This is what $170 will get you: One small black box that clones 2.5 and 3.5-inch SATA I and II drives at 72MB/sec, inner peace, and multiple digital lives. Thanks, you Aleratec HDD Copy Cruiser Mini you. [Aleratec via Slashgear]

In a brief post this morning reminding readers that cellular carriers do not necessarily get sneak peeks of Apple's top-secret products, Daring Fireball's John Gruber said that his (often reliable) sources suggest that Apple's tablet will not have any camera.

Gruber, who has an imperfect but pretty solid track record on these matters, suggests that the Apple's tablet will not be any sort of videophone game changer, as has been widely speculated. In fact, he hears it won't have a camera at all:

And, for what it's worth, I'm hearing there is no camera, webcam or otherwise, on The Tablet.

So if you were looking forward to revolutionizing the way you interacted with your friends and family across the globe by holding this thing in front of your face all summer long, you might be disappointed. [Daring Fireball]

Way to go, semiconductor suppliers. Thanks to you, we're all going to be paying more for our PCs going forward. Possibly a lot more.

The main culprits are D-Ram memory chips, which have seen a 23% price increase this year and make up 10% of a computer's cost. The move from DDR2 to DDR3 is primarily what's wreaking havoc. Memory's not alone, though: while the overall cost of semiconductor components has declined by an average of 7.8% per year since 2000, the Financial Times reports that this year Gartner analysts expect them to go up 2.3%. LCD panels are also tapped for a 20% cost increase.

It remains to be seen how much of the cost is going to be passed along to consumers, but there's no way that the component prices can increase this much and the end product can keep getting cheaper. It was a good ride while it lasted, but it's almost time to pay the PC piper. [FT via Ars Technica]

Yes indeed, you can play Starcraft (Stratagus) on the Nokia N900. And it looks a little easier to handle than Duke Nukem 3D.

This seems pretty out-there, but an Android Guys tipster reports that Sprint and Walmart are working together to build Sprint's WiMax network. Sprint's been rolling out 4G slowly but surely, but this partnership would mean especially thorough coverage. [Android Guys]

If you were ever curious to know how fast our lives are becoming saturated with digital technology, get a load of this graph. In 2004 we were in the kiddie pool and by 2007 we were drowning.

Citing the Census Bureau's recent Statistical Abstract of the United States, Fast Company notes that an estimated 110 billion text messages were sent on cellphones in December 2008—more than double the previous year. Retail sales also soared from $24 billion when the decade began to $128 billion in 2007.

So where are we now? It's probably safe to assume that the Cracken has dragged our lifeless corpse to Davy Jones' locker. [Fast Company]

This motorized marble maze game replaces the usual steel ball with an M&M. It's joystick controlled, and it reminds me of rats in mazes looking for cheese. But in reverse. [Project240 via Make]

Well, technically the G4s were already dead, but Justin Adler certainly did not let them go to waste. Using guts from the old computers along with an ATI graphics card, he managed to create a very nerd-friendly piece of furniture.

[Justin Adler]

What the hell happened here? Needless to say, it took a pretty violent incident to do this kind of damage.

Speaking about his friend's PS3, our tipster writes:

He had his PS3 plugged into an electrical source although it wasn't running any games at the time of this. He plugged in his Psyclone HDMI cable from his Samsung 32-inch flatpanel tv to the PS3 when the sparks started flying. A flame actually shot up out of the PS3, and sparks were firing out of both ends where the HDMI cable met with the ports. The mess ended in 10 seconds when the cord melted off. Pictures included. We cannot figure out why/how this occurred. No breakers were tripped, no damage or discoloration to any wall outlets or other power sources. Only the HDMI ports.

We've seen our fair share of flaming laptops, cellphones and iPods—but this is the first time I have come across an HDMI fire. Unless there were fireworks strapped to the cable, this one is a mystery. [Thanks Chris!]

There was a time when a Nokia phone was all I wanted. Those days are gone. This haunting piano composition, based on their hallmark ringtone, written by classicalist Marc-André Hamelin, reminds me of times when Nokia was state-of-the-art.

Marc will be speaking at The EG, which I'm super excited to go to. [Youtube via The-EG]