Gearfuse

According to the twice yearly CTIA survey about text messages and mobile usage, America sends an average of 4.1 billion, yes BILLION, text messages a day. Our grand total for the half-year so far is 740 BILLION text messages. What are we? A bunch of 12-year-old girls? How many of these conversations do you think took place with users right next to each other? Here are a few more stats that might rock yo’ boat:

• Some 1.1 trillion minutes were used in the first half of the year (or 6.9 million minutes per day)

• There’s 246 million mobile data capable devices out there. You know, phones, 3G cards for your laptop, etc.

• Carriers made $19.4 billion in gross revenue from data plans in the first half of the year. Again, that’s gross revenue, so you’d have to take into account how much it costs to keep everything working, salaries, etc.

Link [via]

We’ve covered our fair share of persistence of vision gizmos here on Gearfuse. You know, you wave something around in the air and the message is written in the air. You can easily get a kit and build your own POV toy but why bother? You most likely have an iPhone so just download the Light Writer app from the App Store. While I haven’t checked it out yet (and would love to), the app apparently lets you draw text and clipart in the air through POV techniques.

Can the iPhone really become a dedicated POV device? From the looks of these PR images, I’d say there’s a damn good chance.

Link

While I’d call this more of a crime of mischief than a hack, it’s still a neat write up that can let you wreck havoc in your town. By inspecting one of those portable road warning signs, you’ll find there’s a black numpad that allows you to enter letters. Just enter in a few key sequences and BAM!, you’re in. Let motorists know that there are “HUGE FAT BREASTS” up ahead and that delays are going to be “FREQUENT AND POOPY.” Ah, high school humor at work!

After the jump, the directions on how to properly hack said road sign. We’re not responsible for jack shit, including getting sued by your township or whatever. Use it at your own risk, you whippersnapper.
(more…)

In the days of the Cold War, espionage was a big deal. This was back when spy bots didn’t exist and spies relied on obtaining information personally. If you weren’t a spy, you might as well have swallowed cyanide because during the Cold War everyone was a spy. That’s why Brian Dereu wants to cash in on spy-wannabes everywhere. He’s started a new business selling hollow spy coins for 20 bucks a pop.

It’s a coin that’s been hollowed out so you can covertly transport secret messages, suicide poisons, microfilms and maybe even drugs. Hell, if you’re dropping a twenty dollar bill on nothing more than a coin, you’ll have to do some smuggling with it to make up for your loss.

Link [via]

Needless to say a hacker conference can take a lot out of a geek. That’s why this chill spot was put in. It makes watching the conferences upstairs relaxing, while hanging around in a hammock. If you had a computer you could partake in the humorous messages that would appear at the bottom of the screen displaying the speeches. The folks at the conference provided a web link that turned the hammock chill spot into a slew of comments displayed at the bottom of the screen from anyone using the site. “My ass hurts” and “there is a dildo missing from the art display” were two of the funnier comments made as everyone lounged around fiddling with their laptops.

The days of slapping magnets all over your refrigerator are thankfully over with the Jot Dry-Erase Refrigerator.  Leave messages, reminders, chores or just doodle right in the privacy of your own kitchen. Is someone drinking from the milk carton? Tell them to “Fuck off!” with one of the many colored dry-erase markers included.  Has the cheese gone bad? Leave a warning to your friends and family so no one is stuck cutting the proverbial cheese. At $549, you’ve got to ask yourself: what are you willing to pay to express yourself?

Link (via)