Cupidtino aims to bring those with a passion for one of the world’s great brands together so that they can share their experience in even more intimate e-harmony. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20004198-71.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Technically Incorrect/a/p

(Credit:

Dr. Brendan)

Our third host, Jeff Bakalar, doesn’t get sick very often, but when it pains, it roars. The last two days have been rough (no offense to Wilson), but we can all breathe easier now that his 10 arms are back running the engineering board just in time for Cinco de Mayo! Unfortunately, we ran out of margarita mix awhile ago, but will you settle for a Jimmy Buffet reference with an extra-funny episode of The 404 Podcast on the side? It’s all we got!

My iPhone mysteriously broke last weekend and I thought I was doomed to suffer this ultra-budget Samsung flip phone for the next few months until Wilson referred me to New York’s own iPhone repair specialist, Dr. Brendan (not a certified doctor).

Yesterday I took my phone to the clinic (Brendan’s apartment) and left fifteen minutes later with a brand new display! Best 75 bones I’ve ever spent, if you don’t count that place where I put that thing that time. Dr. Brendan fixes all sorts of Apple products and we plan to have him and his partner on the show in the near future, but in the meantime check out his Facebook page and tell him The 404 sent you!

"Seriously, I can't breathe in this mask"–Spiderman

(Credit:
Barcroft Pacific / Barcroft Media )

Nerds across the world love to celebrate International Free Comic Day, but a greedy thief in Australia dipped his fingers in the wrong honeypot last Saturday. Forty-five-year old store owner Michael Baulderstone spotted a man trying to steal a collector’s X-Men comic from his store that was worth $160; luckily, he was wearing a Spiderman costume to celebrate the event and cornered the criminal while signaling to two Jedi Knights (also shopping for comics) to guard the door with their lightsabers until the police arrived.

Silly Padawans: colored plastic flashlights are for kids…and air traffic controllers. Anyway, if the perp had any common sense he would’ve just shouted a George Lucas sighting at the Popeye’s Chicken next door and made his escape.

There are a few more stories to cover on the show today including a Catholic Church turning to Facebook to recruit new priests and a collection of Calls From the Public from last week–who doesn’t love leftovers?

EPISODE 574

Listen now:

Download today’s podcast

Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video

Check back later for a video of today’s episode!

…

Originally posted at The 404 Podcast

If you thought the Novophone handset was cool, wait till you get a load of this totally retro iPhone base. But be prepared for sticker stock. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20004176-233.html” class=”origPostedBlog”iPhone Atlas/a/p

Charging battery-powered things while traveling has always been a challenge, and while there’s no shortage of portable solar chargers on the market, none have exactly tickled our particular fancies. Maybe the PEG from nPower will enable us to get some juice on the go, a kinetic-based “personal energy generator” that pledges to recharge gadgets by harnessing your movement. Sadly, the company lists no actual specs for the device beyond USB 2.0 compatibility, leaving us guessing when it comes to the all-important question of “How far do I need to run with this thing to recharge my celly?” We’ll find out in June when the $149 wunder-baton ships. Order now and you can get yourself a limited edition model with “First Mover” engraved on there. Better than “Late Bloomer,” we suppose.

[Thanks, Daniel]

nPower’s PEG Personal Energy Generator up for pre-order, starts kinetically recharging gadgets in June originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 12:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  nPower  | Email this | Comments

Crucial’s RealSSD C300 had a sizable problem coming out of the gate: price. Initially starting at $800 for 64GB 256GB it cost more than most laptops (it’s now down to $700), but crazy people pay crazy amounts for crazy performance and so off to retail it went. Recently, Anand over at AnandTech indicated that his review sample “apparently bricked itself” before eventually coming back to life — albeit at a ridiculously reduced speed. Yesterday Crucial issued an official firmware “fix” for his particular problem and, as you could probably tell by the use of quotes there, it isn’t necessarily a good thing. Numerous people in the Crucial forums are reporting that this update has completely bricked their drives, while others are simply unable to apply it in the first place. This particular piece of firmware is still available on Crucial’s site (version 0002), and we would definitely advise steering clear until at least version 0003 — maybe 0004 for good measure.

Update: We heard from Kristin at Micron Technology, who passed along the following update:

We wanted to let you know that we’re aware of the issues some users are experiencing with the firmware update tool. Initially, it sounds like there needs to be some additional steps in the process for their specific systems. As you know, aside from the issues experienced, there were/are several users that had success with their updates.

We’ll post an update on the forum as soon as we have more information, and will keep you apprised with what we know.

Additionally, we had the pricing wrong on the initial C300. It was $800 for 256GB, not 64GB.

Crucial issues RealSSD C300 firmware fix, bricks more drives originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 11:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AnandTech  | Email this | Comments