Thursday 28 October 2010

These Are Not Speakers [Design]

Click here to read These Are Not Speakers
Rather, they're passive sound amplifiers, working much like a gramophone horn to project the sound. Made from ceramic and wood, Brit Andrew Beaumont's designs should be in an art gallery really. [Andrew Beaumont via DesignBoom]More »



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320GB PlayStation 3 to retail without Move tag-along for $350

By Paul Miller posted Oct 28th 2010 12:44PM Hate moving your body? Sony's been selling a 320GB PS3 bundled with a Move controller, PlayStation Eye, and Sports Champions for $400, but for you layabouts the 320GB model will soon be available all by itself. The steep $350 pricetag underlines how strongly Sony is subsidizing its Move paraphernalia -- are you really sure the opportunity to get off the couch isn't worth $50 to you? -- but at least it's nice to have the option. Compared to the $300 160GB it makes more sense: $50 for double the storage. Sony says the console is shipping the new standalone SKU to stores as we speak, so keep an eye out for shelves straining under the sheer weight of gigabytes at your local retailer over the next few days.

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How to Boost Your BitTorrent Speed and Privacy [BitTorrent]

Click here to read How to Boost Your BitTorrent Speed and Privacy
BitTorrent's been around for a whopping ten years, but it continues to evolve and remains one of the best file-sharing tools available. If you really want to make your downloads soar—and keep Big Brother out of your business—this guide's for you.More »



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Apple, Gemalto working on integrated SIM for next iPhone?

By Chris Ziegler posted Oct 27th 2010 5:28PM Moving from regular SIMs to micro SIMs for the iPad and iPhone 4 was a fairly user-hostile move on Apple's part, seeing how it made moving between an iPhone and virtually any other GSM device quite a bit more difficult; the official explanation (for the iPhone 4, anyway) was that there simply wasn't room for a regular SIM, but that seems unlikely considering that you're only saving 10mm of length, 3mm of width, and 0mm of thickness. A more plausible scenario is that Apple viewed micro SIMs as a way to get ahead of the industry curve a bit and make it unpleasant for users to try to share an iPhone line with other devices, a concept that gets at the core of Apple's mantra of owning the entire ecosystem from end to end.

But could they be trying to take that concept another step further? GigaOM is reporting a rumor today that Apple is working tightly with security firm Gemalto -- you know, the SIM guys -- to integrate software-reconfigurable SIMs right into European iPhones that would be activated on the carrier of your choice using an App Store download. Why European models? Multiple carriers offer the iPhone in a number of European countries, so distribution is a bit more complicated there than it is in the US, though it's a reasonable leap to suggest that the same integrated SIMs would be use on new North American iPhones as well. From Apple's perspective, it's a win-win: trying to use your iPhone line with another device would be akin to pulling teeth, and more importantly, Apple wouldn't need to worry about bundling carrier-specific SIMs with devices. In fact, the move would make Apple's (and the consumer's) interactions with the carrier entirely virtual, all the way from manufacture to activation. Seems like the plan would require an extraordinary amount of buy-in from carriers who've become increasingly suspicious of Apple's goals lately -- but then again, they managed to get carriers to suddenly and rapidly deploy micro SIMs en masse, and if anyone could pull this off, it'd be Steve's boys and girls.


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Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns (Includes The Tenth Inning)

Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns (Includes The Tenth Inning)Here is the story of America s national pastime from master storyteller Ken Burns. It is an epic overflowing with heroes and hopefuls, scoundrels and screwballs. A saga spanning the quest for racial justice, the clash of labor and management, the immigrant experience, the transformation of popular culture, and the enduring appeal of the national pastime. And through it all, baseball remains a mirror of America.

Price: $99.99


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Pandoc Converts Text Documents Between Dozens of Formats [Downloads]

Click here to read Pandoc Converts Text Documents Between Dozens of Formats
Windows/Mac/Linux/Web: Pandoc is a powerful command-line tool for converting text documents between formats like Markdown to HTML, HTML to MediaWiki, and more.More »



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Get the Most from Evil and Other Theme Weeks on Facebook [Announcements]

Click here to read Get the Most from Evil and Other Theme Weeks on Facebook
Every so often, Lifehacker digs in on a certain topic—food, perhaps, or this week's evil obsesssion. You might not catch them all on a page visit, but our Facebook feed is a nice way to track our obsessive tendencies.More »



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