Hasta La Gadget!

The Gadget: HP’s LX195, their stripped-to-the-core (but Apple Time Machine capable) implementation of the Windows Home Server, which comes with a 640GB internal drive, but can only be expanded via the four USB ports in the back.

The Price: $390

The Verdict: Quite good. If you weren’t quite sure Windows Home Server was right for you, and you have a family with both Mac and PC machines, the LX195 is an easy way to experiment without paying the $600ish dowry to hitch yourself to a full-blown EX machine.

The Catch: Like the EX HP Home Servers, you can retrieve individual files off the Time Machine backup, but you can’t use it to restore your machine at boot time. Which means if you don’t have a spare Mac in the house to grab the files off the server and load it onto a USB drive from which you can do a restore, you’ll have a more roundabout recovery process than you’d like.

The Point: The LX195 works just fine as a Home Server and a Time Machine target backup drive (its Gigabit Ethernet makes file transfers rather speedy), but lacks the extras the company just introduced to the EX485 and EX487 that allow users to stream and convert video to iPhones and PSPs. If all you want is the base functionality, this is definitely a fine choice. But at the same time, you have to look at Acer’s $400 solution that does have four expandable drive bays. But Acer’s might not have the iTunes server and media capabilities that HP does. [HP]

Relatively cheap, but maintains most of HP’s Home Server functionality

Doesn’t have the newer EX updates

No internal-expandable storage, only USB

Mac cloner Psystar has filed for bankruptcy, effectively stalling Apple’s legal case against the Florida-based startup.

Filed with the federal courts in Florida, the voluntary petition for bankruptcy protection temporarily puts Apple’s lawsuit on hold while the bankruptcy court begins proceedings.

Apple in July 2008 filed suit against Psystar alleging copyright, trademark and shrink-wrap license infringement. Psystar opened its Mac clone business in April, selling a PC hacked to run OS X Leopard.

Apple strictly forbids its operating system to be installed on anything but Apple products. The corporation alleges Psystar is violating the Mac OS X end-user agreement, which states, “You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable others to do so.” The corporation also alleges Psystar is committing copyright infringement by installing OS X on non-Apple hardware.

Psystar did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, the bankruptcy petition suggests Psystar’s investors may have withdrawn from financially backing the company. The bankruptcy filing also implies that Psystar likely cannot afford a legal team to win its battle against Apple.

Winning the lawsuit would be a large victory for Apple, as it would set a legal precedent enabling the corporation to easily squash other existing Mac cloners.

The Florida court on June 5 will hold a hearing revealing Psystar’s equity creditors, meaning if there any large entities backing the Mac cloner (e.g., Microsoft), we’ll know who they are very soon.

Suggestion of Bankruptcy [PDF via MacObserver]

See Also:

• Apple, Psystar File to Protect Secrets Before Battling in Court …
• Psystar Marches Forward With Beefy Mac Clone
• Mac Copycat Psystar Gets Ammo to Countersue Apple
• Psystar: Apple Is Paranoid for Alleging Conspiracy
• Psystar: Blu-Ray Hackintosh for Sale; MacBook Clones on the Way …
• Psystar Tags Back Apple With Antitrust Suit
• Apple Cries Corporate Conspiracy Behind Psystar
• Apple Finally Sues Mac Copycat Psystar

Image courtesy of Psystar

Luckily we’ve got solid word of HTC’s Touch Pro2 headed for all of the majors Stateside, or this would come as a bit more of a blow for the hopelessly selfish Windows Mobile users among us: HTC’s QWERTY slider flagship is now available online and unlocked, though its Euro-centric nature means there’s no 3G for folks who’d like to use it in the wilds of the United States of America. Still, there’s plenty of greatness here outside the HSPA data, and the $800-ish pricetag doesn’t seem too unreasonable for what you get. And hey, maybe you live in Europe — we’re not ones to judge.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Touch Pro2 hits virtual shelves, unlocked and ready for action originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After a very relaxing three day weekend, we’re back for a fresh start and a hilarious show. Today, we recap our appearance on Fox News and our weekend exploits, debut a few excellent logo submissions, and reveal Wilson’s secret shame.

Sick camera face, Wilson

(Credit: Justin Yu/The 404)

Welcome back, everyone! Hopefully your weekend was as relaxing as ours was, although sometimes a three-day weekend can be more tiring than a whole week of work ! Let’s just say that seeing the sunrise as you go to bed can be beautiful and tragic at the same time. We kicked off our Memorial Day weekend with an appearance on Fox News’ “Strategy Room” with our buddy Clayton Morris. Most of you have already seen it, but check it out if you haven’t and let us know what you think. Were we too serious for our own good? More bathroom humor, perhaps? I’ll try harder next time.

In related 404 news, Wilson discovers that Dave Matthews Band is using the REMIXED version of our theme song in a promotion on its Pandora channel. What the crap is that all about, DMB? We’re calling you guys out on stealing the song from our buddy Jamie Lewis, and we’re extra protective since we consider him the unofficial voice of the show, so expect that subpoena in the mail immediately. And Jamie, if you’re reading this…we’ll be looking for our commission check soon, too.

Aside from us tearing apart some d-bag that broke the Rock Band 2 world record, we also have a hilarious call from the public and show off more submissions for our “Design The 404 Logo” competition. Watch the video for today’s show to check them out, or see the slideshow below for high-res shots. Send your high-res submissions to the404[at]CNET[dot]com and we’ll show them on the air for the chance to win a gigantic prize package that includes a copy of “The Back Book,” Anna David’s “Bought,” and more!

EPISODE 349

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Originally posted at the 404

Nokia’s Ovi store got off to a rocky start Tuesday as users faced problems accessing the store and downloading the programs.

“Shortly after launching the Ovi Store at 2 a.m. ET, we began experiencing extraordinarily high spikes of traffic that resulted in some performance issues for users accessing store.ovi.com and store.ovi.mobi,” said Eric John, head of product marketing for Nokia Ovi in a blog post. “We immediately began to address this issue by adding servers, which resulted in intermittent performance improvements.”

The store features games, applications, podcasts and videos for smartphones running Nokia’s Symbian operating system.

The problems with Ovi’s launch do not bode well for Nokia, which has been struggling to better Apple’s App Store, whose more than 46,000 titles have been downloaded more than 1 billion times since the store’s July 2008 launch. Nokia has lagged other mobile platforms such as Research In Motion’s BlackBerry and Google’s Android OS, both of which launched their own app stores months ago.

The Ovi store can be accessed by about 50 million Nokia device owners worldwide, including the soon-to-be launched N97. The store will have more than 20,000 titles at launch, said Nokia, including both free and paid apps. Customers can visit Ovi through their phone’s browser to personalize and downloads services and programs.

“Ovi is open for business and we’ve stocked the shelves with both local and global content for a broad range of Nokia devices,” said Tero Ojanperä, Executive Vice President, Nokia Services in a statement. “Ovi Store makes shopping for content and applications easy for feature phone and smartphone owners alike.”

But some Nokia fans aren’t pleased. Inability to access the Ovi store on launch isn’t the only trouble that users say they faced. Allaboutsymbian.com, a web site that follows Nokia closely, pointed out that the Ovi store does not offer a clear distinction between Java and native Symbian apps.  The performance of the store client was also slow and the store did not have much content, said the site.

Ovi store users in the U.S. will face additional challenges buying from the Ovi store. U.S. consumers can access and purchase content from the Store via unlocked devices using AT&T or T-Mobile. But those purchases will require a separate credit card transaction. Later this year. AT&T has said it will offer carrier billing, so purchases from the store become a part of the monthly service bills.

Photo: Ovi store rendering on Nokia N97 (dekuwa/Flickr)