i Phone BUY

Motorola A4500

(Credit: PhoneScoop)

While the Verizon Wireless and Apple talks are dominating headlines these days, the iPhone isn’t for everyone and it looks like there might be two other noteworthy devices that are headed Verizon’s way. More specifically, two QWERTY smartphones from HTC and Motorola.

The first …

There’s no shortage of hot phone rumors this week, with talks of a Palm Pre release date, new Verizon phones, and more indications that Apple and Verizon are in talks about a joint project. We also cover the week’s news and reviews, plus we answer your questions too.
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(Credit: MetroPCS)

MetroPCS recently released the Samsung Tint, a simple clamshell with features like GPS, voice recognition, a camera (we’re guessing VGA), text and multimedia messaging, e-mail, Bluetooth, and a speakerphone. It also supports MetroPCS’s “push-to-talk social networking tool” called ChatLink.

The Tint comes with interchangeable faceplates as …

(Credit: Alcor Films)

It got ugly in Eau Claire the other day. That’s Eau Claire, Wis., where a Radio Shack employee is facing disorderly conduct and battery charges for allegedly punching a customer.

What happened? Well, according to the AP wire report, a customer was trying to return an …

TE makes first DIY styrofoam turntable.

(Credit: Teenage Engineering)

Swedish product design studio Teenage Engineering’s credo is to create products built with “functional design, superior quality, and top-class engineering,” but they should probably add “environmentally irresponsible” to that list. A low-cost DIY turntable kit is a clever idea, and I’d probably buy one, but it’s made out of styrofoam. Styrofoam? Really? Does it come with a case made out of batteries and aerosol cans too, guys?

All environmental issues aside, this turntable deserves serious design respect: the base of the player as well as the arm are made out of CNCd styrofoam to accept the belt underneath. The turntable also works as a standalone player with a built-in amplifier and speaker, and it even sports a USB connection for converting vinyl into digital audio.

Unfortunately, Teenage Engineering currently has zero plans to put the styrofoam turntable into production, but you’re welcome to check a box on the Web site and submit your e-mail address for possible updates in the future. More pictures after the break.

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Artist's rendition of the PSP Go.

(Credit: 1Up.com)

For the past couple months, we’ve been covering the ongoing rumors that Sony is prepping a new PlayStation Portable.

Well, more details are emerging, with game site 1Up.com reporting that Sony …

(Credit: CP Technologies)

The $149 LevelOne MobileSpot is really a pretty simple idea. Take a fairly standard portable 802.11b/g wireless router and build in a PC Card slot and USB port that lets you turn a 3G wireless PC Card or USB modem into an instant hotspot. Then …

You can’t tell me someone didn’t think of glowing red eyes. Or even glowing white eyes. Just glowing eyes in general is cooler than a glowing red body…under ultraviolet light.

The Associated Press is reporting that South Korean scientists have cloned four dogs with the “power” to …

(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

Normally, I am very skeptical of software that claims to make your computer faster or increase the speed of your connection to the Internet. I’ve never seen any of them actually deliver.

So when I came across Game Booster, released by IObit on Monday, I thought, “Ah! Another useless piece of junk. It won’t boost anything!” Curiosity made me try it anyway. And I have to admit that I was wrong, though not entirely.

First off, the app works. It improve your games’ performance by turning off other software and services that would otherwise run in the background the whole time. This helps free up the system resources, making them available for the game you are about to play.

The application is very simple. Once launched, it gives you a list of services running and software running in the background that it deems unnecessary for gaming. There’s also a big button labeled “Switch to Gaming Mode.” Pressing this button will stop everything on the list, making the system even more ready for the real action.

Once you are done with the gaming, you can click on the same button–now labeled “Back to Normal Mode”–and Game Booster will restart all the services it stopped earlier to bring the computer back to normal operating status.

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(Credit: Moto Labs)

A new touch-screen tabletop computer display brings together the unlikely combination of technologies popularized by Apple and Microsoft.

It’s called the Scalable Multitouch display, and its touch technology is similar to the iPhone, but it would scale up from handheld device size to dimensions more like those of Microsoft’s Surface. The prototype measures just 19 inches right now, but it aspires to cover an entire 50-inch tabletop one day.

The Scalable Multitouch has been in development at Moto Labs in San Francisco for the past two years, and on Tuesday the company released an updated video (below) as a peek of what it’s working on.

Like Microsoft’s Surface, the Scalable Multitouch display is intended to be used as a group workspace where information on the screen can be manipulated by hand. But Moto Labs CEO Daniell Hebert says what his company is doing is different than Microsoft and others because it does not use cameras or projectors underneath the surface of the display to project images. And by nixing the inner camera/projector, it allows the display to be thin–perhaps some day as thin as the LCD screen you’re likely reading this on.

The display instead uses multitouch technology–which means you can use more than one finger as an input device. Moto Labs likes to say that you can use as many fingers to control the device as you want, and that you’re only limited by the number of fingers you have on each hand.

The device also employs capacitive touch–same as the iPhone–in which a finger touching a sensor grid (just below the screen) causes a change in signal. That relays exactly where on the screen the finger is. But while the iPhone uses a solid solution known as ITO (indium tin oxide), Moto Labs employs a grid of super-thin wires that pick up on the signals from each finger.

The thin-wire grid is used right now in single-touch displays, but has yet to be used on multitouch, and that’s where Moto Labs’ work on the inner electronics and the software to take advantage of multitouch comes in.

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Structure of a cell.

(Credit: mtandao-afrika.net)

I just can’t wrap my head around this development–not because it’s so big, but because it’s so tiny.

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a “nanoneedle” with a diameter of approximately 50 nanometers–about half the size of previously reported nanoneedles.

To put this in perspective, it turns out that the thinnest human head hair is about 10,000 times thicker than this new needle. Obviously, the majority of us won’t find any use for a needle of this size. However, this is a breakthrough device with applications for biophysical research.

The nanoneedle is designed to penetrate the membrane of a living cell for the targeted delivery of one or more molecules into the cytoplasm or the nucleus. In addition, it can be used as an electrochemical probe and as an optical biosensor.

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(Credit: Nintendo)

Gamers and geeks, step aside. It’s Mom’s turn to jump on the gaming bandwagon. On Monday, Nintendo announced a new DS Lite bundle, clearly tailored to the interests of middle-aged women.

At the usual $149.99, the bundle includes a …

(Credit: OWC)

Having a second monitor doesn’t just make your office space look more serious, it also helps you boost your productivity. Unfortunately, most computers don’t come with a video card that can handle more than one display at a time. This is when you need to resort …

When Crave UK gets bored, odd things happen. We’ll fly RC planes through the streets, we’ll dress up in costumes and expose our cleavages, hell, we’ll even drag a big-ass 20-inch laptop through the London Underground–just for kicks.

We …