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.

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]

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]

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]

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 Xeno's Paradox, perfect in theory...but clearly fallible in real world testing. So here our 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 right now 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, constantly overshadowed by the DS--two handhelds can get by just fine in the massive market--it's 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]

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]

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]

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 sunday that we call our living room--it should fit under a couch with ease. [cheapassgamer]

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]

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]

The retro mini MOB cellphone may seem like it's only good for a laugh--allowing collegiate rebels to mock the 80s business man while simultaneously buying into his very ideals--but it's actually not quite as big as you may think at (err...only?) 11cm by 3.5cm. And modern amenities like an MP3/4 player, MiniSD slot and camera make the phone feel less like "roughing it" than drinking free trade coffee during an open mic night. But what's really attractive to us? Three days of talk time. Did someone say party line? [product via techdigest]

Tis the season to build repurpose crazy electrical contraptions for a little merriment. From Peter Terren, the same crazy Aussie who brought you hits like the Tesla "Eye of Sauron Anti-Theft Device" has now transfigured Tesla coils to a festive Christmas tree shape. The trick was pulled off by building a frame (held together with wire and fishing line) around a standard Tesla coil to shape the spark pattern. Color was added after through simple color filter projection. So no, no one has invented fabled green electricity. Hit the jump for two more astonishing pics.

Star detail.
[tesladownunder]

Today NBC pulled their lineup (including NBC owned sites, such as Sci-Fi and Bravo), and ended their deal with the iTunes Music Store after a little catfight they had with Apple and El Jobso. However, as Italian blog setteB.IT points out, some shows from NBC owned networks are still up on iTunes, leading some people to ask, WTF?

To clarify, this happened because NBC doesn't own the distribution rights to all the shows they broadcast. In the world of television, networks and production studios are separate entities. It's not uncommon for a studio such as NBC will produce a show that will air on another network like ABC or Fox. And generally, the production studios get the final say as to how a show is used after it airs on television (i.e. DVDs, syndication, etc...). In this case NBC didn't get the say on all its shows on the iTunes Music Store. That explains why some shows, such as Chuck (pictured above and produced by Warner Bros.) are still on iTunes.

It also seems only this season of NBC shows have been pulled. Prior seasons of NBC shows previously sold are still available in their entirety. [setteB.IT]

We've already covered a juicy rumor about Motorola developing Motorola Z10 successors known as "Zine." Hmm...maybe that's Zines when pluralized. Anyway, Motorola has filed a trademark for "Zine" in relationship to the following huge blockquote of smartphone technology categories:

Mobile telephones, pagers, radio transceivers, electronic personal organizers, headsets, microphones, speakers, carrying cases and phone holsters, computer software and programs used for transmission or reproducing or receiving of sound, light, images, text, video or data over a telecommunications network or system between terminals and for enhancing, interacting and facilitating use and access to computer and communication networks; computer e commerce software to allow user to safely place orders and make payments in the field of electronic business transactions via a global computer network or telecommunications network; computer game software for mobile handsets; computer software and programs for management and operation of wireless telecommunications devices; computer software for sending and receiving short messages and electronic mail and for filtering non-text information from the data; digital cameras, video cameras; data cards, modems, global positioning units, batteries, battery chargers, power adapters, antennas...[and] Wireless telephone services and electronic transmission of data and documents via communications networks and global computer networks.

Looks like our intel was pretty good and Motorola has eliminated their anti-vowel bias once and for all. [trademark via trademork]

I4U points out that when acquiring some Wiis from wholesalers, they were surprised to find that the price had increased from last year. While the Wii retails for $250, in 2006 they had to settle for a $476.11 pricetag for just the Wii system. This year, that number has inflated to $538.80. Continue on for rant.

Obviously our first reaction, sorry I4U, is never buy a Wii from their store (and for other absurd prices, just check out Amazon's third party seller options). Direct from your favorite chain retailer still seems like the best bet to score a Wii, because while they are in short supply, at least you can buy one for $250 (what the Wii should cost).

And hopefully consumers won't give in this Christmas and spend too much on the console...again. A wholesaler moving a Wii for over double retail is nothing more than a scalper. It's hard to believe that modern technology distribution models would support such deplorable behavior that benefits so few.

I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of the wholesale world, but I think it's time for Nintendo to take names and be more choosy to whom they sell their consoles. And maybe resellers who are complaining about ridiculous wholesalers shouldn't be supporting them either. [i4u]

If Ben Heck modded speedboats, I like to think it'd turn out similar to Malibu's Z06 Corvette Speedboat, which is Frankensteined with a 505-HP LS7 Corvette Engine. Every aspect of the boat, from the hull right down to the trailer it rides on, is influenced by the design of the Corvette. Looks like that Ferrari-powered boat from One Crazy Summer finally has some competition in the water. More photos over at [Jalopnik].

The Sony TZ91 is available in two flavors. You can get the computer with a standard 5400rpm hard drive, or you can load it up with a 64GB solid state drive (for around a $1000 price premium). Check out this video to watch the SSD toast the moving hard drive by about 12 seconds when booting up. So just what is your time worth again? [sysadmingear]

The international yacht show, which ran earlier this year, saw some crazy yachts on display. Best of the bunch had to be the Superyacht concept, by Focus 21 France. Yachts are generally pretty super in their standard yacht state, but the Superyacht can fly, and that makes it the daddy.

If the calm sailing speed is just not getting you to your destination fast enough, hit the launch button (we like to think there is a button labeled "launch" in the cabin), and you shall be flying above the water's surface. Flying--in a yacht! The aviation antics will persist for a maximum of 100km, but hey, the party trick remains evergreen. If you had one of these, you probably would have no need for that sexbot (NSFW), as the Superyacht increases your chances of getting laid by a factor of one million. A fact Focus 21 France failed to advertise.

The Superyacht body is designed as an aerofoil, which means the whole body is one giant wing. Additionally, the air/sea cruiser will be able to hold up to fifteen passengers carrying baggage...it's probably best you tell your girlfriend there is no baggage space, or you'll end up with no space for friends. Tough call--you're going to get an earful when she does realize there was room for at least a few suitcases. Life was easier with the sexbot, eh? Like some distinguished rapper said; "Mo money, mo problems." Why the "-re" endings were left off the word "more," shall always remain a mystery to us. [Synfo]

Google Street View will soon cease to be fun. Because while we were once able to enjoy the antics of strangers photographically busted outside of kiddie strip clubs, Google has announced that they will begin blurring all faces and license plates in Europe's soon-to-be-launched version of Google Street View. And according to a Google rep, the US will likely follow in the future. Seriously though, this is good news.

If only so Haroon can finally argue to his "girlfriend" that maybe it wasn't him...sitting in his car...filled to the brim with scantily clad transvestite hookers. [infoworld via therawfeed and image]

If you are pretty good with the old reading sills, you'll know from the title that Sony's XEL-1 OLED display just had an unboxing worth perving over. It might look like a bad day at Abu Ghraib prison from the top photo, but click through to see the slinky screen in all its anorexic, model-like glory.

It has been an OLED fantastic week here at Gizmodo, and this just polishes off all the dinky display shenanigans. The 1000000:1 contrast ratio has us all dizzy with excitement, but we cannot but help notice that hefty base. We did not make much of it the first time we heard word of the XEL-1, but it seems as though Sony are trying to push a pseudo-skinny on us. We shall excuse them, as we just can't get over that ridiculous contrast ratio. Did we mention it? 1000000:1! That's just crazy talk. If it wasn't Sony, we'd say it's black magic at work. We wait for our own XEL-1 to arrive...oh, it's a long dark wait, with a comparatively pathetic contrast ratio to boot. [TV Snob]

If you have fingers as big as chorizos and want to click with more precision on the iPhone, here's the Pogo Stylus. According to the manufacturer the Pogo Stylus is the first device of this kind for the iPhone and "has been engineered using a patent-pending technology to simulate the touch of a finger on the Multi-Touch display." OK, so, felt. In a plastic roll. Black, gunmetal and silver. $24.95. Tickle away. [Pogo Stylus]