LG reveals XD1 family of portable hard drives

Filed under:

Although Western Digital seems to have the portable hard drive sector all wrapped up, LG’s looking to snag a bit of that market share by introducing a new line of stylish alternatives. Each member of the XD1 family possesses a 2.5-inch HDD with a SATA II interface and a USB 2.0 port, and just in case black isn’t your bag, you can expect a red wine colored version as well. For now, we’ll have to live without a price or release date, but you can look forward to units arriving in 120GB, 160GB, 250GB and 320GB sizes sometime in the future.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Gigabyte’s M912 mini convertible tablet gets priced

Filed under: ,

Gigabyte’s M912 has remained largely in the shadows since peeking its head out in early June, but now we’re finally getting a hint as to how much coin we’ll be forced to lay down in order to acquire one. Based on information from a Taiwanese poster over at UMPC Fever, the M912V, which arrives with Windows Vista, 1GB of RAM, WiFi and Bluetooth, should cost around $656. The WinXP-based M912X will reportedly check in at around $620, while the M912M arrives with a lower resolution display (1,024 x 600 versus 1,280 x 768 on the other two) and no Bluetooth for $556. Take all of this with a tablespoon of salt for now, but at least you’ve got a general frame of reference to work with as you plan out which netbook to squeeze into your gadget portfolio.

[Thanks, YpoCaramel]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Engadget logo makes top 10 in crazed man’s tattoo contest

Filed under:

We’ve had our fair share of laughs from Zune Guy’s obsession with inking his body with permanent reminders of just how infatuated he is with Redmond’s PMP, but we must say, it’s a bit weirder to see someone coming ever closer to doing the same with our logo. Apparently one Egor Lavrov has established a tattoo contest in which he accepts donations as votes for logos, and after the polls close, he has agreed to give 25% of the money raised to charity and 25% to the person who submitted the winning tattoo idea. Oh, and he’s going to get the most highly ranked image inked on his arm. We’d be dubious about paying to cast a vote (read: we’d refrain entirely), but what’s up with our model being on steroids, anyway?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Crapgadget: brick satellite covers, ladybug card readers and more laughable abominations

Filed under:

You know what’s lamer than the thought of just how close 7:00AM on a Monday morning is from now? These five gadgets. Things are really neck-and-neck in this edition of the world’s poorest attempts in the consumer electronics space, with everything from a brick-colored satellite dish cover (is drunk designing the new drunk dialing?), a ladybug-shaped multicard reader and a carpal tunnel-inducing aircraft mouse. Oh, and lest we forget the “Big Time” watch table and cellphone wristband, both of which are also very worth candidates for this round’s most pitiful. Give each a look below, and after you’re through chuckling / vomiting, exercise your right to vote on the best (worst?) below.

Read - Brick-colored dish cover
Read - Ladybug multicard reader
Read - USB aircraft mouse
Read - Giant watch table
Read - Gadget wristband

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Invisible nanotubes could support human weight

Filed under:

Nanotubes are the stuff invisible dreams are made of, producing batteries, ramen, tiny chips, and in this case, invisible tightropes. Nicola Pugno of the Polytechnic of Turin in Italy has figured out a way to spread invisible nanotubes 5 micrometers apart that he says could support an entire human. The resulting “cable” would measure 1 centimeter in diameter and weigh just 10 milligrams per kilometer. So, what would we do with this ultra-strong, invisible cable? Support things that weigh about as much as humans do, naturally. Really, though, this means that super-strong, super-small cables are coming, and architecture could be changed forever. Other uses abound, for sure, but we’ll leave that speculation to the science guys.

[Via NewScientistTech]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Video: Toyota iReal personal mobility vehicle

Ever wanted an armchair that’ll speed you to the fridge at 20mph for your next beer? Toyota’s iReal is the real lazyboy.

We uncovered this three-wheeled “personal car” at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the good folk at Toyota were kind enough to let us take a test drive.

This concept (sadly, it won’t be available on the market anytime soon) “personal mobility vehicle” boasts a battery life of two hours, complete with driving mode and walking modes. Perfect for mid-footy or mid-movie beer runs.

But that’s enough from us. Have a gander at the video and T3’s resident speed freak Michael Brook will tell you all about it. Neeeeeowwww.

Stick a pony in me pocket, I’ll fetch the suitcase from the van…

Cyber Figure Alice gives randy geeks something do to with their cybersticks

Filed under:

Cyber Figure Alice

We’re not going to make any judgments regarding the hentai-tastic Cyber Figure Alice, but let’s just say this product is of questionable purpose. Geisha Tokyo Entertainment Inc. calls this little gadget a good example of augmented reality, the coming-together of virtual and real objects. In essence, Dennou Figure ARis comes with two “cybercubes” and two “cybersticks.” Using a webcam, the software projects Alice on the cybercubes. You can then, uh, manipulate her using the cybersticks, undress her, touch her, change her clothes, and, well, we’ll leave the rest up to you, you naughty little thing, you. Look for her this fall in the dark underworld of your import shop if you must.

[Via CrunchGear]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Method devised for pwning first-gen iPhones running 2.0 via Windows

Filed under: ,

Feeling a little left out after yesterday’s Mac-based Pwnage Tool festivities, Windows users? Fret not, because the ever-vigilant, ever-studious hacking community has managed to come up with a series of steps to get you back on your feet again with a fully pwned first-gen handset. The whole shebang isn’t necessarily for the most casual jailbreakers — let’s just say it isn’t quite as straightforward as the Mac procedure yet — but it’ll allegedly get you going if you’re starting with an iPhone running 1.1.4 (there are additional steps if you jumped the gun on 2.0, you impatient son of a gun, you — think of it as penance). As always, exercise extreme caution, understand that this could cause your iPhone to spontaneously combust into a useless pile of metal, plastic, and ash, and let us know how it goes in comments.

[Thanks, Z-]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

OCZ Core SSD vs WD VelociRaptor: the early performance numbers are in

Filed under:

OCZ Vs. VelociRaptor

Now that all the SSD efficiency drama has mellowed out a bit, the guys over at Hot Hardware got their hands on an OCZ Core Series SATA II 64GB SSD and already pitted it against a WD VelociRaptor. The early numbers are impressive: The OCZ averaged read speeds of over 140MB/s and was writing at 87MB/s while the WD topped out at around 136MB/s read and 134MB/s write times. When it comes to applications and random-access times, though, the OCZ SSD scored some crazy fast times. In Windows Defender, gaming, photo import, and Vista startup tests, the SSD was getting things done at as much as 5 times the speed of the VelociRaptor. Sure, the tests are incomplete, but the future is undoubtedly bright for solid state storage once prices roll into realistic range.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Faber’s Imago+ multimedia hood redirects attention from stove to TV

Filed under: , ,

We can’t help but love when a plan comes together, and if you’ve been hesitant about replacing your kitchen hood while secretly longing to redirect those funds towards a new LCD, there’s a compromise staring you right in the face. Faber’s luxurious Imago+ multimedia hood boasts a stainless steel / glass finish, fits nicely above your range and includes a 19-inch LCD TV with a 1,440 x 900 resolution, 300 cd/m2 brightness and 850:1 contrast ratio. Unfortunately for you Americans, the internal tuner caters to DVB-T signals, though the decent lineup of ports will allow you to connect up other sources of content. Mum’s the word on a price, but again, those having to ask will probably be forced to pass.

[Via Appliancist]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments