Bye Bye Blockbuser

There used to be a time when if you wanted to rent a movie you would go to Blockbuster. Now with other places such as Family Video, RedBox and most notably Netflix, Blockbuster has gone bankrupt along with the 1000s of other companies during this recession. Blockbuster has about $1 billion in debt which will be reduced to just $100 million.  How did such a giant go bankrupt? I say that the number one cause is Netflix. Netflix allowed people to choose whatever movies they wanted with no late fees and the best part is that the movies would be delivered to your home. All you have to do is walk to your mailbox, get your movie, watch it, and send it back through the mail in pre-paid envelopes. Netflix will then send you your next movie automatically.  After...

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Full Year of Algebra on iPad

It’s every students dream; have their entire semester’s worth of texts books on an eBook or tablet. Eliminate the bulk of textbooks, relieve stress of carry books for each class and reduce waste of resources. Simple right? Well this isn’t going to happen until publishers start cramming entire curricula into apps. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's new Algebra 1 app, which has a full year's worth of material, is the first attempt. HMH is launching the app in a year-long pilot program in California, allowing students to work through practice questions, take notes, watch video lessons and more on their iPads. The app is the first on HMH Fuse, a platform developed by the publisher for delivering interactive educational content to mobile and touchscreen...

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Will Giant Genetically Modified Antifreeze Salmon Be Next on the Menu?

This week the FDA is likely to decide that genetically modified salmon is safe for you to buy and eat. The new fish, called AquaBounty, is salmon whose DNA has been deliberately altered. Genetically modified food, however, is nothing new in the world. Most likely you've eaten it recently, if not today. Almost all of the soybeans and corn grown in the US come from seeds that are modified to resist pesticides. Genetically modified food is in your cereal, your soda, and your stomach—but only if it's growing from the ground. However, the FDA's decision is set to change that as AquaBounty would be the first time genetically modified animals would be legal to sell for human consumption. AquaBounty is modified by introducing two foreign genes...

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Netflix PR blunder and HUGE amounts of new watch instantly content

Last week Netflix started their new, watch instantly only program in Canada. For 7.99 Canadian dollars a month you would be able to watch an unlimited amount of online content from Netflix.com but you wil not be able to get any physical disks. This plan allows you to watch the online content from a computer, PS3, Wii, Apple products and many other devices although there are a few devices excluded. For some reason the Xbox 360, Samsung TVs, VIZIO Blu-Ray players and Insignia Blu-Ray players will not be compatible until later this year. The country of Canada was quite excited about this already as this was netflix's first move into the country but apparently this was not enough for Netflix so they decided to make the release event a little bigger...

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Apartment Heated By Underground Commuters

The heat generated by underground commuters in the Parisian metro will help heat a public housing project in the city center, the capital's largest owner of social housing. The new system will use The calories emitted by passengers, around 100 watts per person, combined with the heat from trains moving along tracks and the underground location of the metro mean that corridor temperatures are 14-20 degrees Celsius all year around. The project, which is based on geothermal technology, aims to draw heat from subterranean passages and move it to heat exchangers before supplying heating pipes. The system will complement district heating. The new system should slash carbon dioxide emissions by a third compared to using a boiler room connected...

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Finger Print Scanning Car

Some people just go a little overboard with security measures for their cars and this is a perfect example of one. The A8s come standard with a special laminated glass that was tested by the crazy and apparently rich guys over at WhatCar.com. They were only able to break the glass after 3 minutes and 28 seconds of continual beating the glass with a hammer. On top of that you can, as another option, have 2 panes of glass which theoretically should last somewhere around 7minutes by which time someone would have called the cops. Apparently this is not enough for some people protecting their A8s. As with most luxury cars of its class, the Audi A8 has the option for a push button start with a keyless entry system in which as long as you have the key in your pocket, you can push the button and...

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Turn any HDTV into a touchscreen!

What happens when you put the HDMI out and 12 megapixel camera capabilities of the Nokia N8 smart-phone and your HDTV together? You get a giant touch screen. Nokia recently demoed an app that is still under development at called "Plug and Touch." All you have to do is connect the N8 to your TV through a HDMI cable and set the phone with the camera pointed at the TV about 5 feet away. The camera tracks your hand as you move it around the screen and turns your TV into a giant touchscreen. Actions that require greater precision such as typing on the onscreen keyboard understandably do not work very well but this technology is still a prototype and is not even scheduled for a release. I think that once Nokia decides to finally release this app it may not have much usefulness but it will be extremely...

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Green Bulidings

Not only is Dubai home to the world's tallest building,  the world's only 7 Star hotel and one of the world's successful economies but now it is also home to the first bubble wrapped building. Well, that is not exactly true; it is actually a clear honeycomb screen around the outside of the building that gives the building its characteristic look. The screen was designed to cut cooling costs and make the building greener by keeping the sun's rays out. The hexagonal pattern was derived from an Islamic pattern that opens and closes in response to the suns path. This should cut cooling costs by up to 25%. In addition to the special screen on the outside of the building, the roof of the tower is covered in solar panels which should compensate...

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Big Brother Recycling Bins

Cleveland’s City Council recently commissioned a $2.5 million ordinance to bring 25,000 recycling bins with built in *RFID tags. What’s the point? To track if people are bringing the bins to curb; and fine them if they don’t. The chips will allow city workers to monitor how often residents roll carts to the curb for collection. If a chip show a recyclable cart hasn't been brought to the curb in weeks, a trash supervisor will sort through the trash for recyclables.Trash carts containing more than 10 percent recyclable material could lead to a $100 fine, according to Waste Collection Commissioner Ronnie Owens.                 This idea actually isn't that futuristic...

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Militarized Skateboard

This seems more like a recruitment tool than a strategic military vehicle. Above is the DTV (Dual Tracked Vehicle) Shredder, a militarized skateboard with two caterpillar tracks. It can travel 30 mph, has enough power to tow an SUV, but is also versatile enough to do a 180 turn in four feet and climb slopes up to 40 degrees.  BPG Werks, the manufacturer, it can cross all types of terrain and it’s low center of gravity make it “ideal for reconnaissance, rescue/recovery, mobile surveillance, and medical evacuation operations". Even more the DTV Shredder can be remotely operated and armed to become a “robot attack platform.” The robot apocalypse has come sooner than we expected. The DTV Shredder was created by Ben Gulak, the man who made...

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Flying Saddles

As if airplane seats weren’t already uncomfortable. Recently unveiled last week at the Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas conference, the new SkyRider is a saddle-like seat that allows airlines to sardine passengers into their already cramped planes. The idea behind the SkyRider is that it is similar to riding horseback, “Cowboys ride eight hours on their horses during the day and still feel comfortable in the saddle,” says Dominique Menoud, director general of Aviointeriors Group, which will make the seats. If I’m not mistaken, I thought riding horseback was supposed to be the opposite of comfortable. In addition to making passengers suffer, the SkyRider is made to save airlines money by eliminating seat-pitch to a mere 23 inches. Seat-pitch...

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Optical Speedbumps

So as some some of you already might know, speed bumps aren't really all that good at slowing down drivers. We've all seen it: some slow down at the last minute and gun it the minute they pass, others go around the speed bump all together. Recently however, the British Columbia Automobile Association Traffic Safety Foundation developed a new system; an illusion of child jumping in front of your car.  The picture is painted in such a way, that if your viewing it at just the right angle, the girl will look three-dimensional. The idea behind it is that as a driver gets closer the image will come into view and focus. In addition, the faster the car is traveling, the faster the child will appear. This way it will cause to driver...

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Internet connected toys, iPod watch, E-paper, and EPIC FAIL of the Day

Disney recently had a press release where they announced that that in the future their stuffed animals and other toys were going to be connected to the internet. Their reason? "Increased playability." I don't know about you guys but that does not sound like a good enough reason for me to give a 1 year old a stuffed animal which can connect to the internet. I think that kids are exposed to too much technology while they are young already and this will only make the problem worse. This is not the only problem that I see with this though. If a hacker managed to take control of a toy then younger children could easily be coerced into giving up sensitive information of their parents such as credit card numbers. "The Monarch", who...

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About Us

Hello readers and welcome to Gizmo-teched!  I aim for this blog to feature some of the latest and greatest tech news along with stories that I find interesting. From time to time I’ll give my bit on and I’ll comment on posts just to share my opinion.  I plan for posts to range from new "inventions", cool ideas, gadgets, and i guess  just what you come to expect from a technology blog.  If you by chance are the few that have noticed, the title of my blog might sound a bit familiar. If you didn't it is a combination of Gizmodo, Techcrunch, and Wired; a few tech blogs that i like to read. I in no way intended this to copy any of those wonderful sites, I feel that I want to give my personal take on the stories in addition to informing as well. Hope you enjoy. Happy r...

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BEST TECH BLOG EVER (about us)

Hey guys this blog is going to be about all of the newest and most fancy technology that will affect our lives. I will be updating very regularly so you can expect the most up to date information. I will also add in any especially crazy/outrageous technology i come across. Also if anyone has heard about something  and want more information on it I will be happy to find more information on. I chose to have a blog about technology because i love reading about new gadgets during my free time and this is the perfect way to express my opinions on them. Oh and if you are wondering, my display name, T-Tech, stands for Tyrannosaurus Tech Thanks for Readi...

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