Hasta La Gadget!

There are a lot of people around the world who like to collect historical pieces of technology created in decades and centuries past. Some of this old technology is purchased at auctions such as the one operated by a company called Breker in Germany. This is the auction house that sold a 1976 Apple I computer last year for $640,000. There are only six surviving Apple I computers known to be in working order.

Another of these working machines is set to hit the auction block in Germany with Breker. This particular example is in working order and is expected to fetch somewhere between $260,000 and $400,000. This example appears to be missing its wooden case, but does include a monitor, keyboard, processor board, and the tape player. The auction will also have the Apple Lisa-1 computer from 1983.

This machine was the world’s first computer controlled using a mouse and was only produced in 1983. This particular machine is expected to bring somewhere around $20,000 and $40,000. The auction will also have a computer that’s even older than that original Apple I computer. This particular computer was built by Nat Wadsworth in 1973 and is called the Scelbi-8H. It was built around Intel’s first eight-bit microprocessor.

Only 200 of those devices were produced and only three have survived, it is expected to bring as much is $25,000. An Altair 8800 is also on the on the auction block and is expected to fetch as much as $5000. The auction will also have some older technology, much older in fact with the world’s first mechanical calculator with digital carryover on the auction block built by Blaise Pascal. This mechanical calculator is from 1642 and is known as the Pascaline. Only about 20 of those were constructed and 10 still exist. It’s expected to fetch as much as $260,000 at auction.

[via Breker]

Another working Apple I computer heads to auction is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sometimes, you go to a party and end up drinking more than you should have. You probably know better than to drink and drive, so your best bet would be to crash at a friend’s place until you’re sober enough to go home.

Most people aren’t really good judges of even their own sobriety, and that’s where the BACtrack Breathalyzer comes in.

BACtrack is a compact breathalyzer that you can take with you on the go. It can accurately measure how much alcohol you have in your system, thanks to its internal air pump that can provide you with precise and consistent results. It then sends its data to your iOS device over Bluetooth. Being true to the ‘track’ part of the breathalyzer’s name, the BACtrack will track your blood alcohol content (BAC) over time so you can gauge and maybe even re-asses your current drinking habits.

The companion iOS BACtrack app also serves as your personal drink diary, and even lets you snap photos of what drinks you’ve been imbibing. It doesn’t skimp on social features either, as you can share your results with other people, like your designated driver.

The app also has a feature which will estimate how long it will take for your blood alcohol level to return to 0.00 so you know approximately when it will be safe to drive, bike, walk (or text).

The BACtrack is available on ThinkGeek for $149.99(USD).

[via Gadget Review]

Google Glass has already been hacked by a well known iOS jailbreaker. By using an Android hack, ‘Saurik’ managed to get root access and modify the code.

Competition is a good thing in any market. The more businesses you have working for the consumer’s dollar, it tends to lead to better prices and service. Google announced not long ago that it would be rolling out its Google Fiber Internet service in Austin, Texas.

The announcement from Google has existing Internet providers within Austin scrambling to try and keep customers on their service.

For starters, Internet provider Time Warner Cable has announced that it will be offering all of its subscribers free access to Wi-Fi hotspots within the city. Time Warner says that its existing customers with standard cable packages or above can now get free access to the citywide Wi-Fi network that the company is building.

Time Warner went so far as to specifically point out Google Fiber as the reason it is speeding up the deployment of its Wi-Fi network. Still, I suspect that Time Warner will be unable to compete on pure performance and a lot of its customers will still defect to Google Fiber when it’s available.

[via Gigaom]

The Qualcomm Snapdragon-based quad-core Samsung GALAXY S 4 flagship smartphone is just days away from hitting multiple US carriers, and before its even been released the handset has already received a root exploit. While a few inventory issues delayed the release date, with 100 million sales expected Android developers are already hard at work for the smartphone.

Popular XDA Developer member djrbliss, who has gained popularity largely for his work on Motorola devices, has released a simple root method for all Snapdragon-based quad-core GALAXY S 4 smartphones. Which is all the U.S. carriers and more that aren’t enjoying Samsung’s Octa-core variant. His same tool that was released for rooting and hacking multiple Motorola smartphones appears to work nicely with Samsung’s latest too.

The Samsung GALAXY S 4 has seen plenty of praise lately for that 5-inch 1080p HD display, 8-core processor and more, and we had similar feelings in our full Galaxy S 4 review. Now with tons of developers getting behind the device we can expect more good things to come, especially with such an easy root method for those wanting to take the risk.

Speaking of risk. While tweaking and hacking your smartphone always carriers a certain level of risk, at your own expense, the tools and tips to root the device are quite easy and can be followed over at this XDA thread. If you feel like taking a dive into tweaking your new GALAXY S 4 a full how-to is provided from the folks at Android Community.

[via Android Community]

GALAXY S 4 quad-core Snapdragon model gets rooted before release is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.