Here’s something I didn’t expect to find when I checked my email this afternoon: a video by Andy Milonakis (of The Andy Milonakis Show fame) showing off his Blackberry Curve “mod” for Gizmodo readers. Thanks Andy! We hope you feel better and don’t develop any sort of dependency on all that Ambien.

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Fact : guns from the future belong on your person. And this ray gun wallet is the best way to score pocketable space weapons for at least the next decade years or so. Handmade by sandwiching the geek chic design along with Japanese newspaper clippings between vinyl, the wallet won’t look like a laser-firing galactic dildo, but holding one in public may scare your friends and significant others all the same. Then again, you aren’t trying to look “cool” cool, which is why you’re thinking about laying down $13 for this wallet. [etsy via superpunch]

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As a Mac user, the one Windows feature I’m constantly a little jealous of is SideShow. Particularly, I dig devices like this Ricavision VAVE100. At its heart a powerful 20-device, backlit IR universal remote, the VAVE100 also sports a 2.4″ screen SideShow compatible screen with Bluetooth connectivity. So you can have all those SideShow gadgets in what may already be your most used hand held device.

One button gives you easy access to Vista Media Center devices ala TiVo or Xbox 360 controllers, and, like I said before, it’s neat and I wish it were compatible with my current setup. You can preorder the new VAVE100 now for $274, which will apparently save you $25 off the price it will run when it hits streets this February. [product via engadget]

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The BBC just did an interesting interview with The Pirate Bay (thieves or philanthropists?) Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde. Here’s a short, low-fi clip from the piece in which they discuss the future of their P2P protocol, a far more expansive project with more security for the end user. Hit the link for the complete interview for other interesting nuggets like their responses to why they run The Pirate Bay (technical challenge), if they pull content (child porn) and how much money they make (enough for beer after server upgrades). Hmm…just how much beer do these guys drink? [bbc]

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Our own pantsing expert Jason Chen recently wrote up 8 Reasons Why The PSP Might Overtake the DS. It was a fascinating article with some worthwhile arguments. But alas, he was completely, entirely wrong. Jason’s logic is the consumer electronic equivalent of Zeno’s Paradox, perfect in theory…but clearly fallible in real world testing. So here are my 8 reasons why the Sony PSP (though a great handheld system), will never, ever take over the might Nintendo DS.

• PSP Slim sold more in first 2 months only because DS Lite couldn’t.The PSP-2000 may have reinvigorated the platform, with Sony shipping 2 million units in the first two months. And that’s impressive, especially since total DS figures were only 1,828,621 over the same period of time. The difference? Nintendo didn’t sell/ship more because they were out of hardware–DSs were sold out everywhere. And it didn’t start with the DS Lite, either. From hardware importer Play Asia at the DS launch:

Hardware supply of the Nintendo DS™ has been tight since end of 2005, most shops were completely sold out for weeks and once supply arrived, all units were sold out like hot cakes. When Nintendo announced the new Nintendo DS™ Lite in the end of January, everyone was hoping for a hold back and increased supply upon release of the improved hardware…

• As long as we’re talking about sales, the DS has topped 40 million units worldwide. Sony has, respectably, reached 25 million. Both numbers look big, but remember, Nintendo already has a nearly 2:1 lead. And that’s plenty of breathing room when you…

• Nintendo has the one-two brand punch of Wii, which is the leading home console in the world. Since its launch, the Nintendo Wii has not been outsold for a month worldwide ever by the Xbox 360 or PS3. There’s simply no stronger brand right now in video games than Nintendo.

• The PSP doesn’t offer an alternative experience so the PSP will inherently always battle the PlayStation brand for market share. What do I mean? The PSP is exactly what it promises to be: a portable PlayStation. And while that’s great, the lack of a different interface on the PSP means that other than its portable nature, there is little gaming-wise drawing consumers to the product. In other words, Sony is essentially selling oranges and smaller oranges. Nintendo, in its two screens and use of touch, is selling oranges and apples. While this was a gamble originally, the public likes the unique taste of both flavors of gaming. Buying a Wii cannot replace the experience of buying a DS, or vice versa. So people are more tempted to buy both.

• The DS supports more than just the DS through backward compatibility. Sure, the PSP is great at playing PSP games. But with the DS, Nintendo took a lesson from Sony’s PS2 and made their portable compatible with Game Boy Advance titles (GBA). Is it a huge deal? Maybe not. But one thing’s for sure: backwards compatibility never hurt a console’s sales, especially when it supported such a large library.

• DS games sell better. Way better. Let’s turn away from consoles sold for a minute and look at the software moved–a stat just as important for the success of a platform. The PSP has no titles whatsoever in the top 100 of all time video game sales charts. Their best selling title is Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories which has moved a meager 4.5 million units…at least when compared to the success of the DS. From my count, the DS has 8 titles in the top 100 charts, with Nintendogs breaking the top 10 with 15.41 million copies sold worldwide. And it’s not the only title to move more than 10 million copies. Oh, and Mario and Pokemon and case closed.

• The casual market is the real deal. Whether you love it or hate it, casual gaming exists and it’s big. We’ve seen estimates as high as $2.5 billion a year (even if that number is a little questionable). Bottom line: the DS attracts both casual and “hardcore” gamers. Does the PSP do the same? I don’t think so.

• The DS just had the most successful week in history with Black Friday. Nintendo moved 653,000 DS units, the most consoles in one week ever.

So while the PSP is a wonderful machine and probably doesn’t get enough credit–honestly, it looks like two handhelds can get by just fine in this market–the PSP is not dethroning the DS. Sorry, it’s just not happening (see above). But a future PSP2 or PSPP or whatever? Who knows? Sony has done pretty well during their first foray in the portable industry.

[all sales data taken from vgchartz]

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According to software development firm Devil Mountain Software, Service Pack 3 for Windows XP is a “must have” update. Because when they ran Office productivity test suite on a preview version of SP3, they found performance boosts of 10%. So in case Windows users needed another performance-oriented reason not to upgrade to Vista, they just got one. [yahoo via lifehacker]

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In a recent interview with Gulf News, AMD’s CEO Hector Ruiz took the gloves off and went straight for Intel’s throat. Angry about Intel following AMD’s lead in areas like X86-64 (64-bit) technology yet dominating the market, Ruiz let loose to the media.

“If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel.

Oh, but there’s more!

Intel continues… to abuse their monopoly and that’s why around the world governments and regulatory agencies continue to go after them.

Oh no he didn’t. Oh yes he did. [gulfnews via theinquirer]

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Japan native CheapyD from gaming deals site Cheapassgamer got his hands on Nintendo’s new exercise game Wii Fit and undressed it for the world to see. Verdict: we forget how thin the board is. While the concept resembles step aerobics, nothing about the experience does (from the brief trade show hands on we had). So despite this being yet another extra console peripheral–putting the cherry on top of the Rock Band sundae that we call our living room–it should fit under a couch with ease. [cheapassgamer]

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Organic transistors are appealing for their cheap manufacture and flexible materials. But often when cooling, misaligned molecules trap electrons that destroy the chips’ bandwidth. A new breakthrough in organic, pentacene transistors has found that when these chips are left to sit in a vacuum, the material “self heals” at room temperature, realigning the structure properly.

And according to NewScientistTech, these chips double their performance when left to sit for a week. We’re guessing that the same healing principles could be applied to, say, normal wear and tear of hypothetical organically-chipped laptops…if they were stuck in a vacuum for repair. But if we really knew if that statement were true, we’d probably also be able to invent said laptop. [abstract via newscientisttech] [image]

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Epcot’s SpaceShip Earth ride was a little dated, so it’s been undergoing a major overhaul. And according to Distant Creations blog, a certain Apple celebrity will be making an appearance. Tinkering on a computer in his garage, the bearded “Jesus version” Jobs will be creating an early prototype Apple computer…alone.

That’s right, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak reportedly does not make an appearance in the scene (though we’re guessing he and Kathy Griffin may be necking in the back of the ride). Also of note: Distant Creations reports that the bearded figure may or may not actually be referred to as Mr. Jobs himself, but that it’s inarguable who the figure represents.

Sorry Woz. Methinks that groups of Apple haters and lovers alike will never visit Epcot again. [distantcreations via boingboing]

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