Hasta La Gadget!

This miniature Death Star is the ultimate power of the table tennis universe. That’s right, this Death Star was actually created by carving a ping pong ball.

It was created by a forum user named tatumaru5963. I’m not sure what went into to making it since Google Translate kinda sucks, but it does look pretty amazing. There are some images that show a few of the steps necessary to create this thing though and judging by those images, this must have taken quite a while.

This space station is about half the size of a pack of cigarettes. All I can say is that this guy has some serious knife skills to build this thing with such precision. It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.

[via Geekologie]

Apple has been granted a preliminary sales injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the US, with the Cupertino company now required to stump up a $96m bond in order to secure the ban. The decision was tweeted by Reuters’ Dan Levine, and follows a win earlier this week for Apple against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, with the US court granting a preliminary injunction against the Android tablet in the US.

The judge responsible for that tablet block, Justice Lucy Koh, is the same that has granted today’s Galaxy Nexus injunction. The financial stakes are significantly higher for the Nexus smartphone, however: Apple only needed to post a $2.6m bond in order to enact the Galaxy Tab 10.1 injunction, perhaps a reflection on its comparatively lower sales potential and the fact that it has already been superseded.

Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, however, is still the flagship Google own-brand smartphone. In fact, the search giant announced a discounting promotion at Google IO this past week, cutting the handset down to $349 unlocked and SIM-free.

According to Judge Koh, “Apple has articulated a plausible theory of irreparable harm” in its argument against Samsung and the Galaxy Nexus, because of “long-term loss of market share” along with “losses of downstream sales.” The patent in question is the so-called ’604 Siri-style quick search patent, which describes a system “using a plurality of heuristic algorithms to operate upon information descriptors input by the user, the present invention locates and displays candidate items of information for selection and/or retrieval … Thus, the advantages of a search engine can be exploited, while listing only relevant object candidate items of information.”

If the last injunction is anything to go by, Apple will waste no time in posting the required bond, and Samsung will move equally swiftly to appeal the decision.

Update: According to FOSS Patents, Apple apparently managed to convince Judge Koh that all four of the patents it asserted were, in fact, likely infringed by Samsung. However the injunction was only applied based on the ’604 patent.

Apple granted preliminary sales ban of Galaxy Nexus is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Toyota can’t seem to catch a break from cars that are desperate to accelerate, with the Japanese company recalling a further 144,000 vehicles after spotting issues with mats jamming the gas pedal. Two models of 2010 Lexus SUV – including Toyota’s hybrid version – have been added to an existing recall over concerns that the floor mats could inadvertently cause the accelerator pedal to jam.

The 2010 Lexus RX 350 and the 2010 Lexus RX 450h – amounting to approximately 131,800 vehicles and 22,200 vehicles respectively – are the cars in question. Owners should expect a safety recall notification by first class mail in early August 2012, Toyota says.

This latest batch of cars adds to hundreds of thousands of existing Lexus recalls for the same floor mat accelerator issue. Back in February 2011, Toyota voluntarily recalled around 20,000 2006 and early 2007 GS 300 and GS 350 AWD sedans so as to modify the plastic pad set into the carpet around the accelerator.

At the same time, it also recalled around 760,000 earlier RX models, and added a further 1.4m cars from its Lexus and Toyota stables – including RAV4 and 4Runner models – to a 2009 recall for a similar mat issue.

Toyota says that, if Lexus owners experience a problem with a stuck accelerator before the recall amendments can be made, drivers should brake and guide the car to the side of the road, putting it into neutral.

144k Lexus recall adds to Toyota’s stuck-accelerator woes is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Thermaltake today introduced the new Element Gaming Mouse Cyclone. What makes this gaming mouse unique is that it is equipped with a detachable fan. The fan will keep your hand cool and dry while gaming. This cooling fan can be bent back to a flat position when not in use. The Element Gaming Mouse Cyclone features a superb 6500 DPI laser sensor engine and a military-grade coating technology. Unfortunately, there is no info on pricing or availability so far. [Thermaltake]

In case you somehow missed it, today is an important milestone in technology nostalgia: it’s the fifth anniversary of the original iPhone’s launch. We’ll let you explore the memories of that insane day on your own terms, but ComScore has produced a visual breakdown of just how ownership has grown and shifted over the years. It’s not hard to see that adoption has been on an accelerating curve, especially after the 2010 launch of the Retina display-toting iPhone 4: as of this past May, about three quarters of owners have either the iPhone 4 or the iPhone 4S. And the 2007 edition? Only two percent of all iPhone owners are still actively holding on to the aluminum-clad debut model, which suggests most would rather have Siri than reminisce. Whether you’re a fan or have since moved on to a competitor, the chart is a reminder of just how far one of Steve Jobs’ biggest projects has come.

Visualized: The iPhone five years after launch originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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