Hawt Gadgets

Filed under: Laptops

It's pretty far behind the likes of Dell and HP in getting to the bottom of the whole defective NVIDIA GPU situation, but Apple has now finally come out and confirmed that some of its MacBook Pros are indeed affected by the problem. According to a just posted Apple support document, the specific models affected were all made between May 2007 and September 2008, and include all 15- and 17-inch models equipped with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processors. As with other laptops, the problem shows itself in the form of distorted or scrambled video, or a complete absence of video on the screen or external display. If your MacBook Pro falls into that lot, and the problem occurs within two years of your original purchase date, Apple says it'll repair it free of charge, even if it's out of warranty. It's also issuing refunds to folks that have already paid to get their MacBook Pro repaired. Hit up the link below for the complete details.

[Via AppleInsider]

Filed under: Transportation

It's been a rough week. We've seen so many stock market trend graphs looking like cross-sections of the Grand Canyon, so many sad traders. Doomsday proclamations a-plenty. So a hard week calls for an escape for hard rest, and thankfully, the App Store this week is eager to provide the visual and audio accompaniments for your weekend sensory/media deprivation.

newVideoPlayer("/bloom.flv", 506, 423,""); Bloom: Highlight of the week here at Gizmodo HQ is Bloom, Brian Eno and Peter Chilver's generative music app in action above (crank up the sound!). Touch the screen and create instant loops in a Music For Airports piano style which will degenerate and evolve in real time. You can also watch it do its own thing, creating a generative loop that's always different. Because why shouldn't a few spare minutes in line or on the can be enhanced by improvisational iPhone-assisted ambient sketches? Take the pain away...for $4.

RjDj: In a similar vein and just released today is RjDj. It records sounds from your environment via the iPhone's mic and then processes them into a playback loop, adding delay and shifting pitch according to preset "scenes." The effect is really, really cool, even just walking around the house. An ice cream truck rolled by my open window and I almost fell over, just now. There's a free version with one scene, and a $3 version adds another processing scheme. Check out the video above for some serious beatboxing with RjDj—neat stuff. Thanks, Gaby!

i.TV: Your weekend needs a well-structured plan for backlit entertainments. And thankfully the value quotient is very high with the free i.TV, which is a nicely designed TV schedule app that does a lot. Aside from giving you a nice schedule grid, it also pulls descriptions, reviews and images from each show, YouTube trailers for any movie on TV, and allows you to bookmark individual shows, channels or genres to keep track of them individually. Oh, and it also finds nearby movie theaters for showtimes and trailers for current theater runs, too. Free.

iNietzsche: Your sensory deprivation hovel also needs Nietzsche, obviously. iNietzsche provides a random quotation from our favorite nihilist at varying levels of translation precision. Free.

CameraBag: And for when it's time to go back into the world, CameraBag. It's not new this week but I want to right the wrong of missing it by mentioning it here anyway, because it's very cool. There are a lot of cheap-o photo effects apps in the store, but CameraBag is the first I've seen to add unique effects from actual classic cameras/film types to your iPhone's pics. You can add the distinctive vignetting of a Holga, a nice Kodachrome color effect, and a few others. Sure you could do all of this in Photoshop too, but CameraBag is a one-stop shop. $3

This week's app coverage on Giz:
•A sneak peak at the forthcoming South Park iPhone app shows downloadable show clips, wallpapers, contact icons and looks generally great. No streaming episodes though, yet.

•A nifty trick blocks ads in mobile Safari, for jailbreak only.

•Those greedy sonsabitches at MLB.com are already selling next season's version of the MLB at Bat baseball news and stats app, because you're forced to buy the same app again for each new season.

•TouchType adds a highly desired feature—the ability to use the landscape keyboard for emails for 99 cents.

•iPhone OS 2.1 is caught scrimping on the email downloads while in sleep mode.

•And a peak into the innards of the iPhone software 2.2 beta reveals Street View for Google Maps, the ability to turn off auto-correct while typing and Japanese emoji icons.

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.

I don’t know of a better way to get your weekend off on the right rock than a Kid Rock video. Especially when it’s this particular song. When I saw that the video shown in front of movies was going to change from the 3 Doors Down Citizen’s Soldier, I was ticked. Until, that is, this song started playing - then it was, like, “Alrighty then…”

Love it. Love it. Love it.

Filed under: Laptops

Zepto managed to carve out a tiny niche for itself with its understated Nexus A15 gaming laptop, and it looks like it's now giving it some company with its new Nox A14 model. From the looks of it, this one is mostly identical to its predecessor, with the notable exception of a 14.1-inch 1440 x 900 screen and, consequently, a slightly smaller and lighter form factor. Otherwise, you can expect to get a Core 2 Duo P9500 processor, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512MB, up to 8GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive (or 128GB SSD), a built-in 2-megapixel webcam, and a DVD burner or optional Blu-ray drive. If that's sounds about right, you can order one now for a starting price of £827 (or roughly $1,400), or a good deal more if you want any of those supposed "world's fastest" specs.

[Via PC Launches]

As if we didn't have enough with the stock market going down in flames on its own, computers have decided to screw them a little bit more and make everyone go "WTF" for a few minutes this morning. After dropping around two hundred gazillion points yesterday, today the Dow Jones industrials saw another drop of 700 points, which was suddenly reduced to 125 and then went down again. Everyone thought "rebound" for a second there, until they realized what was really happening.

The reason of the sudden swing was artificial, caused by a large chunk of computer-driven orders that pushed the values up, only to drop down again after these were processed. At least according to the Associated Press, which says that this early roller coaster was "likely caused" by these orders, which "kicked-in when prices had fallen far enough to make some stocks look like an attractive bet. But that buying reflected no lifting of the market's deep despair, and selling continued."

Oh noes. Maybe we should all cheer up and let computers run the whole thing for a while then. Or just send stocks to hell altogether. [AP — Thanks OMGponies]

Another talking point for the throaty fake movie announcer in Sprint's occasionally amusing Instinct vs. iPhone schtick: The Instinct now has a Pandora app. However, it'll cost you three bucks a month (like on most phones with Pandora), even though it's free on the iPhone. You can grab it through your Digital Lounge. Comment competition: Somehow spin that into an "Instincts Win" blurb. [Sprint Users via Gear Diary]

Filed under: Displays, Household

Brushing your teeth with your finger never works, despite how often you try it when you end up wasted at someone else's place for the night. You know, it just kind of smears the toothpaste over your teeth without creating a foam, and it leaves your mouth feeling even grosser than before. If only you had one of these weird finger condom toothbrushes! It looks to be extremely portable, albeit awkward to use and possibly tasting like rubber. It's the perfect accessory for people who end up sleeping in strange places often, like backpackers and sorority girls. [ProductDose via Trendhunter]

The Fighter motorcycle by the Confederate Motor Company is available in special limited edition form at Neiman Marcus. Featuring an advanced titanium, aluminum and carbon fiber chassis, the bike is powered by a 120ci 45-degree air-cooled V-Twin engine that allegedly propels riders to speeds of 190mph. But we just can't get over its design—as if the bike was carved sharply from a single block of metal. In fact, we even prefer the bike to one of Confederate's latest concept designs. And how often does that happen? One of 45 Fighters can be yours for $110,000. [Neiman Marcus via Luxury Launches]

Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

Fans of Nokia's open-source internet tablets will be the first to take Firefox Mobile for a spin, reports PC Advisor, with an alpha release coming as early as next week (confirming what we saw earlier this week). The choice of the Linux-based N810 makes sense for the first dry run, as its hardware and open development platform already easily supports other Mozilla spin-offs, and the touchscreen will allow for fine tuning of FFM's touch-based interface for smartphones. The alpha will apparently feature Firefox 3's smart URL bar and support for add-ons. A more widespread beta is expected for 2009. [PC Advisor via CrunchGear]