Hasta La Gadget!

Researchers are developing bots that mimic infant behavior to further study human development. They also seem intent on creating the creepiest baby robot ever.

So desperate was an anonymous Dish Network reseller to get his iPad onto Verizon’s network that he was willing to sacrifice Wi-Fi signal strength, lose the GPS and partially break the iPad’s speaker. The method? Rip out the 3G from an iPad 3G and replace it with the innards of a MiFi, chopping out space as you go.

This ingenious and somewhat ambitious hack turns out to be straightforward, if a little scary. The MiFi hooks into the iPad’s battery with a little fiddling, and directly into one of its two antennae with no hacking at all. The big problem was actually fitting the MiFi internals inside the iPad as they are larger than the card they replace. The answer was to hack out one of the iPad’s two speakers, effectively killing the bass.

The microSIM carrier-tray was dumped in favor of a small switch to power up the MiFi (it switches off after a half hour by default), and this appendage is operated by sticking a thumbnail into the slot. Finally, once the unit was reassembled, the bright MiFi LED shone directly through the iPad’s screen. Oops. This was quickly fixed by clipping it off the circuit-board.

So, one iPad gutted and damaged, but running quickly on Verizon’s data network. There is another big gain, too: the Wi-Fi part of the MiFi still works, so you can connect up to four other devices to the network. The weirdest part is that the iPad is actually getting its connection via Wi-Fi from the MiFi, not direct from the EVDO radio. This is a little like holding a tape-recorder up to a speaker to copy a record.

You can’t fault the guy for having the cojones to tear up his iPad in the name of science, but I can’t help but think that it would be better to simply carry the MiFi in a pocket. After all, you still need to power it up every time you use it, and now it is just one extra drain on the iPad’s battery.

iPad MiFi Conversion for Verizon [Dish TV HD Store via Life Hacker]

If you’re sick of carrying a purse around just to hold your gadgets, the Showstopper out of Australia offers a hands-free alternative in the form of a zippered wrist-worn pouch.

Yesterday, Apple and AT&T both experienced complete meltdown as their servers crumpled under the load of iPhone 4 pre-orders. Various surprising effects were experienced by potential customers according to Twitter, including seemingly successful orders failing after completion, AT&T log-ins redirecting to the accounts of other users, and even full-priced, off-contract handsets ending up in shopping carts.

Today, as the dust clears, it appears that Apple managed to sell out of the iPhone 4 despite the almost non-available store. We know this because the delivery date for orders has been pushed back to July 2nd, a week and a day after the launch date of June 24th. The $99 3GS can still be had on time, if you still want that ugly old thing after seeing the new one.

We can only guess that Apple underestimated demand, just like it did with the iPad, which is still scarce in most markets. Those of you outside the first-tier countries, like me over in Spain, can settle in for a long wait.

Select your iPhone, then choose your AT&T rate plan [Apple]

Nokia’s gorgeous new X5 is clearly not aimed at the iPhone or Android markets. Instead it is designed to fill the square-shaped gap left by Sony’s venerable MiniDisc player. What?

According to Nokia Conversations, the company’s official blog, the stylish, sleek phone is all about the music: “You might be reminded of a MiniDisc player in its visual stylings and the musical connection is definitely correct when it comes to this device’s specialisms” says the mysterious Nokia blogger known only as “Ian”.

The beautiful (enough already, who are we kidding? This thing is the very definition of hideous) X5 has all the usual gubbins stuffed into its bright and boxy case: a QWERTY keyboard, a 5MP camera with LED lamp, an SD card slot to expand beyond the pitiful 200MB on-board storage, and dedicated music keys. But it also has “some inventive new input options”:

Spin the phone and it will shuffle to a random music track. Inventive indeed! Shake the phone and it “reveals the number of unread messages waiting from your friends,” if you still have any after they see your new phone.

The best feature, though, is its regional availability. The €165 ($200) X5 will launch only in Indonesia, which is comfortably far away for everyone except the poor Indonesians.

Hip to be Square: Two Xseries launches at Nokia Connection [Nokia Conversations]