Hasta La Gadget!

Colorware’s out to conquer the whole gadget world, it seems, as it has now added Google’s first own-brand phone to its roster. Joining such hero devices as the Nook, iPhone 3GS, every modern console and even the occasional ThinkPad, the Nexus One will take three weeks to undergo its makeover, at a cost of $175 if you’re supplying your own or $800 for a brand new one. Whether the results end up priceless or worthless will be entirely up to you, however, so feel free to practice on their design site a bit before pulling the trigger.

Nexus One succumbs to Colorware’s charms originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We may be waiting for the future to arrive today in the form of the Apple Tablet, but for an antidote, may we suggest this gorgeous television from LG, which is almost 180-degrees different from the Moses Tablet.

The beautifully retro Serie 1 television is best defined by what it lacks. No LCD panel (it is unashamedly CRT), no widescreen (the aspect ratio is an old-school 4:3, on a 14″ screen) and, paradoxically, no analog tuner (this baby is digital-only). It *does* at least have a remote control, and a pair of optional, clip on rabbit-ears, and it also features a switch that lets you flip from color to black and white to sepia, for true old-time goodness.

IT’s a Korea-only product right now, but if it came West, I’d snap one up. At only $220, it’d make a perfect (and much bigger) replacement for my tiny, analog only TV set, soon to show its last moving picture.

Product page [LG via Technabob]

This is the Performance Book Caddy, a $20 sheet of steel that could be the death of you, literally. The caddy clamps onto the handlebars of your bike and supports any manner of reading material so you can catch up on the morning’s news as you hurtle through downtown commuter traffic.

“Ok, Mr. Snark,” I hear you say, “this is meant for stationary bikes.” That might be the obvious answer, but it is wrong. Here’s the pitch, direct from the Performance Bicycle site:

Trying to find time to catch up on your reading and training? Do both at one time with the Performance Book Caddy!

Perfect for all types of reading material
It mounts in seconds to virtually any road, mountain or stationary bike [emphasis added]

Now sure, some folks actually hook their bikes up to practice rigs at home instead of just going outside (the equivalent of playing with yourself whilst wearing protection), but the blurb and the product shot combine to suggest otherwise.

It does have me thinking, though, that this would make a nice mount for a netbook (with shake-proof SSD drive, of course). Or a map. Or perhaps even lunch. After all, if you can read, eat and generally conduct a normal day whilst careening around in a couple tons of steel and glass (a car), surely doing the same on a bike should be at least perfectly legal, and at worst a good head-start on a Darwin award.

Performance Book Caddy [Performance Bicycle via DVICE]

Near-field communication, or NFC, has been slowly but surely creeping its way toward mainstream adoption, and this latest announcement by the NFC Forum, rulers of the 13.56MHz frequency, should only help things to go more smoothly. It has announced the Logical Link Control Protocol (LLCP), enabling NFC-compliant devices to talk to each other. We’re not talking massive transfers on a gigabyte scale here, rather things like contact infos, web addresses, and surely other types of secret message (“UR Cute!”). Along with LLCP comes the new NFC Signature Record Type Definition (RTD), which not only yet another acronym but also entails a new way of digitally signing those messages, theoretically preventing their being usurped and used for evil purposes — like recess blackmail.

NFC goes peer-to-peer, won’t help you download next week’s Lost premiere originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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These photos purportedly show the Apple Tablet, locked down in a security frame. They were sent by an undisclosed source to Engadget and, to my eye at least, appear to be the real thing.

The screen looks to be around 9 or 10 inches and looks pretty much like what we expected: a big iPhone. The Home button at the bottom says to us that this is all about books and magazines, and less about movies (although when you’re watching a movie in landscape format, you don’t do much button pressing). Another cutout at the top of the security frame suggests either another Home button (unlikely) or a camera.

We can see from the screen that there is Wi-Fi on board, and the “No Service” message points to a data connection, although it doesn’t reveal the carrier. Another source tells Engadget that the back of the device will be aluminum, like the MacBook Pro, and that “pricing will run $800 on contract with Verizon and $1,000 without when it arrives in March.” This tallies with what we have already heard.

I’m going to call this as legit. I just wish the spy had gotten a snap of the on-screen keyboard in action.

Last Minute Leaked Photos of Apple Tablet? [Engadget]