Hasta La Gadget!

SPRINGFIELD — A probe into grants linked to former state Rep. Constance Howard appears to be deepening after federal investigators issued a new subpoena this month, less than two weeks after she relinquished her House seat.

The July 18, 2012, subpoena, which came to light in a Thursday response by the House clerk to an open-records request by the Chicago Sun-Times, sought “all notes, minutes of meetings, transcripts of meetings or reports” issued between 2000 and 2007 by the Computer Technology Committee, a now-disbanded House panel Howard once chaired.

The subpoena issued by the U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield also asked House officials to provide “any reports to/from the Constance A. ‘Connie’ Howard Technology Scholarship Fund or records of any grants or disbursements awarded to that fund.”

Read More…

LG Nitro HD owners will get be able to end their July right by upgrading their handsets to Android 4.0. AT&T announced today via its blog that the 4.5-inch smartphone will be getting Ice Cream Sandwich on Tuesday, along with access to LG’s Optimus 3.0 UI, the latter of which offers up improved swipe-to-unlock, more display customization and a new download category in the phone’s menu. AT&T’s not stopping the upgrade train at LG station, though — it’s also promised updates for the HTC One X and Inspire that should help bump up performance.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

LG Nitro HD getting Ice Cream Sandwich the last day of July originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AT&T  | Email this | Comments

There is something worse than just losing some of your more expensive gadgets, like cameras or laptops, and that’s all the stuff that’s on them. I knew it was a mistake when I let my daughter take my camera on a field trip to the Statue of Liberty, yes, she left it on the bus and remembered it when she got home. I will decline to discuss that her grandmother actually chaperoned the trip and knew to watch out for the camera. I wasn’t as devastated by the camera as I was the hundreds of memories left on that thing…

Most of us have felt the sting of a loss like that, and we know in our hearts we’ll never see the stuff again, but these new reward tags are a great way to up the odds in your favor. These durable, adhesive, polyester tags attach to your favored valuable items and, by using a special code assigned to your item you can easily provide contact information as well as offering a brief message to whomever finds it, and further entice them to return it, by giving them a reward.

Users affix the tags to almost anything they might like to see again should they lose it, like cell phones, keys, iPads or even jackets or handbags, next, you create an account, activate your tags and then enter your message and information at the rewardtag.com website. People who find an item are directed to the same website by your tag and are able to find your message and reward via a unique ID code.

I think that people are basically good, AND that most people will log on to look up your message and the combination of a heartfelt personal appeal coupled with a monetary reward may actually be enough for you to get your stuff back. How about you? The tags are certainly inexpensive enough to give it a try, 15 tags for 20 bucks at rewardtag.com. Oh, BTW, we got the camera back… from a passenger that recognized us in the pictures.See? People really are good.

[ Reward Tags – What do YOU have to Lose? copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

It can be argued that today’s modern electronics lack the soul found in older devices. There was a time that a radio felt nearly alive thanks to its glowing inner tubes and wooden casing. But now, with printed circuit boards and mass produced plastic casings, electronics feel dead, disposable and down right stiff.

Tombox speakers are a bit different. Using repurposed vintage electronics, these speakers combine the warm feeling of older electronics with features of a modern kit — think steampunk without the gaudy nonsense.

There are a 10 models in this company’s collection, each with a 3.5mm input. The best looking model, the tombox 145 (top), is already sold. Since these are one-off products, they’re gone when they’re gone. The tombox 144 (below) is another good bet. Or, if you need something larger, the company also sells large floor models complete with casters and a large leather strap for wheeling it around a room.

Prices are bit rough with models starting out at 190 EUR. Worse yet, it’s rather difficult to give this company your money as the buy button links to an email account. But never mind those trivial features, these radios and large speakers restore my faith in design by ironically rehashing older designs.

Question: what’s the best line of defense when you’re old and crotchety and your body’s not working quite like it used to? The answer, of course, is to turn yourself blue and explode when provoked. At least if you’re a termite. More »