We’ve had confirmation of Sirius XM price hikes for about a week now, but now the company is actively promoting it. Go to either Sirius’ or XM’s Web site and you’ll see a kind note explaining how online streaming will no longer be free. You know, because upgrading the online feed to “CD-quality,” whatever that means, costs a bloody fortune. → Read More
Perfect! Now you can go camping and not worry about recharging your notebook in the great outdoors. The YoGen MaxT produces enough juice when in use to power produce 50-60 Watts which is enough to keep your notebook running. All you need to do is push on the self-returning foot pedal to generate the power. Plus, an internal bank of AA keeps the power flowing while you give your leg a rest. The whole device folds up for easy traveling too. Hippies and treehuggers must check out the video of it in action after the break. → Read More
When Apple hired away Mark Papermaster from IBM as its new senior vice president of hardware engineering for devices, IBM struck back with a lawsuit attempting to bar him from switching jobs. Citing his non-compete clause, IBM convinced a judge to order Papermaster to stop working at Apple until the dispute was resolved. IBM even brought Papermaster’s children into it.
Well, now he can finally go make future iPhones and iPods for Apple. The two companies have settled out of court. It kind of makes you wonder why companies even bother with non-compete clauses in employment contracts, especially when they are overly broad. More often than not, they are not worth the paper they are written on. → Read More
Everyone’s favorite (well, my favorite) videogame reviewer, DiiFii, is back with an unboxing of an oversized Mario figurine that holds a Nintendo DS in its outstretched arms. Watch for just over five minutes as this man-child of indeterminate age excitedly frees Mario from his twist-tie and cardboard shackles, wipes the dust off with what appears to be a pair of boxer shorts, and then exuberantly searches for the perfect spot in his room to place Mario. → Read More
Attention, HP Mini 1000 owners. It looks like HP has a six-cell battery for the netbook available from its parts Web site. The battery (part number 517581-001) is actually for the Mini 1000 CTO, but should with every shapes and size of the Mini 1000. → Read More
Joel at BBG got some great footage of the Electro-Harmonix factory, makers of the Voice Box that we showed you a few days ago.
Apparently this little Mom and Pop in Long Island City makes most of the vacuum tubes for the world, an amazing feat in today’s transistorized world. Great stuff from a great company. → Read More
There I was, attempting to load my iPhone with the latest Fergie/Lady GaGa/Cyndi Lauper mashup, when word came down the pipes that the mighty makers from Cupertino had passed down a morsel of mending, a reliquary of repair. In other words, new iPhone software update yo. This latest revision is a minor one, only bumping the version number up a single digit – but that doesn’t mean jailbreakers and unlockers should dive in right away. We’re hearing reports that this new version does bring a baseband modification, which likely means the exploit used by the iPhone Dev Team for the 2.2 yellowsn0w update has been patched up. 2.2.1′s patch notes only promise a less finicky Safari (and boy did it need it) and a bug fix for Camera Roll’s handling of images saved through the Mail application. Chances are other minor changes are lurking – first person to find’em gets a gold star and a box of animal crackers. → Read More
Sure, it’s –65 out right now but it’s never too early to start thinking about golf. Savant GPS knows this and, as such, will unveil the “On Par” GPS unit in Orlando this weekend with retail availability slated for “early February.” → Read More
Matt at Steel Cake Watches is offering his customers a considerable discount on all Steel Cake model, reducing everything to $75. Use the discount code “steel75″ on checkout. → Read More
As if we even need to relay this information, but those PSP 2 rumors from yesterday are completely baseless. Do not get excited, do not lose sleep. Go about your day as if you never heard the rumor. → Read More
Just to get a sense of interest in the Kindle 2, will you buy one if or when Amazon announces them in two weeks? I love the current incarnation only and precisely because it makes it easy to grab ebooks over the air. I consider the form and design to be sub-par at worst and acceptable at best. I, for one, would love to see something a little thinner and a lot more durable.
Poll after the jump. → Read More
Practicing a controversial new “Lets not tell anybody” marketing method, AT&T has quietly slipped the LG CF360 onto store shelves. The demand was overwhelming – at one AT&T spot in Galesburg, Illinois, one whole person waited through the night for the doors to open. Upon questioning, the anxious would-be CF360 owner responded, “Crap, I thought it was a new iPhone.” Though it launched without even the slightest bit of fanfare, the LG CF360 really isn’t too poorly spec’d for a $30 (with contract) flip phone. Its got a 1.3mp camera with video recording, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD support (up to 16 gigs), and AT&T Navigator-ready GPS – if that’s all you’re looking for, the LG CF360 is available now. Just be sure to go early so as to beat the lunch rush. [Via Phonescoop] → Read More
Circuit City Stores have been liquidating for almost two weeks now and hopefully some people have found decent deals at the sales. Most big ticket items are probably still not worth it thanks to shady liquidator tactics, but someone, somewhere hopefully scored something at a bargain basement price. Right? → Read More
Do you live or work in Canada? Do you enjoy LG cell phones? Are you a proud owner of the dead-simple LG 150? Then here’s lookin’ at you kid! Your trusty mobile device is the lucky winner of a 45,000 unit (voluntary – i.e. LG is doing you a “favor”) recall! Apparently the LG 150 is “no longer certified as meeting the Radio Standards Specifications 102 (RSS 102), Radio Frequency Exposure Compliance of Radiocommunication Apparatus.” But have no fear, according to Health Canada, “past and current use of the LG 150 should not pose immediate or long-term health concerns.” Phewww! You have until March 31, 2009 to contact your respective mobile carrier (Bell Mobility, Virgin Mobile, MTS Allstream, SaskTel, Aliant Mobility, KMTS, NorthernTel, Sogetel, Télébec or TBayTel) to get a replacement handset at no cost. Or you can visit www.lg.ca/lg150 or call 1-866-940-6580. [via IntoMobile] → Read More
Mobile VoIP and IM service fring, one of the more popular mobile communication services around, is experimenting with porting a bunch of third-party apps to the fring client and will be announcing a number of those in the course of this year. Today, fring is launching a custom mobile-optimized Last.fm music radio add-on that brings a lot of the music recommendation service to the fring client but also integrates with the latter’s social and communication features. Fring users (also referred to as fringsters) are now able to fire up streamed music radio channels, including their own Last.fm library, tag favourites, ban disliked tracks, view album artwork and basically take their Last.fm music account mobile. In addition to getting those features into the client, fringsters can also opt to view in real-time what their contacts are currently listening to, with the help of a friends list embedded into the Last.fm add-on. Read the rest of this entry >> → Read More
Costco members might be pleased to hear that there’s a 28-inch HannsG monitor for $369.99 after a $30 instant discount. Specs include a 1920×1200 resolution, 3ms response time, 500 cd/m2 brightness, 800:1 contrast ratio, HDMI/VGA/DVI connections, and built-in speakers. → Read More
This kind of reminds me of how I was acting last night after my brother-in-law and I finished a bottle of tequila. Unfortunately, my old Game Boy doesn’t have any batteries so I couldn’t recreate this beautiful and touching paean to one of the best games in the whole world.
Video after the jump. → Read More
Japanese gadget companies DO have a strange attitude when it comes to answer the question of how to relieve stress for Nippon’s exhausted salary men and house keepers.
In the past, CrunchGear covered a stress-absorbing vase, a healing headset and a pocket calculator that can help you blow off some steam. And now comes the Sound Accel Pedal [JP]. → Read More
A Kiwi bought an MP3 player in Oklahoma. No, that’s not a setup to a bad joke, but the chilling, real life ordeal that’s currently the long national nightmare of New Zealand. → Read More
Last time Amazon had a press conference they release a little something I like to call the best ebook reader in the whole wide world. Well, we’ve got a seat at another conference on Monday and unless they’re announcing a Bezos-themed amusment park in the Ukraine, I’m pretty sure we’re going to see the Kindle 2. → Read More
