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I just posted my last post over on the Sidekick Grammy Tour blog. It was a ton of fun and I got to meet all sorts of great people as well as the musicians. My photos and bog entries are all over on the site, so I won’t bother reposting them here. If you’re bored, go check it out.

There are still two concerts left, Dallas and L.A. If you’re in either of these cities (or near by) I highly recommend hitting up these concerts. If nothing else, once you’re in and you show your Sidekick, it’s free food and drinks! Plus Kid Rock, Seal, and Sean Kingston are totally worth seeing for free!

by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 18th 2008 at 5:47PM BenQ has been showing off its first stab at an MID since the Intel Developer Forum last fall, but it hasn’t exactly been all that forthcoming about the full specs of the device. That situation seems to have changed at the more recent IDF in Shanghai, however, although those details seem to just now be making their way across the Internet. As we knew before, the device will pack an Intel Atom processor (the base 800MHz model), which will apparently be backed up by 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD hard drive, and HSPDA support in addition to some integrated WiFi and Bluetooth. The device will also apparently pack a so-called “G-Senser” for “direct touch and free movement to surf on internet,” along with voice activation, and optional GPS. Still no word on the all important pricing or release details, unfortunately, although we hope BenQ will save itself some embarrassment but getting the thing out the door before the next Intel Developer Forum.

[Via Slash Gear]

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Filed under: Handhelds

Wise men say, “The world is your technological oyster.” Or not, but do you know what that means? Us neither. We’re just so digging this new pair of unconventional wedding rings designed for geeks to the bone who might want to get hitched. The female ring, the one on the left, will be available in four colors: turquoise, white, orange and black. While the male ring comes in only one version, transparent. Standing tall and probably prepared to strike anywhere with an Ethernet port. The maker Jana Brevick would be glad to ship an order of these to you for $7 a piece (only $5 when ordered with a separate item). What better item to promote the way of the geek?

Product [Etsy] Via [Geek Sugar]

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After all the cries and complaints over Apple’s deceptive ploy to boost its web browser market share by installing its Safari browser on Windows PCs as part of an “update”, the company has now made a slight change to its latest Software Update. The new Software Update 2.1 now provides two categories: ‘Updates’ and ‘New Software’. So, instead of deceiving Windows users by listing Safari as an “update” to existing software, the Software Update 2.1 now clearly marks Safari as brand new software. However, the install check box is still marked by default, but users can uncheck the box should they not want Apple’s web browser.

Mozilla’s CEO John Lilly, the most vocal critic of Apple’s sneaky Safari install, calls the new update “a good change” but he says he’d like to see Apple “do a bit more”, hinting that the company should unmark the install check box by default.

After downloading the new Software Update 2.1, the new window pane looks like this:

It’s a shame that Apple requires those that do not want the web browser to remember to uncheck the Safari install box every time they run the Software Update. I guess the only solution is to not run the updater at all.

Read [Channel Register]

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by Darren Murph, posted Apr 18th 2008 at 3:07PM
Under most circumstances, we too would take one glance at the monolith pictured above and scream in horror. But of course, we’re entirely sure you’re familiar with the wacky machines emerging from NextComputing. The ultra-tough Vigor Evo HD is hailed as the company’s “highest performance rugged workstation,” and besides offering up a floating chassis which absorbs all sorts of bumps and shocks, it also comes with a 17-inch LCD plastered right on the side. Said panel is covered with a hard-coated protective screen, and sitting just beneath that is your choice of AMD / Intel processors, up to four PCIe or PCI-X 64-bit slots, a dual-layer DVD writer, up to 3TB of internal HDD space and most everything else you’d find in a pre-fab desktop. Of course, it loses the vast majority of its intimidation factor when equipped with the optional wheels / telescoping handle package, but we won’t tell anyone if you’re not man / woman enough to lug it over your shoulder.

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Filed under: Desktops

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 18th 2008 at 3:41PM
Yeah, we’ve seen other mad scientists take way more antiquated chips to higher figures on the GHz scale, but can that cryogenically cooled P4 handle all those SSE4.1 instructions? The latest feat of overclocking prowess comes to us courtesy of K|ngp|n, who has apparently taken Skulltrail beyond the 6GHz mark. You’ll also notice the 1,716MHz FSB (!!!) and the fact that it’s sizzling along at 1.953-volts — but hey, no one said running Crysis would be easy, right?

[Via The Inquirer]

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Filed under: Desktops

Colour Changing Egg
Makes for great mood lighting in the home and excellent entertainment in the dark!

See price

Locklite Mini Key Torch

You can have this for ?3.99

by Paul Miller, posted Apr 18th 2008 at 12:04PM
This little kid is on to those scammy claw machines, and decided to take prize collection into his own hands. Unfortunately, he didn’t plan that escape route well enough, and ended up stuck among the machine’s bountiful goodies. Words of him meeting a claw-worshiping alien cult, followed by wild 3D hijinks set to the musical stylings of Randy Newman are totally unfounded. Video is after the break.

[Via Tech Digest]

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

Usually, GPS units aren’t seen incorporated in many other devices, except maybe as a PMP, however, Altek, has created a digital camera that also comes with GPS. Sometimes, there are GPS units that come with a mediocre digital camera, but this one features a digital camera that is pretty nice.

The digital camera is an 8-megapixel model, and sports a 3-inch touch screen for the GPS part. Basically, using its Geotate software, you can input the exact coordinates and the time of the picture and it can spit back a GPS map. The cool thing here is that it can even provide maps to the place that you took the picture. I’m not exactly sure how this works, but it does seem like a pretty cool piece of technology. No word on exact pricing, but it should be available in the second half of this year in Beijing, probably in time for the Summer Olympics.

Via [NaviGadget]

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