kthompson

Toshiba to Release 32GB “Limited Edition” ReadyBoost-enabled Flash Drive by December

Diving further into the Windows ReadyBoost market, Toshiba is planning a new line of its TransMemory USB flash drives. The line, called U2K, will consist of 1GB-8GB models due out in October and a massive limited edition (which probably means producing them is so expensive that they need to test the market with a small…

Samsung HT-AS720 Blu-ray Receiver Packs 5.1 Speaker System to Boot

Designed to be paired with Samsung’s own line of Blu-ray players (like the Blu-ray/HD-DVD combo drive we told you about earlier), the HT-AS720 is a mid-range receiver for HD lovers. 650 watts of power will fill your room with sound and a variety of connection options will satisfy your home theater needs. Play with the…

Fonejacker Prank Calls A UK Electronics Store

Kayvan Novak probably isn’t a name you’re too familiar with. If you recognized the name as the guy who played Arash in the film Syriana, stop reading this post and go try out for Jeopardy or something. For those of you still here, Kayvan has a new series kicking off in the UK called Fonejacker,…

Third Party iPhone Battery Replacement For $25-$65

Worrisome iPhone users, are you dreading the day when your battery inevitably fails and sticks you with an $85.95 bill after you send it in to Apple to have it replaced? If you’re not afraid to try something new, you can start saving a little less each month because ipodjuice.com is hawking a replacement battery…

Sony Hana, Lamp + MP3 Player = What?

After playing a little too much Viva Piñata, somebody at Sony decided to start mashing together random, seemingly incompatible product lines. The resulting mutation was the Hana, a standing lamp that also includes an MP3 player and full-length speakers. I guess they’re targeting the “music lover who hates to listen in the dark and is…

6-foot Neon Rainbow Apple Computer Logo on eBay for $4500

If you’re a die-hard Apple buff and want the world to know it, place your bid for this massive original Apple Computer sign. This sign comes from the era of the manly rainbow-colored logo and has been hanging on an authorized Apple dealer’s store wall for years. The dealer is relocating and you can be…

Certified Wireless USB Takes Flight In Inspiron, ThinkPad Laptops

Kiss your favorite cords goodbye, because Certified Wireless USB is throwing them out with the trash. Industry giants including Dell and IBM have come on board as early adopters of the new USB standard, which combines the data transfer rates of USB with the ease-of-use and cable-free nature of Bluetooth and WiFi. Dell is rolling…

PS3 Sales Surge 135% Since Price Drop, Sony Seen Laughing on Way to Bank

Crediting a strategic price cut and a strong E3 showing, Sony is gloating over its latest figures: PS3 sales are up 135% since the July 9th announcement of the $499 price tag. With Xbox 360 sales dropping, new firmware updates enhancing the basic functionality of the system, Blu-ray pushing hard against HD-DVD and a growing…

Full-Size Working Halo Warthog Ready to Annihilate Adoring Fans

Thanks to Peter Jackson, New Zealanders have all the fun. Not only do they get to experience epic Lord of the Rings sites as they are recreated in the countryside, but now they get to do donuts around their flocks of sheep with Halo Warthogs. Jackson’s WETA workshop recently finished building an accurate, working Warthog…

Fossil OLED Watches Tell Time, Impersonate Better Gadgets

OLEDs are finding their way onto all sorts of gadgets these days, from ridiculously overpriced keyboards to weird flexible screens that serve little purpose. It appears that watchmaker Fossil will soon be joining the ranks of the OLED purveyors with their officially unannounced men’s watches. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an OLED watch,…

Apple is slowly taking over the flash memory market; the iPod and iPhone account for 25% of worldwide NAND Flash production this quarter. [I4U]

Bluetooth Heart Monitor Texts Your Hospital Before You Die

Designed to help previous heart attack victims regain confident mobility, this unnamed prototype heart monitor takes frequent electrocardiogram readings and uploads them to a customized cellphone via Bluetooth. The phone is equipped with an ECG analyzer that watches for signs of impending heart failure. If your ticker stops ticking, your ECG is sent in an…

Use Harry Potter “Spells” To Control Your Computer

We don’t put much faith in magic around here, but with Harry Potter mania sweeping the nation we aren’t surprised to see that some techies are eager to incorporate the supernatural into their daily lives. Instructables user technick29 will help you tap into your inner supernerd with his tutorial on using Harry Potter’s trademark spells…

BoomChef Solar-Powered Hot Dog Grill Is Niche Market Gold

If there is one complaint I have about every boomerang competition I go to, it’s that there simply aren’t enough hot dogs. Apparently boomerang enthusiast Paul Sprague and I don’t frequent the same contests, because when he goes boomeranging (yep, that’s a word), he brings along his self-designed BoomChef solar-powered grill, built intentionally for grilling…

Lego Aircraft Carrier Has Small Gravitational Pull

Ever wonder what happens to all those Lego pieces you lose? I think they end up in the hands of Malle Hawking, the man responsible for building an absolutely enormous Lego aircraft carrier. Made from over 200,000 individual bricks, the leviathan weighs in at just over 350 pounds. It has working aircraft elevators, a hangar,…

Asus T500 PCIe Card Better Than WiFi?

Mobile computing is getting a bit faster today with the announcement of the Asus T500 3.5G high speed PCIe card. Capable of pushing out a whopping 3.6Mbps downstream and 384Kbps upstream, Asus is boasting that this little rascal will provide connectivity superior to WiFi in some locations. In addition to bringing some serious bandwidth to…

Engrave Your iPhone

Device Nine Six in Los Angeles is doing laser etchings on iPhones, although we bet it zaps your warranty on first burn. Here’s a vid: Behold the glory of what we can only assume is the Jaegermeister reindeer emblazoned upon the shiny backside of one lucky person’s phone. Device Nine Six will go above and…

Japanese Sophia Nani Is A Full Touchscreen Phone, Media Player

It would seem that a certain black-and-silver phone has attracted a bit of a following in the design department. The Japan-only Sophia Nani, launching next week, sports a massive 4.3″ touchscreen TFT display running at a crisp 800×400 resolution. A digital TV tuner rounds out a complete multimedia package, but one crucial feature will inevitably…

Yamaha BODiBEAT Mixes Up Your Workout With Tempo-Changing Music

In my local gym, MP3 players practically outnumber people. As useful as music is for motivation during a tough workout, nothing can kill your mood faster than a poorly chosen song. Thankfully, Yamaha is about to debut its new digital audio player, the 512MB BODiBEAT. Using an acceleration sensor and an ear clip pulse monitor,…

DIY: Hang Your iTunes Album Covers On Your Wall

If your musical tastes speak to your personality, this is one way to quickly let everyone know what is going on inside your twisted mind. Instructables user rauz has detailed a method for transforming your massive iTunes album cover art collection into an even larger and more impressive poster. How do you do it? First…