I’m a big fan of ruggedized items. Although PDAs (as opposed to smartphones) are relatively rare these days, there’s still a large need for them in certain scientific and professional pursuits. Ruggedized PDAs even more so, as chances are you’re not going for a two-month expedition to your grandma’s house. I’m sure there are plenty of surveyors, mappers, science guys and secret agents that would love this thing in all its multi-capable glory.

The PS535 is a sort of combination hardcore GPS unit and smartphone, and sports an altimeter and compass in addition to the positioning system. Its 533MHz Samsung 2450 processor and 128MB of RAM put it squarely in power handheld territory, and it’s got 2 gigs of onboard storage (no word on expandability). It runs Windows Mobile 6.1, which I think is a prerequisite for pros since there are lots of specialized apps that only work with WinMo. Lastly but certainly not least is a sunlight-readable 3.5″ touchscreen at 640×480. Of course, it does wi-fi and Bluetooth as well.

If I were going on a trip to the Lost World, or tracking Grizzlies in Alaska, I’d definitely be bringing one of these suckers along.

Damn, their stuff looks rock-hard. Check out this awesome tablet.

[via CrunchGear.com]

It’s a touch early to truly understand what’s going on here, but it looks as if iriver Japan (read: not the same iriver Korea you’re used to) is hoping to make a splash in the burgeoning e-reader market by popping out a device of its own. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much innovation going on, as we’re pretty certain this is simply a rebadged version of the Netronix reader we spotted about this time last year

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iriver Japan looking to brand its own e-reader?

(The picture makes sense once you read to the end). A former MeeVee employee emails in to say that he hasn’t received his 2008 tax forms from the company, and that no one will pick up the phone to say when he might receive them. We emailed Brad Greenspan, the CEO of parent company LiveUniverse (MeeVee was acquired in May 2008) for a comment. His response: “LiveUniverse is in business” (not what we asked, but good to know), and “…we haven’t had any meevee employees active in a few months as we consolidate operations of that website with a few others.”

We speculated on the health of the parent company last month after a number of high profile outages and claims by employees and business partners that they were going unpaid, but Greenspan insists LiveUniverse remains a going concern.

Always a colorful character, Greenspan (who made $48 million in the 2005 sale of MySpace to News Corp.) also sent us a few unsolicited follow up emails this evening, pointing to a presentation on a company that he invested in called Borba that sells beauty products, and saying that he’s “working on a rival to techcrunch…..so many pretty little users that can be sold at a high cpm…..yum yum….give me some.” In another email, Greenspan sent naked pictures of a woman with the message “OH AND MY CURRENT GIRL FRIEND. PLAYBOY BUNNY. RECENTPICS SHE PASSED ME THAT WERE PUBLISHED RECENTLY. SO IM SURESHE WONT MIND ME PASSING THEM TO YOU BIG GUY!!!”

Ever dutiful to our readers, we post a headshot of one of the photos Greenspan sent us above (it’s worth repeating that he sent these as a response to our question of whether MeeVee was still in business). For the rest, I guess you’ll have to go to Playboy.

Back to MeeVee, though: It looks like it’s in the DeadPool.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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MeeVee A Ghost Town, All Employees “Inactive.” LiveUniverse CEO Greenspan Still Nuts.

Calling it a “zero-watt” PC may be a bit of a stretch, but Fujitsu Siemens is nonetheless breaking a bit of new ground with its new Esprimo 7935 PC, which supposedly consumes no energy at all when it’s powered off, as opposed to the one to four watts an average PC consumes unless it’s actually unplugged. As you may recall, Fujitsu has already gotten in a bit of practice with its zero-watt monitor , although the PC takes things a bit farther by switching into in a low-power mode for a predetermined time period each day to get its necessary business done, after which it cuts the power off completely.

Originally posted here:
Fujitsu Siemens introduces "zero-watt" Esprimo 7935 PC

The last time I saw something like this, I believe I was playing Goldeneye. This hacked-together pocket superlaser is guaranteed to start either conversations or fires — or conversations about fires. We tested out another laser the other day and found it sufficient for lighting a candle, but this one appears to be rather more powerful — and you can gank it out of a Blu-ray player.

The full instructions are here, but it’s not for the faint of heart of shaky of hand. Still, it’s totally awesome. Needless to say, in any project to do with lasers, wear eye protection. Also, don’t even try this in the first place. Are you crazy?

[via Reddit]

Originally posted here:
Blu-ray laser Zippo mod lets you light up with light

We’re not exactly making plans yet, but word on the street is that Apple’s planning a March 24 desktop hardware event. Both World of Apple (which has a decent track record) and a site called My Apple Guide (which we’ve never heard of but apparently has a “rough” prediction history) say the event’s on the books, and considering the age of the iMac and Mac mini and the uptick in rumors lately, it’s certainly plausible .

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Apple planning a March 24 event?

We suppose it’s good for Eurocom that we’re not at all surprised by its announcement of yet another obscenely powerful laptop, but we’ll still spill the details just in case that Core i7-equipped Clevo D900F just wasn’t sitting right with you. The all new D901C PHANTOM-i7 can be equipped with Intel’s latest Core i7 or XEON LGA1366 processors, both of which boast quad-core designs and probably make this thing hotter than any uncovered leg can stand.

Original post: 
Eurocom grabs for attention with Core i7-packin’ D901C PHANTOM-i7

Intel researchers introduces programmable matter, which enables “a group of designers take a car that looks a lot like a Cadillac and make it even more slab-sided.” Video after the break.

Original post:
Intel’s Amazing Programmable Matter

You could pick up your very own custom Street Fighter arcade cabinet on eBay for less than $1000, possibly.

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eBay Watch: Custom Street Fighter Arcade Cabinet

The Yokohama fire department has employed a robotic crawler to help during evacuations. It’s capable of transporting “a 110 kilogram person over difficult terrain with ease [and] monitor the occupant’s vital signs as well.” Click here for one more picture

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Robotic Crawler is Perfect for Evacuations