Hasta La Gadget!

Is Apple in cahoots with the mafia? Gregory McKenna thinks so. The Missouri man is suing Apple over claims that the the mafia is using the company’s popular MP3 players to send him threatening messages.

CNET got a hold of the court documents, which explain,

The alleged motive for the threats was that the Mafia wanted McKenna to work as a fashion model for them at a New York modeling agency. McKenna said he called local police and the FBI field office, but allegedly nothing was done. This allegedly allowed the Mafia members to “stalk, threaten, attempt rape, and kidnap” him.

McKenna claims that the threats are coming from two devices–an iPod Mini and an iPod Shuffle purchase via eBay. The auction site was not targeted in the suit.

Toshiba took a licking in the latest format wars. The company put up a good fight with HD-DVD, but ultimately it just couldn’t stand up to Sony’s Blu-ray barrage. That fight seems like ancient history now, yet in all that time the company still hasn’t seen fit to swallow its pride and introduce a Blu-ray player of its own. If report are to be believed, however, Toshiba is set to take its first stab in the space by the end of the year with the BD 18.

Samsung started producing Blu-ray players back in January 2006 via Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Korea (TSST Korea)–a partnership between the electronic giants. Toshiba gave up the HD-DVD fight in February 2008. Analysts expect the company to embrace Sony’s technology while there’s still space left in the market.

It’s been a long, long while since we’ve seen a new Crucial-branded SSD, but we’d argue that Lexar Media couldn’t have picked a better time to end the hiatus. The M225 solid state drive family is the fastest, most capacious Crucial SSD line to date, and while they still lag behind OCZ’s new Vertex Turbo SSD drives, they don’t lag by much. The 2.5-inch SATA units can hit read speeds of up to 250MBps and write speeds of up to 200MBps, and the whole lot features MLC NAND flash memory and a SATA 2.0 (3Gbps) interface. Available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB models, the trio is also fully compatible with the Crucial SK01 external drive storage kit, and unlike so many competitors, Lexar decided to go rouge and actually announce prices for the now-available units: $169.99, $329.99 and $599.99 in order of mention. Not too shabby, wouldn’t you agree?

Filed under: Laptops

Lexar Media issues 64GB, 128GB and 256GB Crucial M225 SSDs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unlike ASUS’ Eee PC 1005HA, which seemed to ship just days after debuting, the company’s 1101HA is taking its sweet time in going from “real” to “really available” here in America. This next member in the expanding Seashell range boasts a larger-than-usual 11.6-inch display and can be ordered with optional 3G (eventually, anyway), and the good folks over at NewGadgets managed to get ahold of one and unbox it for the cameras. Better still, they undressed a glossy black unit, which is noticeably different than the shiny white version we’ve seen thus far. Care to have a look? It’s all there just after the break.

Continue reading ASUS’ Eee PC 1101HA netbook gets unboxed on video, shown in black

Filed under: Laptops

ASUS’ Eee PC 1101HA netbook gets unboxed on video, shown in black originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPhone has proved to be rather adept at replacing other pieces of hardware. The combination of portability, a big screen that allows it to mimic any interface and an open (ish) App Store means that we are continually surprised at what people can make it do.

Today, it’s the turn of the bicycle. It turns out that many of the geegaws you might buy at the LBS (local bike shop) are already available as downloads from the iTunes Store. Here are our favourites.

CycleMeter

CycleMeter’s hideous interface contrasts with its truly astonishing Rube Goldberg setup. The app works as a cycle computer, showing a readout of your speed, distance, average speed and trip time. It works with any iPhone and also the iPod Touch. That’s right, the GPS-free iPod Touch. How on earth does it do that?

A cycle computer counts the revolutions of your wheels and, because you have already told it the wheel’s circumference, it can work out the rest. Purpose built devices use a magnet on the spokes and a detector on the fork.

CycleMeter uses sound to accomplish the same thing. Put a small plastic tag on one spoke so it hits the fork on every revolution. Then run the cable of your earbuds down the fork and secure the microphone next to this point. The tick, tick, tick of the plastic tab is picked up and the rest is done in software.

A truly heroic hack, we think you’ll agree, and just $0.99 (plus the cost of replacement earbuds after every passing shower). It can’t be long before there is a Bluetooth spoke-widget that can talk directly to the iPhone, though. Combine with proper trip-log software and you’d have a real winner.

Product page [iTunes]

BrakeLights

Just as ingenious as CycleMeter, although slightly less jerry-rigged, is BrakeLights. It adds a brake light to your bike, whether using cantilevers, side-pulls, disk or running a no-braked fixie. Strap it to your bag or back, screen pointing behind you, and ride. The app uses the accelerometer to detect when you slow down and flashes a red light on the screen. $1.

Product page [iTunes]

Back Light

Similar to BrakeLights, the awkwardly named Bicycle Back Safety Flashlight is another $1 lamp, but this time it stays on all the time you are riding. It also lets you write messages to those following you. The suggestion is the word “STOP”, but we imagine that you, dear reader, could manage messages both more creative and abusive.

As an everyday light replacement the battery drain might put you off. But in an emergency, why not? Especially if you have an always-connected iPhone. Imagine: “Damn, I forgot my back light. Wait, I’ll just download a new one.” $1.

Product page [iTunes]

Gear Calculator

Bicycle Gear Calculator is rather specialized, but if you need it, it may just beat doing hard sums in your head. The application works out gear ratios for you, based on crank lengths, wheel sizes and cog/sprocket sizes. It’ll even tell you what ratio you should ride to maximize tire wear based on the pattern of skid patches on the tires themselves. $5

Product page [iTunes]

Speed

Speed is a more practical speedometer, although you’ll need an iPhone 3G or better to use it. Instead of the dangerous sounding wires-and-plastic approach taken by CycleMeter, it uses the iPhone’s GPS to work out your speed. It also has a rather lovely interface, although it might be more suited to a car dashboard than a bike’s handlebars. Works in both kph and the obsolete mph. $1

Product page [iTunes]