You know those fridge magnet kits composed of a whole bunch of words? The ones you put all over your fridge door and then try to arrange into all sorts of juvenile and/or amusing sentences. Well, Farragomate is the social, webby version of that very same pastime. You get to play with a bunch of random strangers in real-time, and make up sentences out of a pre-set collection of words, including some fairly naughty ones, and all players' nicknames. As you can imagine, some of the results are not child-friendly. There are ten rounds to a game. Once a round is done, players get to vote for their favorite sentence from that round. You can't vote for your own creation, of course. There's in-game chat, too. I think the vocabulary could be made a bit more eclectic, but even as it is, it's a nice way to spend a few minutes and meet random strangers on the Internet (always a thrilling experience).
Ideal for makers and tinkerers who often need a light source as close to what they're working on as possible, this beautiful LED desklamp was designed by Alberto Fraser with an incredibly flexible transparent PVC neck making it almost infinitely adjustable. More »
Hey there. It's the end of the week and I'm sure you're dying to get out of the office, so we're gonna try and help make the rest of your day bearable. For the next hour, the entire Giz staff will be hovering around this thread, willing to shoot the shit about whatever your little hearts desire. What do you all want to talk about? More »
This morning, Corel released VideoStudio X4. We've already published a quick overview and hands-on of the application, and now is the moment you've all been waiting for: We're giving away ten full licenses of this new version, each worth $99.99! To enter our random draw, you just have to leave a comment. Full terms and conditions are after the break.
XMBC, the very popular open-source media center software, has been successfully ported to Android. The folks at XMBC tell us this on their blog -
Today we announce XBMC for Android. Not a remote, not a thin client; the real deal. No root or jailbreak required. XBMC can be launched as an application on your set-top-box, tablet, phone, or wherever else Android may be found.
If you don't understand just what this is, think of having Windows Media Center running on your Android device, fully customizable, open-source, and with full Python plug-in support. Now think of it on Google TV boxes, Android-on-a-stick style devices, or the Nexus Q. Music, video, internet apps like Pandora, all running on Android device. XMBC does all this, and more. Have a look at Wikipedia if you're not familiar with the media center concept.
For now, no public builds are available. There's still some things to iron out, and the folks at XMBC only want folks who can actively help fix the bugs using it. They've released the source code to make this happen, and you can find it (and more info) at the link below.
Merriam-Webster just announced its new Dictionary API, which gives developers access to the full dictionary and thesaurus, along with more specialized content like medical, Spanish, ESL and student-targeted vocabulary lists. The API will let app makers integrate word definitions, etymologies, audio pronunciations and more. While this content will no doubt make it into a slew of educational apps, Merriam-Webster says it will also enhance word games, so maybe Scramble and Words with Friends will finally start accepting those obscure three-letter words you have up your sleeve.
Wednesday’s LogicBUY Deal is the Dell Vostro 260 2.7GHz Dual-core mini tower desktop bundled with a 20″ Dell E2011H LED-backlit LCD monitor, starting at $379.05. Features: 2GB RAM, 320GB 7200RPM hard drive, DVD burner, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS, and more. Configurable as desired. $568 – $169 savings – 5% discount = $379.05 with [...]
HP has been fleshing out its Ultrabook lineup as of late, most recently adding the metal-clad Envy Spectre XT to the mix, but the company is also addressing the lower end of the market with its Sleekbook line, announced back in May. Confusingly, these thin-and-light systems look exactly the same as the new Envy-branded Ultrabooks, except that the Sleekbooks are less expensive -- namely because for one reason or another they don't meet Intel's Ultrabook guidelines. One such notebook, the Envy Sleekbook 6z, stands apart from the Ultrabook fold with an AMD Trinity APU -- a spec that helps keep the starting price nice and low at $600.
That's not to say that all of HP's Sleekbooks ditch Intel processors, but given the choice between and AMD- and Intel-based model we quickly chose the former. After all, the 6z is the first Trinity-powered system we've had the chance to test, so we were naturally curious to see how it stacks up against recent Ivy Bridge machines -- and we imagine you are, too. So without any further ado, let's get to it.
A few weeks back, Sprint had said its fresh Long Term Evolution waves would be hitting a total of five markets by July 15th, but it looks like one lucky city is seeing the changes kick in a wee bit earlier than expected. According to S4GRU, the site's been hit with endless tips from folks like yourself, all claiming The Now Network's LTE signal is now live in Kansas City, while others are also noticing the speed boosts in places like St. Joseph, Manhattan and Missouri. How about you, though? Is your shiny new LTE-capable slab (read: Galaxy S III or EVO 4G LTE) now getting the "true 4G" treatment? Feel free to let us know in the comments below.
As we were wandering through the Atlanta meet-up last week we stumbled upon a charming young man wearing a glove studded with circuit boards and embroidered with what looked like silver thread. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that it was a wild homegrown glove made by a pair of former design students.