Netflix Testing Saturday Shipping [NetFlix]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/3eikr04Zqw8/netflix-testing-saturday-shipping

If you've been a Netflix customer, you know it can be a little frustrating to send back a disc Thursday/Friday only to wait until Monday for the replacement to ship. That's going to change.

The company is going to begin testing Saturday processing so that late week returns don't hose customers. (Good news for us, bad news for Netflix employees who like their weekends.) It's unclear as to how many of Netflix's 60 shipping centers will participate, but of course, it'll be a wash once the US Postal Service cuts down their delivery week to five days anyway. [Hacking Netflix via Zatz Not Funny]

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Once the Ultimate Sign of Universal Mastery, Private Jets Are Now Totally Uncool [Financiapocalpyse]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/iIChhCbPLmA/once-the-ultimate-sign-of-universal-mastery-private-jets-are-now-totally-uncool

Now is a really good time to pick up a second-hand Gulfstream. Why? In our bailout-ridden times, a private jet has become as stigmatic as those knockoff L.A. Lights you had on the playground.

Seasoned in their coverage of the many laments of being rich, the NYTimes talked to many current and former jet owners about what's happening. It's pretty much a given now that if you're taking bailout cash (and these days, who isn't?), the jets have to go. Making now totally the time to buy!

"A year ago, there would be 30 people looking for one airplane," said Jay Mesinger, a corporate jet broker, who said that prices had fallen 30 to 40 percent since late 2007. "Today there are 30 airplanes looking for one buyer."

Aside from the U.S. becoming one giant used jet lot for the young emirs and oligarchs of the world, something tells me that the hip-hop community will raise up and do its part to keep the Gulfstreams of the world in solvency. They've never really had a problem with blatant displays of excess, have they? [NYTimes]

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BlackBerry Storm Is Pricier to Build Than iPhone 3G [Blackberry Storm]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/JFbeLhegY9k/blackberry-storm-is-pricier-to-build-than-iphone-3g

The Storm's wunderkind network chip, which plays on CDMA and GSM networks, and fancier 3.2MP camera is why it costs $203 to build, about $30 more than the iPhone 3G. [BW]

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Grand HD Cinema Converts USB to HDMI [Hdmi]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/D7k3T2fVT9Q/grand-hd-cinema-converts-usb-to-hdmi

Before the Grand HD Cinema, I honestly didn't know that a USB to HDMI converter was possible. (Though in truth, it's still really only half possible.)

The Grand HD Cinema does indeed take USB video (along with audio) and upconvert the stream to a 720p HDMI signal that can drive six different HDMI devices. As a means to get clips from PMPs to TVs it certainly makes a lot of sense.

But what you'd consider an impossibly calculation-intensive process really is. The converter requires an XP or Vista rig with a 2.4GHz (or better) processor. So while the Grand HD Cinema is still a pretty interesting device, it's by no means some convenient little adapter that will play your iPod on your HDTV.

The Grand HD Cinema is available for $140 imported from Japan. [Lancerlink via Crunchgear]

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New $3 Light Bulb 12 Times More Efficient, Lasts 60 Years [Led]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/3C4TlApluNA/new-3-light-bulb-12-times-more-efficient-lasts-60-years

Cambridge University researchers have developed a $3 LED-based lightbulb that is 12 times more efficient than regular tungsten light bulbs, three times more than low energy ones. It lights up instantly, lasting for 100,000 hours,

The cheap lightbulb could cost the energy bill in any house by as much as three quarters. In fact, if everyone replaced their current light bulbs, the proportion of lighting in electricity consumption would go down from 20 to 5 percent worldwide.

They also avoid using any toxic materials, like lead: The new LEDs use gallium nitride, which until now was too expensive to obtain because it had to be grown on sapphire wafers, which brought the cost of the lightbulbs to $28 each.

The new method, developed by Cambridge University-based Centre for Gallium Nitride, uses silicon wafers, bringing the cost down to $3 each. And if you think this is a thing of the future, think again: Prototypes are already being produced and the light bulbs may reach the market in a mere two years. [Daily Mail]

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