It’s a shame.

But this here thing is destined to fail unfortunately.

At first it seems a good idea but when you do a James Brown and “break it down” you see there are many stumbling blocks.

The OLO Computer is reportedly thinking of bringing to market a netbook-styled device that seems to require users to plop their iPhone / iPhone 3G into the palm rest.

Now, I’m guessing all manner of sync’ing will ensue which is good but then is the iPhone then a trackpad?

It could be that the machine uses the iPhone as it’s ‘core’ but then it will only be able to run iPhone apps and the screen on the pic is showing MAC OS - which is the next point.

Apple aren’t reknowned for sharing their OS’s with anyone so we can surly cross that off the list.

Sad thing is - all the juicy info should be posted this week…….the week of a certain announcement from Apple………….

Liliputing

Official OLO Teaser Page

The average British household will work its way through more than 250 electrical devices over a period of 60 years, according to a new survey.

The poll of 3,000 households by Reevoo.com shows that electrical items rarely last longer than six years - and the kettle is the item Brits use and replace the most.

Over sixty years, each household will get through 20 kettles and spend approximately £1,000, which works out as a new kettle every three years.

The most expensive item is a home PC, replaced around 4 years at a cost of around £500 while the average oven costs more at £545, but lasts around 6 years.

In total, Reevoo.com reckons Brits will fork out £48,940 on electrical devices over their lifetime.

While most of us are wondering or just looking forward to Stevie J’s next keynote on October 14th those clever so-and-so’s over at bbGadgets may just have unlocked the secret behind Apple’s Oct 14th MacBook event teaser.

They’re assuming that the Apple logo is a 1.5″ standard thingy, so they measured the laptop to have a 13.3″ diagonal length.

That’s the same size as the current generation MacBook, which would seem to support all of those other ‘Brick’ rumours that are flying around but I haven’t reported on……..

bbGadgets

I for one am linked to way too many social networking time leeching sites and find myself jumping from app to app throughout the day just to check what’s going on or who is online.

Well, good ol’ Century Japan have just introduced something that could increase my productivity.

Namely the LCD-4300U USB mini screen.

So why would you want a tiny second screen?

Simple my friends - if you’re working on something important, let’s say that overdue report, you can concentrate on your main screen, with your ’social’ stuff on the second screen - no more screen flicking.

All you need is to have a USB socket spare and this 4.3-inch screen will plug right in.

It offers WVGA resolution with LED backlighting but it’s also asking £120 (plus shipping from the far east).

Is it worth it?

GeekStuff4U via Akihabara News

Here’s another first!

Asus have created the G71 which is claimed to be the world’s first Intel Quad Core gaming notebook - armed as it is with the new Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX9300.

As well as the processor, this machine has an added boost thanks to the removal of the overspeed protection so gets more processing power and better abilities to multitask.

Users can chose from three different processor speed settings using the Direct Console 2.0 interface.

The same interface also includes controls for Direct Messenger, enabling communication utilities such as Instant Messaging, meeting and email notifications.

“The G71 delivers a total gaming experience in a highly portable package, with an emphasis on audio clarity and stunning graphics performance”, says Asus.

You also get a 17-inch Crystal Shine display with a quick response time of 8ms, powered by the Nvidia GeForce 9700M GT GDDR3 512MB graphics card.

On the keyboard, there are the expected gaming hotkeys and the chassis of the G71 also features a funky programmable lighting system.

The G71 features up to 4GB of memory as well as packing in dual hard disk drives of up to 1TB (2 lots of 500 GB).

Phonics comes out via the Altec Lansing speakers and there’s also Dolby Home Theater, and a 2.0-megapixel webcam.

The G71 should be making an appearance during the first week of November for around $2,999.

Softpaedia

Word on the street is that the employees at NVIDIA have had their grubby little paws all over the latest Apple notebook and given it high-fives all round for its superior hardware prowess. 

Sources claim that the new model will get rid of Intel’s factory standard platform and replace it with components supplied by either Apple or an outside party………

A possible switch to a NVIDIA chipset commonly used for Intel-based notebooks, would give Apple faster video acceleration and more advanced power management.

Further speculation on a possible release date suggests that the notebooks could be available as soon as October 14th - like, next week people!

Again, lots of speculation abounds but it has been eight months since there’s been any updates to the range - could the time be now?

And as Morrisey once said - How Soon Is Now?

AppleInsider

This is one of the few ‘ergonomic’ controllers that actually looks like it could make a difference.

The oddly named Hippus’ HandshoeMouse was developed at two medical universities in Holland and not in someone’s shed over a weekend of cheap booze and reggae roll-ups.

They have performed “extensive medical studies” that “support the concept” which enables the user to “place the whole palm of their hand on the mouse without having to cling on to it”.

It comes in three fittings so you should be able to find one for you, whether you’re Hell Boy or not.

You can comfortably grab one now in black or white for €120 ($166).

You ever get that feeling when you see something that you never realised that you needed and then all of a sudden you can’t imagine how you ever got by with out of those?

Well, designer Sangho Jin has come up with a clever solution that allows you to add more hard drive space to your laptop in a stylish way, and without taking up desk space.

The Hang it On enclosure lets you hang an external 2.5-inch hard disk drive at the back of your laptop screen and shows you “in use” info via its blinking front LED indicators.

Now, I can almost hear you all saying - “well, I didn’t know I needed one of those.……..”

There’s more of these feindishly clever designs in the Hanging Hard Drives section over at Yanko Design.

Check out this logo!

16 companies have teamed-up for a GSM Association-led initiative to make mobile broadband a recognisable standard - nothing makes things more real than a logo

The team’s aim is to create a bunch of “always-connected mobile broadband devices delivering a compelling alternative to Wi-Fi”.

The first phase will see it pre-installed on laptops in 91 countries.

Launch participants include 3 Group, Asus, Dell, ECS, Ericsson, Gemalto, Lenovo, Microsoft, Orange, Qualcomm, Telefónica Europe, Telecom Italia, TeliaSonera, T-Mobile, Toshiba and Vodafone.

So - some big names in there.

The GSMA-created “Mobile Broadband service mark” is designed to help consumers easily identify a “ready to run” mobile broadband device.

More is promised from the initiative including “a whole range of previously unconnected devices – from cameras and MP3 players to refrigerators, cars and set-top boxes.”

Well, little or no surprise that Apple’s 3Gesus phone has appeared as this year’s best gadget as chosen by readers of Stuff magazine in its annual Gadget of the Year awards.

Stuff described the iPhone 3G as “a faster, cleverer version of an already remarkable phone.” It makes it as a neat 1-2 as the phone’s first incarnation won the coolest gadget prize last year.

The 3G beat some stiff competition in the form of Sony’s PlayStation 3, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Nintendo’s Wii Fit and the B&W Zeppelin iPod speakers dock.

Stuff’s Editor, Fraser Macdonald, said the nominated products were judged on their performance, design and value, as well as “that elusive cool factor.”

“Having our readers vote for a number of the awards has been fascinating,” he said. “They are the ones out there on the street buying gadgets and so they are a great barometer.”

The magazine’s own gadget of the year prize, chosen by its editorial staff, went to the Asus Eee Pc, the sub £300 lappy that’s started a strong competitive market noone knew existed.

The judges said it had made more of an impact than any other device and marked the start of a “laptop for everyone” era.

Here are a smattering of the other winners that were announced at the ceremony held at the Dorchester Hotel in London yesterday:

• International brand: Nokia
• Innovation: Sony Reader
• Design: Apple MacBook Air
• Game: Grand Theft Auto IV
• Green gadget: Ego Electric Street Scoota
• Retailer: Firebox.com

Details of all the winners are at: http://awards.stuff.tv

Sony has announced two new VAIO notebooks today that both have optional Blu-ray drives - The VAIO NS and the VAIO CS.

The NS Blu-ray drive can also write DVDs and CDs.

The NS has a 15.4-inch LCD and uses Sony XBRITE-ECO LCD technology, an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and has 3GB of RAM.

The Blu-Rry version will sell for about $1000 and it can be had in blue, white, and silver.

The CS comes in four colours including the boozy sangria and cosmopolitan - The Blu-ray version will go for about $1070.

The screen is a 14.1 inch number and uses the XBRITE-ECO LCD. The computer uses an optional Intel Centrino 2 CPU and up to 3GB of RAM.

“With these new units, Sony is now offering consumers a host of multi-media PC options to choose from,” said Mike Abary, senior vice president of VAIO product marketing at Sony Electronics. “And with a starting price of around $1,000 for the NS model, we’re expecting a new audience to experience HD entertainment on their computers.”

Sony

Imagine waking up to find that you were without a connection to the interweb?

This horror was real life for thousands of Londoners after thieves broke into a BT exchange in Mayfair and stole £2 million worth of equipment. 

Apparently the swines entered the premises on Farm Street, off Park Lane, between 8pm and 9pm before grabbing servers, routers and network cards.

Thus leaving homes and businesses were without the Internet on Thursday.

Police would not say whether the raid was being connected with similar raids over the past year.

BT issued the following statement:

“We can confirm there was a break-in at our Mayfair Telephone Exchange last night (Wednesday), this is a now an ongoing police investigation and therefore we are unable to comment further.”

“BT apologises for any disruption caused to our customers. Our engineers are working around the clock to ensure that full service is up and running as soon as possible.”

The Evening Standard suggests that the thieves could have used the 40th birthday party of Mr Madonna/director Guy Ritchie in a pub nearby as a distraction.

Timesonline

Stevey J got stuck straight in with the new iTunes offerings by announcing HD TV show downloads, from $2.99.

As well as that he added, “NBC is coming back to iTunes, and they’re bringing all their great shows with them”.  Nice

The new iTunes 8 package will launch, with HD TV downloads, new browsing features and that “Genius” feature I’ve mentioned before.

Browsing will change, with the ability to look at albums just by their covers.

“Genius will automatically let you create playslists from songs in your iTunes library with just one click”.

All it will take is one click of the button in the bottom left-hand corner  to create a full playlist.

Information and algorithms about your iTunes library, like number of plays on one song, will be sent to Apple, basically so they can collect data on their users, to “combine your information with the knowledge of other iTunes users too”.

This will apparently allow Genius to “get smarter and smarter and smarter”, and Apple will send the results back to their users.

Before the freaking out begins, all this takes place anonymously of course.

Apple

Most leaks come from employees that are less than water-tight, clever marketing or just pure out-and-out rumours.

Microsoft has invented a new way of leaking insider knowledge.

Pocketpicks have spotted a Microsoft Job advertisement that manages to spill more product info than their average press release and waggle-tongued employees combined.

It reads:

“Do you dream about having a mobile phone based entertainment experience powered by a unified entertainment service across devices such as Zune, Xbox and PC? If yes, come join the Zune team! The Zune team is embarking on the mission to create a “Connected Entertainment” experience, realized through the Zune service, that spans multiple devices such as Zune, Xbox, PC and Mobile phones…”

So, the big M is beavering away on an online content portal to sync all of its current devices together and perhaps a Zune Phone?

Movie’s, music and TV shows are probably in the mix and combined with the ability to watch or listen to them on both Xbox, PC and Zune sounds a promising idea.

Thanks to those that mailed me with this and thanks to Microsoft for being so generous and Pocketpicks for being so eagle-eyed  :)

Pocket Picks

So, you have a Wi-Fi enabled mobile and you’re wanting to check up on what goodies this site has to offer before you get on the train or plane.

You open up your browser and select the airport or stations Wi-Fi only to be sent to a ‘Pay To Browse Page’ - NOOOOOOOoooooooooooo………..

Here’s a neat trick to get you that quick hit

Debuggable Ltd has the full story, but the basic up shot of it is that when you open up your web browser you’re generally re-routed to the service’s sign-up and payment page.

The trick is to enter the web address you’d like to visit and add “?.jpg” to the end of the URL.

So you would go to http://www.idleparis.co.uk/?.jpg for example (where else?).

Apparently these for-pay networks don’t block image files (yet), so you’re able to slip through the cracks this way.

You didn’t hear this from me, ok? 

Debuggable Ltd

Say hello to the now officially titled Inspiron Mini 9 which is set to be Dell’s Eee PC botherer.

While we’ve seen various pics and specs before we now have prices to go with them along with an October release date.

The XP version starts at but £299 or you can save £30 by opting for the Ubuntu version which is set to retail at £269.

The official spec list reads: 1.6GHz Intel Atom chip, 1GB memory, Intel GMA 950 graphics, 8.9in 1,024×600 display, up to 16GB SSD, three USB, Ethernet, VGA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel webcam and 4-cell battery. It measures a titchy 232×172×32mm and weighs in at just over 1Kg.

No news about the red or (red) version so at the moment you can get in any other colour as long as it’s black.

The Electric Pig has had a chat with Spore and Sim City creator, Will Wright, who has just revealed that the iPhone version of Spore would go live on Apple’s app store this Friday!

FTW!!!!!!

Spore is the ambitious new life simulator from Wright & co that has been developed over the last 7 years.

I think it probably goes without saying that the iPhone version will represent but a portion of the the larger PC and Mac versions but I’m sure it’s gonna be fabulous and highly addictive.

But, on saying that it’s also probably one of the most anticipated titles yet to head to Apple’s blower.

“It has nice graphics, and feel-good music, but it’s not the whole game,” Wright explained.

“It’s just the Cell Stage, but I’ve been told the game will be going live on the App Store this Friday.”

The full puter version also launches on Friday September 5th.

Sporetastic mate! I’m gonna get me this for sure!

Roll on Friday!!!

More retro fun!

This Bendiboard Retroboard Invaders is a flexible roll-up rubber keyboard with a cool difference - it’s covered in Space Invaders!!

How cool is that?!!?

I’d be willing to stump up $40 for one and I think you would as well.

Let’s face it:

• It’s bendy
• it’s got rows of aliens
• it’s got a space key showing the laser gun-base
• you can spill coffee/beer/wine on it safely

What more could you possibly ask for?  How about a digital Space Invaders door mat?

Technabob

There’s more than one player in the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) game.

Here comes Project Inkwell, their colourful Spark PC and their goal to “increase the size and effectiveness of the K-12 education technology market by managing the synthesis of functional specifications for a ubiquitous computing platform”………..

Aimed at the under-12 market (and probably will be bought by hip young thangs), the Spark is a working concept, offering everything for the mobile net addict in a package around the size of a PSP.

There’s a zipped pocket designed for a spare battery and even a Bluetooth wireless mouse.

It includes a folding-out, hyper slim keyboard, scrolling switch to help you read stuff on that skinny screen, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

The main thing is that it’s gonna have to be able to take some playground style bullying and occassionally being used as a football or at least one of the goal posts!!! 

No news of a price or official launch just yet.

In theory it shouldn’t cost much and be out in time for the new term.

Tuvie (via Coolest Gadgets)

The two main browsers at the moment are battling it out and we’ve gotten so used to seeing Firefox eating into Microsoft Internet Explorer’s market share.

Now along comes Google Chrome to upset this two-way fight.

Their shiny new open source browser will compete with the two afore mentioned tools and I’m guessing that they’re hoping to see it snapping at the other two’s heels and also eating into their slice of browser market pie.

It will be interesting to see how this lightweight and apparently fast browser will take off.

It will be launched as a beta for Windows machines only in more than 100 countries, although there are plans to release both Mac and Linux versions.