Microsoft Offering Free XBLA Game As Compensation For XBL Downtime [Microsoft]

The downtime Xbox Live has suffered since Christmas has really pissed holiday gamers off. Occassional dropouts here and there are understandable, but nearly two weeks of severe issues? That's tested a lot of people's patience with a service they've paid good money for. Something Microsoft are at least ...

How To Actually Enjoy The Simpsons Game [Clip]

The Simpsons game was a great concept. Had some good moments. Pity those were all cutscenes, then, and not the parts you actually got to play. Which leaves Simpsons fans in a pickle - how to enjoy the animated sequences and gags without having to submit yourself to cash expenditure and hours of gameplay? ...

New Portal Shirts Surprise Us [Portal]

And by surprise us, we mean surprise us by being good. Approaching clever, even. Unlike the rest of Valve's shirts, which are God-awful. Why the turnaround? Perhaps it's because we all love Portal so much. Perhaps it's the fact these shirts weren't designed by Valve's off-the-shelf shirt-design-a-bot, ...

Metroid-esque HL2 Mod Looks Like...Well, Metroid [Total Conversion]

Before your fanboy glands get too moist, know this isn't an official Metroid mod. That just wouldn't stick with Nintendo's lawyers. But a beam cannon on the arm, armoured female characters, morph balls...it might not be Metroid, but it's certainly a love letter to Samus and her series. Called Project ...

Resident Evil: Degeneration Trailer [Clip]

RESIDENT EVIL DEGENERATION TRAILERUploaded by PANZERDRAKO Things happen so quickly around here! You post a story about a woman needing a Wii and everyone jumps to help. Put up some images from the upcoming Resident Evil CGI movie and a couple hours later, you have a clip in your mailbox. Kotakuite ...

Tiny Business Card Calendar [Calendars]

Weighting in at the size of a business card, the tiny Thumb Calendar makes it possible to keep a calendar on you at all times. The Thumb Calendar is two sided and in order to use it, you must cover the dates that are not directly below the month header with your thumbs. The designer only has a PDF version ...

Skull Helmet

While I think anybody who rides a motorcycle without a full-faced helmet has a wish to have their jaw sheared off and wrapped around their trachea like a bone choker, I have a feeling the chopper-and-hog set have few such concerns. And as such, this Skull Helmet from Santiago Chopper meets their primary ...

Analogue Ring with Built-In Microphone

This attractive Sterling silver ring has as built-in microphone that can be used with a standard 3.5mm minijack plug. It gives new meaning to talk to the hand, right? Am I right here? What with the popular expression? Hello? Is this thing on? It's a custom jobber from Analogue Aesthetics and is ...

Lighted Shower Head Changes Color with Temperature

This shower head's embedded LEDs change color with the temperature of the water, going from white to blue to red as it heats up. Even niftier, though, is that it requires to external power source to work, instead powering itself from the pressure of the water itself, presumably with a small turbine. Right ...

Google Knols for Your Wikipedia Needs? [Ask The Readers]

Google is launching a Wikipedia competitor called Knols (or Knol—the Google Blog post pluralizes, but the screenshot shows only singular) into private beta, which will feature user-generated articles by single authors that are rated by readers. Each article is called a "knol" (which, according ...

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate Available [Featured Windows Download]

Windows Vista early adopters only: If you've been chomping at the bit to get your Vista PC more stable and efficient, you can get your paws on the release candidate of Service Pack 1, now available to the public for download. This is the release candidate, not the final release, so only brave, impatient ...

Speed Up Repetitive Typing with PhraseExpress 5 [Featured Windows Download]

Windows only: Previously mentioned freeware text replacement application PhraseExpress has updated with a couple of really impressive features, namely automatic text prediction and the handy clipboard cache, both of which you can see demonstrated in the video above. Like Lifehacker's own text replacement ...

Organize Your Money in 2008 with Wesabe [Feature]

As the last few days of 2007 slip away, make a New Year's resolution to get your finances in order with Wesabe. A few months ago Adam kicked Mint's tires. After giving Mint a whirl, I knew it wasn't for me. With Wesabe's plethora of features, open source mindset, and strong community backing I knew ...

Find Secret Amazon Discounts with DealLocker [Shopping]

Search for and locate incredible Amazon discounts with DealLocker's secret Amazon Discount service. Input an optional keyword and then choose the range of desired discount—anywhere from 10% off to 99% off. Unlike previously mentioned JungleCrazy, the secret finder gives much more comprehensive ...

Get a Free Copy of Vista Ultimate for Your Feedback [Limited Offer]

Snag yourself a free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate, Office 2007, or Microsoft Money Plus before December 31st by participating in Microsoft's Windows Feedback Program. Here's the catch: you must agree to letting MS peer over your shoulder and watch how you use your computer for three months with ...

New Material Provides Constant Light For 12 Years Without a Power Source [Heading To A Club Near You]

MPK, a company that has made a name producing glow-in-the-dark paint, has developed self-luminous micro particles called Litrospheres. The new material is said to be inexpensive (35 cents to light up a 8 ½ x 11 piece of plastic that is 1/8" thick), non-toxic, and capable of staying constantly lit for ...

Stream DivX/XviD to Xbox 360 From Your Mac [Software]

Remember Connect360, the app that let you stream music and video from your Mac to your Xbox 360? It's just been updated to support XviD and DivX functionality to match the fall upgrade you installed earlier this week. It still costs $20 if you haven't purchased it before, but you can try it for free ...

iPod touch Mic Dongle Looks Sexier Than Homemade [Mods]

One of the big projects at the iPod touch mods blog is snappy homemade mic dongle for VoIP that neatly fits into the dock connector. They've been documenting the process over the last couple weeks, and now they're finally ready to take orders. It's small, black and looks anything but DIY. They don't ...

Lawsuit Over Misleading HDD Sizes Could Introduce the Tebibyte [Hdds]

You know how when you buy a hard drive, the space you get is always less than the space it says on the box? Well, that's due to the difference between counting space using the binary method, which says that a megabyte is 1,048,576 bytes, and the decimal method, which calls a megabyte 1,000,000 bytes. ...

Wonder Sauna Hot Pants

Sometimes I wonder: When did American consumer culture reach the point of no return? (Most commonly I wonder this while nibbling a single chip from a family-sized bag of Doritos, tossing the remainder into an incinerator, since I only fill my bodily temple with the most unsullied "chosen" chips.) I ...