Hasta La Gadget!

The oldest secret documents in the CIA’s treasure-trove have been cracked open finally. Believed to be the only remaining classified WWI documents, the six files have revealed all manner of espionage message tricks—including the recipe for German invisible ink. More »

Willow Garage’s low-cost kit can track people and take panoramic pics of your home. It also possesses the ultimate robot skill: serving drinks on a tray.

Verizon Android users have had 3G Skype calling since this time last year, but the latest app release — v1.0.0.983 for those of you keeping tabs — brings 3G calling to the masses, without the need for a VZW-sanctioned app. The update also patches a rather significant security hole discovered last week, which could let third-party apps get hold of your personal information. We’re glad to see that’s no longer the case, and who’s going to object to free calling as part of the deal as well? Make sure your phone’s running Android 2.1 (2.2 for Galaxy S devices) and head on over to the Android Market to get updated.

Skype for Android update adds US 3G calling, fixes personal data hole originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 09:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Davetech’s mod puts an old cellphone battery inside a mouse

Just as a bike tire will always burst when you are far away from home without a patch kit, your mouse will run out of juice just as you are up against a deadline. But what if you could just attach a pair of jumper leads and get the dead rodent running again? And better still, what if you got rid of the AAs altogether and swapped in a long-lasting lithium-ion battery instead?

This is exactly what Davetech did over at Instructables. Using nothing but a trusty Dremel (what else?), an old cellphone battery, a card reader and a cheap-o ($1.50) li-ion battery charger from Ebay, he fashioned a clever rechargeable mouse. Oh, and you’ll need pair of jumper cables, too, if you want to follow along at home.

The Dremel was used to hollow out the old battery compartment and make room for the new Nokia cell. The card-reader was cannibalized for its sprung contacts, with all but two of these bent out of the way. To begin with, Davetech would just swap in a new, freshly charged cell and pop the old one into his phone to recharge, but even these few seconds were too much.

To allow in-mouse charging, Davetech ordered the charger from Hong Kong and now simply runs a pair of cables from its terminals into the mouse and onto the battery’s own contacts.

I think the best mouse designs are those that have their own li-ion cell inside and can be charged whilst in use using a USB cable, but I do have a newly acquired Dremel in the tool-closet. The trouble is that I tossed my mice for a pair of Apple Magic Trackpads (one for each hand), and no matter how clever I get with the chopping and carving, there’s just no space in their skinny bodies for even the thinnest cellphone battery.

Modified Mouse Runs on Lithium Ion Cellphone Battery [Instructables]

See Also:

• Poof! After Wireless, the Computer Mouse Turns Invisible
• Screen-Protector for Magic Mouse: Why?
• Toe-Mouse for Foot-Controlled Computing
• 18-Button Open Office Mouse Makes A Keyboard Look Minimal
• Dead Mouse plus Computer Mouse equals Mouse Mouse
• A Tasteless Mod: A Computer Mouse Made of Mouse Bones

Cute, but doomed: The PSPgo will no longer be made by Sony. Photo Jim Merithew / Wired.com

Sony has announced that it will no longer make the little PSPgo portable games console. Speaking to Japanese site Impress, Sony confirmed rumors that the console, just over two years old, will be euthanized, and production will cease. Any units still in warehouses around the world will remain on sale until they’re gone.

The PSPgo is a cut-down version of the PSP. It launched in 2009 and managed to slim down to around half the size of the PSP by ejecting the UMD disk drive and hiding the controls on a slide-out panel.

Why has Sony killed the console so soon? We may never know, but we suspect that the PSPgo never really sold very well — the unit saw a hefty price cut in Japan last October, bringing it from ¥26,800 ($323) to ¥16,800 ($203). Add in competition from the cheaper Nintendo DS Lite and the do-anything iPod Touch and you can see that things may have been difficult.

Then again, the PSPgo may just have been axed to make way for the Sony Ericsson PSP phone, the Xperia Play, which is remarkably similar to the PSPgo, and includes a competent Android cellphone, too.

Either way, the little fella probably won’t be missed, and Sony has committed to continue soldiering on with the bigger PSP-3000. Good luck, Sony! Now, where’s my iPod? I feel like a game of Angry Birds.

SCE, PSP go to complete the shipment [AV Watch / Impress]

See Also:

• PSP Go
• PSPgo
• Sony Gambles on PSP Go, Exclusive Titles – Video – Wired
• PSPgo Porn: Sexy Pics of Sony's Tiny Gaming Console
• Video: Hands-On With PlayStation Phone