There is quite a bit of sturm und drang about TechMeme's decision to stop relying purely on its secret algorithm sauce and hire a human editor to help make sure more relevant news tops the popular technology news site. Founder Gabe Rivera said today in a blog post: "Only an algorithm would feature news about Anna Nicole Smith's hospitalization after she's already been declared dead, as our automated celeb news site WeSmirch did last year." Point taken, but not accepted by uber tech blogger, TechCrunch's Mike Arrington, who argues that a human interloper may improve the site but will...
A remake of British flick Day of the Triffids promises to restore the monster plant genre to its rightful place after the upset of The Happening. The new Triffids, a 3-hour BBC miniseries, has a few interesting twists on the original book, as well as the early-1980s BBC version of the tale about a meteor shower that blinds nearly everyone in the world. Being blind, of course, leaves everybody vulnerable to large, flesh eating plants. While the 1950s novel hints that the plants may be some kind of Soviet experiment, the subsequent BBC series makes it clear they're GMO...
by Ariston Anderson Until Barnstormer Chris Mendoza teamed up with Ray-Ban to custom paint 100 pairs of Wayfarers in his inimitable style, nothing would've torn me away from my trusty black ones. Chris's personal history with the brand dates back to his childhood when he'd see them on his father, who played for the Nicaragua national football team. The senior Mendoza, a close friend of Pele, defined hip for the young artist with his Wayfarers. And nothing much has changed. The $250 version that Chris came up with pays tribute to 1980s graffiti, is available in red, black and white...
Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. It's Porsche Day today, and we're getting our very first 924. So far we've seen one 356, a few 912s, a bunch of 911s, some 914s, a couple of 928s, and a pair of 944s (plus a faux Speedster), so it's about damn time I found one of these. They were still making the 924 in 1988? Yes, the 944 hadn't totally pushed its cheaper sibling aside as the 1980s drew to a close, though 1988...
Yesterday, 68% of voters felt that $129,900 was too much to pay for a 4-year-old lemon-law-buyback Maybach 57, which is doing pretty well according to the harsh standards set by Nice Price Or Crack Pipe. Today we'll be considering a super-low-mileage, near-showroom-condition Dodge Daytona… but we're not talking about the kind of Daytona with the big wing and U-joint-bustin' V8. No, we mean the K-car-based Daytona Turbo Z, which is pretty much the concentrated essence of 1980s style. It's got lots of plastic body parts. It's got the word "Turbo" printed in multiple locations. It's got 142 factory horsepower, and...
TECH BUZZ: A Thanksgiving variation of the popular 1980s Nintendo game Duck Hunter. Try to shoot as many turkeys as you can. The level of difficulty is control by how many glasses of Sherry you've drunk. It's like a 2.0 version of Duck Hunter, only with Turkeys and Sherry. What's your high score? Contribute: Add an image, link, video or comment » The Best Links: Play Turkey Shoot!...
Remember Pin Art, the classic 1980s executive toy that invariably depicted a handprint or the side of someone's face? Now they make a clock that displays the time in similar fashion. It has 3,000 pins, requires D-cell batteries, and costs a still $70. You Can Hear a Pin Clock [Uncommon Goods]...
I am not really sure if anyone needs this but Tokyo-based design company Powershovel is selling a very special kind of telephone receiver [JP], you know, the ones you can only see in old movies. The devices, probably last used in the free world in the 1980s, are called Yubz and can be connected to most Japanese handsets. In fact, in the online shop [JP], Powershovel even claims the earpieces can be used with all existing cell phones except for Nokia and Motorola models. The receivers cost $65 each and are available in black, yellow, pink, red, white and...