Hasta La Gadget!

Usually when a judge says that you have had “a serious drug problem,” you’re in trouble. When he does so in a court of law in which you’ve been accused of drug-related debauchery… well, surely nothing good can happen. Yet somehow, thanks to the luck of the filthy rich, Henry T Nicholas III, co-founder of Broadcom, has managed to escape the crazy allegations of wild, drug-filled parties, of spiking executives’ drinks with MDMA, and of once smoking so much marijuana on a private airplane that the pilot had to don a gas mask. That said, our visions of wild telecom nights and coke-riddled days aren’t necessarily false: the case is being thrown out thanks to improper conduct on behalf of the prosecution, who apparently not only used improper means to influence witnesses but was also responsible for leaking information to the press. (Oops.) Nicholas indicates he’s now planning on doing some charity work, but he shouldn’t party away his legal fund just yet — this has appeal written all over it.

Broadcom co-founder cleared of drug-related charges, party at Henry T. Nicholas III’s place! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Who says you can’t get something (in this case DRM-free tracks by the truckload) for nothing? Amazon’s free-album library has a little something for everyone. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-10443900-58.html” class=”origPostedBlog”The Cheapskate/a/p

You have to love DigiTimes and those loquacious sources it seems to keep finding. The latest word from the Taiwanese grapevine suggests that both Intel and AMD will be bringing out six-core CPUs to the consumer market by the middle of this year. We’re using the term “consumer” rather loosely here as Intel’s first Gulftown chip is expected to be priced north of $1,000. The Core i7-980X is slated for a March release, which just fits inside the Q1 window that earlier rumors had suggested. If you butter your bread on the AMD side, you’ll have to wait a while longer as those 45nm Thuban chips — hereafter to be known as the Phenom II X6 1000T series — won’t be landing until at least May. The usual caution when dealing with anonymous sources is advisable, but this sounds like a roadmap with a high likelihood of being accurate.

AMD and Intel’s six-core CPU plans revealed by mobo makers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the world of iAccessories, first is good. We get so many pitches for cases, stands and the like when a new Apple product is released that the only way to pick which one to cover is to print them all on paper and have Punxatawny Hal, the Wired.com pet tortoise, pick one out for us. Or we cover the first ones we see. Whatever.

Today we have Scosche’s kickBACK stand for the iPad, a polycarbonate kickstand which will hold the iPad almost upright for watching movies or tilted just enough to make typing easier. We foresee many of these kinds of stand, although the Apple solution of a case/stand combo looks to be the best so far.

The price of the kickBACK is yet to be revealed — no surprise as the product itself still appears to be little more than a computer rendering. As a guide, the kickBACK for the iPhone is $35, so expect this to cost more than that.

Scosche kickBACK page [Scosche. Thanks, Mark!]

Remember the classic Atari joystick, a sure candidate for the least ergonomic game controller in history? Now you can buy a new one.

In case you have successfully blotted the memory from your brain, let me remind you how things were. The joystick, curiously named as it brought he very opposite of joy to your poor wrists, was a short, stiff stick wedged into a thick, hard to grip base. Moving the stick away from its center was akin to crushing a ball-bearing between your fingers: impossible, painful, and it resulted in bruising.

Now the folks at Retro Thing, a blog dedicated to the wonders of yesteryear, have re-fashioned this wrist-twisting classic, and brought it into the modern age. First, it uses USB, so you can hook it up to a new machine. Second, it is clear. Why make it clear, instead of classic black? Because today, every gadget has to have a blue, glowing blinkenlight inside. The Clear Classic USB Joystick has not been made exempt from this awful custom, and lights up as blue as a comedian in a working men’s club.

The stick will cost you $30, and once your hands have recovered from the mauling they’ll likely receive on first use, you can pop open the case and make a new housing for the fully removable controller board inside. Don’t have any old-school games to play? Fear not! The joystick ships with a CD full of old games and the Stella Atari 2600 Emulator for Mac or PC.

Clear Classic USB Joystick [Reflex Audio]