If there's one thing I love more than my vinyl toy collection, it's merchandise from my favorite mobile OS. Designer Andrew Bell convinced Google to lend him their mascot, resulting in 12 blind-boxed variations. Oh, how I love a blind-box!

They're available in cases of 16, though presumably once they get picked up by stores they'll start being sold individually, thus the perpetual crusade to collect every single one will start, and you'll spend all your spare time searching eBay for pre-opened boxes to complete your collection. It's a slippery slope, believe me. [Dyzplastic via Recombu]

I'd probably never use an electric blanket—I've just heard too many horror stories that include elements like burn marks and houses transformed to ash. But a water cooled/heated mattress? That sounds downright brilliant.

The ChiliBed is similar to all the memory foam mattresses you've seen advertised lately, but inside its core, water is either heated or cooled while it passes through coils, generating a massive temperature flux that should emanate naturally from your sleep surface.

But the real reason this product felt so remarkable? The claimed temperature range is impressively (and maybe even dangerously?) wide, accommodating those of you who'd like to sleep in environments spanning from 48-118 degrees F—and each member of the bed (assuming you're just sleeping with one other person) can have their own temperature controls.

Technically, I find the ChiliBed to be quite clever. Practically, well, neither temperature extreme sounds particularly healthy.

Still, bundled with the right level of research, it'd be neat if the ChiliBed could adjust temperatures in sync with your sleeping patterns, helping you rest or, heck, just sweat/shiver off some of your excess weight. [ChiliBed]

Normally hyper-intelligent robots terrify me, but this little guy has officially won me over. It uses Lego Mindstorms parts, a Lego programmable robotics kit and—of all things—a Nokia N95 mobile phone to unlock the mysteries of Rubik.

It's by no means the first Rubik's Cube solver we've seen, but it's definitely the first I've encountered that runs on phone. The ARM-packing Nokia N95 rests above the cube, scanning it with its camera as it solves. Double bonus points for working with a 4x4x4 Cube instead of the standard 3x3x3.

According to one intrepid YouTube commenter, the trial above took 15 minutes and 109 moves, which is more than my personal best of "a few months" and "I lost track." I just hope that when we're all assigned a robot overlord, mine is as neat as this one. [Make via Geekosystem]

The latest and greatest Nehalem-based Xeon Mac Pros are the fastest Apple computers you can buy. Unfortunately, they seem to have a serious problem when processing audio, a task that sucks 20% of its power while making the processors overheat.

According to Ars Technica, the problem—which happens with Early 2009 and Late 2009 models—doesn't only happen while playing iTunes' music or Quicktime videos, but also whenever you have USB or FireWire audio devices connected and working. Users have been reporting about it in support boards, but Apple has ignored the problem so far.

The company argues that the extra heat—which includes increases of 86ºF (30ºC)—is normal. The performance hit ranges from 15% to 20%. That is not normal at all, and users are understandably up in arms. Hopefully, Apple will start paying attention now. And hopefully, the problem won't happen with the incoming Core i7-980X Mac Pros, which are rumored to be announced on March 16. [Ars Technica and Hardmac]

While the Lego Airbus A380 at Legoland is the biggest Lego airplane out there, this one is much cooler. To start with, there are motherf*cking snakes inside, along with five other movie scenes. And then, it's computer-controlled, using a touchscreen.

The PC program running on the touch screen controls eight Mindstorm NXT engines and six hitechnic servos, which in turn can retract the gear, open cargo doors, move the flaps, raise the air brakes, activate the landing lights, move the tail fin, and throttle the engines, among other actions.

As for the movie scenes involving airplanes, you can check them out in the gallery, but they are all pretty obvious.

Don't worry, there no Oceanic-related Lost spoilers. [Flickr via Eurobricks via Brothers Brick]

The beardier parts of the web-o-sphere have been abuzz about HTML5, the next version of the language that powers our internet. Will it revolutionize web apps? Will it kill Flash video? Will it fix our gimpy iPads? Yes... and no.

The tech press has transformed HTML5 from a quiet inevitability to an unlikely savior: When YouTube and Vimeo started testing it, it's was invoked as a Flash-killer, and the emancipator of web video. When Google used it to design a new Google Voice web app, among others, it was framed as the murderer the of the OS-specific application. When the iPad was announced with no Flash support, HTML5 was immediately pegged as a salve, not to mention a way to get around the "closed system" of Apple's App Store.

It doesn't take much imagination to draw these stories into an appealing narrative about how the app-less, plugin-free, totally web-based future is just a browser update away. The thinking goes, somewhere in this impenetrable 125,000-word published standard, you'll find the answer to the internet's every ailment: its clunky, proprietary plugins, its stunted web apps, its fundamental shortcomings as a platform for rich media. At the heart of each of these theories lies a grain of truth, but none of them are totally—or even mostly—true.

Here's what's really going on. HTML 5 is already working its way into the underpinnings of web apps you use every day, making them faster and more stable than those relying on Java or other plugins. They're more like real apps. It's helping us inch closer to the dream of having real applications available at all times, on any platform.

HTML is also setting forth a vision of media—specifically video—that doesn't rely on crashy, resource-intensive proprietary plugins. Look in your plugins folder, you will probably see four video plugins at a minimum. HTML is a standard with an optimistic view of the future: You launch your browser, and whatever site you visit, whatever media you choose to play, your browser just magically supports it, without the frustration, confusion and added instability of a plug-in.

But at heart HTML is just a framework, a glimpse, and an ideal: Its real effect on the internet continues to be defined by the companies and web developers who choose to adopt its many pieces—and it is further shaped by those who don't.

The Basics

Before we get into what HTML5 means, we have to talk about what it is, and to talk about what it is, we need to talk about what it's built upon.

Hypertext markup language, or HTML, is the language underneath every web page you've ever been to. The language, along with its various complementary technologies (see: CSS, Javascript), has become immensely complex over the years, but the concept is simple. HTML is what turns this:

<u><em><strong><a href="http://gizmodo.com">Hello!</a></strong></em></u>

Into this:

Hello!

It's basically a set of instructions that a website hands to a browser, which the browser then reads and converts into a formatted page, full of text, images, links and whatever else.

Here, try this: Right-click anywhere on this webpage, and click "View Page Source," or "View Source," or something to that effect. Your eyes will be assaulted with a wall of inscrutable text. You'll see evidence of syntax, but your brain won't be able to parse it. Your eyes will glaze over, and you will close the window. This, my friends, is HTML. But you probably already knew that, because it's 2010, basic web languages are basically in our drinking water. So what's this "5" business?

Somewhere in the central command center basement of the internet, there's a group of guys who maintain the standard, or the rules, of HTML. In the case of HTML5, the buck stops with the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG), and to a lesser extent, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It is through these independent standards organizations that new features are codified and presented to the public, and later—in theory—supported by various browsers, no matter what company is behind them.

In the early nineties, the W3C and a few influential torchbearers would collect various new web features thought up by different browser makers, publishing these standards with the hope that we didn't end up with different internets for different browsers. By the mid to late nineties, the standards had grown in both size and stature, then serving as the de facto guide for browser makers and developers alike. (If this sounds a bit rosy, the reality was far grimmer—just ask any seasoned web developer about Internet Explorer, version 6 or earlier.)

Despite an occasionally rocky road, HTML standards went beyond being just a record of changes in web technology; eventually they became the blueprint to push them forward. Still, standards are guides, not laws, and no browser maker has to adopt each and every revision.

The last major revision of the HTML standard, version 4.01, was published in 1999. HTML5 hasn't yet been formally codified, but it was born in 2004 and has been undergoing steady work and maintenance since. In the '90s, HTML discussion centered around topics like font coloration, or tables, or buttons, or something more esoteric. Today, a new HTML version means deep-down support for the modern web, namely web apps and video.

The New Features

The HTML5 spec is more than just new tags and tools, but for users and developers, they're what matter most. Specifically, I'm talking about APIs, or application programming interfaces. It's because of these APIs (usually manifested as tags like <VIDEO> or <IMG>) that we'll soon be treated to a richer internet. And it's because of these APIs that when work on HTML5 started, it was called "Web Applications 1.0." Today, if you pick apart HTML5, these are the biggest pieces:

• Video. If you watch video on the internet, you're watching it through a plugin—a piece of software that works within your browser, but which isn't technically a part of it. A decade ago, this plugin may have been clunky RealPlayer software, semi-reliable Windows Media Player controls, or a QuickTime plugin that you were better off skipping altogether. Today, it's probably Flash or Microsoft Silverlight, or a newer, subtler Quicktime or Windows Media plugin. Whether you're playing a YouTube movie embedded on a web page, or just viewing a .mov file as you download it, your browser has to use the plugin.

HTML5 includes support for a simple tag that lets developers embed video in a page just like they'd embed a JPEG or other image, with a pointer to a file on a server. Packed along with the ability to read that video tag are a few rendering engines, which would decode the video without any kind of plugin. Embedding a video with HTML5 is as easy as embedding an image, provided the video codec is compatible with the browser's rendering engine. In terms of code, it can be as simple as this:

<video src="video.mp4" width="320" height="240"></video>

Boom. Video. Here's what some of the current rudimentary players look like:

-SublimeVideo (Safari 4, Chrome)
-YouTube (Safari 4, Chrome)
-Vimeo (Safari 4, Chrome)
-DailyMotion (Firefox, Safari 4, Chrome, Opera)

In theory, eliminating the video plugins means no extra CPU overhead, fewer crashes, and wider compatibility—if HTML 5 video was standard now, we wouldn't be stuck waiting for Adobe to port their plugin to our mobile phones, and Mac users wouldn't bring their systems to a crawl every time they tried to watch a YouTube video in HD. As a general rule, playing a video file through an extra plugin like Flash is going to be slower, buggier, and more resource-intensive than playing it through a browser's native decoder. That's why people are excited about HTML5 video.

• Offline storage: Remember Google Gears? It was a set of plugins for various browsers that let web apps, like Gmail or Zoho Writer (an online text editor), store content locally on your computer, so they could behave more like native apps. Gmail, for example, could then work without an internet connection. It wouldn't retrieve your new emails while offline, obviously, but it'd at least have a working interface and a database of your old emails, just like Outlook or Mail.app would. Well, Google abandoned Gears, because HTML5 basically supports the same thing, again, without a plugin.

-Here's a basic demo (Firefox 3.6, Safari 4, Chrome, Opera)
-And a more complex one, including lots of other tricks (Firefox 3.6, Safari 4, Chrome, Opera)
-Or, try Gmail on your iPhone or Android phone

• Drag-and-Drop Elements, and Document Editing. You know how you can drag and drop emails in Gmail? And how you type into text boxes, to post or send everything from Tweets to emails to forums posts? As it stands, these systems are built on a delicate, complicated stack of ad-hoc code tricks, which have worked fine up until now, but which could stand to be simplified. Even if you're not a developer, just know that this, in theory, translates to increased stability. And that's exactly what HTML5 proposes: Super-simple implementations of editable documents boxes, drag-and-drop page elements, and drawing surfaces.

-A helpful, ugly demo(Firefox 3.6, Chrome, Safari, Opera)
-And an exceedingly pretty one(Firefox 3.6, Chrome, Safari

• Locations services. Now a web app can tell where you are, if you choose to let it. Here's how that works. (Firefox 3.6, Chrome, Safari 4, Opera, iPhone)

There's a clear trend here. HTML5 is about video, and it's about far more stable yet complex web apps. These are the sources of excitement right now, but they're also the sources of confusion.

Hopes and Dreams

On the desktop, the transition to HTML5 will be largely seamless, though you'll notice an uptick in the quality, speed and richness of some apps you use all the time—think webmail, document editors, and text entry applications for starters. On mobile, the results will definitely be more pronounced. Remember Google's new Voice web app for the iPhone and Pre? Take away the browser controls, and it's almost indistinguishable from a native app.

The hope—and it's a realistic one—is that certain categories of web apps will supplant native apps. The advantages are obvious: If your document editor is online, it'll work consistently whether you're on an iPad or a Windows desktop; if your email client is a website, your messages are always available, and your read/unread status is always in sync. Web apps like Google Documents will get faster, more consistent, and more universally compatible. Still, you're not going to see Photoshop or Final Cut in your browser window anytime soon. If this dream sounds familiar, it's because it's very old, and already realized in many ways: Ancient services like Hotmail mark its genesis, and the app-less Chrome OS is its eventual, if limited, endpoint.

The second dream, and the one you've probably been hearing the most about lately, is that HTML5 video could kill Flash. As in, render Adobe's plugin, which most internet-connect computers already have installed, completely obsolete, simultaneously making Apple's iPad and other mobile devices more capable of getting at all the media the web has to offer.

Vimeo, DailyMotion and YouTube (YouTube!) have all recently launched pilot programs for HTML5 video technology. On the surface this is very exciting. Their players are basic, but they work, and there are some rather spectacular demos of more advanced HTML5 video players doing the rounds right now. The latest builds of the WebKit rendering engine, which comprises the guts of both Mac OS and iPhone/iPad (mobile) Safari, Google's Chrome OS, the Pre's browser and the Android browser, among others, support full-screen HTML5 video. The iPad notoriously won't ship with Flash, but Apple's desktop (Mac OS) Safari is one of the first browsers to fully support the HTML5 video discussed here, the natively rendered video used by YouTube and Vimeo in their tests. So the stars are aligning for an HTML5 video takeover, right? No, they're really not.

Managing Expectations

As I mentioned, the WHATWG and W3C can publish as many standards as they want, but in order for any to actually matter, browsers have to support them—and by browsers, I mean all major browsers, from nimble, rapidly-developed apps like Opera and Chrome to Internet Explorer, which, by the way, is still globally the most popular dashboard to the internet. Take the <VIDEO> tag as an example: Safari and Chrome do support it, both the HTML code and the native rendering of a couple of associated video formats. Firefox supports the tag, but doesn't support decoding of the key video format currently used by YouTube and Vimeo. Internet Explorer doesn't support it at all without a plugin, and isn't the whole point of HTML5 to get rid of plugins?

Just as different browsers update their rendering engines at different speeds, users of browsers update their software even less predictably, and some don't update at all. Despite Microsoft's aggressive IE8 evangelism, IE6 was only just bumped from being the Number One browser in the world. It was released in 2001, when HTML 4 was just learning to walk and HTML5 was but a glint in the W3C's eye. IE6 will never work with HTML5 video. But it plays video just fine with Flash.

Even on the cutting edge, there are serious roadblocks to widespread adoption of HTML5 video, the most dangerous being video codecs. Because HTML5 supports video embedding natively, browsers will have to be able to decode embedded video files in lieu of the plugin that use to do it for them. The current working HTML5 standard doesn't explicitly define a video format to be used with the tag—and as luck would have it, there are now two formats vying for the job.

• Ogg Theora is a free codec standard—free as in open source—which most browsers that support HTML5 video support right now. It's an attractive option on paper, because browser companies don't have to pay any licensing fees to include the ability to decode it in their software. The trouble is, it's notoriously inefficient, and, perhaps because of this, it's not too popular. Google's standards guru Chris DiBona infamously said:

If [YouTube] were to switch to Theora and maintain even a semblance of the current quality, it would take up most available bandwidth across the internet.

True or not, as a codec standard Ogg Theora isn't gonna cut it, even though from a business point of view, it's ideal.

• h.264 video suffers from pretty much the opposite situation. Based on a codec standard that's natively supported in many mobile phones, it's what Vimeo and YouTube are running in their respective experiments. These video sites' already store their mobile-quality libraries in h.264—what do you think streams to your iPhone YouTube app, since Flash isn't supported? So enabling h.264 streaming is as simple as developing a player interface, which takes no time and even less resources. It's also efficient—that's why it's popular in the first place. One problem though: It's proprietary.

Yes, if you want to build a browser that plays back h.264-based video with HTML5, you need to be prepared to pay millions of dollars to the companies that own the format's patents. Beyond the basic cost issue, some deem it risky to put the internet's entire video ecosystem into the hands of some obscure rightsholders, whose whims could change down the road. (Who, exactly? These guys!)

Google and Apple have so far been okay with the royalties, but Mozilla, creator of Firefox, is taking a more conservative longview. As Mozilla's Chris Blizzard insists, there's a precedent for these worries:

Because it's still early in H.264's lifespan it's extremely advantageous to lightly enforce the patents in the patent pool. MP3 and GIF both prove that if you allow liberal licensing early in a technology's lifespan, network effects create much more value down the road when you can change licenses to capture value created by delivering images and data in those formats. Basically wait for everyone to start using it and then make everyone pay down the road.

So, while h.264 is a shoo-in for the job, it would probably be unbelievably perilous to sign it up.

If this seems like a lot to digest, don't worry! Despite the thousands of urgent words spilled on this subject, it doesn't really matter. Flash is here for a while, because nobody can get their act together.

First let's talk about DRM, a sore subject, but something you can't not talk about. Flash video supports it. HTML5 video doesn't, as it stands. Could you imagine a Hulu on which every video is a right-click away from saving to your computer? A Netflix where you keep what you stream? I mean, sure, you can imagine this, but there's not enough Tums in Los Angeles for Hollywood execs to stomach that discussion. No DRM, no movies or TV shows. Simple as that. And if the fight over a basic HTML5 video standard is fraught, just imagine how tough it'd be to get Mozilla, Apple, Google, Opera and Microsoft to agree on DRM.

Meanwhile, the test runs show, in reality, how little weight is being thrown behind HTML5 video at the moment. This is how YouTube describes their HTML5 initiative, which caused such a fuss last week:

In the last year our community has made it clear that they want YouTube to do more with HTML5. To meet this demand we recently rolled out HTML5 support in TestTube, a destination on YouTube where we routinely experiment with different products. Some of the products in TestTube are successful and rolled out to the wider community. Others, however don't make it beyond TestTube. We're still in the early stages, but our hope is to continue this active and ongoing discussion around emerging Web standards.

Can you feel the enthusiasm? YouTube's HTML5 test is just that, a test. There's no convincing evidence of idealistic shift in the works. YouTube's future hinges on the ability to integrate ads into their videos, to sell access to DRM'd content, and to reach the largest audience possible. Until HTML5 video can pull this off, Google and YouTube are going to keep on doing what they've been doing—using Flash.

Lastly, Adobe has interests in this discussion too, and is working frantically to push Flash to virtually all mobile smartphone platforms that don't already have it. Meanwhile HTML video tag support on smartphones is barely the discussion phases—it's plagued with as many problems, if not more, than desktop HTML 5 video.

And we haven't even talked about the other holes in the HTML5 Murders Flash! narrative. What about the spec's glaring lack of ability to replace Flash's other, non-video functions? Sure, increasing browser support for scaled vector graphics and HTML5's Canvas tag go a short way to creating vivid, visual web applications without plugins, as does the wide array of Javascript tools already available to web developers.

But what about games? And more importantly for developers who like paychecks, what about animated, interactive ads (some which are overlaid on the aforementioned YouTube videos)? The internet's not going to give up on those anytime soon, and the non-Flash web technologies we have now aren't going to cut it for years.

What's Really Going to Happen to Your Internet

As I said way back at the beginning, part of the job of an HTML spec is to codify what's already being done by developers and browser makers. As such, there's a very good chance that HTML5 is partially supported by your desktop browser. If you have a smartphone with a WebKit-based browser, you already use web apps that leverage the technology. This will simply become more common, in a mundane, linear way: Google, Apple, WebKit, Mozilla, Opera, and yes, even Microsoft will continue to include new features in their software, and developers will begin to leverage it as soon as they can. Web apps will get smarter, faster and more powerful, even if you don't really notice it. You'll worry less about having a constant internet connection, and you'll probably install few native applications on your phone or laptop.

For the foreseeable future, video on the internet is going to remain almost exactly as-is. If anything, Flash will become more entrenched in the short term, as the YouTubes and Hulus of the world expand their catalogs with more DRM'd content, and continue building their desktop content platforms around the plugin. As for mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad, for whom Flash seems eternally out of reach, video delivery will move increasingly toward apps, which content companies can tightly control, and not toward HTML5 video, which—all other problems aside—they really can't.

HTML5 has a place in online video, and I expect companies to continue testing it, playing with it, and expanding their uses for it. I expect browsers to continue increasing support for it—hey, maybe even mobile Safari!—but don't stake your hopes, or a specific gadget purchase, on its immediate promise. An internet where native web languages have killed all plugins, including Flash, is just too far away to talk about coherently.

HTML5 is infiltrating the web, not tearing it down and building it back up. Like the standard itself, the HTML5 web will evolve slowly, with web technologies gradually supplanting tools you use now. You'll notice it, but you'll have to watch closely.

Hat tip to Lifehacker, for noticing—and explaining—the groundswell all the way back in December

Still something you wanna know? Does some other tech term have your fleshy processing unit in a tangle? Send questions, tips, addenda or complaints to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line

The original solBAT was a neat idea—a backup battery that charged through an integrated solar panel, which in turn charged any USB device. The solBAT II is the same thing, but it charges devices even faster.

Mounting to a window thanks to some suction cups, or hooking to pretty much anything with a clip, the 1500mA solBAT II puts out 5V through USB, which is enough throughput to charge your iPhone as quickly as you can from the wall.

For $30 (available soon), I'm willing to give the solBAT II a shot. Something about the prospect of free solar power still feels way more sci fi to me than it probably should at this day and age. [Scosche]

Note: In an old version of this post, we mixed up the solBAT and the solCHAT. We've amended this error. The old solBAT was $30 as well.

When I first saw this, I was tempted to call fake. I mean, why the hell is a desktop version of Firefox running on Android? What happened to Fennec? But rest assured, this is real—and actually, very encouraging.

Explaining the awkward UI, developer Vladimir Vuki?evi?:

You'll note that this is the full Firefox interface, and not the Fennec/Firefox Mobile UI; we're testing with the full interface because it's significantly more complex than the mobile UI and stresses Gecko much more. So, if the full UI works, then Fennec should work fine as well.

He goes on to say that in its current state, keyboard entry doesn't work and the browser is not at all ready for primetime, but that Android has been "pretty great to work with so far" and that development has been "progressing at a good clip."

While this is clearly more than an experiment and destined for a wide release someday, he doesn't provide a estimate of when Joe Android will be able to download Firefox/Fennec/whatever. For now, knowing that it's more than a myth will have to do. [Vlad1 via AndroidCentral]

Good meat is about more than proper marbling. Apparently quality of fat has a lot to do with its flavor, which is why researchers are re-purposing cameras to tell the best cuts from the just OK.

Two teams of Japanese researchers have been using infrared cameras to detect Oleic acid (which signals the presence of tasty, tender omega-9 fatty acids) in Hida-gyu beef. In a recent trial, 14 out of 24 experienced beef experts confirmed that beef determined to be of higher quality through infrared photography testing really was. Now, the team hopes to refine their process so that it's more accurate, while I hope whatever they discover can squeeze into a modded iPhone and correlating app. [Examiner via Switched via Picturephoning][Image by Conny Lundgren]

With the Concorde long gone, it's up to big-thinking companies like Seymourpowell to dream up new transatlantic travel routes. Enter the Aircruise, which would be powered by solar power and a hydrogen fuel cell, sailing in the air at 90mph.

Ok, it'd take a while to get from London to New York (37 hours, in fact), so won't be replacing the Concorde any time soon (particularly at concept stage), but the passengers would be treated like kings and queens in their luxurious apartments. It's more akin to the cruise your mother goes on when your dad checks out/checks in with a younger woman.

Just like a glass-bottomed boat, the Aircruise would have glass floors for seeing the land and sea beneath you. It's but a distant future sadly, but one I'm looking forward to. [The Telegraph via The Design Blog via Born Rich]

Why hello there, slightly smaller Droid! I have so many questions for you. Like, why do you have Motoblur? How much do you cost? When can people buy you? Why aren't you officially part of the "Droid" line?

Apparently nobody's awake in Motorola land right now, so I'll hazard a guess at answer these questions myself, in order: Because Motorola is inexplicably obsessed with Motoblur, which can make any Android phone feel like a feature phone; less than the Droid, and probably about the same as the Droid Eris ($100 or less); the beginning of next month; and I have no idea, because this phone has more in common with the Droid than the Droid Eris does. But anyway, here's what Motorola does tell us the Devour comes with, much of which we were fully expecting:

• A touch-sensitive navigation pad
• A 3.1" capacitive touch screen (to the Droid's 3.7-inch screen)
• Pre-loaded applications such as Gmail, Google Talk, YouTube, Google Search and Google Maps with Google Maps Navigation, which implies that the software is at least Android 1.6, though hopefully 2.0 or 2.1.
• MOTOBLUR, and all the social network-y business that entails.
• An 8 GB microSD card

What we have here is a competent little phone, shrouded in artificially enforced mystery. Is it worth your time? I honestly have no idea, until we have a price. Here's the Full press release below.

UPDATE: Aaaand for a little perspective, here's what it looks like next to a Nexus One. That's a bezelly phone, right there.

Motorola DEVOUR Brings MOTOBLUR To Verizon Wireless' 3G Data Network

MOTOBLUR Service Gives Customers Home Screen Access to Content and Contacts
February 03, 2010

BASKING RIDGE, NJ, and LIBERTYVILLE, IL - Verizon Wireless and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced the availability of Motorola DEVOUR™ in March. Motorola DEVOUR will be the first Verizon Wireless phone to feature MOTOBLUR™, Motorola's unique Android™-powered content delivery service created to make wireless phones more personal and customizable.

MOTOBLUR is the first solution to sync contacts from work and personal e-mail services, including Gmail™, with posts, messages, photos and more from popular sites such as Facebook®, MySpace and Twitter. With MOTOBLUR, content is automatically delivered to the home screen and fed into easy-to-manage streams.

Key features:

* Touch-sensitive navigation pad
* 3.1" capacitive touch screen
* Pre-loaded applications such as Gmail, Google Talk™, YouTube™, Google Search™ and Google Maps™ with Google Maps Navigation.
* Android Market™ gives users access to more than 20,000 applications.
* Happenings Widget – MOTOBLUR automatically pushes status updates, wall posts and photo updates from popular social networking sites to the Happenings Widget on the home screen. Customers can flick through the latest updates and fire back responses using the slide-out full QWERTY keyboard.
* Universal Inbox – MOTOBLUR gathers texts, social network messages and e-mails into one home screen widget for quick response.
* Back-Up and Security – Contacts, log-in information, home screen customizations, e-mail and social network messages are backed up automatically on the secure MOTOBLUR portal. The portal also allows customers to use the phone's fully integrated aGPS to help locate the phone if misplaced. Remote wipe easily clears information from a lost device.
* 8 GB microSD™ card pre-installed
* Bluetooth® profiles supported: A2DP, HID, HSP, HFP, AVRCP and GAP

Service plans:

* To get the most from Motorola DEVOUR, customers will need to subscribe to a Nationwide Talk or Nationwide Talk & Text plan and a Data Package for smartphones. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access, and Nationwide Talk & Text plans begin at $59.99 monthly access. A Data Package for smartphones is $29.99 for unlimited monthly access.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Media can access high-resolution images of Motorola DEVOUR in the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.)

MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office. Android, Google, Google Maps, Android Market, Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk are trademarks of Google, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © Motorola, Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

This Photoshop illustration makes me cringe, but I can't peel my eyes off it, cutting them like the blade in Un Chien Andalou. [Walee via Likecool]

Intel and Micron are growing their latest 25nm flash memory in this new production facility. PC Perspective gives us a tour of this strange world where men wear cleanroom suits, lest they contaminate the robots. [PC Perspective]

I just want to take anyone from Sony who's related to the development of the PS3 platform in any way, and shake them until the saboteur witch doctors hired from Nintendo and Microsoft lose their hold.

The latest idea from the Sony braintrust? No more big downloadable titles. So you'll still be able to download little arcade games, but future titles the size of Warhawk will no longer be offered on PSN.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has assembled an impressive library of $20 titles on the 360, and they're intelligently slapping games like, say, Mass Effect on there before Mass Effect 2 comes out. This kind of strategery is good for the game studios, sure, but more importantly, it's convenient for the consumer.

Anyway, Sony is having none of that. Why? Because their platform is heavily invested in 50GB-wielding Blu-ray (which requires hefty installs for some games all the same).

You want to know the chief problem with Blu-ray, Sony? It's that you can't download it. You aren't out of the console fight yet. Pick yourself up, dust off your gloves and attack the world with every tentacle that is Sony's larger development monstrosity.

I grew up listening to a Walkman. This shit kills me. [IGN via Kotaku]

You think you're better than me, TouschSmart 600? You think because you're now configurable with Core i7 720QM (1.6 GHz) or i7 820QM (1.73GHz) processors—starting at $1700—that you've defeated the long-standing caste system separating man and machine?

Well, at least this new option makes you a viable (though a bit Pontiac-looking) replacement for an i7 iMac. Check out what I thought about the Core2Duo version of the TouchSmart 600 here. Then know that the i7 will be the exact same thing but faster. [HP]

This is the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. Together with the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, and the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment, it will capture the Sun at IMAX resolution every ten seconds. They will travel together inside NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft.

After its February 2010 launch on top of an Atlas V rocket, the SDO will capture images at almost four times the resolution of an HD TV, transmitting the results back to Earth at 130 megabits per second. Basically, this thing will be transmitting the equivalent of 500,000 MP3 per day, seven days a week. According to Dean Pesnell at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the potential for new discoveries is giganormous:

We'll be getting IMAX-quality images every 10 seconds. We'll see every nuance of solar activity.

Pesnell said that this speed opens an incredible potential for discovery, using 18th century photographer Eadweard Muybridge as an example:

But when Muybridge photographed horses using a new high-speed camera system, he discovered something surprising. Galloping horses spend part of the race completely airborne-all four feet are off the ground.

To achieve all this, the three instruments in the SDO have been designed to cover three vital aspects of our home star. First, the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly—which will be producing most of the data—that you see at the opening of this post uses four telescopes together. They will be the ones photographing Sol's surface and atmosphere using ten different wavelength filters. Meanwhile, the HMI will analyze the innards of the star, looking into the physics that govern it inside. Then, EVE will measure extreme ultraviolet light activity while getting a nice and toasty tan.

How would this data be received? Using two 18-meter antennas near Las Cruces, New Mexico, which will be linked constantly to the SDO thanks to its geosynchronous orbit. Until it gets destroyed by the mysterious flying spaceship.

Gateway's introducing two new Core i7 gaming desktops today, and you'd be forgiven for not being able to tell them apart at first glance. The lower-end model is essentially the same rig—but $400 less than its $1700 counterpart.

Let's go to the tape: both run on Core i7-860 processors. Both house ATI Radeon HD5850 graphics. Both come with a 1.5TB SATA hard drive, a DVD drive, and WIndows Home 7 Premium. Both have the same impressive array of ports and 7.1 channel audio support. All of that, plus 8GB DDR3 RAM, is pretty terrific for the FX6831-01's $1300 price tag.

The higher-end FX6831-03, though, costs $1700 for the exact same set-up plus a Blu-ray drive and 16GB DDR3. And hey, that's still not too shabby! But not quite the steal that the $1300 version looks like, especially given the similarities.

Full PRrrrrrriffic details ahoy!

GATEWAY BRINGS ENHANCED DESIGN, BLU-RAY DRIVES, USER FRIENDLY FEATURES AND FASTER PERFORMANCE TO ITS FX, DX AND SX DESKTOP PCs

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 3, 2010 – Gateway today announced the addition of new models and features across its line of gaming, multimedia and small form factor PCs.

The FX Series of affordable gaming PCs gets a redesign that includes a modernized chassis and new lighting accents. The DX line of multimedia PCs and SX small form factor PCs both now include eco-friendly 1TB drives and powerful Intel Core i5 and i3 Processors, respectively. In addition, the FX and DX now include models with Blu-ray drives.

FX Series Desktops – Continuing to Redefine the Mainstream Gaming PC

With a newly designed chassis, Gateway's value line of gaming PCs continues to break all the rules, managing to pack more performance and features than ever before into a powerful PC that blows the doors off competitively priced systems. The new design maximizes usability and includes numerous additions that enhance the computing experience.

"When it comes to online entertainment, PC gaming and value, Gateway's FX Series can't be beat," said Steve Smith, Gateway desktop product marketing. "While maintaining our price/performance leadership position, the new FX models boast a race car-like design with red accents and lighting, and include several new features that enhance the convenience and use of the PC."

The new FX design makes it easy to access and use key features, providing simple and quick access to ports and peripherals. The top front of the PC includes high-def headphone and microphone jacks, while an angled media card reader makes it easy to insert, remove and transfer data from cameras and other devices. This can be especially helpful when the PC is placed under a desk.

A handy recessed storage tray on the top of the chassis makes it easy to place cameras, smartphones and MP3 players when downloading files. At the back of this tray, users will find two additional USB ports, which provide convenient connectivity for miscellaneous peripherals. Just behind this recessed area is an enclosed rear compartment which provides a place to store and hide the excess cables from any peripherals placed on the tray.

The control dial for the system's adjustable lighting effects can also be found on the top front of the unit, as well as the Photo Frame, stand by and backup buttons.

Boasting a 1.5TB drive, FX users will have plenty of room for photos, movies, music libraries and more. Tool-less expansion bays provide additional storage room for growth and backup. A convenient access door on the front of the PC conceals two external hard drive bays, and glides down effortlessly with a slight push on the front latch. Eject buttons for the optical disk drives are also conveniently and seamlessly integrated into the front sides of the PC.

Not to be outdone by its user friendly features, both new models in the FX line feature ATI Radeon HD5850 graphics and the Intel® Core™ i7-860 processor with Turbo Boost Technology for killer performance. The FX6831-03 also boasts a Blu-ray drive and 16GB of DDR3 memory, making it a true gaming solution.

Gateway® FX6831-03

* MSRP: $1,699.99
* Intel® Core i7™ 860, 2.8GHz w/Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.46GHz
* ATI Radeon HD5850 w/1GB discrete video memory
* 16GB memory (DDR3 dual channel 1333MHz)
* 1.5TB SATA hard drive (1) (7200RPM)
* 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti
* Blu-ray disc 4X BD-ROM / DVD-SuperMulti Drive
* Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Gateway® FX6831-01

* MSRP: $1,299.99
* Intel® Core i7™ 860, 2.8GHz w/Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.46GHz
* ATI Radeon HD5850 w/1GB discrete video memory
* 8GB memory (DDR3 dual channel 1333MHz)
* 1.5TB SATA hard drive (1) (7200RPM)
* 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti Drive
* Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit

The CX2 dipped its toe into the pool last August, but already there's a successor—the CX3. The main difference is the 10-megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor (upgraded from the 9.29-megapixel used in both the CX2 and CX1).

The US pricing hasn't been confirmed yet, but over in Australia they'll be able to pick one up for AU$499 (US$443) later this month.

HD video recording is listed as 1280 x 720 res, a welcome upgrade from the CX2's 640 x 480, as is the 10.7x 28-300mm optical wide-angle zoom lens. Really, anyone who bought a CX2 six months earlier must be feeling preeeeetty annoyed right about now. [DP Review]

As strangely sleek and prettynaff this fiberglass F1 lounge chair is, I can't believe the designer—Hungarian Alexander Christoff—missed the opportunity to make it wheeled. What's wrong with you, Alexander?

You are making office chair racing fans weep all around the world. Are you happy now? Fine. Be that way. [Behance via Examiner via Born Rich]

We've been through so many ups and downs with Pleo. We saw him crumble in the face of a battlebot. We cuddled him. We cried over his extinction. We rejoiced when he survived! And now, we choose his color.

It's an obvious campaign to remind people of the clever little tyke, but when it comes to the Pleo we don't mind playing into the hands of the marketing bods. Especially when you get to decide on what new color Pleo comes in!

I'm voting purple. Everyone knows dinosaurs are either green or purple. [Pleo World via CrunchGear]