Bizarre - SlashGear

‘bizarre’ Stories

Galaxy Nexus launch day blunders

Chris Davies, Nov 17th 2011 Discuss [12]

Samsung's Galaxy Nexus went on sale in the UK this morning, but retailer Phones 4U's exclusivity period hasn't gone entirely smoothly. The first in line this morning to buy the Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone - promptly tweeted out by Samsung UK - actually received a device running what was apparently a test ROM, Engadget reports, and had to return to have his phone exchanged. Meanwhile, Phones 4U has confirmed to us that, while no mention of SIM-free handset sales is made on the company's site, the Galaxy Nexus is available unlocked and off-contract; in fact, we believe more unlocked devices than contract devices have been sold today. Read The Full Story

DIY Laser Ball is 21st century human cat toy

Chris Davies, Nov 17th 2011 Discuss [1]

If there's one criticism we've always had about laser pointers it's that only one person can run the risk of blindness at a time; thank goodness for tinkerer Matthew Leone's DIY Laser Ball project, which opens the door to up to 14 lasers. Leone's awesome Instructable packs a tennis ball with lasers and a microcontroller to create what's described as "a cat-toy for humans" or a remote control "first-generation lightsaber training droid." Read The Full Story

250k tire stack in Calhoun County spotted from space

Shane McGlaun, Nov 16th 2011 Discuss [11]

The Chinese are busy with their lines and shapes in the desert while someone in South Carolina has been busy racking up a massive collection of old tires to the tune of roughly 250,000 of them. The site where the tires have been dumped is on private land that is located between Highways 6 and 267. There is no address to the property according to officials. Read The Full Story

Nintendo skewered over Mario raccoon cruelty

Chris Davies, Nov 15th 2011 Discuss [25]

Nintendo has come under fire from animal rights activists, livid that iconic character Mario wears a fur Tanooki suit in Super Mario 3D Land. PETA has launched a minisite titled "Mario Kills Tanooki" - complete with a playable game - to highlight the similarity between the Tanooki suit and the tanuki raccoon dogs who, in real life, are skinned alive. Read The Full Story

RIM speaks on user defections: Buy our new stuff

Chris Davies, Oct 21st 2011 Discuss [2]

RIM has responded to allegations that a significant number of its enterprise customers plan to defect from the BlackBerry platform in 2012, suggesting that they're probably unhappy because they're not using the latest models from its range. The Canadian company has not had a chance to review the EMA findings - which discovered 30-percent of businesses with 10,000 or more BlackBerry users intend to ditch the platform next year - it said, but "would be interested in finding out" whether those questioned were using BlackBerry 7 phones on Enterprise Server v5.0.3. Read The Full Story

Nokia tune goes Dubstep with prize-winning remix

Chris Davies, Oct 10th 2011 Discuss [9]

Nokia has revealed the winner of its Nokia Tune contest, the company's search for a 21st century update to the classic "diddle-uh-duh" jingle familiar from millions of handsets, and it's quite the departure. The handiwork of 22 year old Italian sound designer Valerio Alessandro Sizzi, the Nokia Tune Dubstep Edition will show up alongside the default ringtone on 100m Nokia devices in 2012. Read The Full Story

MB&F Legacy Machine 1 watch floats the balance wheel

Chris Davies, Oct 4th 2011 Discuss [2]

Bizarro watch maker MB&F has launched a new model, and while the new Legacy Machine 1 (LM1) may not be as obviously eye-catching as a fey purple owl, a second-glance shows this is just as unique as their previous "horological machines." Built around a brand new movement - visible through a crystal back - the LM1's distinguishing feature is the balance wheel, pulled up front to float actually above the face itself. Read The Full Story

Samsung custom bike wants to take your Tab 10.1 tandem

Chris Davies, Sep 29th 2011 Discuss [4]

Samsung has collaborated with bicycle specialists 14 Bike Co to create a customized road bike complete with a holder for the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The tablet holder itself is made from the same carbon fiber as used in F1 cars, 14 Bike Co claims, while the bike itself uses a steel frame and has a two-tone black and white paintjob. Read The Full Story

Faster-than-light Neutrinos could undermine Einstein

Chris Davies, Sep 23rd 2011 Discuss [9]

Einstein’s theory of special relativity, one of the core tenets of modern physics, could have been discovered flawed according to particle speed experiments by a group of Italian scientists. The team found sub-atomic particles fired from the CERN particle research facility in Geneva toward the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy arrived quicker than light would be expected to, Reuters reports, with the neutrinos turning up at the scientists’ sensors 60 nanoseconds earlier than light could.

Read The Full Story

Bartz: Yahoo! board “f*#ked me over”

Chris Davies, Sep 8th 2011 Discuss [38]

Former Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz has struck out at the company's board, saying that "these people f*cked me over" and revealing that she bluntly challenged chairman Roy Bostock when he fired her over the phone. The ousted chief exec asked Bostock "why don't you have the balls to tell me yourself," she said in interview with Fortune, after he reportedly read a prepared statement from the Yahoo! legal team rather than tell her in his own words. Read The Full Story

Google Freddie Mercury Doodle wows Queen fans [Video]

Chris Davies, Sep 5th 2011 Discuss [4]

Google has revealed a new homepage doodle which celebrates the birthday of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, an ambitious multimedia animation that sees the flamboyant entertainer - who would have been 65 this year - navigate the lyrics of his hit "Don't Stop Me Now." The 1:39 long piece sees Mercury straddling an 8-bit tiger, blasting alien spaceships with a rainbow Google-ray, and riding a float pulled by mustachioed bears. Read The Full Story