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Toshiba Strikes Back in HD DVD/Blu-ray Battle

Posted in Gadgets (January 16, 2008 at 6:32 pm)

Looks like Toshiba isn’t going to give up the high-definition format war without a fight. The only major CE manufacturer supporting HD DVD announced today that it will slash the price of its entire line by up to 50% as…

Apple Announces iTunes Video Rentals

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Today at Macworld, in his keynote, Steve Jobs announced a number of items, but this is what companies like Netflix were expecting - and fearing: iTunes Video Rentals. According to Jobs, they have every studio (he listed Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, New Line, Lion’s Gate, Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal and […]

Apple Introduces the MacBook Air

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
It’s all Macworld, all day long today, right? At Macworld, in his keynote today, Steve Jobs announced the MacBook Air, the thinnest (he says, and it sure looks like it!) laptop in production.
It’s priced at $1,799 to start and will be available in two weeks.
Specs:
3.0 pounds, 0.16 -0.76″ thickness, […]

Asus Outlines Eee PC Windows XP Roll-Out Plan

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Is it sufficient to say “woo-hoo”?! Many have been jonesing for an Asus Eee PC with Windows XP for some time, not just in terms of the upcoming new models, but also because the first-gen Eee PC could supposedly support it as well. Wednesday, in an emailed press release, Asus outlined […]

The Downfall of HD-DVD (video)

Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:29 pm)



Link, and apologies for the Godwinian implications (thanks, Russ Gooberman!)

Spycam cappuccino machine

Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:29 pm)

Today in my ongoing series of photos from my travels: this Amanti espresso setup in the Melbourne airport in which each machine was equipped with a little webcam on the barista’s side and a small color LCD on the customer side, so that you could watch the barista’s hands dance and twiddle as he pulled your crema.

Link

Exoskeleton for farmers

Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:29 pm)

Picture 5-52
Megan says: “Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology researchers developed an exoskeleton to help aging farmers perform manual tasks.”

Link

Steel hulking paleo-riot-shield

Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:28 pm)

In Sept, 1956, Mechanix Illustrated featured these hulking steel shields meant to be deployed to Detroit’s riot squad:

WHEELED SHIELD (below) for Detroit cops protects men in blue against rioters and gunmen. Police fire through the portholes.

FLATFOOT VERSION of 65-lb. armored plate protector has spotlight on top, leggings. Portholes are made of bulletproof glass.


Link

Graceful curved scissor bracelet

Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:28 pm)

Thomas Jaillot, a designer in Paris, is about to launch these “Silver Scissor Cuffs” — a bracelet that also functions as an eccentrically elliptical pair of scissors.

Link

(Thanks, San!)

How Do You Deal with Gadget Lust? [Ask The Readers]

Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:25 pm)

mbproplz_sm.jpg Apple’s launch of the Macbook Air and other products yesterday filled geeks everywhere with lust for the new notebook (or the Time Capsule, or Apple TV, or iPhone, or iPod touch). Every few months there’s a new, pricey tech toy everyone wants, and deciding whether or not to pull the trigger on the purchase yourself can be a struggle. Over at personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly, J.D. Roth says new tech product launches are tough for him, but he’s sticking to his guns (and his current laptop) and resisting the urge to drop cash on Apple’s new offerings—a smart decision for anyone trying to get out of debt or save a few clams. It’s easy to get caught up in advertising hype and follow the lemmings down BUYBUYBUY lane, so how do you resist? Or did you give in? Tell us your psychological mind tricks for immunizing yourself to the reality distortion field in the comments. Photo by Gizmodo.


Bang bang, you’re egg!

Posted in Gadgets (January 14, 2008 at 7:05 pm)


Over at Laughing Squid, Scott Beale has a neat post up about these fried-egg molds from Urban Trend that allow you to cook your sunny side ups in the shape of a gun. There’s a lethal cholesterol joke in here somewhere, but my arteries are too clogged to think it up. Link.

Update: BB reader Jere7my came up with the best description for fried eggs prepared this way: “over-Uzi.” And if you like guns with your eggs, you may also like grenades with your waffles.

My desk. Let me show u it. (Kotaku)

Posted in Gadgets ( at 7:05 pm)


Our friends at the gaming blog Kotaku did a neat feature in which workspaces of gaming biz / blogging biz / news biz folks are displayed, with little descriptions about the person behind them: Link. Featured workaholics include Sid Meier, Ken Levin, Dylan Jobe, Peter Molyneux, some Naughty Dog
and Sims folk, and many others — including BB Gadgets’ own Joel Johnson, and yours truly. One snap from my “office” on the road for the past few weeks in the rural Guatemalan highlands is above. Full description of each item in that massive pile of crap after the jump. (thanks, Brian Crecente and Brian Ashcraft!)

A room where I’m working tonight in a village in the department of Sololá, Guatemala, Central America.

In my “office,” MacBook pro. As I type this, I’m editing some footage that documents K’iche Mayan children using computers for the first time in an education center I’m helping to develop here with friends and family.

More stuff on my “desk”:

  • Sony HDR-HC3 camcorder
  • iPhone (roaming data service works great out here on local provider Claro, but is crazy costly)
  • supercompact Canon Elph (around $200, tiny and inconspicuous, but captures amazingly good video)
  • Marantz PMD 660 digital audio recorder (clunky but high quality results, swear by it for all the work I do for NPR)
  • Edirol digital audio recorder (smaller, trying it out for the first time, lower-quality but more portable and no external mic required, also it looks like an evil space alien’s death ray weapon, huzzah)
  • an omnidirectional mic with a shotgun grip that airport security personnel sometimes think is an actual shotgun
  • Cheap Nokia cellphone (on provider Tigo), only cost US $10 with 100 minutes included, works great out in more remote areas where other voice providers don’t
  • some external hard drives and various flavors of memory cards
  • Skype credit and headphones
  • K’ichee’ language grammar books and dictionaries
  • a hand-loomed shawl I received as a gift from one of the tejedoras in the pueblo where we’re building the computer center and working to help rebuild infrastructure
  • bottles of Cipro, Norfloxacin, and Loperamide just in case. Potable water here is not so easy to come by, and, as they say, the shits happen.
  • Universal, Paramount, Preparing to Defect to Blu-ray?

    By Michael Santo
    Executive Editor, RealTechNews
    The rumors of Paramount dropping HD-DVD in favor of Blu-ray were dispelled - at least temporarily - earlier in the week when Paramount flatly denied it was leaving the HD-DVD camp. But a report in Daily Variety confirms that Universal’s commitment to HD DVD has expired. And with Paramount […]

    Sky Commuter vehicle prototype for sale

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 7:23 pm)

    A concept “Sky Commuter aircraft” that absorbed $6 mil in startup capital is for sale on eBay. The seller appears to be one of the engineers, and the long description associated with the listing is a heartbreaking (and eccentrically punctuated) story of a beautiful, dashed dream:


    The development of this advanced technology and project started back in the mid 1980’s. Design and engineering was created by Boeing engineer’s in Arlington Washington. Some 60 investors and well over $6,000.000.00 in R&D and production yielded only (3) concept test ships before the plant was shut down for reasons not listed here. The sad end was all and anything that was in the hangar was taken and or destroyed. This sole example of this technology, Advancements and investments are present and was saved in this single craft. The ship was not at the base location at the time or it to would have been destroyed…

    In a brief description of the ship: It has a operational electric gas assisted lexan bubble canopy. Electric controled directional driving and landing lights. Electric Joystick and two foot pedals on both side and the craft was meant to be controlled from either seat. Advanced front dash shell made of Carbonfiber and Kevlar. Rear engine and electronics bay accessible by tilting seats forward and removing the back panel. (3) huge 3 foot lifting fans CCW/CW rotation. This was made to take off in vertical fight and land. It can be landed on water and float like a boat and take off of water. The targeted dream was to lift above it all and not deal with the daily gridlock traffic. Nearly at the finish line it all came to a abrupt stop and all the years and investment and R&D and production, Remains in this one craft shown here.

    Link

    (Thanks, Bill!)

    Office tool crossed with a leatherman

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 7:23 pm)

    The “5-in-1 Office Tool” is basically a leatherman whose body has been replaced with a pocket calculator. It sports a stapler, scissors, measuring tape, and paper-clip holder.

    Link

    (via Dvice)

    Pinball Hall of Fame in Spirit Magazine

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 7:23 pm)

    Southwest Airline’s Spirit Magazine is my favorite of the in-flight magazines. Every time I flip through an issue, there’s always at least one or two articles that are right up my alley. This month, there’s a nice, long feature on the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas.

    From Spirit Magazine (photo by Phil Torrone of MAKE:):

     139592917 0Ffd432Df7
    “My brother and I learned to fix the machines using the Machinery’s Handbook,” (museum founder Tim Arnold) says. “Back then, in the early ’70s, you could buy a broken-down machine for 50 or 100 bucks, fix it up, nurse it back to health, and make 20 bucks a week off it. We ended up renting an 800-square-foot storefront in East Lansing. There were some minor details: Pinball was still illegal in Michigan, and we were under 18. We were putting machines in bars we weren’t supposed to be allowed into. My brother and I saw ourselves as bandits. It was organized crime, except that we weren’t very organized.” This was an impressive bit of technical entrepreneurship when you consider that the average college graduate in electrical engineering needs two years of tutelage under a skilled repairman to master the art of fixing old games.

    Now all the games are beginning to bear the patina of yesterday. At the height of the pinball era in the early ’90s, the industry produced about 100,000 machines a year. Today only one company, Stern Pinball, remains, and it makes about 10,000 machines a year. “We have a saying: The last ice man makes the most money,” Arnold says. “Back in the ’20s, you had thousands of ice men in every city, delivering ice to every home. Then refrigeration came along, and nearly all the ice men went out of business. Nearly all. You still have a guy delivering ice to bars and restaurants. There’s room in every town for one ice man. That’s what the Hippie and I are.” He peered at me through his aviator glasses. “We’re the last of the ice men.”

    Link to Spirit Magazine article, Link to PT’s photo post on MAKE:

    Sculptural “noisy instrument” — abstract seashell that fits your ear

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 7:23 pm)

    Jun Murakoshi’s “Noisy Instrument” is a hollow sculpture that fits into your ear and exploits the same dynamics that make the oceanic seashell noises to create a unique set of sounds:


    What has not been done by using rapid prototyping technique? My answer is making sounds. It must be difficult to make music but it could be possible to make noise. When you put a seashell on your ear, you can hear something strange noise. It is noise but it makes us feel good. This product is a wearable instrument for listening the noise like seashell makes.


    Link

    (via Dvice)

    HOWTO Make pixel-art cookies with a Play-Doh extruder

    Posted in Gadgets (January 10, 2008 at 6:56 pm)

    Eva sez, “My husband and I figured out a way to make 8-bit style cookies with a Play-Doh extruder. We’ve uploaded a how-to, along with pictures of our Tetris cookies, question blocks,and so forth.”

    Link

    (Thanks, Eva!)

    Sky belt-trains of tomorrow, 1932

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:55 pm)

    The Endless Belt Trains for Futuristic Cities described in the November, 1932 ish of Modern Mechanix is one of my all-time favorite tomorrows of yesterday — a world run on rails, rising high above the city, slicing through it with arrow-straight, improbable lines:


    Passengers board the first local train at any point, and it stops every 50 seconds for a period of 10 seconds. When the doors close, a gong sounds and the local platform starts moving. Now there is another signal and gates open for a second platform, or express, on which the passenger takes the major part of his trip. After ten seconds the gates close and the local slows down for another stop, while the express picks up to a 22 m.p.h. speed.

    Noise of the system is at a minimum, and passengers are delivered at no more than 300 feet from their streets. All stations are controlled from one central point, all elements being so timed that there can be no hitches.

    Link

    Today on Boing Boing Gadgets

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:55 pm)

    greenergadgets.jpgToday on Boing Boing Gadgets we discussed the Greener Gadgets conference taking place Feb. 1st in NYC (with a 20% coupon for BB readers), a tale of sexual discovery and Atari joysticks, gas station milkshakes, why there isn’t a Wiimote-based teledildonics rig, a remote-controlled Mothman flyer, a bicycle with an interesting knit carbon fiber frame, the SR-71 Blackbird in LEGO, Krups and Heineken’s BeerTender (and why American craft beer may or may not be the best in the world), knock-off retro game consoles that can use legitimate cartridges, Voltaic Systems’ new solar bag that can recharge a laptop, a carbon fiber guitar, and AT&T’s heinous plan to start filtering internet traffic.

    And our new links triumvirate: deals, assorted links, and Modern Mechanix.

    The Widget Gadget Gizmo Desklet Thingamajig (Chumby!)

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:55 pm)

    Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

    That’s right… it’s Chumby! This is definitely going to be a huge hit, and the favorite new gadget of many Geeks. I am having a lot of fun playing with the Chumby… and so are all the people in our live community!

    The Chumby is a compact device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web using your wireless internet connection. Always on, it shows — nonstop — what’s online that matters to you. What can you do with a Chumby? The question is… what CAN’T you do with it?

    • Catch the latest news headlines, sports, weather, stock prices.
    • Play your iPod mp3 files through built in speakers. Charge it too.
    • Enjoy your Flickr and Facebook photos as a digital picture frame.
    • Stay updated on new Netflix releases or view your movie queue.
    • Make and share e-greetings, photo mash-ups, goofy animations.
    • Wake up to the multi-tone alarm clock.
    • Track any eBay auction or Craigslist item.
    • Monitor incoming email on any POP3 account.

    The coolest thing is that I have my Chumby sitting on my desk, and it’s now tuned in to my live chat. Any regular voiced user or channel op can type a message, and it will display directly on my Chumby! At only $179.99, it’s a great way to stay connected and have some fun at the same time.

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    CES Dispatch-Panasonic’s Giant-Sized Memory Card

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:54 pm)

    Panasonic is promising to unveil some exciting hardware and software innovations during the opening keynote Monday at the annual Consumer Electronics Show. But in its press conference on the Sunday before, it wowed the crowd with a very little something…

    Buy an iPhone Case

    Posted in Apple, Gadgets ( at 6:54 pm)

    Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

    So you have an iPhone. Great!! Now, do you know how to protect it? A case is extremely important, and not just any case will do. It’s important for gadgets and gizmos to wear protection when they are taken out and about.

    My iPhone is well protected. The screen has been covered with an anti-glare coating. The rest of it is protected by an Incase. I love that it has so much grip to it. It literally grips to any surface. I actually left my iPhone on the trunk of my car once, and took off. I had driven about 50 feet when I realized “OMG! MY PHONE!”. I stopped, and noticed that the iPhone was still in place on my trunk.

    I was really happy to see this new Titan Clear case, sent to me by Gizmac. It’s not just a clear case. What I really like about it is that once I snapped it on, I couldn’t get it unsnapped. It also has a two-way stand. It has both a vertical and horizontal kick stand, for easier viewing. The one thing that would keep me from using this case all the time, is that it added extra bulk to the profile of the iPhone. I am just really happy with the way the Incase is so snuggly, and fits so well. It’s very thin, and hardly has any gap at all between the case and the iPhone itself.

    GizMac’s Titan Clear for iPhone is a protective case that can be used alone or combined with the included quick release holster. The Titan Clear case protects the iPhone with its tough, crystal clear polycarbonate shell, but still allows the Apple iPhone’s striking appearance to show through. The addition of a thin film screen protector completes the Titan Clear case protection by keeping the iPhone screen safe as well as clean.

    The final piece to the Titan Clear for iPhone, the rotating belt clip holster, is also versatile and stylish. Not only does the Titan Clear iPhone holster securely hold the case face out, but also face inward for added iPhone screen protection. The Titan iPhone holster is made of lightly frosted clear polycarbonate for a sleek look that compliments the Titan case and does not cause a fashion distraction.

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    CES Dispatch–Blu-ray’s Victory?

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:54 pm)

    A very gracious Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of consumer giant Sony Corp., today didn’t want to dwell too much on Blu-ray’s apparent victory over rival high-definition DVD format HD DVD. In a reference to President’s Bush’s early declaration of victory…

    CES Dispatch–Toshiba’s HD DVD Response

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:54 pm)

    I’m in Las Vegas, doing the rounds of press conferences that kick off the annual Consumer Electronics Shows. Everyone lined up early for the most-anticipated one–Toshiba Corp.’s. If gadgets could look forlorn, Toshiba’s three new HD DVD players looked just…

    CES Dispatch–Archos Does iTV

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:54 pm)

    Amid reports that Apple next will be launch a new movie download service in conjunction with a revamped Apple TV, it’s clear from announcements out of the annual Consumer Electronics Show that Steve Jobs & Co. will face plenty of…

    CES Dispatch–The Demo Demons Strike Again

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:54 pm)

    Seems like consumer electronics companies are finally catching on. A major theme of this year’s annual Consumer Electronics Show is simplifying gadgets for the masses. Unfortunately, the companies trying to demonstrate just how they’re going to do this, snafus during…

    CES Dispatch–Dieting TVs

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 6:54 pm)

    Here at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, I’ve been impressed by the number of television makers who are announcing new HDTVs that are so thin that they make Apple’s iPhone look positively obese. Thin definitely is in. Pioneer, Sharp, Hitachi…

    Today on Boing Boing Gadgets

    Posted in Gadgets (January 8, 2008 at 8:47 pm)

    alienware_ces_gizmodo.jpg

    Today on Boing Boing Gadgets we looked at this curved monitor prototype from Alienware, more shots of that scooter clad in old appliance parts, mittens for smokers, some sort of zit-cooking heat gadget, an awesome tank with MiG turbines that shoots water at fires, a tiny climate control unit from Herman Miller that is not a space heater, a nice folding electric scooter prototype, an attractive lamp made from cups, saucers, and spoons, the confusion between audio compression and data compression, Sony BMG’s ricockulous plan to sell MP3s via physical gift card, Guinness’ take on videogame world records, a ghastly overpriced bed so advanced you’ll never have to leave, an update to the handy Solio solar charger, a system that turns your mattress into speakers, why I decided not to go to CES, a man making a vacuum tube by hand, and technologically keen wireless headphones from Sennheiser that are way expensive.

    And one of our first round-ups of retro tech from our friends at Modern Mechanix, as well as a contest where you can win a $500 vacuum for sharing your suckiest gadget experience.

    Pimpstar animated wheels — “a huge leap forward in the evolution of the wheel”

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 8:47 pm)





    At first glance, $15,950 might seems like too much to pay for animated car wheels, but when you watch this video of a clever man putting the Pimpstar’s many exciting features to work in a high-speed campaign to win the affections of an otherwise hard-to-impress woman cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway, you’ll be entering your credit card number into the website before the credits roll.

    The PimpStar is a huge leap forward in the evolution of the wheel. With the PimpStar’s built-in full color LED lights, microprocessor and wireless modem, you can display virtually any image, including text, graphics, logos, and even digital photos!

    The included software allows you to create your own images and send them to each wheel individually or all wheels at the same time as you drive! You can even pre-load up to six images into each wheel and program them to change automatically at the time intervals you select. The wheels are environmentally sealed, so you don’t have to worry about going to the car wash; and they are powered by the vehicle electrical system so there are no batteries to run out or change, ever.

    Link (Via Neatorama)

    Useless beautiful machine scrambles blog posts

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 8:47 pm)

    200801081022



    Funkfugiyama says: “Industrial Design student Andrew Haarsager has created ‘a machine that scrambles the words and sentences of real-time blog posts, based on the look of a 1960’s Moog synthesizer.’”

    Link

    Tool for mindfulness: Powerseed

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 8:46 pm)

    Over at 43 Folders, Gordon Meyer praises the Powerseed, a gadget designed to help you lose weight by flashing a little green light every 30 seconds (a signal to take a bite of food). He likes it as a general purpose mindfulness tool.

    200801081058 [W]hile it is marketed primarily for weight loss, it turns out to be a useful reminder/timer for virtually any activity where mindfulness is important. It’s a sleek, battery-powered pod about as big as the end of your thumb. It offers both visual and audible queues, and operates in a couple of different coaching modes. The basic idea is that it is a discrete coach that prompts you to “check-in” with yourself. It signals both short and long regular intervals, which are useful for being aware of time passing, as well as performing different routines are each mark.

    Link

    FuBar demolition tool

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 8:46 pm)

    At Cool Tools, Jonathan Coupe reviews the FuBar demolition tool:

    200801081103

    The FuBar is a single cast piece of high carbon steel that looks like a prettied up hammer. One end has a hammer and a tearing, armour-penetrating beak, while the opposite end has a conventional pry bar and nail puller. You can use it to drive nails, but what it really excels in is F’ing things up beyond recognition — hence FuBar. You hit something with the axe-like end until it’s weakened, then hit again, twist to pry, and CRUNCH!

    Link

    Case holds stun gun and iPod

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 8:46 pm)

    Shawn Wolfe says:

    200801071228 If this isn’t the ultimate expression of the Blackwater-friendly secularized anesthetized screw you idiocractic times we’re living in, I don’t know what is.

    It’s a handy “holster” that holds your Taser and your MP3 player, so you don’t have to be troubled by anyone ever… not even by their agonized pleading.

    Link

    Video of YAPMM (Yet Another Perpetual Motion Machine)

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 8:46 pm)



    Enjoy this video of a perpetual motion machine in action. I don’t believe it for a second, but it’s fun to see the thing in action and listen to the guy’s patter. Also, the sound the wheel makes as it spins is pleasant.

    Link (Thanks, pooty McDooDoo!)

    RiDATA EZ Yego USB Flash Storage/USB Hub Reviewed

    By Martin Regtien
    Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

    The Y shaped EZ Yego USB flash drive stands out from the rest of the pack, not least of which because of its intriguing shape.
    The unique ‘Y’ shape is indicative of its party trick: The EZ Yego not only stores up to 4GB of data, but it also acts as a […]

    Kotaku CES: Getting restless? Check out our … [Ces]

    Posted in Hardware, Gadgets (January 6, 2008 at 7:18 pm)

    Kotaku CES: Getting restless? Check out our gadget-obsessed brother site Gizmodo’s coverage of the CES 2008 show. Or if you want to skip the tech and just follow the gaming announcements make sure to check out Mike McWhertor’s Kotaku coverage starting Sunday evening. It will be fun, promises. [Gizmodo]


    HOWTO paint laser graffiti over whole buildings

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 7:18 pm)

    Graffiti Research Labs Vienna builds “laser tagging” boxes out of lasers, laptops and projectors that allow them to paint “nondestructive, reversible” graffiti with light on the sides of buildings. In this Make Weekend Projects video, GRL and Make team up to show you how to make your own tag-box.

    Link

    (via Beyond the Beyond)

    What to Do When Your Copier Scanner Breaks

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 7:18 pm)

    Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

    Having trouble getting your copier/scanner to work right? Need to troubleshoot? Here are some tips sent in by a community member that will help you.

    • If the copier does not copy, print or scan turn it off and back on. They sometimes need to reboot just like a computer. They are more like your desktop PC then you know. Many run Windows Xp or Linux in their print controllers and others use Linux for the main operating system of the copier.
    • If you pull out a jam and end up with less then a full sheet of paper in your hand, the copier is still jammed. Try to find the rest of the sheet. When you tear out a piece of paper, any fragments still in there will find a nice dark place to jam and will snag the next copy you make. Many times what would have been a simple jam clearing exercise will become a wait for a service technician to fix the machine.
    • If the copies are light and the copier is not displaying a toner low message, don’t add toner. Something else is wrong. All copiers have sensors that detect low and empty toner conditions. Many problems start out as light copies. Continuing to run the machine may actually cause additional damage and expense. Call for service.
    • All toner is not the same stuff. If you run out of toner, don’t add any that’s intended for a different model copier. You will cause a major problem adding the wrong kind. Think of it like getting a blood transfusion with the wrong blood type.
    • If you get a dark line on your copies when feeding though the document feeder, but not when you copy from the platen glass check for Wite-out, ink or other foreign matter on the narrow piece of glass that is next to the big platen glass. Most modern copiers use document feeders that roll the originals over this narrow glass (often referred to as the “slit glass”). When something sticks to this glass it causes dark lines on copies.
    • BonusTip!! The copier technician wants your copier to operate correctly as much as you do. Many times problems are very intermittent. It helps the technician to know the details of the copy job that caused the problem. Stuff like: paper tray used, single sided or doubled sided copies, the size of your copy/print job, finishing options selected and if it was a copy quality problem, a sample of the copy with the problem.

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    Skyscraper airport of tomorrow, 1939

    Posted in Gadgets ( at 7:18 pm)

    This November, 1939 Popular Science article fantasizes about a futuristic “skyscraper airport” for the “city of tomorrow.” Pretty good predictions, except they missed the whole no-shoes, no-liquid, no-dignity policy.

    Link

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