Hyposurface via Link]

newVideoPlayer("altered_gizmodo.flv", 475, 376,""); The Good-Old Fashioned Isolation Tank: Nothing offers a drug-free hallucination better than a sensory deprivation or "isolation" tank. Just ask comedian and sober-stoner Joe Rogan. Earlier this year he gave away his old tank, and he can be seen here gushing about its psychedelic potential. [Link]

Ganzfeld Hallucinations: Isolation tanks are great, but unless you get a hand out from Joe Rogan they are going to be a tad expensive. Not so with this little DIY project. All you need is a pair of headphones and a ping pong ball that has been cut in half. Apparently, if you place the ping pong ball over your eyes and listen to white noise through the headphones, you will be in for a mind altering experience. Being a burn-out probably helps with this one. [Link]

Disco Bath: Place one of these mini-waterproof LED lightshows into your bath, sit back and let the psychedelic color patterns take control of your mind. Pre-order for $13. [Firebox via Link]

Eye Candy USB Lollipop: According to the product page, this curious confectionery "uses cutting edge Sensory Substitution Technology to transmit vivid emotive images into your mind's eye." It's based on "scientific" research conducted in the 1970s that the brain can accept certain forms of non-visual stimuli and transform it into a visual image. Using a charge via USB, Eye Candy lays down a matrix of small electrical pulses on your tongue in the shape of an object. Theoretically, you should be able to "see" the object it traces. Now here is where it really gets interesting...the pops come in six flavors designed to help you achieve the "right state of mind." For example: the pop can trace the image of a spider on your tongue to help you overcome your fears. Although the product is not currently available, the goal is to have Eye Candy out sometime in the near future at a cost of around $90. [Eye Candy via Link]

ROMP—or Remotely Operated Mobile Platform—is a poor man's version of an iRobot battlefield bot. Instead of fancy tracks and miniaturized sensors, these ROMPs seem more like sophisticated all-terrain RC cars rigged with consumer cameras. Until you meet the older brother, of course, the weaponized WROMP with its big gun on top. In the words of its creator, Chris Rogers:

[The WROMP] is a weaponized version of the Remotely Operated Mobile Platform. The operator can "drive" the vehicle and fire the weapon although it is out of visual range. WROMP can also be used for reconnaissance and bomb investigation and remote detonation

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As you can see, the weapon in this case is just a paintball machine gun. Enough for me, although Chris says the platform has been designed for any use, "including remote surveillance, security patrolling and bomb investigation." The system uses an audio/video system linked to an VR headset for control, aiming, and firing. [Coroflot via Dvice]

If you have an old, dead iPod kicking around and are also looking for a way to disguise your disgusting cigarette addiction, here's a nice way to kill two birds with one stone: hide your cigarettes in your iPod! It's a pretty straightforward operation, involving getting rid of the guts in your iPod and then filling said iPod with cigarettes. A better DIY project? Quit smoking. Just saying. [Current via ShinyShiny]