15toFame.com: Now everyone has a chance at 15 minutes of pure fame.

At some point or another in our lives, we’ve all sought out some way to become famous. Whether we were motivated by monetary dreams to the simple love of attention or anything in between, fame is one of those things that so many seek out yet fall short of. For good reason too. It’s hard getting noticed and appealing to a wide group of people. So how do you get your foot in the door?

A new site 15toFame looks to be a new tool in the tech minded individuals of the coming decade. The approach used is ingenious — fame seeking individuals or groups simply reserve 15-minute chunks of time on a particular day in which to have a video(s) of their’s looped.

The best part: it’s free.

15toFame isn’t looking at one upping YouTube in any way. In fact, the Verbiage on the site’s on FAQ section blatantly states they’d love users to make use of both sites. It’s quite simple — YouTube is widely known, popular, and saturated beyond belief making finding new talent a laborious and at times, difficult process. 15toFame is new with very users currently, giving each user and group a bigger chance of being seen. After being spotted on 15toFame, interested end users can go seek out the artist of choice on YouTube to continue exploring.

If you’ve always wanted to be that mega celeb or just wanted the stereotypical 15 minutes of fame, 15toFame looks to be one of your best options going in to 2010. Why not give it a shot? Better hurry, as word spreads those time slots will fill up quick!

Andy Warhol Februrary ’68: “In the future, everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame…”

(Thanks, Stefano)

[Press Release]

15toFame

Happy New Year Everyone!

I started Gadgetsteria back in September 2008. Since then, the site has gone though a lot of changes. I thank you readers out there for making my hobby and passion worthwhile and by simply giving me a couple of minutes of your day. Going in to 2010, we have CES right around the corner with countless promising devices and services. 2010 will be an exciting year for sure.

So sit back, relax, enjoy the sights, sounds, and scenery and have yourselves a happy new year. See you on the other side…

[Image Source]

Droid and Sense UI starting to play somewhat nice. Rosie reported to be coming over for dinner too?

Android is all about customization and tweaking the hell out of it. While a large majority of those jumping on the Android bandwagon aren’t exactly the largest book of technical knowledge, it’s good to know that it’s not stopping development of custom ROM’s and all the enjoyable bits and pieces that make Android the highly customizable.

The last week has seen Android 2.1 (Flan) as the current “must have” for Droid users. I myself flashed the latest 2.1 ROM available and was thoroughly impressed though a few nagging issues such as non-working keyboard backlight are still keeping me tied to 2.0.1. I unlike many other Droid users however are also dying to get some Sense UI love on our Moto devices. That beast is entirely different and finally almost here.

If you’re entranced with Sense UI and are currently sporting a Moto Droid, stop on over to this thread on AllDroid and start hitting the refresh button. Thanks to “humancyborg”, Sense UI is making it’s way across the hardware gap. While this thread is still in it’s infancy, it’s already 8 pages long at writing.

A few days back when I was looking at the Android 2.1 ROM for the Droid, I stumbled across someone (can’t find it for the life of me now) mentioning someone — humancyborg to be exact — working on a Sense UI ROM for the Droid. A quick google search didn’t turn up any threads on any android forums. But that’s because until today, he was updating the world on his Sense UI ROM’s via his Twitter account: @humancyborg.

So what does it all mean? The Droid was rooted a only a couple of weeks ago. At first it didn’t seem like there was much benefit. Coming from an iPhone, Android itself is a huge step up in functionality. But as the devs around the world start picking up the pieces of the various bits of Android, we’re now finally starting to see some great stuff come to light with the early 2.1 and Sense UI ROMs.

One juicy tidbit is that as of writing, humancyborg posted a tweet saying that within the hour a new 2.1 dump will be ready for the Droid. How will it compare to already available 2.1 Droid ROM’s floating around on Alldroid? We will soon find out.

Ok, the final treat. There are even murmurs floating around of an upcoming Rosie ROM for the Droid. Rosie if you didn’t know is the spectacularly classy looking skin splashed all over Android on the Sony Xperia X10. The Android scene is really heating up folks.

Best Android 2.1 ROM’s to date for the Moto Droid:

• SholesInfo

• Greek35T (via AllDroid)

And of course the Sense UI 2.1 Droid ROM (Warning, extremely buggy. Only SMS and Calling works reliably for the time being)

• Download Android 2.1 w/ Sense UI for Droid

Give them a shot and let us know how it goes!

Erik Gates, Mythbusters “Rocket Expert” dies from fall.

In a bit of sad news tonight, Erik Gates, the proclaimed “Rocket Expert” of Mythbusters whom made several appearances on the show over the years passed away on December 20 after what doctors called blunt force trama to the chest. Apparently, Mr. Gates was working on some roofing when he fell 30ft. through a skylight.

Regardless of your level of geekery and if you watched/loved/hated Mythbusters, any life cut short is sad and unfortunate. We can only offer our deepest condolences to Erik’s family in this tough time.

CNN

[Image Source]

Mophie jumping into mobile transaction arena with “me too” iPhone credit card scanner.

Think Jack Dorsey’s “Square” was as good as it got? Mophie, a popular iPhone hardware manufacturer would like you to think otherwise. While I and apparently several other bloggers in the tech sphere don’t see this exactly one upping or even in the same league as Square, there’s no doubt the mobile transaction market is quickly heating up.

If we were going based on software alone, it would be hard to say much of anything about Mophie currently as their description of the “private label” software simply states:

Marking its first combination hardware and private label iPhone application device, mophie is launching its innovative new credit card reader, empowering users to complete financial transactions on the go.

So, are they (Mophie) making it or is someone else? Beats me. But we’ll find out such things in less than a week anyway so there’s no sense in losing sleep over it.

Software aside, the actual hardware pictured above is actually pretty nifty if it materializes into anything remotely close to the picture. Then again, being mobile means just that — mobile and compact. Dorsey’s Square dongle has Mophie’s rendering beat hands down for size. And if Mophie isn’t doing the whole software/hardware combo in house as Square is doing, consider this a novelty service.

That’s the word for now. Have anything to add?

TechCrunch

Nexus One already rooted? (Think they’ll announce that on the 5th?)

You know, there’s something funny about how the Nexus One isn’t even official by any one company and yet somehow it’s already been rooted. Well, we know Google employees got some early hands on time with gifts from the company they work for. So it was only a matter of time before one of those employees either rooted the device themselves or enlisted in the help of a code talking friend. Either way, score one for the geeks!

Remember, rooting your device normally isn’t for the faint of heart or noobs of the clan. This root however appears fairly easy as the full instructions (posted below) are pretty straight forward. Let’s just say it’s a hell of a lot easier to root the Nexus One than port 2.1 to my Droid. Feelin’ all hacky?

Instructions to root the Nexus One

1. Download “Superboot” file from Modaco
2. Extract file to directory.
3. Put device in bootloader mode: Turn off –> remove battery –> plug in USB cable –> when battery icon appears, replace battery and hold Power Button + Camera key.
4. Next, type in the following:
   • Linux: Open terminal window to directory containing Superboot files and type -

     “chmod +x install-superboot-linux.sh” followed by “./install-superboot-linux.sh”.

   • Mac: Open terminal window and type -

     ‘chmod +x install-superboot-mac.sh’ followed by ‘./install-superboot-mac.sh’

   • Windows:

     double click ‘install-superboot-windows.bat’\

See, easy as pie. If any lucky Nexus One users are out there, feel free to share the journey with us. Don’t worry, I’ll forget your name 3 seconds after you tell me

RedmondPie > Modaco

Launch balls, not fists: The Golf Ball Launcher

While I tend to focus on more stereotypical “gadgets” that happen to have some form of electronic in them, who doesn’t like to shoot or blow stuff up every now and then? I sure do. In direct contrast and completely unrelated to violence, golf is a happy, peaceful game that requires patience and skill. It just so happens I possess neither of those fine qualities which explains why I can’t play golf. But where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Instead of playing golf all “old school” and by the rules, stun your friends, family, and fellow golfers by showing up at the green with the contraption above. While they’re too busy fumbling around with a bunch of metal and wood, determining which one would drive the ball the furthest, you can simply aim and pull a trigger — much more gratifying I think. That simple trigger pull will send your little dimpled delight flailing upwards of 300 yards! Saweet!

Truth be told, as much as I want one of these, it appears as if I won’t be getting one anytime soon due to the $795 price tag. Still, for those who can afford such a treasure, by all means buy and enjoy. Those of you with a Golf Ball Launcher or similar contraption, please send us in a few pics of you and your weapon of choice shooting and blowing stuff up. Nothing illegal please…

[Product Page]

Foolish Gadgets > CraziestGadgets