Author: Brian Barrett

Much like your video game driving skills are a real-life liability, here’s how your ceaseless quest for Call of Duty-like achievements might go over in an actual war. Spoiler: poorly! Unless, of course, you nail The Trifecta. More »

The next release of WiMax is coming, and some industry heavy hitters have lined up to support the backwards-compatible 802.16m standard. The group, calling themselves the WiMAX 2 Collaboration Initiative (WCI), is pushing interoperability in the new protocol, basically hoping to scoot things along a little faster to aid in the 4G arms race against LTE. Noticeably absent from the group? Current WiMax superstars Sprint and Clearwire, who made it clear at this year’s CTIA that they’ll happily jump ship to LTE if and when it’s necessary. More »

This awkward-looking contraption can read your mind—sort of. It’s an encephalometer from Hitatchi, and it measures the change in blood flow across your brain. You know what that makes it good for? Neuromarketing, apparently! And an old joke. More »

Apple’s been eying mobile advertising ever since as early as January. Today, as part of their iPhone OS 4.0 announcement, comes iAd: Apple’s plans for in-app ads that are about to get a lot more interactive—possibly even fun. More »

Mitsubishi announced three new lines of (relatively) affordable 3D Home Cinema TVs today, but the one that sticks out? An 82-inch DLP that puts jumbo-sized 3D in your home for under $4,000. More »

We love Pixar around here. Who doesn’t? Which is why this Pixar Studio Stories series is such a delight: animated, behind the scenes goodies from the company’s illustrious history—including when they nearly lost most of Toy Story 2. More »

Everyone’s favorite clacking desktop amusement has been weaponized. Well, almost: researchers at Cal Tech have used Newton’s Cradle as a jumping off point for an acoustic weapon capable of ripping through a submarine with its sonic bullets. More »

A nice digital camera‘s an expensive investment, which is why it’s so frustrating that the lens and LCD screen are often left so exposed. This concept—that flips a camera lid 360 degrees—would protect my soul-stealer but nice. More »

Wondering why we hadn’t heard from NASA’s Mars Phoenix lander in a while? Ever since the harsh Martian winter of 2008 set in, the poor guy’s been in deep freeze. This week, he’s got one last chance to make contact. More »

Looks like Flash 10.1 is emerging from the beta depths and almost ready for prime time. This is particularly good news for you owners of netbooks with Broadcom Crystal HD accelerators, since now you’ll be able to watch HD Flash video. The hardware video acceleration applies to Windows XP, Vista, and 7, though Mac and Linux owners are just gonna have to be patient. You can read more in the release notes here (PDF), or go get your download here. [Liliputing] More »

Sorry, did I say bigger? I meant biggest. The town of Presidio, Texas has built the biggest NaS battery in the US, capable of storing up to four megawatts of power for up to eight hours. They even nicknamed it. More »

Well, what to make of this? A man walks into an Apple Store in Santa Monica, asks for a 2.66GHz MacBook Pro, and suddenly security gets thrown into high alert. Beware the “forerunner,” my friends. More »

The promising-but-pricey Plastic Logic Que was enticing when first announced, but extensive delays have made it less appealing. Still, major Plastic Logic investor Herrman Hauser selflessly thinks now would be the perfect time for someone to buy up the company. More »

Every time I get sad I don’t have a hoverboard, I remind myself that Back to the Future II takes place in 2015. There’s still time! And as these exquisite original concept drawings show, there’s so much more to crave. More »

This leaked HP internal memo at Engadget shows the HP Slate‘s got a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor and five-plus hours of battery life. That’s in-line with what we’d heard already, but the memo’s also a great tale-of-the-tape iPad comparison. More »