Gadget Blog Corrections Blog

Dyson CR01: Happy 2001

2006-09-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

Brian Lam at Gizmodo posts about a new development in washing machine technology:

Dyson, masters of the cyclonic vacuum cleaners are taking on the task of washing out your dirty laundry. The contrarotating, or rotating in an opposite manner, design uses two drums to get clothes cleaner, by "flexing" fabrics more.

Except the machine in question came out in early 2001 and in the time since it's not only been superseded by the CR02 but later both models have been withdrawn due to poor sales, and Dyson no longer makes washing machines.

SED: Burning televisions

2006-09-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

A cute slip up from Mark Wilson at Gizmodo:

It's built upon the foundations of phosphorus televisions, but Canon and Toshiba basically packed all that technology into each pixel of a flat-panel.

Sadly, phosphorus is an unstable substance that glows in air because it's on fire. Phosphors are unrelated chemicals named after it that are used in CRT TVs.

D-ILA1080MF1: Lots of wrongness

2006-09-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

Donald Melanson of Engadget takes a look at the Meridian Faroudja D-ILA1080MF1:

Our pals over at HD Beat continue to rock CEDIA, taking time to check out Meridian Faroudja's latest high-end projector offering -- the D-ILA1080PMF1 -- retailing for a hefty $20,995.. If you stare at that model name for a bit, you should realize that this one sports full 1080p with D-ILA technology backing it up.

Sadly there's not actually a "P" in the model number, but nice try. That's the first flag something wrong. We continue:

If there's one area where it comes up a bit short, however, it's inputs, with just RGB, s-video and DVI coming standard.

It's worse than that, it does 1080p DVI and that's it. But wait, there's an add-on video processor:

it adds multiple progressive analog video outputs/inputs including RGBHV, component, RGBS and RGsB

But those are all roughly the same thing - variants of analog component - so they're different formats, not different inputs. Lo and behold, the product brochure shows only one set of inputs, and in fact the processor is needed just to get the inputs that Engadget alleges are on the projector. As is common with Engadget, all of these errors are blindly copied from the source article. It's understandable HD Beat wouldn't have to time to check facts when they're blogging from the road (or at least pretending to be), but Engadget have all the time in the world and a complete set of easily-Googlable documents on Meridian's website, so apparently they just can't be bothered.

Hybrid "Formula One" car: Chinese Whispers

2006-08-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

So two Italian companies - who (as far as I can tell from their websites) have no involvement in Formula One - propose to... well, let's see what they actually say:

N.Technology S.p.a. and Tatuus s.r.l. have signed a deal for producing the new single-seater Formula car [...] fitted with an hybrid engine system. From the next 2007 season the Formula N.T07 cars will compete in a new international series within the European rounds of the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

Gizmag writes it up, without producing any obvious errors:

Now comes the breaking news from Italy that N.Technology S.p.a. and Tatuus s.r.l. have signed a deal to produce a new single-seater Formula car.

Now Jalopnik writes up Gizmag's post:

Motorsports Firms to Build Hybrid F1 Car

And we have our first mention of Formula One. Note they're only saying an F1-style car will be built, not that it will race in F1 anytime soon, and confirm this is what they mean later in the post:

Could a new "green" series be in the offing, or will Moseley get his F1 wish? Stay jacked into the eco-matrix for updates.

Finally, the idiots at Gizmodo get their hands on it. They miss the nuance in the Jalopnik article, don't bother checking the Gizmag article, certainly don't look up N Technology's website, and come up with this:

Hybrids Bound for Formula One

Which is completely not what anyone else has said so far. They go on:

Two big players who build such Formula One dream machines, N.Technology S.p.a. and Tatuus s.r.l

No they aren't. N mainly do Touring cars, Tatuus do Formula Renault. And again, no one else in the chain has said this. Gizmodo don't stop there - they try to draw a conclusion from the stuff they've just plain made up:

The fact that hybrid engine technology is even being considered by world-class Formula One designers serves as an ad hoc endorsement for the idea

So Gizmodo are incapable of reposting something from their own sister site without screwing up. Round of applause.

Sony Ericsson W700i: Who's awake?

2006-04-04T09:23:00.000-07:00

Engadget's Thomas Ricker spots something fishy about this new phone:

Hey, wait a second, other than being gold and shipping with a 256MB (not 512) MS Pro Duo card, there's nothing to distinguish this Walkman from the W800i released last year. Hell, it even sports the exact dimensions.

And I think he's right. Did Gizmodo spot this?

Sony Ericsson also announced a new member of its Walkman line, the W700 (pictured at right).

No then. They actually made another post about it a second time:

The titanium-colored phone maintains the simplistic styling of previous Walkman phones, but don’t mistake that for weakness. It has 256MB of storage onboard, with the capacity to add more via Memory Stick Duos.

No again. Also the 256MB isn't onboard, it's on a Memory Stick.

Leica C-Lux 1: Are you high?

2006-04-03T04:12:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to point this utterly bizarre post on Gizmodo:

This is the latest in Leica's digital cameras. It comes in an elegant black metal exterior and measures 2-inches by 4-inches. This is a 6-megapixel camera that also features an ultra-short shutter delay, precise auto-focus measurement and a slew of other options. The ease of use, size, quality and large 2.5-inch screen would make this camera excellent for any situation.

The first thing I thought was that they've gotten lazy and cut and pasted some text from the press release, but no, apparently Gizmodo employ someone who writes like a marketing droid.

It's also worth mentioning (which Gizmodo don't) that that camera is nothing but a rebadged Panasonic FX01, which Gizmodo covered in February.

Kodak Easyshare V610: Ball dropped

2006-04-03T03:57:00.000-07:00

Ryan Block contributes this weird little post to Engadget:

it's dubious this is anything more than a proof-of-concept for future, yet unearthed-in-the-FCC cameras, like the one in which the device appears to be implanted (that dual-lenser that sure as hell aint a V570, that much we can tell you).

Of course, if he'd spent a few moments flicking through the report (PDF) he linked to he would have discovered the test camera is the as-yet-unannounced V610 (see page 8). A Google search reveals rumblings about the V610, but as yet no photos (this other report, which is also on the page Ryan linked to, does contain photos).

See how a little research could have turned some pointless and apparently wrong conjecture into an exclusive first post on the new Kodak model? It seems I have the scoop instead.

(I should add that Gizmodo and Mobilewhack also dropped the ball on this one)

10 fuck up free days

2006-03-31T09:10:00.000-08:00

I'm meant to updating this blog again but the gadget blogs haven't made any mistakes worth writing about that I've spotted. It's so annoying. Anyway, well done gadget bloggers. Email me and I'll send you a sticker.

Sound from TI calculators

2006-03-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

Evan Blass of Engadget natters on for 145 words about playing music on a Texas Instruments graphing calculator, without mentioning exactly why the story is impressive. What he doesn't make clear is that TI calculators don't have any kind of sound capability, and the audio is being played by manipulating the serial link port.

Sony makes a radio that's just a radio

2006-03-17T12:30:00.000-08:00

Sony decided to bring out a fancy radio. Engadget's Marc Perton is pissed off because, erm, it's just a radio:

What can you say about a plain, rectangular, $150 table radio that gets FM and AM, has a mono speaker, LCD readout and line in jack? If you're Sony, you call it not just a radio, but "the radio," and claim that you've taken "the next step" in radio technology. Sorry, Sony, but the late Henry Kloss did that decades ago, and it looks like "the radio" is just following in his well-worn footsteps.

Sony's press release is a little thin on details, but it sounds about as fancy as a radio can get (although the mono speaker is a bit crap) and it looks nicely put together. Yes, the press release is a bit over the top, but it's a company press release for God sake.

(Note how he didn't complain about the iPod Hi-Fi, which costs twice as much, does even less (it isn't even a radio) and had much more hype)

MacBook Pro "fire"

2006-03-17T12:29:00.000-08:00

Gizmodo asks:

How safe is a connector that bursts into flames with no provocation?

Ars Technica says:

MagSafe power connector bursts into flames

Sadly, as far as I can tell from the Flickr post, the Wired article and the Dutch news post, there weren't any flames at all. It just sat there and quietly melted itself (I'd guess sparks from a lose connection).

The drama queens also found another way to hype the story. Apple politely asked the guy that posted the pictures to remove them. He was impressed with their customer service, so he did. How did Wired report it?

[Here are the pictures] that were removed from Flickr on Thursday at the request of Apple

Just about true, but note the use of the passive voice to imply black helicopters. Gizmodo on the other hand decided to just make shit up:

Adding insult to injury, soon thereafter Apple contacted Flickr and asked that the pictures be removed, and Flickr inexplicably complied with that “request.”

3LCD: Gizmodo sucked in

2005-12-20T18:53:00.000-08:00

Someone at Gizmodo is asleep at the wheel

Using a 3LCD projector, a new alternative to DLP, it has (shocker) three LCD panels and is also known as high-temperature polysilicon or HTPS.

Er, no. 3LCD is a branding exercise for the same old LCD technology that's been around since 1989. Here's the press release for the group if you don't believe me.

Slate talks processors

2005-12-20T17:57:00.000-08:00

While the gadget blogs may churn out errors one at a time, the general interest sites like to cram all of their errors into one article.

Intel can cram almost 1 billion transistors on a microchip that is less than 100 nanometers in size

The chip is 28 by 21 mm. Only off by a factor of 300,000 or so. Read the article for more floundering hilarity.

LG SD280: The gist

2005-12-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

Paul Miller at Engadget has gone all indecipherable on us:

The SD280 from LG might not be anything special [...] but has LG shaking in their boots.

What? To decode Miller's 200 word ramble, LG has released the first phone with a CDMA chip that wasn't made by Qualcomm, but to keep Qualcomm happy they've chosen not to advertise it. That's it.

The car that runs on water

2005-12-14T01:18:00.000-08:00

Paul Miller at Engadget writes about a fuel-cell driven model car, and gets a little confused:

Sure, it might not exactly hold your weight or speed you through a commute, but it is a zero emissions vehicle, and runs on the good old H2O, so it all kind of levels out, right?

Except it doesn't. It runs on hydrogen, which is produced from water by electrolysis. It runs on the two AA batteries that do the electrolysis. It is not extracting any energy from water.

Plextor PX-608U: Buffer underrun nostalgia

2005-12-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

Gizmodo likes it old school:

And if you get a writing failure because of a slow or stopped buffer (it's got 2MB), the drive will actually pause for you and start burning again as soon as the buffer is cleared.

This feature is standard in any CD or DVD recorder you're likely to be using today. Here's a five year old Roxio article on the topic. Also, check the source article. Gizmodo's writer has changed the perfectly accurate "if the data to the drive write buffer is slowed or stopped" to "a slow or stopped buffer", which is complete gibberish.

Blu-ray: Bitrates, filesize, whatever

2005-12-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

A gem from Gizmodo

[H.264] enables content to be encoded at much higher bitrates without huge increases in file size

Just remember, whoever wrote this makes a living as a tech writer. It's also worth looking at the overall argument:

Looks like Sony's been busted for using a really old codec for its next-gen Blu-ray format. For its first Blu-ray movies, Sony will encode with MPEG-2, which is the same codec used for today's old-fashioned DVDs

MPEG-2, the data format, is really old. But modern MPEG-2 codecs do most of the same things as H.264 codecs. H.264 just has a few clever ways of storing data, hence the smaller file sizes.

(Thanks to reader Tim for sending this in)

Philips Candeo

2005-12-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

Evan Blass at Engadget shows off his detective skills:

Anyway, we assume that these 40-square foot models are mostly meant for commercial use, and not for pushing incredibly downscaled 1080p through your home theater (even though they do contain digital inputs). Another clue about the target audience for these behemouths is the pricetag, which hovers around $100,000 no matter which pixel pitch you prefer.

Or, he could have saved himself the effort and clicked on his own link, which offers no clues whatsoever that the displays might be for some kind specialized business use.

He also fails to mention that there is a third 576 x 324 pixel model available; that the things are 2-3 times brighter than plasma and 5-8 times brighter than LCD; and thet they weigh a quarter of a ton.

XBox 360: Money blunder

2005-11-26T09:02:00.000-08:00

Someone at Gizmodo has never written up a console launch before:

Altogether, the parts cost [...] over $100 more than its retail price tag. [...] this maybe shows a grim chance of the unit ever going down in price.

Every recent console has been sold at a loss and has also eventually gone down in price. Here's a good article on the topic.

Samsung 250GB hard disk

2005-11-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

How do you mess up a link to a hard disk review? Gizmodo managed. First the title:

Samsung Dishes Up 250-GB Platters

Except the drive has 125GB platters, which even the writer acknowledges in their first sentence:

Eclipsing Seagate and Maxtor, Samsung has come out with the SpinPoint P120, a hard drive with two 125-gigabyte platters, combining for a total of 250 gigabytes of storage.

But Seagate has drives with both larger platters and double the total capacity, so how have they been eclipsed? I think they were confused by the opening sentence from the linked review:

Samsung's storage division was just the second manufacturer to venture significantly beyond the 100 GB/platter plateau set by rivals Seagate and Maxtor in 2004 [...]

Which is as poorly written as the average gadget blog post, seeing as the first manufacturer to go past Seagate and Maxtor was, apparently, Seagate. A plague on both your houses.

Kenwood MP3 players: Boring

2005-11-18T17:23:00.000-08:00

Thomas Ricker at Engadget whines:

[Kenwood announced new] flash players that don’t really offer anything innovative, unless integrated FM radio is your idea of innovative.

Kenwood's press release disagrees (quote is tidied up from Babelfish):

If this connected to certain stereo systems, play/pause, track skip, folder skip and so on are possible with remote control operation from the stereo's own controls. You can enjoy the sound at the volume of the stereo system. In addition, without using a personal computer, it is an easy operation to record audio to the MP3 player. Because the sound output is at the optimum level for the MP3 player, the highest quality sound recording is possible.

So the player integrates fairly seamlessly with Kenwood stereo systems. It may not be innovative exactly, but mentioning it would have made a boring blog post about an apparently boring player a hell of a lot more interesting.

LG-KP4700: Reading comprehension

2005-11-18T17:01:00.000-08:00

Mobile Korea wrote this:

Its memory chip can store a maximum of 48 songs (4 megabytes per song). The phone also supports an external memory (T-Flash).

Paul Miller at Engadget wrote it up as:

[...] search for songs on the 192MB Transflash memory

Engadget writers: Can't read, can do basic multiplication.

Compact Flash <=> MiniSD

2005-11-18T16:54:00.000-08:00

So, can someone at Gizmodo not tell the difference between a MiniSD card and a Compact Flash card, or what? (re: the "4GB version" link in their post)

4:3 TVs: Two thirds isn't enough

2005-11-15T07:38:00.000-08:00

Someone at Gizmodo seems to be living in a weird parallel universe:

Panasonic may have finally realized that although the whole 16 x 9 flat panel TV thing is great for some things, there needs to be some variation. Especially when it comes to smaller LCD TVs, [...]

A quick search of 14-18 inch flat-panel TVs on Dealtime reveals 175 of 253 models appear to be 4:3 already. The same search for Panasonic televisions only reveals that the vast majority of their TVs are also 4:3. I'm aware Dealtime isn't the greatest source of factual information, but still.

Apple laptop upgrading: Which is it?

2005-11-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

Gizmodo has a writeup about doing something to some kind of Apple laptop. But which model?

"Upgrading Your 12-inch Powerbook"?
"one valiant reader took the plunge and cracked the hermetically-sealed titanium beast"?
"A step-by-step to turn your iBook12” into [...]"

The 12-inch PowerBook is made of aluminum, so that second one is an error within an error, which is kind of impressive.

Sony CompactVault: or "Anti-Sony Rant #9"

2005-10-31T20:20:00.000-08:00

Gizmodo decided it's time for this week's have a go at Sony:

Sony’s New Proprietary Memory Scheme - Compact Vault: [...] The Compact Vault is a variant of CompactFlash Type II, so in a way they are simply upgrading, but there is probably no chance in hell that it will be compatible with older CompactFlash devices.

Let's have a look at the Sony press release:

The new COMPACTVAULT media is compatible with all products with a CF Type II slot

High-end Sony cameras have had Compact Flash slots for Microdrives for years, so there's nothing surprising about this news let alone, as Gizmodo calls it, "the sixth Sony Memory Stick version released." Moving towards a standard format is something Gizmodo should be applauding, right?

Power Mac G5 "Quad"

2005-10-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

Ryan Block at Engadget asks "Just how well does the Power Mac G5 Quad perform?" and links to a Macworld review to answer it. The fourth paragraph of that review?

Our tests didn’t include the Power Mac G5 Quad [...]

Oops.

Update: The post has been deleted

IR deodorizing phone: Copy and paste is too hard

2005-10-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

So Phoneyworld were writing about a dubious new phone that's meant to use "Far infrared" to kill bacteria. What is that?

Far infrared rays, a part of natural sunlight having the longest wavelength, [...]

So apparently, far infrared is the longest wavelength component of sunlight. Here's what Gizmodo told their readers:

As opposed to regular infrared, far infrared rays are part sunlight and are believed to have the longest known wavelength.

That's "Taking a simple statement and putting it in your own words" that they've messed up. Well done Gizmodo, a new low.

Nokia Bluetooth Pen

2005-10-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

So, about two and a half years ago, Nokia brought out the SU-1B Digital Pen. Gizmodo wrote about it yesterday:

If you’re a note freak like me, you’ll thoroughly appreciate Nokia’s Bluetooth pen, which gives you the freedom to write on any cellphone screen by making it a touchpad. Brilliant, though pretty elementary if you think about it, this pen lets you jot down small notes—like phone numbers, addresses or appointments—instead of dealing with the whole SMS thing. And you can write just like a normal pen and paper, though you’ll then be able to transmit the data to any other compatible device.

I'm really struggling to figure out what the writer thought the pen does. The writer implies to readers - sorry, explicitly says - that it lets you "write on any cellphone screen", which it doesn't. You have to write on paper first and it records your penstrokes. After that wrong turn, the rest of the post makes no sense.

Readers are also challenged to a parlor game of figuring out what the writer thinks a "touchpad" is. The linked review uses it as a synonym for "touchscreen", but since the title of the Gizmodo article is "Make Any Cellphone Into a Touchpad", that's not it. Any thoughts?

Deleted Posts Watch: PalmOS is dead, no it isn't

2005-10-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

An interesting one on Engadget today (no links, obviously). Ryan Block announced the death of the PalmOS:

We have it that Access officially declared what industry experts expected and Palm fanboys feared, [...] that a “logical end-of-life is expected for the Palm operating system.” [...] Basically, if there was ever any hope for PalmOS to survive this buyout, it’s now definitely thoroughly dashed.

A while later:

Update: [...] Brighthand’s Ed Hardy has spoken to insiders at PalmSource who claim that while the next-gen PalmOS will be Linux-based, it will still run older apps and maintain the tradtional Palm look and feel [...]

They've since withdrawn the whole article, which I guess is fair enough. But if ever there was an advert never to trust what you read on the gadget blogs (including this one), or the internet in general, this is it.

#1 Phone concept: Wireless methanol

2005-10-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

Marc Perton of Engadget describes a new phone concept as both "fuel-cell powered" and "induction-charged". Very nice, except fuel cells are recharged by topping up the methanol supply, and not with electricity. It seems this error was carried over from the original page, but writing on autopilot is as bad as making errors yourself.

Update: Fuck, Peter "You'd think he'd have better things to worry about" Rojas points out in the comments the existence of hydrogen fuel cells that regenerate fuel using hydrolysis, which obviously the author was thinking of and wasn't just throwing buzzwords around. Never mind.

Sony NW-A1200 music player

2005-10-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

Today you might have read this on Gizmodo:

Check out the Sony A series, limited edition NW-A1000. A 6GB player in jet black, it’s small, smooth and retro looking [...]

Except the 6GB NW-A1000 isn't limited edition and isn't new. The 8GB NW-A1200 is. The writer was confused when confronted with this sentence in the source article:

The A series is the most anticipated line of MP3 players from Sony. Sony has launched a limited edition of the NW-A1000 6 GB MP3 player the A1200/B which comes in Jet black color with a 8 GB Hard drive.

Shockingly and mindbogglingly, the Gizmodo post even includes a link to that story, and the link is labeled "Sony A series NW-A1200/B with 8 GB storage". And yet that's not what they wrote about.

Sony XL1 Media Center PC + 200 Disc DVD Changer

2005-10-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

This isn't so much a correction as a wake up call. One of the most annoying things about the gadget blogs is when they take a really interesting product and make it seem as boring as they possibly can. This week, the Sony Vaio XL1 Media Center PC. It comes with a frigging integrated[-ish] 200 disc CD/DVD changer, which can even record DVDs. What did Gizmodo do? They moaned about the specs of the PC, then mentioned the DVD changer as a footnote:

This machine does include a nifty keyboard/touchpad combo, has an integrated DVD changer and doesn’t look very PC-esque.

Just for comparison, last week Evan Blass at Engadget was very impressed with a similar product from Niveus that doesn't include a PC and (as far as I can tell) doesn't record discs:

[...] and although price has yet to be announced, we are speculating that it will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of a million billion dollars.

So Sony took that million billion dollar product, added recording capability, and bundled it with a PC. Paul Miller at Engadget still isn't happy:

[...] Sony’ll take a hefty sum of money off your hands while they’re at it — $2300 will net you the set.

Belkin TuneFM

2005-10-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo says:

Since the new iPod yet again does not come with a built-in FM tuner, users will have to buy an accessory to listen to their FM stations. Belkin updates their FM tuner attachment with the "TuneFM".

That's FM Transmitter

Tascam HD-P2 audio recorder

2005-10-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

If you read this on Gizmodo:

Tascam’s upcoming HD-P2 records up to a whopping “high-definition” 192 kHz / 24-bit Broadcast WAVE and connects to your computer via FireWire

You'd probably be wondering if Broadcast WAVE is some kind of encoding that makes audio more whopping. It's not, it's an EBU standardized version of Microsoft's WAV format. It's not a codec that would effect sound quality. I'm not sure whether the Gizmodo writers know this and it's just a poorly constructed sentence, but either way it's sad we have to put up with this shit.

Motorola 3G RAZR

2005-10-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

It has quite a different look than the normal V3 RAZR’s and it features dual color displays, Bluetooth, MicroSD support, an audio player, dual cameras (??) and is sporting a new Linux/Java operating system.

If you read this entry over at Gizmodo, you're probably wondering what's so shocking ("??") about a phone having dual cameras. Well nothing, it's a 3G flip-phone, and almost all of them do. Gizmodo has even been writing about them for well over two years.

Apple Remote is not Bluetooth

2005-10-13T06:40:00.000-07:00

The Apple Store says:

Compatible with Apple products introduced in 2005 or later that have a built-in Infrared (IR) receiver.

Also, I keep seeing blog and forum postings about how the new 4:3 320x240 Academy Ratio screen on the new iPod is also "widescreen". Please stop it.

Apple Remote confusion

2005-10-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, Peter Rojas of Engadget wrote:

Yeah, not as big as a new video iPod, but Stevie did announce the new Bluetooth-enabled Apple Remote, as well as Front Row, a new Mac user interface for navigating your media collection (music, photos, videos, and DVDs) from a distance (like from yr couch).

The entry now reads:

Yeah, not as big as a new video iPod, but Stevie did announce the new Apple Remote, as well as Front Row, a new Mac user interface for navigating your media collection (music, photos, videos, and DVDs) from a distance (like from yer couch, you lazy bastard).

Where did the "Bluetooth-enabled" go? Answer: All over the blogosphere. While it's good of Engadget to correct articles once in a while, they need to be a bit more upfront about doing it.

(NB I have no information about whether or not the remote does support Bluetooth or not, but common sense and the laws of cost-reduction point to "no")

Samsung CFL-LCD technology

2005-10-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

Marc Perton of Engadget discusses Samsung's new LCD technology. He begins his explanation of how it works thusly:

Samsung’s 32-inch CFL-LCD works, according to the company, by using sequential processing, [...]

OK, so he hasn't really told us anything yet, and "sequential processing" on its own doesn't really mean anything. Let's see how he continues:

Samsung’s 32-inch CFL-LCD works, according to the company, by using sequential processing, and runs on just 82 watts, a 40% power reduction over traditional LCDs.

There appears to be a bit missing.

Video iPod confusion

2005-10-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

I'll leave as an exercise for the reader to figure out what's going on at Gizmodo:

Let's look at the specs:
The new iPod is has 4x3 screen, 320x240 pixels and 260,000 colors and does realtime decoding of MPEG4 and H.264 at 30fps. It has video out.
VGA is 480x720, but this is widescreen, which makes it better for video.

Humax LGB-40TPVR: By rote

2005-10-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Evan Blass of Engadget writes:

Humax Digital recently revealed a 40-inch HD plasma LCD TV with both a built-in DVR and dual digital Freeview tuners for watching those free UK terrestrial broadcasts. The LGB-40TPVR is one of the larger models we’ve seen to include a hard drive, although its 40GB capacity isn’t the best to store large volumes of HD content.

As luck would have it, there are no plans whatsoever to broadcast Freeview in HD any time soon. While it can display HD content coming in through DVI, it seems highly unlikely it can record it.

(Also, take a moment to point and laugh at "Plasma LCD")

GSM 450: Stating the obvious, wrongly

2005-10-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

Ryan Block of Engadget writes:

As if what we really needed to add to our quad-band dual-mode 3G DMB phone’s repertoire was support for yet another swath of spectrum, but it looks like we might have to get it anyway—at least if we’re interested in taking a trip to developing nations in the near future. Less because things are gettin’ crowded up in the 800 / 900 / 1900 / 1900 / 2100MHz zones than because the lower on the spectrum you get the more powerful you can make your signal with less worry of noise and interference.

Ick. The last part appears completely made up because it's not mentioned in the linked article. The 450MHz band provides better coverage because lower frequency signals are attenuated less by the Earth's atmosphere, and therefore you get longer range from the same transmitter power. That might be what Block was trying to say, but it looks to me like a misguided attempt to add some "tech" detail to an admittedly spartan story.

Talk of the Town

2005-10-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo has been looking at their referrals log:

An anonymous grumpster has created the Gadget Blog Corrections Blog, which is a blog about gadget blogs who blog poorly. [...] Anyway, for the story behind the story, kind of like VH1’s Pop-Up Video without that little popping thing, we suggest you visit our unpaid ombudsman.

Which makes them a ropey and slightly embarrassing David Bowie video. Sadly this seems to have put them on their best behavior. All I've noticed today is that Gizmodo has jumped firmly on the Web 2.0 bandwagon by labeling their category pop up "select tag". How very folksonomic.

BTW, Mr. GadgetCorrections-man, email us for a comments invite.

Shan't.

Cell Broadcast

2005-10-08T04:55:00.000-07:00

Thomas Ricker of Engadget writes:

The technology called “cell broadcast” is currently being tested in Zoetermeer and allows authorities to send an SMS to all phones in a specific zone without the need to know each individual phone number. Hey wait, isn’t this the exact scenario that’s supposed to bring cellular networks to their knees!?

Where to start? Firstly, Cell Broadcast is a standard feature of SMS, not a new technology "being tested". You'll find options for it in the messaging menu of any GSM phone. Secondly, being impressed that you can "geo-target" phones by virtue of them being in range of a particular antenna is kind of lame. And thirdly, Ricker seems unfamiliar with the concept, and indeed the dictionary definition, of "broadcasting". As you might expect, Cell Broadcast sends messages to all phones at once (using the GSM control channel), rather than having to send them separately as Ricker imagines.

FlashPoint ShareDrive: Remember?

2005-10-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo proclaims Brainy USB Could Be Laptop Killer. What's their scoop?

Looks like Xmultiple has come up with a new technology called FlashPoint, which lets you transfer files between all kinds of flash drives (or any other USB memory peripheral) without a laptop or any USB bridge.

That sounds familiar. Where've I heard it before? Ah yes, Gizmodo in June:

Clever, clever, FlashPoint. These ShareDrives are standard USB keys with a bit of Share-on-the-Go technology which allows you to swap data sans PC.

And Gizmodo Last October:

The FlashPoint USB flash drive has such a simple trick it's surprising nobody else has gotten to it first. In addition to being a Mass Storage Device, it also has a female USB port on its backside that accepts other flash drives.

Also notice how completely utilitarian last year's post was, and how hyped they are this year, over the exact same idea.

Via announces the VoomPC; Via announces the VoomPC

2005-10-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo, October 3rd:

Minimalist PC: For a true bare bones computer system, check out the VoomPC, by VIA and Min-box.

Gizmodo, October 4th:

Via Voom Car PC: Via is working with a retailer to develop a—GASP— affordable car PC. The Voom PC uses a mini-ITX motherboard and is powered by Linux.

I figure the second post will be sheepishly deleted in about an hour.

Median M-Cody MX-300: Utter nonsense

2005-10-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

Donald Melanson of Engadget writes:

What we didn’t know then is that it has [...] a 500mA external speaker

I love it when gadget writers post utter nonsense copied from the source article:

MEDIAN has announced that it plans to release its new MP3P ‘mx-300’ with sliding USB connector and 500mA external speaker built inside

Couldn't he have just said "it has a built-in speaker"?

Olympus SP-700: Random nonsense

2005-10-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

Thomas Ricker of Engadget opines:

Not to be outdone by the Sony’s DSC-N1, Olympus announces their 6 megapixel SP-700 which also features a massive 3-inch LCD screen. However, unlike the 8 megapixel N1, the SP-700’s LCD is not touch sensitive

So not to be outdone by Sony's 8-megapixel camera with a touchscreen, Olympus release a 6-megapixel with no touchscreen. What?

but hey, who wants to grub about on the display (and consume battery power) if the camera’s got a decent set of controls anyway?

I presume the "consume battery power" jibe is a reference to the first comment on the DSC-N1 thread:

You can use real buttons while the LCD is switched off, but the touch screen buttons will only be any use when the LCD is on, and the LCD is the biggest battery eater on the camera

Erm, neither camera has an optical viewfinder. They're basically unusable without the LCD screen on anyway. Unless he's referring to the negligible power consumption of the touchscreen component, Ricker is pretty much making shit up.

Lightspace Depthcube

2005-10-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

Marc Perton of Engadget writes pretends to be smart:

We think the folks at LightSpace Technologies may be indulging in a little bit of hyperbole when they call the DepthCube the “world’s first solid-state volumetric 3D display.” After all, the display [...] sounds a bit like the prototype 3D display developed by DeepLight.

You'd think wrong, because the LightSpace screen is solid-state and the DeepLight isn't (it uses an array of LCDs while the DeepLight uses a moving screen).

Creative speakers

2005-10-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

Evan Blass of Engadget wheels out the righteous anger:

Here’s a good way to alienate your established user base: release a highly-touted new product that is incompatible with previously-released peripherals made by your very own company.

We'll ignore that every company on Earth does this routinely without that happening, and focus on the problem. Certain Creative speaker systems don't work properly with their new X-Fi soundcards. Engadget's explanation:

Apparently the problem lies in the DIN interface used in the new cards, which won’t play nice with the older speakers.

You'll notice how Blass has conferred his ignorance of what a "DIN interface" is onto the reader by writing as if he knows what it is. This will be confirmed by a little research, where you'll discover that the problem isn't with the DIN interface on the cards but the fact that they don't have one. Or rather, that the digital output on them can't be connected to the "Digital DIN" input on the speaker system. Older cards had a specific output for this signal ("6-channel SPDIF Output to Creative digital speakers"). Unfortunately, the "Digital DIN" port is the only way to get 5.1 audio into the speakers besides encoded Dolby Digital, since (slightly bizarrely) they only have analog inputs for front and rear speakers, and not center or subwoofer.

So the problem is with that the speakers are mostly dependent on a feature of the soundcards, and Creative's new cards don't have it, and nothing like Engadget's explanation.

Creative PC-CAM 950

2005-10-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a weird Engadget posting from Marc Perton:

Creative’s PC-CAM 950 Slim may borrow its looks from sleek digicams like Casio’s Exilim series, but looks can be deceptive. This is a webcam first and foremost, with a digital zoom, fixed lens and a single ISO setting.

And an SD card slot, 2.0" color LCD, and 5.0 megapixel sensor? They have a point about the fixed-focus lens making it a flawed digital camera, but why would anyone spend $100 to use it as a webcam:

Of course, as a webcam, the rest of its specs aren’t bad; It's got a maximum still resolution of 5 megapixels [...], 640x480 resolution at 15 fps, and a price of about $100. Just don’t try using it as a real digicam.

Pretty much any webcam can do 640×480 at 15 fps, and most cost a fraction of $100, so neither of those go in the positives column. The only one that does is the 5 megapixel resolution, though not if you're using it as a webcam, but (gasp) if you're using it as a digicam.

Sony DSC-N1: Missing the point

2005-10-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Sony rolled out a new camera with 26MB of internal memory to use as a 500-image photo album. It also uses the memory to store pictures you take, though really they want you to buy a Memory Stick for that. Quite tricky to explain. Here's how Barb Dybwad of Engadget got on:

Its unspecified amount of internal memory can store “up to 500” images, with a Memory Stick slot for external storage.

Did Gizmodo do any better?

The camera includes as Carl Zeiss 3X Optical/6X Digital zoom, 26 MB2 internal memory and Lithium Ion rechargeable battery. You can also store up to 500 images using the DSC-N1’s album function.

Almost there, but not quite. Also note the "MB2" typo/invented technology is a braindead copy of the typo in the source article, while the "as" error is entirely of their own creation.

Network over power cables

2005-09-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo commits a regular sin of the gadget blog, copying a mistake from a source article:

Matsushita's tech lets them deliver broadband information at up to 170 mbps—which is even faster than Ethernet

Matsushita's system is unique in that it delivers fast-speed broadband information at up to 170 megabits per second, which is faster than Ethernet

Except for 1000 megabit Ethernet, of course, though it's not really in common use. Either the Gizmodo writer realized that but didn't want to be pedantic, or they just copied the claim verbatim with no real care. Also:

all you'll have to do is attach a special device with an embedded chip

Normal people call that an "adapter".

Nokia 770

2005-09-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo writes:

I saw the Nokia 770 [...] and was told the 770 would be released by Q3 this year. Bud [sic] sadly, it looks like Q4 is the new release date [...]

Which is a very obtuse way of saying "It's September 30th and they haven't released it yet".

Garmin M3

2005-09-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo has a strange rant:

... but does anyone really want to pay $450 for a product like this without a VGA screen or WiFi? I think not. Garmin, time to get your head in the game and [...] give us what we want

Note the use of the term "we", as if every market segment cares about the same arbitrary features the writer claims to.

Sony Memory Stick Micro M2

2005-09-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo says:

Smaller is better? Hell no, the original MemoryStick was a fine size and the Duo was even a decent physical size, but this is just asking to be easily broken, stolen, lost, misplaced and/or ingested. Please try again.

Then why the fuck are you writing about gadgets? Elswehere, Engadget doesn't go too far down that road, opting for a factual error instead:

...measuring 15 x 12.5 x 1.2 mm (about 1/4 the size of the Memory Stick Duo), designed to compete with miniSD cards...

Those dimensions make it about the same size as MicroSD (15 x 11 x 1 mm), not MiniSD (21.5 x 20 x 1.4 mm). Sony already has the Memory Stick Duo (31 x 20 x 1.6 mm) to compete with the latter.

Apple could create a smartphone, if it wanted

2005-09-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

Check out this CNET headline: Motorola CEO: Apple 'to build a smart phone'. Note the weasel quotes. The article isn't headlined "Motorola CEO: Apple to build a smart phone", because they know that's not what he meant, but they wrote the article anyway. The money quote is:

And we know that they are going to build a smart phone--it's only a matter of time

Thomas Ricker of Engadget uses a different tactic to report this non-story, Did Zander just confirm the Apple iPhone?. When a writer resorts to that kind of headline, you know the answer is "No". He pushes his luck even further with the smoothly meaningless:

Now sound-bite Ed appears to confirm the much speculated Apple iPhone

Appears to, but doesn't.

Samsung YM-PDI

2005-09-30T06:01:00.000-07:00

Paul Miller of Engadget writes:

...but the obvious spec here is Digital Media Broadcasting (DMB) reception, giving you DVDish quality satellite TV wherever you might happen to be...

Sadly, the linked Samsung press release disagrees:

Terrestrial DMB receiver

Access RSS on a phone (!!)

2005-09-30T05:33:00.000-07:00

Too much time on the cutting edge can make you uncritical of the outlandish claims of gadget manufacturers, but not at Gizmodo. They were right to be astonished at the surely-vaporware features of a new phone:

... but I’ll admit I was very intrigued by the UI’s built-in ability to blog and check your RSS feeds on-the-fly (!!).

The internet? On a phone?

The ROKR uses Symbian?

2005-09-30T04:23:00.000-07:00

In an otherwise sound Register article on iPod/phone convergence, Charles Arthur almost reaches the end without embarrassing himself. And then:

Having ported iTunes to the Symbian mobile OS (which Motorola uses in the ROKR/EI [sic]), Apple is appears to moving quickly [sic]; there are already credible rumours of a Windows Mobile version of iTunes.

Let's ignore The Resigret's punk rock years-long lack of a sub-editor, and look at the facts used to support the article's weird conclusion.

The ROKR uses Symbian. No it doesn't. It and every similar Motorola handset is missing from this otherwise exhaustive list of Symbian handsets. There are no mentions of Symbian in the ROKR's developer documentation.
There are credible rumors of iTunes for Windows Mobile. No there aren't. There's this account and screenshot. Look how ~~Photoshop~~Apple has constructed the interface by cutting up and rearranging pixel-for-pixel sections of the full size interface. Gasp at the pointless mangle of random menu options in the final screenshot. Very credible.

And then the conclusion:

And let's not forget that iTunes, and the iPod, only really took off once it was made available for Windows. An iTunes client that ran on a billion phones... now that's something to get Steve Jobs excited

Except, Windows Mobile, Symbian, PalmOS and Linux smartphone sales combined amounted to 8.3 million shipments in Q1 2005. The only platform close to a billion is J2ME with 708 million handsets in circulation, which coincidentally iTunes for ROKR may (or may not) be written in already. Why didn't Arthur mention J2ME? Because he is a douchebag.

Jetpacks headed to London

2005-09-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo writes:

Driverless Buses Headed to London, May Miss It

The linked article, however, says:

The team behind PPT plans to produce two prototype vehicles by 2007

So not headed any time soon.

Pace PVR2GO

2005-09-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Gizmodo writes:

Pace is bringing out the PVR2GO in the UK next year, a weird, square personal video player that seems to only let you record PayTV from cable or satellite and play it back on the run. With a 40GB hard drive and a widescreen five-inch display, it looks pretty silly to us on this side of the pond, but we also don’t have Page 3 Girls, so really, what do we know.

That's a good hundred words without really saying what the product does. Let's find out. A quick Google of the product name gets you this white paper, which says:

PVR2GO connects to an existing payTV PVR via USB2.0. Transfer speeds are in excess of 250Mbps so that an average feature film can be transferred in less than three minutes.

So it's actually just a thingy you plug into your PVR box to take recordings with you.