Hasta La Gadget!

Normal people don’t like today’s computers. Most loathe them because they can’t fully understand their absurd complexity and arcane conventions. That’s why the iPad will kill today’s computers, just like the latter killed computers running with punchcards and command lines. More »

Sure, we kinda think AT&T’s cell-reception boosting MicroCell 3G should be like, free, since it’s using your pipes to route calls, but I suppose this is about as swell as we could’ve hoped for—$150 with no monthly fee. More »

According to Apple’s internal documentation, the iPhone is now available without AT&T contract or ID at any Apple Store. Our contact claims that the iPhone is locked, however, so it will only work with AT&T SIMs. Here are the conditions: More »

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sony’s gearing up to take on Apple this year, with the long-awaited PSP phone and a netbook/eBook reader/PSP hybrid to fight the iPad.

And just in the nick of time for our Sony tough love fest, We Miss Sony!

There aren’t extensive details available yet—including any info about pricing and specs—but we can expect to see the both the PSP phone and the PSPad sometime this year. The Sony Ericsson PSP phone, in particular, has been in the works since at least 2007, but has met with various delays since then.

As for the multifunction iPad competitor, it’s not clear exactly what form that will take. Both devices, though, will leverage the media platform Sonys launching later this month. The Sony Online Service—a temporary name—is going to provide similar media content as iTunes, but will supplement its offerings with its extensive (and exclusive) catalog of PlayStation games. Mostly older games are expected to be available on the mobile devices.

The project is apparently being speared by Kunimasa Suzuki, who has an oversight role in both Sony’s Vaio and PlayStation businesses. Getting previously disparate corporate divisions to work together has been a major part of CEO Howard Stringer‘s turnaround plan, making the PSPad an incredibly important sign of if that labor has born any fruit. Is this the Sony renaissance we’ve been longing for? Or will it be another in a long line of proprietary format failures? We’ll find out soon, either way. [WSJ]

Housed in a wooden, painted prototype case, the Notion Ink Adam tablet is rough. But with Pixel Qi dual-mode screen tech on one arm and Nvidia’s Tegra 2 on the other, it’s one of the most exciting devices at CES.

We’ve seen a fair share of Android 2.0 tablets at CES, some of which share not only Android 2.0 with the Adam, but the Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, too. But what they don’t have is a Pixel QI transflective screen, a 10.1-inch panel that can switch between backlit LCD mode and low-power electrophoretic reflective mode, which looks more less like E Ink, and which actually gets easier to see in direct sunlight.

We got our first good look at this screen tech this morning, and we covered its weaknesses: the LCD colors aren’t as vivid as a plain LCD’s and suffers at some viewing angles, and the reflective mode suffers from the glossy screen’s glare, but in both modes, it’s good enough. (And Notion honcho Rohan Shravan says he’s working on a fix for the latter issue.) What this means is that no matter what you’re using the device for—browsing the web over 3G, reading an ebook, watching a video—you can switch between screen modes depending on your environment or preference.

As I said before, the device is still in development, so you’re seeing protoype hardware (there’s prospective second model with a curvier exterior, too), untouched software (Rohan promises a custom interface, with a solution for text input other than the awkwardly sized standard keyboard), and unoptimized performance (Android 2.1 should help the interface move a little more quickly). We’ll get a fuller picture of the device come Mobile World Congress in February, as well as pricing info—though we’re assured we’ll be “very happy” about it.

Anyway, you can stack these caveats as high as you want, and the Notion Ink Adam is still taller, if just for this reason:

We repeat: The bullet’s in the chamber. E Ink is going to die.