Some Holiday Inn locations will soon begin using the OpenWays door system. This means that guests will be offered the option of having a unique melody sent to their smartphones and playing that to open doors instead of swiping keycards. More »
Hotel – Travel and Tourism – United States – Lodging – Hotels and Motels
A company called Whisper Systems has made two Android apps to aid the paranoid: RedPhone and TextSecure. The apps allow you to encrypt calls and text messages, respectively, and are available through a public beta right now. [WhisperSys] More »
Android – Handhelds – Nexus One – Multi-touch – Portable Document Format
The IcePics iPhone app automatically sends photos and current coordinates to preselected individuals. This is supposed to keep you safe and alert friends if someone creepy approaches you in a dark alley, but there’s a more amusing use: Party photography. More »
iPhone – Handhelds – Smartphones – Wallpapers and Themes – iPhone App
As if there isn’t enough social networking spam already, the True Blood Season 2 Blu-Ray discs come with a feature that allows people to automatically share their vampire obsession on Twitter and Facebook—complete with “transformed” photos. More »
True Blood – Arts – Twitter – Vampire – Online Communities
Uh oh. Apparently the Justice Department is taking a closer look at Apple’s digital music tactics and practices. It’s just an inquiry at this point, but there’s talk that Apple’s been abusing its “dominant market position” and playing the bully. More »
Apple – Justice Department – United States – IPhone – IPad
Earlier we discovered that J. Allard, the Father of the Xbox, is leaving Microsoft. This was the goodbye email he sent to his team: More »
Microsoft – J Allard – Xbox – Monopolies and Oligopolies – Economic
Rough sketches like this are one of the first steps in creating animated movies like Pixar’s Toy Story 3. Wired took a look at how 49,516 such rough, vague sketches were used to create detailed scenes like this: More »
Toy Story 3 – Animation – Movies – Arts – Toy Story Series
Several industrial art groups are collaborating on a project called Syzygryd. It’s basically a 2.5 ton musical instrument with a 20-foot fire tornado in the center. Crazy? Yes. But they’ve got a plan and most of the funds already. More »
Tornado – Earth Sciences – Atmospheric Sciences – Meteorology – Weather Phenomena
Last week, the Google logo was turned into a game of Pac-Man and we all took breaks to play. In theory, we wasted a combined 4,819,352 hours and many, many dollars. Here’s the math. More »
Google – Searching – Search Engines – Companies – Tools
Looks like the 16GB iPhone 3GS is headed to the discount bin at Walmart. The retailer will be offering the device for $97—assuming you sign a 2-year service agreement—starting May 25. More »
IPhone – Smartphone – Handhelds – Apple – Walmart
The newest addition to the Android Marketplace is a free Adobe Reader app. It looks good, but keep in mind that it requires Android 2.1 or above and is currently only supported on some Android devices: More »
It’s Friday night and that means it’s party time in #whitenoise! More »
Parties – Politics – United States – Northern Ireland – Government
I can’t resist whispered sonnets or hastily scribbled limericks, but how many guys actually memorize poems nowadays? At least there are apps like this one to help them fake the knowledge and romance with a quick flick of the wrist. More »
iPhone – Handhelds – Smartphones – Limerick – Recreation
While we’ve all noticed the great deal of international media attention regarding the Foxconn suicides, the local press offers a response all their own in this Chinese cartoonist’s take on the tragedies. More »
Holding up an iPad while snuggling in bed can become tiring pretty quickly, but there’s a simple solution: Get a cheap TV mount, an iPad case, some epoxy glue, and make your own swivel mount. It’ll even look surprisingly good. More »
Home & Garden – Business – Recreation and Sports – Television – Flat panel display
LOST may be full of insanely twisted plots, crazy tech, and supernatural mystery, but an exhibition of some props from the show appears to be full of simple, low-tech goodies—the important bits. More »
Games – Business – Tools and Equipment – Image Cache – Art
This video clip shows us what was going on about a day after a devastating explosion led to the Gulf oil leak. It’s absolutely terrifying. More »
Oil spill – Environment – Energy – Petroleum in the Environment – BP
![Click here to read Valve Parodies Apple's "1984" Commercial](http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/05/160x120_uoiy7i0f78y.jpg "Click here to read Valve Parodies Apple's "1984" Commercial")