Hasta La Gadget!

Windows Phone 7 turns out to be perfectly capable of tethering your data signal to a laptop via USB cable, a feature it was though to lack. To access the secret tethering mode, you’ll need to do some diagnostic voodoo, but its pretty straightforward stuff: more like inputting a video-game cheat code than actual hacking.

First, you need to get into the handset’s diagnostic mode. Right now the instructions are only available for Samsung WP7 phones. To do this, dial ##634# and hit the call button, followed by *#7284#. This will give you the above menu, which lets you toggle between the default Zune sync, a diagnostic utility and, yes, a tethered modem.

Back at the computer, use these settings to let it talk to the new modem:

number: *99***1#
user name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
password: CINGULAR1

Neat, free and fun. What more could you ask for? We’re sure that hacking other, non-Samsung handsets will be possible, too, as soon as somebody works out the proper codes.

According to David K of Mobile Digest, you can connect and disconnect just by plugging or yanking the USB cord. And because WP7 allows Wi-Fi syncing, you don’t even need to change this new tethering setting back – just leave it as it is. I don’t have a Samsung Windows Phone 7 phone to test this on, so let us know how things go in the comments.

Windows Phone 7 Tethers! You Can Do it NOW! Here’s How [Mobile Digest]

Samsung Omnia 7 ha il tethering USB! [HD Blog.IT]

See Also:

• AT&T Adds iPhone Tethering, Kills Unlimited Data for iPad …
• Android 2.2 'Froyo' Features USB, Wi-Fi Tethering
• IOS 4.2 Beta Adds Tethering to iPad

Got a mysterious, infuriating itch down there? Then pee on your cellphone, wait a moment, and you’ll know whether you just need to take a shower, or a trip to the doctor.

This is the promise of new research in England, where £4-million ($6.5m) has been given to the UK Clinical Research Collaboration to develop this disposable tech. You don’t have to actually urinate on your phone (unless it is an old pre-Android Motorola handset, in which case you might want to anyway). Instead, you will put a few drops of urine or saliva onto a computer chip which you will then plug into the phone. This laboratory-on-a-chip then chugs into action, analyzing the sample and giving a diagnosis within a few minutes.

The actual details of the chips are still undisclosed, but they will be cheap. The idea is to sell them in vending machines in the same places you would buy condoms, for prices as low as 50p to £1 (80-cents to $1.60), making self-testing into an easy and discreet affair, encouraging those who would normally avoid doctors to check themselves out. The chips would be “about the size of a USB chip,” according to the Guardian, and plug straight into the phone or PC. This makes it likely that it would hook-up via micro-USB, something compatible with pretty much everything except the iPhone.

According to the project chief, Dr Tariq Sadiq, “Britain is one of the worst [countries] in western Europe for teenage pregnancy and STIs (sexually transmitted infections).” As a Brit myself, I can confirm this: When not taking drugs or roaming the dismal streets looking for people to stab, young Britons like nothing more than drunken, dangerous sex. Targeting the tech-savvy, cellphone-loving generation with these tests seems a very smart thing to do.

Mobile phone kits to diagnose STDs [Guardian]

Photo: Ron’s Log/Flickr

What do you give the man who has everything? Well, nothing, obviously, because he has everything, and if he doesn’t have it, he clearly doesn’t want it. So you do what every other poor sap does. You buy some piece of novelty crap, something that combines two other things into one brand new and ill-conceived hybrid that maybe, just maybe, your man never even knew existed. And you get bonus points for wasting a few hundred bucks instead of just blowing a couple of dollars.

By this reasoning, the Robert Graham USB cufflinks are the perfect gift for the man who has it all. They are both novel (USB! cufflinks! Together!) and expensive ($250). They are also, depending on the pair you pick, quite tasteless, although thankfully not Donald-Duck-necktie-tasteless. You can pick between Paisley, Black Leaf or “Black/Rainbow”, all of which are guaranteed to clash with even the most conservative of shirts. Each ‘link pops open to reveal a 2GB USB drive, for a total of 4GB per pair.

Kidding aside, this always-with-you storage is actually pretty handy. I guess the problem is the patterns which have been vomited onto the cufflinks in the form of colorful enamel. Still, one thing can reassure should you be buying this as a gift for the man who has everything: if he has any taste, you can be certain he won’t already have a pair.

Robert Graham USB cufflinks product page [Cufflinks.com]

See Also:

• Dura-Ace Bike-Chain Cufflinks
• Transformer Cufflinks
• Inside the Mind of a Steampunk Jeweler
• Thermometer Cufflinks

Everyone at once: “freakin’ finally!” While PCs — even lowly netbooks — have been enjoying the spoils of SuperSpeed USB for months on end, those in the Mac realm… well, haven’t. We’ve even seen purported email replies from Steve Jobs noting that USB 3.0 simply isn’t mainstream enough to be included as standard gear on new Macs, but that’s not stopping LaCie from hurdling the hurdles that lie ahead. The company has just announced bona fide USB 3.0 support for OS X, but the unfortunate part is that new hardware is still required; not only will you need a gratis USB 3.0 driver, you’ll also need a LaCie USB 3.0 expansion card ($49.99 for PCIe; $59.99 for ExpressCard). In other words, LaCie’s USB 3.0 driver won’t magically make any ole USB 3.0 PCIe card play nice in your Mac Pro. But hey, there’s always hope, and frankly, hope’s all ya need.

Continue reading LaCie brings USB 3.0 to Mac: all you need is a driver and an expansion card

LaCie brings USB 3.0 to Mac: all you need is a driver and an expansion card originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Most USB thumb drives are cheap enough that it rarely seems worth comparison shopping but, as usual with computer hardware, if you want the best you’d best look at some benchmarks. Following in the footsteps of Kristofer Brozio, TweakTown gathered together 16 of the fastest and most common models to test and some of the big brands, like Lexar, finished near the bottom in terms of performance. If you want a fast USB 2.0 drive, the Silicon Power LuxMini 920, a 64GB model, is the one to get — if you can find it. Meanwhile the rather more readily available Patriot Memory models clocked in at a close second. However, taking all the honors is the OCZ Enyo, but given that’s more of an external SSD we question its inclusion. For proper thumb drives, it’s the USB 3.0 Super Talent SuperCrypt taking the cake for performance — as it should for a $120, 16GB model.

TweakTown tests the best thumb drives, invites USB 3.0 models to the party originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 15:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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