Apparently, someone mistakenly ran a command on the company server to delete all files in a directory and subdirectory. The catch was the command was executed in the main root directory for Toy Story 2. Pixar then found out its backups were incomplete leaving it with months and many, many hours worth of lost content. Luckily, a worker who worked from home had more recent copy of the film stored locally on her computer. The result was a loss of some data but nothing as catastrophic as originally thought.

The Pixar team is able to look back at the story with a sense of humor in the short animated clip below:

Ironically, once the film was recovered and nearly complete, Pixar decided they didn’t like how it turned out, and eventually reshot much of the film with just months before its theatrical release.

[via TheNextWeb]

The tower’s front panel and the monitor’s frame are both made of walnut lumber. The menacing red orb in front of the 4M isn’t an eye, although it really is a window to its soul. The brass window has a magnifying lens that lets you see the CPU cooler inside. I’m not sure if the joystick controls the lens or if it’s at all functional. Maybe it opens a pod bay door somewhere.

Check out Hultén’s website for more pictures.

[via designboom via Laughing Squid]

Within the next 8 years, computer experts expect supercomputers to push into the exaFLOP range. It’s hard to wrap your mind around just how fast that is. An exaFLOP system could run a billion, billion operations every second, which is more operations per second than 50 million laptops can muster. The fastest supercomputers today are in the petaFLOP range.

The fastest current supercomputer is Fujitsu’s K computer (pictured above) and is installed in Japan. That machine is good for 10 petaFLOPs. Based on estimates, supercomputers expected to go online by 2020 will be about 1000 times faster than that machine, which should be a boon for research scientists who have to crunch massive amounts of data on a regular basis.

[via CNN]

At the core of the build is an old pump organ, with an iMac integrated into the top, and surrounded by an antiqued frame. The keyboard is placed neatly in the center alongside some brass vent registers which look perfectly at home on either side.

The analog voltage gauges have even been rigged up to display pertinent stats from the computer as well, though I’m not sure if that old phone or camera above the screen actually are functional or not. Though he does mention something about being able to use the phone as a gaming headset, and I’m betting that camera is a webcam.

The images you see here are of David’s own Difference Engine, but for $3,000(USD) he’s willing to build you one of your own – assuming you provide the PC or Mac, and are willing to come to Gloucester, Virginia to pick it up. It’s not exactly the kind of thing you can easily send through the mail, right?

If you’re interested in having your own custom steampunk Difference Engine built, drop over to Etsy and contact David. While you’re over there, be sure to check out his steampunk gatling gun and jetpack (aka “The Morgan Aeronautical Destroyer of Satans Arrogance.”)

I think the eye-tracking control technology that a company called Tobii showed off about this time last year could have even more potential than other motion control systems, since it could be used while simply sitting at your desk, instead of having to flail your arms and legs about.

Last week, Tobii was demonstrating the latest version of its optical tracking technology at CeBIT called the IS-2 Eye Tracker module. The new module promises to be more responsive and fit a wider range of hardware including gaming machines than the technology unveiled last year could handle. The promise of this technology is the ability to control a videogame or mouse cursor using nothing but your eyes.

The technology uses a pair of infrared projectors that shine on the user’s pupils and a pair of small cameras that record the position of the pupils as the user looks around. The position of the eyes is then sent to a processor on board that turns that into the movement on the screen. The system is said to be very easy use and accurate. In addition to being much smaller, the new version is said to be significantly cheaper than the first-gen model. At this point Tobii, hasn’t announced any consumer products based on the tech, but is offering the IS-2 on an OEM basis to computer and display manufacturers.

[via ZDNet]

The PowerUSB has three outlets to turn off your accessories when your computer power goes off. A fourth outlet is on all the time for the computer. The value-add for this particular power strip comes in that you can set the outlets to stay off all the time unless specific things happen. What that means is you can tell the strip to leave the outlet where your printer is connected off until a print job is needed. In addition, you can use the software to switch connected lights and fans on and off if you’d like.

With these programmable conditions available, this strip will save a lot more power than your average simple on-off device. I also think it would be cool if you could leave your speakers off until audio was playing – but I’m not sure if you can do that with the included software.

The PowerUSB Basic needs a single USB connection to your computer and a wall outlet to operate. There’s also an advanced Digital I/O version, which lets you use external electrical triggers to turn outlets on or off. Prices start at $69.99(USD) for the Basic and $89.99 for the Digital I/O version.

[via EverythingUSB]

While you might have thought it would be riddled with bullets, or maybe involve a horse head, it’s really just a massive, powerful PC in an ornate case. Inside, a 1940 Cadillac Fleetwood spins on a turntable as Don Corleone keeps his watchful eye on the mobo, power supply and cooling system, powered by MSI and Cooler Master components.

Under the hood (of the PC, not the car), there’s an MSI Z68A-ZD80 mobo, with a Intel Core i7-2600K Quad-Core CPU, 16GB of DDR3 RAM, a pair of MSI GeForce GTX 550 Ti Cyclone II OC graphic cards, two SATA3 120GB SSDs, 1TB and 2TB hard drives, powered by a Cooler Master Silent Pro M850 power supply, and cooled with V8 and Excalibur fans.

The guys over at Case Mod Blog spotted the Godfather PC casemod at the recent Campus Party event in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The case was made by Omar Majzoub – the same guy who brought us last year’s evil-filled Chucky casemod.

Maybe it’s just me, but I expected more blood.

[via Case Mod Blog and Bahia.com]

[Image Credit: Flávio Croffi - Techtudo]

The Legacy case was designed by Maxime de Keiser of Les Forges MDK. The design is supposed to be a tribute to the original Mac 128K computer – minus the brick-shaped mouse, black and white screen and 3.5″ floppy drive.

While I like what they’ve done, I wonder if they’ll be able to produce it. If they do, it will probably be quite popular. Would you make your iPhone look like this?

[via Highsnobiety]

The foxLO is small enough that you can hide it behind your desk or even inside the desk without issues. The dimensions of the little device are just 2.5″ H x 4.5″ W x 6.3″ D, which is small enough to fit under the cramped quarters beneath my desk. The gadget has a pass-through output for use with speakers without a subwoofer output, as well as adjustable bass levels.

The sub is able to deliver deep bass from such a small package thanks to its Linear Magnetic Drive, which sounds like a way to launch spaceships to me. The amp inside the box is a 25W unit and there is a passive radiator system as well. It also has a charging port for your iPhone or other USB device on the side too. The point of this is to supplement the low-end for soundmatters’ foxL speaker system. The foxLO will retail for $149(USD) and will hit stores this spring.

Researchers from the University of Virginia and Microsoft Research are now saying (opens PDF) that in the future, people might purposely host small “data furnace” server farms in their home to be able to produce the heat needed to cool the place. I think this would make more sense for data farms or businesses than individuals. According to the researchers, if you had a server that had 40 mainboards and processors inside you could create some serious heating capability.

In fact, they claim that if you had 110 of those mainboards inside a server room in a home you could heat the entire place, as well as a furnace from the server heat alone. The downside is that if the room temperature reaches 95F or higher you would have to shut the servers off to prevent overheating.

[via NYT]

Selling for under $300 (USD), the PlayBase is also more affordable than an iPad. You get a 7-inch screen, and a 1.2GHz Rockchip RK2918 Cortex A8 processor with 3D acceleration. It runs on Android 3 and has 1GB of DDR3 RAM. It measures just 9.7mm thick, and has a shock-absorbent silicone cover that will prevent scratches, but it can also be folded back to function as a stand. There’s also a front-facing camera, and an accelerometer.

The Karuma PlayBase is selling for £170 ($270 USD) and will be available for pre-order on November 15th. Retail sales start on December 1st.

[via Ubergizmo]

For now, the Motorola Photon 4G and Motorola Atrix are the only smartphones that will work with the Lapdock 100, but that’s better than the older models which each had a different dock. It’s a bit chubbier than previous models, weighing about 2.2 pounds, and offers a 10.1″ screen. It’s a nice concept, but I doubt that the current crop of phones are truly fast enough to replace a decent laptop.

For now, the pricing of the new Lapdock hasn’t been announced, but the outgoing models sold for around $500 (USD). It will need to be a lot cheaper than that for more people to adopt it, especially when you can pick up decent netbooks for under $300.

[via Ubergizmo]

So when you see this strangely-shaped device on NBC’s The Office, you probably won’t think it is, out of all things, a tablet. But it is. It was launched last Thursday on the show, becoming the first ever tablet to harness “pyramid power.” It’s release was sort of overshadowed by that of the Amazon Kindle Fire, which is why you might not have heard of it – until now, that is.

Sabre’s triangular tablet weighs a little less than three pounds if you don’t attach the optional battery pack and memory booster. Dunder Mifflin’s Dwight Schrute presented the new tablet to the crowd, and while it doesn’t look like it has any cameras whatsoever, it does have a 50L memory capacity.

[via Gadget Lab via Dvice]

This German-made chalkboard “laptop” is also a good way to poke fun at people hiding behind their laptops during meetings. There are two surfaces you can use as a chalkboard, one is situated where you’d find the “screen,” and the other is where you’d find the” keyboard.” The “trackpad” is hollow and allows you to stash extra chalks.

You can buy the i-Wood chalkboard laptop at Rasselfisch for €35 (~$47).

[via Swissmiss]

The MegaPad was hacked together by Martin Drashkov. He believes that there is room for a touchscreen device as large as this, citing two-person computing and gaming as one example (Arthur Nishimoto’s awesome set up comes to mind). Drashkov used Android for his device because he believes that the “openness and flexibility make it the only modern touch-based OS that is able to be adapted for uses beyond what’s currently available in the market.” He didn’t mention which flavor of Android his MegaPad is on though.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As I said earlier, this thing is relatively cheap – Drashkov claims he put it together using off-the-shelf parts with a total cost of less than $600 (USD), less expensive than high-end versions of some tablets. I’m still not totally sold on a device this large having a touchscreen only interface. Also I think it would be better if Drashkov made it so the MegaPad could be positioned horizontally or at least at an angle so you can work on it like a desk and make it easier for more people to use it simultaneously. I’ll update this post when Drashkov releases the MegaPad’s specs, but if you want you can also directly keep an eye out for the details on his blog.

[via Gizmodo via Dvice]

But before you start hoarding computers and drooling at the prospect of earning money without doing anything, know that CPUsage will “only” pay you $10 (USD) a month for every four hours of daily work – or about $10 for 120 hours monthly – that your silicon slave does. I’m pretty sure that that’s not even enough to cover the cost of electricity that your computer will consume in that same time period.

Edit: CPUsage co-founder and CEO Jeff Martens corrected my assumption in his comment below, saying, “I’d like to address the electricity usage. In our analysis, the most power hungry Dell dekstop would consume about $7/month in electricity if the CPU was pinned at 100% utilization for the entire month…every minute of it (depends on your state’s electricity costs, of course). While it is unlikely that CPUsage would utilize your computer every minute of every day for an entire month, that same Dell desktop would earn you in the area of $75 in rewards. For $7 in electricity.” Learn more in this shaky-cam interview with Martens:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As Martens said in the video, the longer you lend them your computer’s power, the more money you’ll earn. Also, the more power you lend, the more money you’ll earn. But still, I don’t think people should expect to earn big money from being a CPUsage participant. Speaking of earnings, it’s not clear yet whether CPUsage will pay people with actual money or with gift cards.

Still, if you frequently use your computer anyway, then it would be nice to get the most out of it and earn a few bucks or items. Then again I’m no computer expert – who knows, there might be a way to game this system and earn lots of money from it. Check out the CPUsage website for more information.

[via The Next Web]

Playing and winning solitaire in real life is more laid back and relaxed than that–until now.

The designing duo known as Skrekkøgle (who also brought us the decidedly weirder pet ash portraits) took it upon themselves to create a physical version of the mesmerizing animation that displayed whenever you won a round of Solitaire. Recreating the entire animation in 3D wasn’t easy, but somehow the duo was able to pull it off.

The entire sculpture required the use of around a thousand cards that were printed out (so they looked just like the cards on you screen) and then pasted onto black foam boards that were then taped together to mimic the cascading animation.

[via FAZED via Oh Gizmo!]

The HAF X Mini Bike casemod is actually both a fully-functional gaming PC and a gas-powered mini bike, capable of carrying its builder along for a ride.

Built by René Grau from CM Storm, the system is based on an CoolerMaster HAF X chassis, with an Intel Core i5 CPU, and a 4GB GeForce GTX460 graphics card, running on a Mini-ITX mobo. Storage is provided by a 300GB SSD, so the guy who built it doesn’t have to worry about bumps in the road damaging a hard drive. It also sports dual exhaust and a two-stroke engine, with a top speed of about 40MPH – unusual stats for a PC.

Looking for proof that it actually works as a PC, and as a bike? Look no further than this video clip, which shows it handling double-duty.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

What’s the last time you saw someone pouring gasoline into their computer? And before you even ask – no, you can’t use the system while riding – unless you’ve got a really long extension cord.

[via Case Mod Blog]

So what does a grand buy you? A 3.1GHz Intel Core i3 Dual-Core processor, 21.5-inch LCD screen, AMD Radeon HD 6750 with 256MB, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, a Superdrive and OS X Lion. The next cheapest iMac that’s available for the mass market costs $1,199.

Instead of the Thunderbolt port, this iMac has a simple mini Display Port.  For $200 more, you can get a 2.5GHz Quad-Core i5, 4GB of RAM, and 500GB of storage. While some people might perish the thought of getting this sub-$1,000, a lot of students will purchase this because of the price-point.

[Apple via MacRumors]

This mouse that looks like a giant hand cursor doesn’t have any tails nor can it be used as a fashion accessory; however, it is a clever take on the usual computer mouse that we see and use today.

At first glance, the Pixel Mouse doesn’t really look like a real mouse, but take a closer look and you will see that it has everything that a normal, run-of-the-mill computer mouse has: two buttons and a scroll wheel. But with its pixelated design, it’s ten times cooler and a zillion times geekier.

It doesn’t come with any programmable keys and it might not make for a very comfortable mouse, but its extremely geeky look more than makes up for all that. I think.

If you’re interested in grabbing one for your desktop, the USB Pixel Mouse is available online from Perpetual Kid for $19.99(USD).

[via Foolish Gadgets]