Gadgets Connect

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 5th 2008 at 7:01AM
We’re still torn on whether we’d have this or one of those always-evolving HDD Stage Racks at our desk, but really, you can’t go wrong either way. Brando’s 2.5-inch SATA HDD Enclosure with Multi-Function Dock pretty much explains itself, but if you struggle with piecing things together, we’re here to help. The unit holds any 2.5-inch SATA drive you care to insert, and the base doubles as a 2-port USB hub and multicard reader. The whole thing is just $25 — the tough part is choosing between red or black. (Read the full post about ‘HDD enclosure wedded with multi-function dock — has to be Brando’…)

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The Tony Hawk Sidekick LX is official. T-MOBILE USA ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH WORLD-RENOWNED PROFESSIONAL SKATEBOARDER TONY HAWK Collaboration Includes the New T-Mobile Sidekick LX Tony Hawk Edition BELLEVUE, Wash. – June 5, 2008 – T-Mobile USA, Inc., has aligned with one of the world’s greatest action sports stars, Tony Hawk, for a multiplatform partnership that includes the creation of a limited edition T-Mobile® Sidekick LX™ device, presenting sponsorship support and programming for Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam 2008 North American Tour, and events benefiting the Tony Hawk Foundation. (Read the full post about ‘Tony Hawk Sidekick LX is official!’…)

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While there still has not been an official product announcement it seems that will not stop the details from slowly but surely slipping out. The latest news comes courtesy of Dell, so we can at least be safe to believe its accurate, and places the mini notebook to be ready for an August release. Aside from the release time frame the specs are still mostly unknown with Dell’s senior vice president Jeff Clarke stating quite simply that he is “not going to talk about about the specification of the product.”

What we do know is that the mini notebook will have a VGA port, three USB ports and a built-in card reader.

(Read the full post about ‘Dell’s yet un-named mini notebook coming this August’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 5th 2008 at 6:31AM We were beginning to wonder if the Roomba hacking community had been sucked dry of ideas, but leave it to longjie0723 to give us hope yet. This Roomba hacker (yeah, he also rigged his up for Wiimote control) managed to solder 448 yellow LEDs onto a board and program said devices to move in such a way that a Pac-Man-type image is seen. C’mon, who hasn’t dreamed of having that ghost-inhaler work his magic on those forsaken floors? (Read the full post about ‘Pac-Man Roomba created with 448 LEDs’…)

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jun 5th 2008 at 8:51AM Well folks, it’s real… and it’s in the wild. You can get a better idea about the size from these photos, but unfortunately it’s looking about as clunky and dated as what we’ve seen previously (in spy shots and flashed on the screen during Gates’ CES keynote). Sprint users, lucky you. Hey, at least it’s not this thing.Update: According to our friends at WMExperts, the 800w is rumored to be heading onto store shelves come July 13th, with a price tag of $249.99 (after instant discount and mail-in rebate). (Read the full post about ‘Palm Treo 800w spotted in new pics, price and release date rumored’…)

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by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 5th 2008 at 11:56AM It looks like HP is milking its future plans for its Voodoo division for all their worth, with it now following up its tantalizing hints from a few days ago with a not-so-subtle revision of the VoodooPC website. (Read the full post about ‘VoodooPC website goes up in smoke… and mystery’…)

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I absolutely adore this speaker concept known as…the Speak-er. It features the form factor of a cartoon speech bubble that adds to the cuteness, bringing both form and function into a single sleek device. I wonder when will these actually be manufactured - they’d definitely be best sellers if the design is realized. I’m pretty surprised nobody thought of this before, but perhaps different variants can be released which includes thought bubbles? Tags: plasma, TV, speakers, mobile phone (Read the full post about ‘Speak-er Concept Rocks’…)

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Alltel has gained some great market share due in large part to a clever marketing campaign which featured Verizon Wireless, Sprint and AT&T as three nerdy cell phone salesmen who try to outdo the cool Alltel guy. Naturally, in every commercial the Alltel guy won out. Well, it looks like in real life the nerdy Verizon Wireless will really win out in the end.

Verizon Wireless has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Alltel in a transaction valued at US$28.1 billion. This includes the purchase of Alltel’s equity in the amount of US$5.9 billion and the acquisition of US$22.2 billion of Alltel’s debt.

(Read the full post about ‘Verizon Wireless to acquire Alltel for US$28 billion’…)

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Well it looks like our earlier post was indeed correct, T-Mobile has officially announced the Tony Hawk Edition Sidekick LX. Complete with the special Tony Hawk graphics on the front and rear of the flip-out display as well as the grip tape like texture and eight screws on the bottom to give it a true skateboard style. The specially branded Sidekick LX marks the first to ship with video recording and play and share. Other improvements include an improved web browsing experience, stereo Bluetooth, and easier downloads. They also increased support for background personalization and added more themes. The Sidekick also includes a Tony Hawk theme with special background, “skate-themed swivel screen open and close sounds” and an exclusive video. (Read the full post about ‘T-Mobile officially unveils the Tony Hawk Edition Sidekick’…)

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Keynote bingo is one of the essential accompaniments to a Steve Jobs keynote speech. Twice a year, once at Macworld in January and once at the WWDC, they pop up across the internet. And twice a year they immediately get forgotten. In the run up to this year’s WWDC we thought we’d take a look at the successes and failures of previous year’ bingo cards and decide on the likelihood of the squares on the latest play-along PDF. There are plenty to choose from, but the unofficial official Keynote bingo is the one from Ars Technica’s John Siracusa. If you doubt his geek credentials, just take a look at his monstrous review of Mac OS X Leopard, which runs to 17 pages. WWDC 2006 The 2006 WWDC was when the Power PC Mac died. (Read the full post about ‘A History of WWDC Keynote Bingo’…)

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