Vishal Jain

"Case-Mate released a $0.99 cardboard iPhone case as a tongue-in-cheek, recession-appropriate gesture—and people bought them, and drew on them, and now they've got a contest to see whose creation is best. If I'm going to be honest, I kind of expected more from this contest: There aren't many truly impressive drawings submitted as of now, and the current leader in votes is a virulent anti-Obama nutball creation that looks more like the bumper of an Alabama pick-up truck than an iPhone case. A drawing of Obama as Heath Ledger's Joker? What does that even mean? You can't be an anarchist and a socialist at the same time, they're completely conflicting ideologies. Take a political theory class, Cardboard iPhone Case Drawing Man! Anyway, I think there are enough badass illustrators among the Giz readership that we could really bust out some impressive entries. I'd love to see what you guys can do—this contest is ripe for a Giz onslaught. Go forth, readers!" - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"When the Motorola DROID debuts in Verizon Wireless stores bright and early this Friday, one nice little feature that won't be making an appearance yet is tethering, for computing with your laptop on-the-go when that Android 2.0 interface just won't cut it. We're pretty sure that missing functionality won't be lessening the early adopter crowds too much, but if you are so inclined, Gearlog's confirmed with VZW that its "Broadband Access Connect" tethering plan is indeed coming to the device, but not until sometime early 2010. Now, how about muscling Motorola and / or Google for some of that double-finger pointing our fine European friends get to indulge in?" - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"Palm device owners have little to complain about when it comes to webOS; not after enduring Garnet and empty Access promises for so long. Still, that OS which relies so heavily upon web technologies like HTML 5, JavaScript, and CSS can be surprisingly sluggish when compared to other smartphone OSes. Now we have a hint as to why thanks to Palm's Ben Galbraith and Dion Almae who made an interesting admission Tuesday related to the Pre's UI latency compared to the iPhone 3GS -- a phone based on the same ARM architecutre. According to the duo, "the path to the GPU didn't exist" in webOS, something that will be solved in the "immediate future" using CSS transforms to modify visual elements thus freeing-up CPU cycles for other tasks. Hmm, immediate future sure sounds like a webOS update to accompany the Palm Pixi release on November 15th." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"IronKey has never been one to shy away from sensational claims, but for whatever reason, it's announcing its newest secure drive in a rather low-key fashion. Or, somewhat so. The D200 range of USB flash drives are said to be more manageable and secure than ever, offering up the peace of mind necessary in government and enterprise scenarios. The new devices include policy enforcement, usability and field-maintenance capabilities, a dual-channel architecture for rapid transfers, the ability to double as an authentication token and a self-defense mechanism designed to resist "physical, malware and password attacks." It's available in 1/2/4/8/16GB capacities and should withstand most encounters with water and shock, though it's on you to dig up the presumably lofty MSRPs." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

Turns out that the DROID does support multitouch after all -- it's just not as baked as the MILESTONE's, and it's certainly not the kind you'll see out of the box. The DROID's European cousin features multitouch right in the phone's core software load (most notably pinch-and-zoom in the browser, which we've seen demoed on video) whereas the DROID itself still features multitouch capability in APIs but doesn't expose it through any built-in app. Translation: the apps you use every day -- Google Maps and the browser, chiefly -- get left out in the cold for some reason that neither Google nor Motorola (nor Verizon) have thus far been willing to adequately justify. Where you can experience the magic of pinch-and-zoom is in third-party apps written to take advantage of Android 2.0's new APIs (Phandroid demos it on a fresh version of Picsay, for instance), but at the end of the day, that's a consolation prize -- we still want a spin-free explanation of why this was all turned off for the base apps. Follow the break for video of Picsay's support for the good stuff in action. - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"It's rare that we get to see magic wand-shaped remote controls, and rarer still for them to have integrated alarm clocks. The Bang & Olufsen BeoTime is just that sort of exotic specimen, and its $375 touch-sensitive aluminum body has now been tested for our amusement. Being able to turn on your other B&O products by simply grabbing the remote or setting an alarm for the desired time struck positive notes, and those bite-sized displays earned praise too. With automatic backlighting, built-in accelerometer, and full channel readouts, they ensured the minimum of strain for the user (which is probably still pretty high considering they're tiny!). There wasn't much to complain about, but at that price point you wouldn't expect it either. Full hands-on gallery can be found at the read link." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"Be still, our beating hearts! HTC has just pressed the "Go" button for European and Asian shipping of its latest object of desire, and it's served notice to American phone lovers that the HD2 is coming to them soon as well. Slated for a "major US carrier" some time "early 2010," it'll land squarely in the same time bracket as the XPERIA X10, which should lead to some really quite interesting decisions to be made, presumably by March 2010. The WinMo 6.5 device might be shipping now, but you'll have to wait at least until the 9th of November before you can spill your Euros for it, and we expect to see a flurry of pricing and contract information filling that short waiting time. Full PR after the break." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"It's a virtual war: VMWare Fusion 3 for Snow Kitty and Win7 popped out last week, and now here's Parallels 5. It's also fully 64-bit, with Windows apps that behave like native ones, including full multitouch gestures, and more zoomzoom. Like Fusion, Parallels supports OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9 Shader Model 3.0 for the full Aero 3D interface and 7x better graphics performance than before. It also has a migration tool to move a PC's info to your virtual machine. Overall performance-wise, it's three times faster than before, supports 8 virtual CPUs and automatically pauses the virtual machine whenever no Windows apps are running. The new Crystal mode promises to make "Windows completely disappear" so apps run feel completely native, with full support for multitouch trackpad gestures and the Apple Remote, with a persistent Windows apps folder in the Dock. Parallels 5 is out today for $80 for the full version or $50 for the upgrade, though we don't blame you if you can't tell it apart from Fusion 3, so we'll be checking them out head to head soon" - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"CNET have taken the 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Snow Leopard for a spin around a 2008 MacBook Pro, and produced a decent first peek at comparative performance. Of course, there are significant provisos to get through first -- it's only one machine, running on Apple's drivers, testing mostly Apple applications, and the two systems default to different versions of QuickTime -- but we can still glean some indication of where the two heavyweights are relative to one another. Snow Leopard appeared consistently quicker in time-based tests, with faster bootups, shutdowns and MP3 encoding, but Windows 7 showed its muscle in producing better frame rates in games and a significant advantage in Cinebench rendering. Battery life was found to be distinctly better under Snow Leopard, but we'd put that down to the underlying hardware being optimized for OS X. Hit the read link for the full testing procedures and more of those old school bar charts -- it should get you well prepped for the forthcoming flood of similar head-to-heads once WIndows 7 officially ships next week." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"Fujitsu has just announced two "stylish" P Series LifeBooks, and we have our hands on the PR drivel to prove it. This affable pair of machines come in "charming" colors that "endow both notebooks with a premium yet snazzy feel, for standing out effortlessly in a corporate jungle or a social playground setting." To be honest, we're more interested in things like the 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display, battery life (6.7 hours under normal use, 7.2 hours in power saving mode -- which can be selected by hitting the ECO button), multitouch, the DVD Sharing application for glomming onto optical drives over your LAN, and the fact that they're both a mere 3.5 pounds light and just over an inch thin. The Fujitsu P LifeBook P3110 features a Pentium SU4100 (1.30GHz / 800MHz / 2MB L2 Cache) and is available in Glossy Black, Glossy Silver, and Glossy Ruby Red. The Fujitsu P LifeBook P3010, however, sports an AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 (1.6GHz / 512KB / L2 cache) and is available in Glossy Black and Glossy... more... - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"Bad news, good news, and potentially great news time, folks. First with the bad: Sony Ericsson posted another loss for its fiscal third quarter, to the tune of 164 million euro (about $244 million US), blaming a large chunk of that on a drop in sales. Sales dropped year-over-year 40 percent to 1.6 billion euro, and unit shipments comparably down 45 percent. That's the bad, now what's good for SE is that its secured more financial backing to reshape its future into something more profitable. External financing totals a reported 455 million euro ($676 million US), 255 million of which is already in the company's position and 200 million as a two-year backup. SE also managed to beat analyst estimates, losing less than anticipated, and that's gotta induce some bittersweet smiles in the corporate boardrooms... oh, the potentially great news? Well, SEMC blog has boldly announced that the Android-imbued Rachael (a.k.a. XPERIA X3) is due out this November, same specs as we heard before and... more... - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"Hey there, happy Friday! We here at Engadget love giving things away, as you probably already know... and today we have something very special for our dear, beloved readers. Nyko's graciously provided us with 10 very special pink Kama wireless nunchuks for the Wii (which should go very nicely with those just-unveiled Wii Wands). These Kamas aren't available to purchase -- so if you win, you'll be one of a very select few to own them, which is always nice to hear, right? Read the full rules after the break, and get commenting to win! Good luck. Huge thanks to Nyko for providing the gear!" - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"Ah, Large Hadron Collider, our old frienemy, how close is thy doomsday clock now? Closer than it was last week, naturally, especially now that the temperature in each of its eight sectors has been dropped to 1.9 Kelvin, or -271 degrees Celsius / -456 Fahrenheit, depending on your equivalent measurement of choice. While pretty much lethal for humans, that's still twice as warm as the Boomerang Nebula some 5,000 light years away from our fair planet, making it a veritable vacation spot for those carnivorous inhabitants of the Centaurus constellation (not that they'd really want to make that big of a trek without some sort of pre-planned hotel accommodations, but we digress). The chill is all a part of the massive science experiment's ramp up to its second half of November relaunch -- assuming the personification of Higgs boson doesn't pop in via its proverbial TARDIS equivalent wearing a cape and carrying an anti-LHC particle gun, that is." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"Nikon's D3000 launched under the long, dark shadow of the D300S, but for entry-level DSLR buyers, it has certainly remained a viable option. For those who passed on the D5000 and tossed their six bills towards this, we're curious to see just how great / terrible it is at Nikon's bottom rung. Are you still enjoying your cam? Do you wish you would've selected a higher-end model? Is the kit lens worth a darn? Feel free to spill your rant in comments below, and make it good -- you never know when the D3000S or D4000 will hit the market." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"Remember the good old days with your virtual pets on your keyring? Well, how about an injection of life that actually roams around inside your phone? Some dude in China had this exact idea -- probably inspired by the waterproof LG GD900 Crystal in a fish tank -- and popped open the hollow keypad of his own Crystal, slapped in two unfortunate little neon tetras, squeezed in some water and snap! There's no mention on how long the poor things can survive in there for, but chances are PETA will be after your backside well before something goes wrong. We also went through the warranty paperwork, and honestly, we think this gentleman might be in a fishy area here. Video of the mod after the break, if you dare." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"The latest rumory bits on new iMacs supposedly coming soonish: Blu-ray's out (still), and they'll be using Intel's Core i7 Clarksfield chips (conveniently explained this morning), which would make them Apple's first quad-core consumer computer. Clarksfield's somewhat of a given, since iMacs use laptop guts. If we are going to see these new iMacs this year, they've gotta be announced in the next couple weeks to hit the holiday buying period. Smack in the middle of the Windows 7 launch would be mean (and effective)" - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"iPhone 3GSes now ship with a chained-down boot ROM, intended to thwart jailbreakers at a fundamental level. It's already been cracked. But for what it's worth (seriously, what?), it has made life outside the App Store a little less convenient. It turns out the new boot ROM doesn't totally prevent the 24kpwn exploit employed by the Dev Team hackers. [See update below] The result? You can still jailbreak your late-model 3GS, but the device needs to be tethered to your computer in order to boot up. It's a major annoyance, especially given how crash-happy 3.1 phones—especially jailbroken ones—can be, but not necessarily a dealbreaker. Anyhow, chances are it won't be this way for long—remember the iPod Touch 2G? It was jailbroken fairly quickly after launch, but it had a new, slightly more secure boot ROM, and there needed to be tethered in order to boot. A few weeks later, the hackers finished their thing, and there was moderate rejoicing. This chain of events, which is already under way... more... - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"The following is an unpaid, untrue advertisement for the Zero G spice rack, which, incidentally, is real $44 product at Yanko Design selling under a slightly different name. ZERO G!!!!!! SPICE RACK!!!!! YOU HAVEN'T TASTED SPICE UNTIL YOU'VE TASTED IT IN ZERO G!! ZERO G!!!!! THE CANISTERS STICK UPSIDE DOWN!!! ZERO G!!! THE TASTE IS OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!!! ZERO G!!!! COOL!!! ZERO G!!! "Hey mom, this saffron just turned me into an astronaut!" ZERO G!!! SPICE RACK!!! THE SPACE RACE JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT TASTIER." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"After the European release, we knew a higher capacity PS3 Slim was coming. Well, here it is. You'll be able to pick the slightly beefed-up console just in time for the holidays" - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"You don't need crazy parents to fly away in the atmosphere and spark a massive police search. In fact, there's a whole subculture of backyard blimp crazies. The big trick with these homemade blimps is using hot air (read:fire) for lift power, like a hot air balloon, instead of helium or hydrogen. Dan Nachbar's Skyacht is one of the more intensely engineered crafts, with steerable thrust and an intricate system of ribs that lets the engine sit in the tail itself. Brian Boland's Lips, on the other hand, has a simpler design, and fits in the back of a car. If I built a blimp, I would make it look like a shark, and I would sneak up on other people's blimps, so it would look like my blimp was about to eat theirs." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"A French press will make way tastier coffee than Nescafe's new single-serve Dolce Gusto, but even the most beautifully designed press won't look as good. I'll just try to imagine the coffee tastes pretty." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"The Zoom Q3 Handy Video Recorder sets itself apart from the cheap camcorder pack by capturing HD audio with two stereo condenser microphones. • Zoom's Q3 Handy Video Recorder, a pocket camcorder with an emphasis on high quality audio, is now shipping. Back in September, our own Dan Nosowitz reviewed the Q3 and found that the device's audio capabilities were indeed impressive, though he was disappointed by its paltry 640 x 480 resolution video. Still, if you're interested in an inexpensive camcorder that offers quality sound recording, this is one to check out. The Zoom Q3 Handy Video Recorder takes SDHC cards and runs on 2 AA batteries. It can be ordered for $249 on Amazon and elsewhere." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"What if Batman were a general for the Allies during World War II? What if Superman helped crush Nazi Germany? Or Spiderman battled alongside US soldiers in the streets of Berlin? Photographer and illustrator Agan Harahap wondered about the same:" We have featured Star Wars-World War II photography and classic art medleys before, but I like the superhero theme (I know, there's some Star Wars too, like Darth Vader with Joseph Stalin. How fitting). Still, I don't get what the hell Batman is doing with Fidel Castro. Unless he's about to break his neck. Then I will understand, and applaud. - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"A resident of Comal County, Texas named Jarrette Schule found a military issue missile launcher in his backyard. Figuring that the government would surely be looking for it, he made some calls. Amazingly enough, no one seemed to care. But Schule spent Tuesday afternoon calling the FBI, Homeland Security, the Sheriff's Department - every agency he could think of. He was stuck in a bureaucratic limbo. "Everyone was handing it off to everybody else," Schule said. He was surprised at the amount of work it took to get the military to pick up its lost missile launcher. Schule called the military police at Fort Sam. But their jurisdiction doesn't extend off the post. Schule's information was passed along to an Army criminal investigator, who visited Schule on Wednesday morning - about 19 hours after he started making phone calls. Markings identified the weapon as a guided missile launcher built in 1996. It still has the 13-digit military stock number that will be used to identify its... more... - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"A team of researchers experimented with fruit flies and found that by genetically engineering some flies, they were able to give those flies the "memory" of pain that they never actually experienced. It's kind of complicated and kind of creepy. Basically, and I use the word loosely, the researchers understand that fruit flies are able, to a degree, to avoid things that have caused them pain in the past (in this case, they were electrically shocked when flying into a specific area). But then the researchers genetically engineered some flies so that their dopamine-producing brain cells manufacture a laser-sensitive protein. When shone with a laser in a particular area, though the stimulation produced no pain, the flies avoided that area with almost the exact same frequency as they had when there was pain involved. Says one of the researchers: Miesenböck concludes that stimulating dopamine release in these 12 neurons has the same effect as applying electric shocks to flies. In other... more... - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"The Murakami chair's attached lamp is powered by kinetic energy produced from the chair's rocking back and forth—deliciously simple and elegant. Oh, and that lampshade? Not a lampshade. That's the actual OLED light source, shaped like a lampshade. The OLED lamp even senses when it's light or dark out, and if it's light, stores the energy produced by rocking in a battery pack until nightfall. The chair, designed by Rochus Jacob, rightfully shared first prize at the DesignBoom Green Life Competition, which you can read more about here." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"According to the manufacturers of the Digits Clock, kids don't need to learn how to tell time the old fashioned way. Instead, parents should spend over $100 on a board that requires kids to manually construct the time every minute." Do kids need to learn how to tell time on a digital clock? It's been a long time, but I figured if kids can count they pretty much have it down. - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet

"was sad that the Lego house was destroyed, but happy to know that its spirit lives in this Lego kitchen, a Scandinavian clusterfuck made with a Swedish IKEA kitchen island and more than 20,000 pieces of Danish Lego." - Vishal Jain from Bookmarklet