@methodshop

Here it is... video evidence of the new unreleased iPhone 1.1.3 software improvements. The embedded video below is a nice and thorough walk-through of the unreleased iPhone 1.1.3 feature updates hosted by Andru from GearLive.com. Watch it fast before Apple's lawyers take it down.

Anyone still think it's fake?





If the embedded video above doesn't load, then click here.

methodshop

Labels: iphone, tech news, video

Did you get a Sony PlayStation 3 or a Blu-ray DVD player for Christmas?

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is giving away 5 free Blu-ray DVDs to anyone who purchases a Blu-ray DVD player. The following companies are participating in the offer: Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung and Sharp.

Just download this form and choose 5 discs from a selection of 20. The discs are split into 5 categories, and you can only choose one from each.



Honestly, there are a lot of stinkers on the list but I did find a diamond in the rough... The Band's concert DVD 'The Last Waltz' directed by Martin Scorsese.


Here’s the list of 20 DVDs that you can pick from:

Category 1:

• The Prestige
• Wild Hogs
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Black Pearl
  

Category 2:

• Swordfish
• Superman: The Movie
• Full Metal Jacket

Category 3:

• Stir of Echoes
• American Psycho
• The Devil's Rejects

Category 4:

• The Patriot
• S.W.A.T.
• Ultraviolet

Category 5:

• Chain Reaction
• Hart's War
• Omen 666
• The Last Waltz
• Flight of the Phoenix
• Species

I picked The Prestige, Superman: The Movie, American Psycho, Ultraviolet and The Last Waltz. I'm excited to watch Superman and The Last Waltz in HD with surround sound. The other DVDs will probably get re-gifted.

You can find more info at http://www.bluraysavings.com/


methodshop

Labels: dvd, games

Call me crazy, but when a group of Police officers approach me holding guns and start yelling "Get down on the ground," I'm gonna listen. This guy... not so much.

Watch this clip first from the popular American TV series "Dateline: To Catch A Predator" (dateline.msnbc.com), then read my explanation. I've analyzed this YouTube clip frame by frame and watched it like 50 times. I think I've got it all figured out.

If the embedded video below doesn't load, you can watch the clip here.





The perp unknowingly shows up at a "Dateline: To Catch A Predator" sting house looking for a sexual encounter with an underage teen he met in a chat room. After Chris Hansen pops out and basically tells him that he's on national TV, the guy tries to put on his shoes and walk out the front door to freedom. But the cops are outside.

Continue Reading >>

Labels: offbeat news, TV

Call me crazy, but when a group of Police officers approach me holding guns and start yelling "Get down on the ground," I'm gonna listen. This guy... not so much.

Watch this clip first from the popular American TV series "Dateline: To Catch A Predator", then read my explanation. I've analyzed this YouTube clip frame by frame and watched it like 50 times. I think I've got it all figured out.

The perp unknowingly shows up at a "Dateline: To Catch A Predator" sting house looking for a sexual encounter with an underage teen. After Chris Hansen pops out and basically tells him that he's on national TV, the guy tries to put on his shoes and walk out the front door to freedom. But the cops are outside. They yell "Sheriff's office" and the perp panics and runs back inside the house. So the cops shoot him with a taser but only one of the taser prongs connects and he only gets a partial charge.



At this point the perp starts screaming like a little girl. Then the perp runs towards Chris Hansen and the Dateline NBC security guards usher Hansen away to safety. After the cops finally get the perp secured on the ground, he starts yelling for help from God. I don't know why this clip isn't on the dateline.msnbc.com website. It's riveting!

UPDATE: A tipster sent us the following: "This Dateline bust was in Bowling Green, KY. The guy is 24 years old. He came to meet a 13 year old girl. In a chat room he told her he was a police detective in Indiana. Actually he was only training to be a police officer but got asked to leave the department for violating procedures."

It's really scary to think that this guy could have been a cop.

If the embedded video above doesn't load, you can watch the clip here.


digg story | methodshop

Labels: internet, TV, video

Oops! Did you forget your OS X user account password? Make sure the CAPS LOCK key isn't on. 9 out of 10 times that's usually the problem.

But sometimes you might pick a password and then forget accidentally it. Don't worry. It happens. Just follow the directions below to reset your Mac OS X user account password.

Tutorial: How to Reset Your Mac OS X User Password

Labels: mac, tutorial

Like to smack penguins with baseball bats? Yes? Then here's a nice Christmas morning treat for the whole family. MethodShop has a series of Yeti winter games for your entertainment.

If you aren't yet familiar with Yeti Sports, then prepare yourself for one of the most humorous and addictive games on the Internet. Below you will find several variations of the Yeti game Pingu-Throw as well as some newer Yeti offerings. One of the more violent variants of Pingu-Throw, named "Bloody", features decapitation, spikes, a big spiky club and mines.

Should your Yeti catch the penguin at the right moment and angle, you might just hit one out of the park, or arctic continent. Good luck and Merry Christmas.

Yeti Games

• Yeti Pingu-Throw
• Yeti Pingu-Throw (Bloody)
• Yeti Pingu-Throw (Long Shot)
• Yeti Orca Slap
• Yeti Seal Bounce

methodshop

Labels: games, holiday

Like to smack penguins with baseball bats? Yes? Then here's a nice Christmas morning treat for the whole family. MethodShop has a series of Yeti winter games for your entertainment.

If you aren't yet familiar with Yeti Sports, then prepare yourself for one of the most humorous and addictive games on the Internet. Below you will find several variations of the Yeti game Pingu-Throw as well as some newer Yeti offerings. One of the more violent variants of Pingu-Throw, named "Bloody", features decapitation, spikes, a big spiky club and mines.

Should your Yeti catch the penguin at the right moment and angle, you might just hit one out of the park, or arctic continent. Good luck and Merry Christmas.

Yeti Games

• Yeti Pingu-Throw
• Yeti Pingu-Throw (Bloody)
• Yeti Pingu-Throw (Long Shot)
• Yeti Orca Slap
• Yeti Seal Bounce

methodshop

Labels: games, holiday

All professional photographs are usually touched-up a tiny bit. Sometimes specks of dust need to be removed, maybe the image needs a little bit of color correction or even a dose of red eye reduction.

Then there are images that get completely 'shopped (aka Photoshopped). For example, look at the terrible image of Oprah to the right from a 1989 issue of TV Guide. Oprah's head doesn't even look natural transplanted on Ann-Margret's body. It's ridiculous!

While "Photoshopping" an image might be a creative opportunity for artistic photographers and designers, for news editors, it can all be a bit of a nightmare once the public finds out.

Here are 7 of the most famous Photoshop fakes according to Photopreneur.com.


methodshop

Labels: advertising, pics, tech news

What happens when you stick a couple idiots in a golf cart and let them pull wheelies on an open street?





Doubt you'll see a scene like this at Trump National in Westchester. Maybe they were making an audition tape for Fast and the Furious 4: Hick Drift.

Here's a link to the clip in case the embedded video doesn't load above.


methodshop

Labels: video

Do you work in local TV ads sales? You might want to polish up your resume and send it to Google. According to WSJ.com (subscription required), Google is buying giant blocks of local TV advertising at discounted rates and auctioning off the time to the highest bidder online. They are calling the program Google TV Ads.

Google’s current partners in this endeavor are EchoStar and Astound Cable (a unit of WaveDivision Holdings LLC) and they are using Concord, California as a trial area. Astound Cable has 25k subscribers in Concord... just enough to test the computer and network infrastructure needed to broker and deliver commercials to cable systems more widely.

The entire process will be completely automated using a video version of Google’s highly successful AdWords reporting center -- from planning the campaign to uploading and serving the ad to reporting on its effectiveness. The flexibility of this model also allows advertisers to make changes to their campaigns as often and as quickly as they like. Google has even made a multi-year deal with Nielson giving them access to ratings data. This is the first time that advertisers and agencies will have this level of detailed measurement available in a single place and at such a large scale. Additional details of the agreement were not disclosed.

"This is an important, strategic relationship for both companies and a great fit," said David Calhoun, Chairman and CEO of The Nielsen Company. "We are pleased that Google looked to Nielsen to provide the demographic data that is so critical to the clients of its TV advertising platform. The relationship with Google – which we expect will expand significantly in the months ahead – is a prime example of the ways Nielsen is embracing new technologies, platforms and relationships worldwide to serve clients more completely, to provide companies with its insights and to help expand the base of potential advertisers everywhere."

Google has registered several domains to support this program including googletv.com and googlehdtv.net. Before Google launches new services, they tend to register Google.com based names before they create subdomains (ie. VIDEO.google.com, NEWS.google.com, etc.).

So what's Google's longterm plan for the television industry? Do they plan creating their own branded digital television DVR / satellite service? Garett Rogers from ZDnet thinks so. He posted these ideas on his blog.

Imagine the possibilities... You are watching Google Satellite TV through your "internet ready" Google DVR:

1. You receive a new Gmail and it pops up automatically on your TV
2. A ticker at the top of the screen shows recent news that interests you… or better yet, it shows new items from my Google Reader!
3. A more personalized TV experience which will serve up relevant commercials on commercial breaks based on your interests.
   

If you are an advertiser, you can buy an ad and participate in the Concord trial here: http://google.com/adwords/tvads/


methodshop

Labels: tech news, TV

2007 will be remembered as the year next-generation gaming came into its own. A veritable avalanche of quality software kept the Xbox 360 in stiff competition with Nintendo's upstart Wii, which is still in great part riding on the mammoth mindshare of Wii Sports.

Last year, WIRED's top 10 list was dominated by the swan songs of PlayStation 2. This year, next-gen platforms finally started to get games of similar polish and quality. WIRED's panel of gaming experts engaged in a vicious e-mail fight to narrow 2007 down to this top 10 list.



There are some questionable omissions from WIRED's, list like Metroid Prime 3 and Halo 3, but it looks like innovation and fun carried more weight than hype and sales numbers.

Here are their picks: WIRED's Top 10 Games of 2007


digg story | methodshop

Labels: games

The modern workplace isn't what it used to be... at least from our parent's perspective. Offices have made way for Cube Farms, it's easier to get promoted by leaving your company than by showing loyalty and sticking around,

Here are some essential vocabulary additions for the Web 2.0 workplace and beyond....

1. BLAMESTORMING: Sitting around in a group, discussing why a Deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.



2. SEAGULL MANAGER: A manager, who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.



3. ASSMOSIS: The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard.



4. SALMON DAY: The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.



5. CUBE FARM: An office filled with cubicles





6. PRAIRIE DOGGING: When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on.
   
   
7. MOUSE POTATO: The on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch potato.
   
   
8. SITCOMs: Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What Yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids.
   
   
9. STRESS PUPPY: A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny.
   
   
10. SWIPEOUT: An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless because the magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.
    
    
11. XEROX SUBSIDY: Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace.
    
    
12. IRRITAINMENT: Entertainment and media spectacles that are Annoying but you find yourself unable to stop watching them. The J-Lo and Ben wedding (or not) was a prime example - Michael Jackson, another.
    
    
13. PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE: The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.
    
    
14. ADMINISPHERE: The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve.
    
    
15. 404: Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error Message"404 Not Found," meaning that the requested site could not be located.
    
    
    
    
16. GENERICA: Features of the American landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, and subdivisions.
    
    
17. OHNOSECOND: That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake. (Like after hitting send on an email by mistake)
    
    
18. WOOFS: Well-Off Older Folks.
    
    
19. CROP DUSTING: Surreptitiously passing gas while passing through a Cube Farm.
    

methodshop

Labels: tech news

According to an article in the NY Times, the USPS isn't happy with Netflix because their red envelopes must be sorted by hand. The US Postal Service estimates that the manual sorting of 1.6 million Netflix envelopes per day is costing them about $21 million a year.



As a result, the USPS wants to add a 17 cent surcharge to every package that requires hand sorting - including Netflix DVD envelopes. Tony Wible, a Citigroup analyst who wrote the report, says that the income that Netflix receives per subscriber would fall from $1.05 to 35 cents and that Blockbuster’s return mailing envelopes do not cause this problem. This could make a big competitive difference for the 2 companies.

"We know that Netxflix, which mails out about 1.6 million movies a day, is clever enough to create a redesigned mailer sometime soon." ~ GearLive.com

BeSocial: methodshop

Labels: video

According to an article in the NY Times, the USPS isn't happy with Netflix because their red envelopes must be sorted by hand. The US Postal Service estimates that the manual sorting of 1.6 million Netflix envelopes per day is costing them about $21 million a year.



As a result, the USPS wants to add a 17 cent surcharge to every package that requires hand sorting - including Netflix DVD envelopes. Tony Wible, a Citigroup analyst who wrote the report, says that the income that Netflix receives per subscriber would fall from $1.05 to 35 cents and that Blockbuster’s return mailing envelopes do not cause this problem. This could make a big competitive difference for the 2 companies.

"We know that Netxflix, which mails out about 1.6 million movies a day, is clever enough to create a redesigned mailer sometime soon." ~ GearLive.com

methodshop

Labels: tech news, video

If you weren't the first guy on your block to bring home an iPhone, it looks like you'll get another shot to impress when the iPhone Platinum Edition becomes available next month. Goldstriker International, the fine folks who brought us the 24k gold iPod, will release the Power of Platinum collection in January. But you better act quick, because they are only making 250 of these bad boys.

As you can imagine there is quite a premium to own the world's first Platinum iPhone. Expect to pay about $2230 after the conversion from English Pounds. If the 250 units sell out as quickly as we think they will it's quite possible the phones will fetch a small fortune on eBay or at other auction sites. Keep your eyes on the Goldstriker website ( http://www.goldstriker.co.uk/aboutus.html ) early next month for your chance to buy the Platinum iPhone.

Goldstriker also offers a full line of professionally plated products ranging from laptop computers to keychains. You can also send Goldstriker your current iPod or iPhone and they will adorn the item in the precious metal of your choice. Turnaround is usually a super speedy 48 hours. We'll be interested to see what the always innovative Goldstriker comes up with next. For now we'll just keep on refreshing their website until we can buy the iPhone Platinum.

A PimpWiz Exclusive By Scott Bernstein

Labels: iphone, ipod

Facebook is now estimated to be worth more money than Ford. Is a Web 2.0 bubble burst coming soon?




Link to video clip in case it doesn't load.

BeSocial: digg story | methodshop

Labels: video

YouTube unveiled an expanded version of its Partners Program that will let some smaller producers in on its revenue sharing model. Creators with a "significant audience" on YouTube (as measured by video views, subscribers, etc.) who "consistently comply with YouTube terms of use" are invited to apply this time around.

YouTube was taken to task for leaving out the kind of creators that helped make it famous when it first introduced the program, which shares revenue from in-video ads and Google AdSense video syndication.

There are currently 100 accepted partners, from celebrity blogger Perez Hilton (2.5 million + views) to BBC World News (25,000+ views).

methodshop

Labels: tech news, video

So it turns out a white onion is not only good for salsa, but good for charging iPods too. Here is a video showing you how to charge an iPod with an onion, Gatorade and USB cable.

I knew those electrolights are good for something. For those not interested in watching a 3 minute video here is the down-n-dirty:

• put two holes on either side of your onion with screwdriver
• soak the thing in Gatorade until most is gone (about 1 cup worth)
• use the iPod USB cable and push in the USB connector into the onion.

Your iPod will turn on and charge shortly there. So for about 1 cup of Gatorade soaking into the onion will get you about 30 minutes of charge time.

Source: GetUSB.info
If you like this GetUSBinfo has other USB hacks and USB Tutorials.


methodshop

Labels: ipod, video

Here's a Hulu clip from 30 Rock where Liz talks to Cerie about the importance of wearing a bra to work.





BeSocial: methodshop

Labels: video

Joao Diego Schimansky, a student at Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Parana in Brazil, is one of eight finalists in the Electrolux Design Lab 2007 annual global competition. Schimansky designed a concept called "Fog Shower", a showerhead that consumes much less water than conventional showerheads. Conventional shower heads consume 26 liters of water for a five minute shower. By creating a fog of microscopic water droplets, the Fog Shower consumes only 2 liters of water for a 5 minute shower.



Schimansky believes that his eco-design manages to provide comfort and convenience while reducing negative impact on the environment. He points out that the Fog Shower is different than existing devices, which have to compensate for the inconvenience of the reduced water flow by increasing the water flow's aeration.

The Fog Shower can utilize renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power. In addition, the device saves energy simply because less water needs to be heated.


Read More: tfot.info | digg story | methodshop

Labels: environment

This half-scale reproduction of the Leg Lamp from the 1983 movie A Christmas Story isn't completely accurate, but for a mere $40 bucks it's probably close enough for most Christmas Story fans. And honestly, it's smaller scale will be more apt to blend in with the average living room. It certainly does with mine, never failing to draw smiling comments when a new guest first sees it.

I wonder how long it would take for HR to give me a call to "talk" if I brought my Leg Lamp to work?

My friend has been saying for years, in jest, how he'd love to have the Leg Lamp to place in the window of his house, for all the neighbors to see. And his wife has sworn that it would never happen... now she is going to kill us for getting him this for Christmas!




If only Amazon.com would mark the outside of the package "Fragile" so you too can become "The Old Man" for a nostalgic moment when the Leg Lamp arrives at your door.


Via: methodshop

Labels: gadgets, holiday, movies

This half-scale reproduction of the Leg Lamp from the 1983 movie A Christmas Story isn't completely accurate, but for a mere $40 bucks it's probably close enough for most Christmas Story fans. And honestly, it's smaller scale will be more apt to blend in with the average living room. It certainly does with mine, never failing to draw smiling comments when a new guest first sees it.

I wonder how long it would take for HR to give me a call to "talk" if I brought my Leg Lamp to work?

My friend has been saying for years, in jest, how he'd love to have the Leg Lamp to place in the window of his house, for all the neighbors to see. And his wife has sworn that it would never happen... now she is going to kill us for getting him this for Christmas!




If only Amazon.com would mark the outside of the package "Fragile" so you too can become "The Old Man" for a nostalgic moment when the Leg Lamp arrives at your door.

Review: The Leg Lamp


methodshop

Labels: gadgets, holiday, review

The band takes center stage, the fans surge forward and the sheer power of the crowd’s excitement amplifies the sound of their favorite songs - providing enough energy, in fact, to move a train.

It could happen in the Crowd Farm, a conceptual design by two graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that seeks to milk the mechanical movement of hundreds or thousands of assembled people to produce electrical power.



In principal, a large-scale version of the setup could harness the collective energy of commuters bustling toward subway stations, shoppers marching through mega malls or fans dancing at a rock concert. Already, the students have shown how the simple act of sitting on a stool can generate enough power to turn on four LED lights.

The Crowd Farm team takes inspiration from an old anecdote about Thomas Edison and a simple but effective turnstile. When visitors toured Edison’s summer property, the inventor allegedly asked them to pass through a peculiar turnstile. In response to their bemused queries, Edison would tell them good-naturedly that they had just helped him pump several gallons of water from his well into his storage tank.


Read More: msnbc.com

Labels: tech news

The band takes center stage, the fans surge forward and the sheer power of the crowd’s excitement amplifies the sound of their favorite songs - providing enough energy, in fact, to move a train.

It could happen in the Crowd Farm, a conceptual design by two graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that seeks to milk the mechanical movement of hundreds or thousands of assembled people to produce electrical power.



In principal, a large-scale version of the setup could harness the collective energy of commuters bustling toward subway stations, shoppers marching through mega malls or fans dancing at a rock concert. Already, the students have shown how the simple act of sitting on a stool can generate enough power to turn on four LED lights.

The Crowd Farm team takes inspiration from an old anecdote about Thomas Edison and a simple but effective turnstile.

When visitors toured Edison’s summer property, the inventor allegedly asked them to pass through a peculiar turnstile. In response to their bemused queries, Edison would tell them good-naturedly that they had just helped him pump several gallons of water from his well into his storage tank.


Read More: msnbc.com

Labels: environment