In a very good move, the NY Times has announced that it is developing an API so that programmers/readers can access the various content that it has stashed around its vast site. This is exactly what the Times needs to compete with a Rupert Murdoch-run Wall Street Journal that is probably going to turn to more political news reporting to compete head-on with the NYT.

The Times has already been one of the traditional newspapers that has led the way into the digital age, with Web-ified versions of their newspaper content, RSS feeds, blogs, a news aggregator, and even a Facebook application. This is certainly the next logical step in their digital evolution. We should start seeing pieces of this API appear this summer.

via Read Write Web

Posted in Miscellaneous

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This is a very creative product that would make the perfect gift for any one. It looks like an ordinary mug with nothing special about it except that it changes colors depending on the temperature of the liquids in it. It uses heat sensitive materials so that the mug will change colors when introduced to heat from liquids. The black color is cold, and the white stands for the hot. The lettering on the mug will also change from cold to hot. This is a great way to know if your coffee is hot or if you should go and refill your cup. No more drinking lukewarm coffee with this mug. This gizmo will let you know when it is time for another coffee break!

Gimme!

More info from the manufacturer

Price: $25.00
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Posted in Gizmo of the Day, Tools, DIY, Home, Office

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by Nilay Patel, posted May 26th 2008 at 8:00PMGameStop leaked the existence of the $100 Rock Band Stage Kit back in January, and it’s updated the listing with the first pictures we’ve seen of the included smoke machine and strobe light. The smoke machine looks fairly ordinary, but the light features controls so Rock Band vocalists can apparently blind themselves while making selections. The kit’s listed with a ship date of August 15, but who knows if that’s accurate — and considering you can pick up a real fogger and strobe light sufficient to glam out your living room for all of $50, we’re not exactly waiting on pins and needles.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

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Talk about an unergonomic mouse for you to use - this unique computer peripheral comes in the form of a slightly flattened golf ball, with a mouse pad that resembles a green, complete with a flag, a putter and a tiny ball. Definitely not the mouse nor mousepad to use when you’re about to engage in an intense FPS, but this will probably be more of an ornamental gadget to golf nuts in the office who can’t wait for the weekend to arrive so that they can head out to the greens and hit a fair number of shots to get the week’s stress out of their system. The mouse isn’t just white as it can also light up in several colors to keep you amused during those slow afternoons at the office. No idea on how much this costs though.

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted May 26th 2008 at 9:36PM
Chicks and dudes, get ready for extremely spicy, delicious, and stimulating news. Remember those new DS Lite colors we mentioned a few days ago? Apparently Nintendo has all but confirmed the forthcoming arrival of cool ice, hot red, and lime green — at least in Europe. According to DS Fanboy, the big N has started circulating an e-teaser with the new paint jobs, which pretty much puts to rest any chance that this was just some over-eager Photoshopper’s weekend art project. The landing date of June 13th seems to be holding as well, but what we really want to know is when we can see some of these provocative color schemes Stateside. Well Nintendo?

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A new digital audio file format is aiming to change the way that we all listen to music. It’s being touted as a completely new form of music, and it’s called MT9. This is how it works: each MT9 file can be split into 6 different channels (one for each instrument or vocal track) and then each channel can be manually taken out as the listener deems fit. Want to learn how to play the lead guitar on “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots?” Take out all of the other instruments and listen to it with crystal clarity. Want to do your best Scarlett Johansson impression and sing Tom Waits all night? Then play his album and take out all the vocals, leaving all of the other instruments in tact.

If the Korean producers of this technology have their way, we’ll start seeing MT9 files all over the place as early as next year. If all goes well, then MT9 will be declared the new digital music standard file format, then they plan to have it on your computer, PMP, and cell phones thanks to investors such as Samsung and LG.

Read more at Idolator

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by Donald Melanson, posted May 26th 2008 at 3:11PM While it likely won’t hold onto the (slightly dubious) title for long at the rate mini-projectors are cropping up these days, Hong Kong-based Earth Trek has nonetheless gone out and proclaimed its new 90-805R projector to be the “world’s smallest” and, indeed, it is small. Measuring about 4 by 2 inches, the projector can apparently pump out a 22-inch diagonal image (no word from what distance), with an SD card slot and an A/V input provided via a 3.5 mm jack, not to mention a built-in speaker. No word on a price or release date just yet, but we’d assume they’d want to get it out relatively soon in order to beat the inevitable cellphone projector rush.

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted May 26th 2008 at 10:05AM
Things are looking good for the Phoenix lander which touched down on Mars at 4:53pm on Sunday, May 25. The NASA nerds are reporting an almost perfect landing, with the spacebot tilted only one quarter of a degree. In fact, they’re claiming that this landing was “far smoother than any simulation or test that was ever done.” The lander’s north-pole location is measured at -106 degrees Fahrenheit and chock-full of life-preserving ice. Phoenix will chill on Mars for 90 days, sniffing soil and looking for frozen Martians in whatever form they may take. Now that Mars Oddyssey — one of its main communication uplinks — has passed over the lander, we have our first pictures, one of which is above. Nice work, guys!

[Via The Phoenix Mission]

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Call me strange (hey, it wouldn’t be the first time - or even the hundredth) but when I shop online, I usually have a specific something in mind. A book, some pants, that episode of The Hills I missed on cable, you know, something I want.

But some people, they just like to shop. And apparently, they don’t care what they actually end up with: as long as they’ve spent money, they’re happy. The Something Store is the perfect site for these people - or anyone with an affinity for playing the odds.

You send the Something Store $10, and they will send you… something. Something non-returnable, at that. It could be something posh and exciting, it could be something you’ll never use. You might like it, you might hate it, but at least you’ll have got rid of some of that pesky cash burning a hole in your pocket.

Via Shiny Shiny.

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By this time everyone knows about Intel’s Atom processor, which is set to be released in early June. The processor is expected to be a big step forward for ultraportable devices and MIDs given it’s expected increased battery life and 45nm process. One issue with Atom so far though is that the first round of releases will be single-core processors. We know dual-core models are on the way but up until now have not had any firm news on their release.

According to Fudzilla, Intel will be releases its first dual-core Atom processors in Q3 of this year, which means there will not be much lag behind the release of the first set of models to hit the streets. They expect the dual-core model to be the Atom 330, a chip very similar to the 1.6GHz Atom 230. They will both have a 533MHz FSB but the 330 should have 1MB of cache, twice that of the single-core processor. The expected TDP of the Atom 330 is just 8W.

Read more at Fudzilla

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