I guess Sony wants to get couples into the habit of reading with their new V-Day Sony Reader Bundle that comes in pink, retailing for $299. You get a pink “Cross Your Heart” Reader skin complete with a coupon for 14 Harlequin Special Releases - I guess you must really know your partner extremely well. Don’t bother about hoping for a model with souped up hardware - all you get is just a cosmetic change and ‘free passes’ for lovey dovey books that feature a well-chiseled guy and the daintiest of women on the cover. Tags: home theater, sat-nav, Ogg Vorbis, gaming (Read the full post about ‘Sony Gets Mushy with V-Day Bundle’…)

In the middle of NEC’s Advanced Design page sits the Flask. The phone is powered by a fuel cell, and you can see the gas sloshing around inside. Of course, as a concept design, any specifications are made up, and therefore useless to list, although the various parts of the internet claim e-ink technology and the now compulsory touch-screen control. The case design seems to have a stopper for refills, something that seems like a bad idea (liquid and electronics don’t mix). The whole disposable lighter design, though, is great. Imagine shaking the thing to get out the last drop of fuel for that emergency phone call. (Read the full post about ‘NEC Fuel Cell Phone Looks Like a Bic Lighter’…)

If you’re still griping about the price of the MacBook Air, it probably means you can’t afford one. Enter the MacBook Paper, a printable (and free) PDF which is even smaller than the real thing. This is the ad:

Earlier, Rob Beschizza posted another parody video, and asked “What is it about the thing that lends itself so well to mockery?” It could be that it’s so easy.

(Read the full post about ‘MacBook Paper is a Printable Portable’…)

Posted Jan 29th 2008 3:56AM by Thomas RickerFiled under: LaptopsEverex’s site has been updated with a new CloudBook ship date. The little 9-inch, Via-based laptop with 7-inch display, 30GB disk, and 5-hours battery is now expected to pop with a gOS Rocket on Walmart.com and ZaReason.com February 15th. A day earlier would have required a pink version which nobody wants… at least not yet.[Thanks, David]Tags: gadgets, lcd, wi-fi, hdtv (Read the full post about ‘Everex’s CloudBook wannabEee: now February 15th’…)

For every super sexy, super slim, multicolored point-and-shoot, there’s a meat-and-potatoes model aimed at classrooms and people on tighter budgets. Nikon’s $130 CoolPix L18 comes in blue or red and has some nice enhancements like in-camera redeye removal. The retro-styled CoolPix P60 costs $100 more, because it has a 5X optical zoom lens and an impressive 200,000-dot electronic viewfinder. With some manual controls, it’s aimed at people who want to fiddle more, but don’t want to break the bank. Both cameras run on AA batteries and have 8-megapixel sensors. (Read the full post about ‘Pick Yer Low-Frill Nikon CoolPix Cam: $130 L18 or $230 P60 [Digital Cameras]’…)

Posted Jan 28th 2008 8:28PM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Cellphones Sky Dayton, founder and chairman of the phantasmagorical Helio, has announced that he’s stepping down as CEO to become chairman of the board of the last-man-standing MVNO. Helio’s new CEO will be Wonhee Sull, formerly the company’s president and COO, and obviously a direct conduit to co-owner SK Telecom. “Helio has reached a point in its development where I feel the timing is right for this change… As we have for the past three years, the two of us will continue to define Helio’s direction and future,” said Dayton. (Read the full post about ‘Helio’s Sky Dayton steps down as CEO’…)

EDS’ portable and wireless WiDRIVE enclosure has just gotten better, thanks to a choice between 2.5″ and 1.8″ flavors as well as new features thrown into the fray which include :- Support for BitTorrent client RSS subscriptions Integrated web server 802.11b/g data transfer rate (USB for 2.5″ model) USB chargingWhat’s your portable storage device of choice? Photo courtesy of Engadget. Tags: players, Ogg Vorbis, audio, pvr (Read the full post about ‘WiDRIVE Gets Enhancements’…)

MSI does not want to be left in a lurch and has made plans to join Everex as well as Asus on the low-cost ultra-portable notebook market. According to MSI executives, the release of their new offering will depend on Intel’s Diamondville’s availability. While there is no further information concerning the hardware specifications of MSI’s effort, chances are we will be getting a deluge of news when April rools around once Intel gets its Diamondville act together. Tags: mobile devices, ipod, game, toys (Read the full post about ‘MSI Wants In On Low-Cost UMPC Game’…)

Microsoft is set to stop issuing new licenses for Windows XP as of June 30, 2008. To stop that from happening InfoWorld has began a campaign to ”save Windows XP.” Their hope is to convince Microsoft to continue selling XP licenses indefinitely, so far they have reached about 70,000 signatures after just 2 weeks. Of course, even as InfoWorld admits, even with “a million signatures” they may not be able to save XP. If Vista is not right for you, head on over to help save XP before its reaches it end of life, either that or hope for a quick release of Windows 7. (Read the full post about ‘Help save Windows XP, new license sales to end June 30′…)

Chris, Adrian and I went to Tahoe to snowboard and test some winter gadgets for an upcoming story. When it comes to the great outdoors and winter gear, little pieces of electronics have nothing on old fashioned tech like solid AWD, dedicated winter tires and gore tex outerwear. Driving up, we ran into a bit of trouble.

At about 2am on our late Thursday drive, I glanced up from my radar detector and GPS didn’t see him in my rearview mirror for a minute longer than I should have. When I turned around, I found Chris and Adrian at the side of the road looking at the fender of their car. He had a bit of bad luck, hit some ice a little too fast and pinballing around a tight corner on rt 89 near Homewood.

(Read the full post about ‘Notes: Tried and True Winter Gadgets Have No Batteries [Notes]’…)