Results tagged “gadgets”

D.C. culture may have its faults, but laziness certainly isn’t one of them. We work hard here (and, according to a recent Men’s Health poll, we play hard, too). We work so hard that many organizations and companies, particularly those in D.C., try to recruit new employees by promising a “work-life balance” -- something that used to be called simply “time off” or “after 5 p.m.” only a few short years ago. In a culture...

About 100 people were lined up outside the Apple Store in Clarendon at 2:45 p.m. today in advance of the 6 p.m. release of the wildly anticipated new iPhone. The first people in line arrived at 8:15 p.m. last night to stake out their ground, though at the halfway point, about 50 people in, one man said he had only been there since noon. Several people in line indicated they were waiting in shifts...

As April showers wane and spring becomes summer, much of Washington looks toward the shore for respite from city life. Just a few hours (and one long bridge) separate us from Ocean City, Md., home of crabs, boardwalk fries and recently-transplanted Fractured Prune donuts. Local Ocean City businessmen, unwilling to rest on these laurels, have begun stocking the ideal summertime accessory: the flask/flip flop hybrid. WUSA told us about it last night, but the shoe...

Don’t let the threat of Polonium poisoning crush your dreams of becoming a spy or the inevitable prison sentence keep you from robbing a bank. We understand your desire to solve ancient religious conspiracies shrouded in mystery and international intrigue, but perhaps you don’t want to get your hands dirty. Joshua Czarda, the brains behind Ravenchase Adventures, has a solution. He and his crack team of writers and actors want you to step inside a...

Written by DCist contributor Lindsay Gibson.

Washington is no stranger to the submarining of eco-friendly technologies; back in the 1950s, Capital Transit's extensive and successful District streetcar system was stripped of its license to operate and sold to new owners charged expressly with replacing the electric system with buses. Now a green techology that rose and fell in the 1990s is the subject of new debate in the city, and the Smithsonian is facing public scrutiny over its role in the controversy.

We know that this whole blog thing is confusing. We're pretty comfortable with it, but we certainly understand and sympathize with those who aren't. So when we receive press requests that assume we're obligated to run everything we're sent, we respond gently. When prospective writers stop emailing upon hearing that they won't get paid, we understand. But we receive enough of the following requests — surprisingly many, in fact — that we thought some clarification of our place in the universe might be in order:

Thought one of the sharp minds at DCist could help me with an article I'm writing. An editor here at [ glossy local lifestyle magazine ] wants a piece on the newest music gadgets; home, car, portable or otherwise. The criteria for said gadgets is that they will be available by June and that it's not just a mauve-colored Nano but something new and different. Personal experience with these gadgets (tired of that word already) is a huge plus. Thanks for your help and keep up the good work.

We certainly appreciate the kind words, but a free, RSS-enabled, no-attribution-needed research service, we're not. And honestly, for this sort of lifestyle fluff — the stuff we think we're good at — we're inclined to keep our insights for, you know, ourselves. But as our readers surely know, we often link to and expand upon work by other quality area publications. So we have a deal for the emailer. We're going to outsource this further to you, our readers, whose tips are generally much better than ours, anyway. In the comments, please let us know what nifty new music gadgets you're playing with or looking forward to (Apple has to be debuting three or four new iPods before June, right?). Our anonymous friend will presumably compile the best ideas, then sell them back to you in June along with the preceding month's important developments in cheap restaurant-ology. All we ask from magazinonymous is a hat tip. What do you say, readers? Safer ear buds? A music playing Segway? A gyroscopically balanced two-wheeled MP3 player? Let us know. Picture used is from www.apple.com.

If you just can't keep yourself from licking your hands and/or those delicious train poles while riding the Metro, the folks at City Mitts may have a solution for you. The City Mitt gloves are made out of a "brand new antimicrobial microfilter embedded with silver ions" which they claim will "prevent the growth of bacteria." Similar anti-bacterial silver treatments have been given to some cellphones, as well. The gloves are designed to provide sufficient grip for phones, credit cards, and anything else you might want to put your bacteria-resistant hands on. The gloves can also be worn off the train as well, providing ample anti-bacterial protection against all the other fertile microbial breeding grounds in your life, such as your computer keyboard, or your significant other.

Let's face it: most of the technology in the D.C. area is pretty boring. Okay, so the Raytheons and Lockheed Martins of the world get to play with their killer satellites, gigantic robotic spiders and assorted deadly curiousities. But aside from the de rigeur Blackberry, average Washingtonians haven't got many D.C.-specific gadgets for us to obsess over. With one exception: WMATA's SmarTrip card. Ever wonder how it works — or better yet, how to disassemble it and turn it into a keychain-ready size? If so, read on...

Welcome back, Washington. We hope you had a Turkey Day filled with food, family, and football triumphs. Now it's back to work, maggot! Hey, at least it'll be warm: today is likely to be rainy, but will have temperatures in the sixties. That's not bad for being on the cold side of Thanksgiving.

Annapolis Fire Destroys Building, Costs Millions: The weekend's big news was the blaze that tore through Annapolis's historic district. No one was injured, but the front of a jewelry store had to be demolished due to structural instability resulting from the fire. The Candy Factory and Main Street Ice Cream were also seriously damaged by the five-alarm fire. A fourth business, A.L. Goodies General Store, suffered smoke damage but remains open, according to the Post.

Post Exposes Wasteful City Spending: Sunday's Washington Post included a must-read article on the D.C. government's use of loopholes to avoid the bidding process on city contracts. Nearly a fifth of last year's expenditures went to unauthorized and no-bid contracts. As a result, $50 million went to waste. City CFO Natwar Gandhi says that the District's financial system is so broken that he has no choice but to cut checks for unauthorized expenditures. Mayor Williams — the man commonly credited with returning the city to fiscal health and discipline — declined to comment for the story.

Black Widow Strikes Again: Alexandria's own Sonya Thomas — aka "The Black Widow" — has another competitive eating title to place under her surprisingly small belt. On Wednesday Thomas consumed 4 pounds, 3.1 ounces of turkey in a New York competition. That's nearly five percent of her body weight. She walked away with first prize and $2500 for the feat.

Only 27 Shopping Days Left: The District's ten-day sales tax holiday began last Friday and lasts until December 4 (that'd be, uhh ... Sunday!). Don't forget to take advantage of the tax-free period. Also worth noting: today is "Cyber Monday." We suspect that this stupidly-named occasion is the invention of some uninspired ad agencies rather than an authentic retail phenomenon that suddenly sprung, fully-formed, from the great god of consumerism's forehead. But who cares where it came from — we need marginally cheaper consumer electronics, and we need them now! We didn't dare brave the malls on Friday; constantly refreshing our favorite bargain sites sounds like a better alternative.

Briefly Noted: Amber Alert issued... Couple charged with Montgomery County bank robbery... Woman's death on elevator leads to calls for improved regulation... Teen dies after Oak Hill brawl... Fire in SE appears to be homicide cover-up... Six youths arrested at Fort Totten Metro station... Baseball hearing set for today... WUSA: this is just sad...

Image posted to DCist Photos by dcJohn

Have you ever bought this book? Well you then probably have some left over electronics when you attempted the "Sonic Phasor Cannon, Electromagnetic Launcher, Tesla Coi [and] Ultrasonic Microphone." For those who have "obsolete electronics," the District will dispose of them free of charge this Saturday. According to the Department of Public Works: Many types of electronics contain significant amounts of potentially hazardous materials such as arsenic, lead and mercury. In the US it is...

(Editor's Note: With visitors from near and far flooding the city to look at the various popular tourist attractions, many locals retreat inward and often stay clear of the Mall and the monumental corridors. Today, DCist's Susan Breitkopf starts a series that will continue over the next few weeks where we'll look at some of the area's overlooked musuems.)

The Howard University student newspaper The Hilltop has just finished its first week of daily publication. The change makes Howard University the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to have a daily student newspaper. Editors at the award-winning 81-year-old paper told the Washington Informer they were inspired to switch from publication twice weekly to every weekday after meeting the editors of Wayne State University's South End. Editor-in-chief Ruth Tisdale told the Informer: "I thought to myself, they are a smaller school with a smaller staff and they produce a daily. If they can do it, then why not the Hilltop?" Editor-in-chief Tisdale also explained in a column the newspaper also made the switch to help their reporters get experience working for a daily newspaper in order to find work after graduation: "Because there has not been such an endeavor undertaken student journalists at HBCUs before, many recruiters passed over qualified and talented students from HBCUs because of lack of college daily experience."

DCist walked into National Treasure last weekend with high hopes. Although the Post may have maligned it as a "'Raiders of the Lost Ark' for people who slept through American history class," as a guilty fan of quasi-historical action flicks, we were expecting to be entertained. On that count the film didn't disappoint -- for the most part, the whizzes whizzed, the bangs banged, and the nonstop action was sprinkled with enough plot twists and fancy gadgets to keep our attention.

The Post explores today the electronic etiquette of the BlackBerry, the popular wireless email device. Although it was news to us, the Post assures us they're "sometimes referred to as CrackBerrys among addicted adherents." (Mmmm ... CrackBerry)