A Nerdy Wedding Ring (Full Of Memories)

Ray Arifianto, who works on the Xbox Platform team at Microsoft, is getting married. He's got the nerdiest wedding ring to prove it.

While his blushing bride is not a gamer or a nerd for that matter, she is totally cool with the idea of getting hitched with one. "So cool," Ray writes, "that she ordered a custom made ring for me."

That's right, Ray's bride ordered him a USB-drive styled ring. The best part? The engraving. "For a lifetime of memories".  Memories? Memory? USB?

Logitech Z506 Surround Sound Speaker System Is Only $99

If you're in the market for a 5.1 sound system, the Logitech Z506 sounds like it could be a decent deal at only $99. There aren't too many details aside from the price though:

We know that you'll get 75W RMS power, two 8W front and two 8W rear speakers, a 16W center speaker, and a 27W subwoofer. We also know that the system should be available in August. That's it. But hey, it's cheap.

Pinhole Camera the Size Of A Thumbnail Actually Takes Photos

The creator of this tiny camera made two mistakes. One: it's styled like a Lomography Fisheye camera, but can't shoot fisheye photos. Two: they're NOT FOR SALE yet. I demand ten.

According to creator Francesco Capponi, this little toy-like cam is a working, snappingpinhole camera, capable of taking photos. Ok, so it's hardly going to give Lomography a run for its money, but the small size is mind-blowing.

The New and Improved iPod Nano Watch

The first iPod Nano watch, designed for Apple's new watch-sized iPod Nano, was basically just a nylon strap. Pretty unimaginative. These new funky-color silicone bands from Hex actually make Apple's diminutive iPod look like a not-entirely-ridiculous timepiece.

The $24.95 Hex band has a pop-in design which incorporates the Nano into the watch (as opposed to just sticking it on a band, like the first one did). It has integrated control buttons and comes in 9 colors.

HydroFILL Squeezes Electricity Out of Your Tap Water

Fuel cell outfitter Horizon is now offering a personal hydrogen power plant for use with its MiniPAK and HydroSTIK products. Although it isn't cheap, the system will (cleanly!) charge all of your small devices using the same water you drink.

The HydroFILL allows users to generate their own hydrogen and recharge the company's proprietary HydroSTIK miniature hydrogen tanks themselves, rather than having to spring for new ones when expended. Those two components, combined with the HydroPAK charging dock, will allow you to use essentially water to charge a variety of devices and peripherals. No more phone wall chargers, ever!

Still, for the time being this technology won't enter your home cheaply, with the HydroFILL tank priced at $499.99 (plus an optional $649.99 solar panel if you want to go truly off the grid). But each HydroSTIK packs the juice of 1,000 AA batteries, so hardcore chargers should be able to earn that back. Plus, next time someone is over at your place and needs to charge their phone, you can say, "Oh, one sec, let me see if my personal power plant is done generating hydrogen."

Freecom CLS External Drives an Homage to Obsolete Storage

Freecom's CLS external hard drive series take an aesthetic page from cassettes and floppies of our already distant memory. Each 2.5" drive is minimal, durable, and can be hand-labeled for quick reference to its contents.

The German-made, Belgian-designed drives can also be docked three at a time, via a single USB connection, allowing you to consolidate space and admire the retro look. Why do things look cooler when they're vertical?

If the Zip Jams Up On These ZipBuds Earbuds, You're Screwed

There's no doubt that these ZipBuds won't be giving your Sennheisers a run for their money, but do your $200 pair of buds zip up all the way to your chin like a jacket? I don't think so.

The manufacturer behind them, Digital Audio Group, says they'll be going on sale November 9th, for a mystery price.

Bear Grylls Survival Knife Bear Grylls Survival Knife

British outdoorsman Bear Grylls had a fancy knife before, but it was really, really expensive. What if you didn't want to spend $700 to stab something? A solution presents itself. A $60 consumer-grade survival knife.

The knife has a serrated blade, a rubber grip, a stainless steel pommel (for hammering or knife-whipping someone), and an emergency whistle. The sheath has a fire starter, "land to air rescue instructions" and a diamond sharpener. There's a pocket guide on survival in case that land to air rescue doesn't work out.

It's also very useful that the Gerber Bear Grylls knife has his signature on it—this way when you stab an actual bear in a fight, it'll be like some sort of namesake-killing-synergy situation. I'm not sure what happens, exactly, but you'll probably still poop your pants.

The Only 9mm Bullet You Want Ripping Through Your Skull

Munitio SITi bullet headphones are machined from a solid piece of high density copper to look like bullets.

The $160 bullet headphones have 9mm neodymium drivers. Instead of using gold—like its more expensive predecesor—these are coated in Titanium, silver- or golden-colored for a perfect gangsta look.

A Revolution In Mobile Cup Holder Technology

Version 1.0: Carrying a bunch of drinks around with your hands. Version 2.0: Those shallow egg carton trays that always make you think your drinks are about to tip over. Version 3.0: This magnificent beverage buggy.

Where can I sign up to be a beta tester?

What Do the Neighbors Think of This Glass-Walled House?

Bilzen is a small, quiet city near the eastern border of Belgium. Its streets are lined with 17th and 18th Century buildings and modest homes. And then there's Bassam El-Okeily's glass-fronted Narrow House. Don't forget to wear your robe.

The three-story Narrow House, a collaboration between Brussels-based architect Bassam El-Okeily and Karla Menten, has a glass facade behind which there are two balconies lit with various colors. It makes the people standing there at night look pretty creepy.

But the inside's a different story; white and sparse and surprisingly huge, it's missing chunks of wall and ceiling which allow the little sunlight that makes it past the solid balconies to fill the entire space. The second floor is a living space; the third is an artist's studio.

The McRib Is Now Available at Every Single McDonald's

Like cicadas or Fleetwood Mac reunion tours, the McRib only comes around once or twice in a generation. Starting today, and for the next six weeks, every McDonald's location in the US will carry the mythical manwich. Hallelujah.

The last time we had a McRibbing of this scale was all the way back in 1994. Since then, the pork(ish) patty has broken cover only occasionally, and at limited locations. Devotees were forced to turn to makeshift solutions like the McRib Locator to track them down. No longer.

Time to put away that Double Down, friends. Go forth into the world and McRib.

The World's Largest Magnet is Being Built in India

If your microwave suddenly whizzes out your house and down the road, you'll know India's successfully built the world's largest magnet. The 50,000 tons of magnetised iron will be housed underground, making CERN's 37,500-ton magnet shrink in shame.

Why does India need such a large magnet? It's for their neutrino observatory, which must be built underground so cosmic rays and other radiation don't interfere with the 30,000 detectors located there.

This particular observatory, dubbed INO (Indian Neutrino Observatory) will see neutrinos interacting with the iron to eject charged particles, that will be recorded by the various detectors and provide insight into the astronomy world. Only two sources have been located so far by other observatories (the sun and supernova SN1987A) but the INO is hopeful it will find others—otherwise they wouldn't have coughed up a budget of $250 million for the project.

No Longer Shall Bloggers Sit Cross-Legged in the Field

Thanko's laptop bag/desk hybrid should be very popular with photographers and bloggers. Not only does the bag come with extendable legs, but two fans are located inside for cooling laptops down—plus a cupholder's added too, for good measure.

If there's one thing I wish Thanko had added, it's an external battery for laptops. Though I suppose if MacBook owners hurried they could grab one of HyperMac's external batteriesbefore they're legally obligated to cease selling the cables by midnight tonight.

The bag weighs 2.7kg and also has various pockets and padding to protect laptops, as well as those aluminum legs which can lengthen to two different heights. It's on sale now for the equivalent of $75.

Logitech's Solar-Powered Keyboard Means You'll Never Buy Another Battery Again

There were cries of "impossible!" over Philips' solar-powered remote last week, and I'm sure even more people will be scratching their heads over Logitech's solar keyboard too—even though it can work for 3 months in total darkness.

The K750 has integrated solar panels, and grabs whatever light it can get while indoors. A solar power app shows you the battery levels and ambient light available, so you always know the vitals of the keyboard.

While it's got that big novelty attraction, it's also wireless (compatible with the Logitech Unifying receiver), and has the company's Incurve keys that are supposedly better-shaped for fingers.

It'll go on sale later this month for $80, but can be pre-ordered now if the thought of missing out on Logitech's first solar-powered keyboard is too much to bear.

Angry Birds for Halloween This Year

Selling millions of copies to happy customers is one of the more important milestones for any software developer, but when you inspire a Halloween costume, well, that's the real gravy, isn't it?

How Russia Stopped One Fifth Of the World's Spam

There are official 20% fewer penis enlargement emails hitting your spam folder, thanks to the efforts of the Russian government. How'd they do it? By making an effort.

Russian authorities this week cracked down on one Igor A. Gusev, "suspected spam kingpin:"

Moscow police authorities said Mr. Gusev, 31, was a central figure in the operations of SpamIt.com, which paid spammers to promote online pharmacies, sometimes quite lewdly. SpamIt.com suddenly stopped operating on Sept. 27. With less financial incentive to send their junk mail, spammers curtailed their activity by an estimated 50 billion messages a day.

Gusev and SpamIt.com had both been operating openly in Moscow for several years until Russia decided to step up its enforcement. And sure, there are still 200 billion unwanted emails blasting off every day. But paring them down by a fifth is a more than decent start.

Concept Butter Package Packs A Butter Knife In The Lid

Single servings of butter are almost always a pain to use. This concept packaging would revolutionize single s

erving butter because you don't need a butter knife. The lid of the package is the butter knife.

The idea is really simple theoretically could be extended to anything that's served in single packaging.

There's a USB Stick In The Brick Wall

Across New York, there are USB drives embedded in walls, buildings and curbs. The idea is to create an anonymous, offline file-sharing network in public space. The drives are completely public and anyone can plug in to drop and download files.

It's part of an art project called "Dead Drops" by Aram Bartholl and I have to say, it's pretty awesomely creative. I mean, if I saw a USB stick stick out of a random wall, I'd be dying to know what's in there. I'd have to plug in. It'd also be interesting to see what people would anonymously share on the public drive, well, until some jackass decides to upload a virus to screw up everybody's computer.

Limited Edition HDJ-1000 Headphones Get Fine-Tuned and Painted Gold by Pioneer

Big, brash and gold—Supposedly they've also fine-tuned the audio formula, with better low-bass frequencies and even clearer playback in the midrange too.

They'll go on sale in December for a spot over $200, but if you don't like the gold there's also a rare black model to be had too.

Antoine Dodson's Sex Offender iPhone App Uses Augmented Reality to Find the Creeps

"Are you still hiding yo wives, hiding yo kids and hiding yo husbands?" asks Antoine Dodsonof bed intruder fame, oblivious to the fact he's using his sister's misfortune to shill this $2 sex offender augmented reality app.

It may sound like a joke, but the app is real and actually works. Well, I assume it works—I haven't downloaded it myself—but developer BeenVerified.com has used its background checker database as the basis for the augmented reality app, which displays red dots when in the proximity of known sex offenders' locations.

5 per cent of the sales are being donated to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), and the app's available for both iPhone and Android. You'd have to be pretty paranoid to download it, but I guess for some it's a valuable tool to add to their apps-toolbox if they're concerned about some neighbours.

Hands on the Nexus Two by Samsung

The Nexus Two is real. It's made by Samsung, and a friend of ours got to play with it. It's not going rock your face like the Nexus One did. But it will record it with a front-facing camera.

It's black and shiny, built with glossy plastic. Up close, though, it's "got this curve to it." While the screen, which our source thinks is the same 4-inch AMOLED affair from the Galaxy series, is flat, the front is "sort of concave" with hard edges. And the back is curved. The tapering makes it feel thinner than Galaxy S, though it might be about the same thickness. "It feels really similar to the Galaxy S in a lot ways."

At first blush, it's a little disappointing that Google possibly isn't pushing things forward in the same way they did with the Nexus One, since it seems like the Nexus Two is a refreshed Galaxy phone. On the other hand, it says a lot that the Android ecosystem is so stocked with high-powered phones, from the Evo to the Droid X, that even Google won't radically jump ahead of its partners with a new flagship. Hopefully their plan for selling it is a little better.

Girls' Generation Hoot MusicVideo

Oakley's 3D Glasses Arriving Just in Time For Tron Legacy

Personally, I'm hoping all this 3D business will just go away if I ignore it long enough, but if you're riding the wave, you might want a decent pair of 3D spectacles. Oakley's new Tron-branded pair should be suitably futuristic.

The Tron:Legacy Oakleys, the first in their line of passive polarized 3D shades, will have some neon Tronesque doodads on the side but will also purportedly offer greater peripheral viewing and a better 3D alignment than most glasses.

You'll have to pay $150 for that fidelity when the Oakleys are available later this year, so if you're prone to losing your glasses, as I am, investing in one of those neck lanyards might not be a bad idea.

Sennheiser's New Gaming Headsets Will Make Your PC Games Sing

Sennheiser's expanding its gaming headset lineup with four new sets o' cans—the flagship Sennheiser PC 360, the surround sound PC 333D and PC 163D, and the PC 330 G4ME. Hey, if they're good enough for your music...

Then they probably will make your games sound pretty great too. The flagship PC 360s have been available overseas for awhile, but now they're making their way stateside for $299. They use Sennheiser Open-Aire speaker tech, have a volume control on the right ear cup, and their mic can be muted simply by lifting it up. Easy.

BlackBerry Bold 9780 Runs OS 6.0 and Has A Better Camera

Not much has changed between the 9700 and 9780, save for the jump from 3.2MP to 5MP camera, and the latest OS version it's running, which is the multitasker OS 6.0

There's a tad more RAM too, going from 256MB to 512MB. It's on sale globally from November, and while it's not that different to the previous Bold (which it itself wasn't much different from the 9000), it'll be a nice jump-up for BlackBerry users wanting an upgrade but who are not quite ready for the scary future of touchscreens just yet.

White iPhone 4: Delayed, Canceled, or Both

According to Reuters, the white iPhone 4 has been put off until next Spring. According to Boy Genius Report, it's been canned altogether. Who should we believe? Honestly, it doesn't really matter at this point.

One thing both sources agree on is that we're not going to hear another peep about thewhite iPhone 4 until next March. That's when Apple will either finally sell it, or push back the release date again until summer and quietly let it die. But with Apple releasing a new iPhone like clockwork every June/July, even if the iPhone 4 does hit the shelves it'll be old news—though appealingly discounted—in a matter of months.

Who would buy one then instead of just sticking it out for iPhone 5? And what incentive is there for Apple to crank on a lame duck device?

So for all the rumors about why and when and how the white iPhone 4 might or might not come out, the calendar's been pushed so far back that by now the point's pretty much moot.

Military Tactical iPad App Looks Like a Real Life Starcraft II

This is the SoldierEyes map, a tactical application for iPad that shows friends and foes' real time positions in the battlefield. It isn't a game, even while it looks like an RTS, similar toRaytheon's Advanced Tactical System (RATS).

Like RATS, the encrypted SoldierEyes network uses smartphones or iPod touch units to gather the information and distribute it. Soldiers can even use an augmented reality app to capture terrain and enemy data to share automatically with other units. All that information is displayed automatically on the iPad and relayed to commanders anywhere in the world.

Sounds like a neat game to play, until you realize the system requirements include actual bullets and mortar fire.

Casio G'zOne Ravine: The Phone that Survives It All

The rugged Casio G'zOne Ravine phone has undergone rigorous military testing, so the stresses and strains of life—like your everyday, run-of-the-mill immersion, blowing rain, shock, sand/dust, vibration, salt fog, humidity, solar radiation, low pressure, high & low temps—won't phase it at all.

Phone/Display

Don't drop everything just because you have to make a call—open and talk on the Casio G'zOne Ravine with one touch. And with noise cancellation, you won't miss a word of your conversation on the job site or in the jungle. The 2.20", 240×320, 65K, TFT LCD screen makes it easy for you to see who's calling in, say, a dense salt fog.

Messaging, Data, and Camera

Threaded texts keeps your SMS, EMS and MMS messages organized for easy access. Enjoy V CAST Video and music—you can store up to 322 GB of media files. The 3.2 megapixel camera has an LED flash and video capabilities.

Fun Stuff

The Casio G'zOne Ravine has a triple sensor for G'zGear that acts as a pedometer, compass, and thermometer to keep you informed of your level of ruggedness at all times. The VZ Navigator capability provides audible maps, turn-by-turn directions, and the ability to share location information for more than 14 million points of interest. Truly a phone for the adventurers among us. Price: $199.99 on Verizon.

Laser Pointer Prank Lands Teen in Federal Prison

19-year-old Nathan Ramon Wells last year saw a California police helicopter and decided to aim a laser pointer at it, causing the pilot to suddenly change course during a burglary investigation. Now he's going to federal prison for 15 months.

According to the Los Angeles Times, in June 2009 Wells was in his car in Cathedral City, California aiming the green laser pointer at the cops and, after diverting the crew from the investigation, the pilot spotted him. He was arrested when police found the laser pointer in his car. What an idiot. He could have at least thrown it out the window when he noticed the police helicopter tailing him. Or maybe he didn't notice the chopper tailing him or the patrol cars called in for backup. Either way, now he's going to federal prison for 15 months, and will be on supervised release for three years afterward. That's harsh, bro.

Here's video of a British police helicopter being viciously targeted by a laser pointer from the crowd at a music festival. You can clearly see that it's dangerous, but 15 months in federal lockup seems like overkill.

Holy Cheap! Get a Froyo Phone For 30 Bones

Look, I'm not saying the LG Optimus T is the fanciest phone in the world. But it's hard to argue with a $30 entry point to the latest and greatest version of Android.

The T-Mobile offering requires a two-year contract and use of a $50 mail-in discount to hit the $30 mark, and the phone itself is a pretty standard decent-not-great 3.2-inch capacitive touch job. The HVGA resolution and 3MP camera are middling if you put them up against the top Android offerings out there, but those'll run you six times as much. The Optimus T also comes pre-loaded with Swype, for you speed-texters out there.

The phone and deal are available November 3rd.

This is the Droid You Were Looking For. For Halloween, At Least

It's the age-old conundrum. To go as something sexy, or something full-on nerdy and embarrassing. I go as the latter everytime (this is the woman who dressed as Bill Gates once), but I think this swimsuit solves the problem nicely.

What do you think, guys? Best Halloween costume yet? It's around $80 USD. Just be careful with nearby lightsabers

There Is No Escape From Cows

This is a message to all vegetarians and vegans out there. From rubber to adhesives to anti-aging creams to medicines to shampoo to instrument strings to plastic to charcoal to wallpaper to air filters: You can't run from beef!

PSP2 Will Be Bigger, Out Fall 2011, Currently Overheating

Around the time of the Tokyo Game Show, Sony held a private meeting at its offices in Tokyo's Aoyama. The purpose was to show off the PSP2.

Several sources have confirmed to Kotaku that the PSP2 does have a previously rumoredtouch panel on the back of the hardware. The touch panel was described as looking like a big mouse trackpad. When Sony showed the PSP2, it did not provide concrete details regarding how the trackpad will be implemented in games and instead is leaving that to the discretion of game developers.

The screen itself is not only sharper than the current PSP's, but about an inch larger. The larger screen means that the PSP2 will be larger as well. In the private meetings, Sony is touting the screen as "HD".

A larger PSP should not be that big of an issue for Sony — especially in a mobile environment with large tablets like the iPad. It also shows that Sony realizes it is no longer simply competing with Nintendo, but also Apple.

It is unclear whether this is the same handheld described by the Wall Street Journal. According to the the paper, Sony is working on a device that mixes a game player, an e-book reader and a netbook computer. In late September, there were also reports that the PSP2 hardware was in the hands of "numerous" developers.

Currently, the PSP2's hardware is not finalized, and Sony is having problems balancing battery, power and heat. There are apparently overheating issues, but Sony is, of course, aiming to have those issues corrected by the time the hardware is publicly shown.

Sony set the PSP2's goals, but is still tinkering with the portable's innards. The PSP2's tech specs are expected to change. Sources tell Kotaku that the PSP2's release window is fall 2011. Sony is not yet talking openly about the PSP2.

Sony did not offer a comment in time for publication.

Brand Logos, Simplified

The images in the picture may just look like circles and dots but they're really simplified logos of famous brands. It's amazing how the strongest brands can be seen even through basic shapes. How many brands do you recognize?

Google, Target, and NBC are pretty easy. Dunkin Donuts and Subway too. If you want to test yourself, you can find all of the simplified logos at Unevolved Brands.

How To Unlock All The Stages In Angry Birds Android & iPhone Game

In the Android version of Angry Birds, you can unlock the different worlds of the game without having to beat each level. And since some of those pigs are impossible to smash, you'll probably end up doing this.

Here's how to do it:

1. Go to a World Select Screen
2. Center a locked world on your screen
3. Hit the back button on your Android phone until you exit Angry Birds
4. Load Angry Birds back up
5. When you see the 'Play' button, tap the button repeatedly
6. You're now inside a locked world

You still need to beat each level to advance in the world but with this method you can start new worlds without finishing the old ones. Howeva be warned! You might not feel the same accomplishment the rest of us honest, hard working folks feel.

The Asteroids Closest to Killing Us, Visualized

You can call them "near Earth objects" if you want to. I'll stick with "asteroids hellbent on obliterating our planet and all we hold dear." Here's the lineup of the space rocks closest to killing us, and where they are.

As a bonus, designer Zachary Vabolis has taken the liberty of listing the recorded objects that have or will come closest to impact. And these are just the 1,000m diameter or wider crowd. So, hey, it's been real everybody! I just hope when we get got, it's a meteor with a cool name that does it.

People Spend 927 Million Hours Per Month Playing Facebook Games

This is truly crazy data: 290 million people play Farmville and other Facebook games—five of the top 10 are by Zynga—every month. Combined, that's 4,406 years worth of play time—or 105,878 man-years milking virtual cows.

Cabinet-Mounted iPad Docks Are Cheaper Than Plasmas, I Suppose

What luxury to have cabinet-mounted iPads! What luxury to have an iPad at all, really. At $70 (plus the cost of an iPad) lazy recipe-readers could have one under every cupboard in the kitchen. Sign me up for 10.

Griffin's cabinet mount dock is probably not intended for holding an iPad permanently, but I like to imagine people will have one in the kitchen, the garage and even the bathroom. Stuff prising it out of the brackets every time you want to use it, right? Amirite?

The mount's arm rotates by 360-degrees, and the whole 'pad can move 90-degrees so it aligns flush under a cupboard, and then can be pulled out when in use. In the US it's $70, and in the UK it's £50, available now.

Over 7,000 People Tagged in One Facebook Photo Wins a Guinness World Record

36 ultra hi-res photos taken with two Hasselblad cameras at this year's Glastonbury Festivalin England were stitched together to create a 1.3-gigapixel image. Of the 70,000 people captured, over 7,000 dirty revellers have tagged themselves on Facebook.

This has awarded the pictured, created by mobile network Orange, a Guinness World Record for most people ever tagged in an online photo. No idea what the previous record-holder for this would've been, but I imagine this is a new entry to the book.

The two Hasselblad H4D-50 cameras used cost around $30,000 each, and have 50MP sensors which resulted in the 36 photos taken in under a minute flat, and later stitched together for a photo hi-res enough for people to zoom in on every single individual, to search for themselves and friends. I wonder how many girlfriends discovered their boyfriends copping off with someone in a cider-fuelled frenzy behind their back from this photo?

This Is the Oldest Space Object Ever Found

This is the oldest object we've found yet in space. It's a galaxy whose light traveled more than 13 billion light-years before it was visible to Hubble. And it's only 600 million years younger than the universe itself.

What you're looking at above is an artist's rendering of UDFy-38135539, the most ancient space object we've been able to locate to date.

It's about 160 million years older than the previous oldest galaxy, which was found back in 2006. The most exciting part? Astronomers speculate that the oldest galaxies formed as early as 200 million years after the Big Bang, meaning we've got a whole lot of discovering still ahead of us.

Flip Phones Made Cool: Japan's Transparent X-Ray Phone

See-through things are cool. Anyone who ever pined for a transparent Game Boy (or was lucky enough to own one) knows that. Even if flippers are unfashionable, I still want to hotfoot it over to Japan to scoop this up.

Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka's x-ray phone is actually going on sale in Japan under the KDDI brand's iida range, where it's made from polycarbonate with glass fiber to give it that retro-futuristic transparent look. The 7 x 102 dot-matrix LED strip just heightens the dorky coolness of the phone, with caller ID flashing up along with new messages and the time.

It may look like something from the '80s, but there's an 8MP camera strapped on, 1-Seg TV tuner and is also NFC-payment compatible. I've no idea how much it's going to sell for in Japan, but I do know that I want an Android version pronto.

These Awesome Tron Watches Will Only Exist If You Want Them Enough

When there are so many actual Tron accessories that demand contempt, is it so much to ask for these kickass concept watches to become real? Fortunately, this time it's within our power to make these happen. Solidarity, people. Here's how.

Thse LED watches, designed by Scott Galloway, are currently up for vote over at Tokyo Flash, known proprietors of ridiculous timepieces. But this one's not even that ridiculous! In addition to looking badder than badass, they're also remarkably easy to read: the outer ring tells the minutes, the inner ring the hours. Simple.

So please, do your patriotic duty to make these happen in time for the holidays. I've got a few stockings to stuff, and I'd much rather do it with Tron watches than desk calendars.

New MacBook Airs: Faster, Lighter, Instant On, 30 Day Standby Power

It's been two years since the last MacBook Air refresh, but Apple's made up for lost time: the redesigned MacBook Air comes in 13.3 and 11.6-inch flavors with complete unibody construction. And a storage secret.

The smaller Air won't have an SSD or an HDD. Instead, it's got an SSD card that a bit like a stick of RAM. Why's that important for you? Instant on. Because the Air relies on flash memory, the boot times are near zero. Other guts? Intel Core2Duo processors inside along with Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics. Apple's also done the right thing by adding an SD card reader and a second USB port.

The MacBook Airs will come with a FaceTime camera—notably not an iSight camera—along with a full-size keyboard and multitouch trackpad. The 11-incher has a 1366x768 display, while the 13-inch rocks 1440x900. They weigh just 2.3 and 2.9 pounds, respectively, and both thankfully include stereo speakers.

The battery life is a huge story here as well: the 13.3-incher will last 7 hours with active use, and a full month on standby. The 11.6-inch gets 5 hours and that same 30 day standby time. The batteries are said to be good for 1,000 charges, and can be replaced for $129.

Both are available today starting at $1000. That'll get you the smaller Air with a 1.4GHz Core2Duo and 64GB of storage, while for $1200 you can upgrade to 128GB with the same processor. The 13.3-inch MBA starts off at a 1.86GHz processor and 128GB of storage for $1300, and opting for 256GB bumps the price to $1600. The base models start at 2GB of RAM but are upgradeable to 4GB and it looks as though they provide you with a USB stick with the OS.

Mac OS X Lion: The Best Features

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is here. It's a beautiful evolution of the previous version, with a more elegant interface. Here's everything you need to learn about it, a visual guide to its best features.

Mac OS X is going in the same direction as the iPad. Mac OS X Lion is another step in the road to a new—or better said, renewed—computer interface paradigm: Modal computing. And along the way, they are taking some of the most successful parts of iOS, like the App Store—with automatic installation of applications—and the springboard—rechristened launchpad in Lion. They are also introducing new user interface elements, like Mission Control.

All apps would be able to have Full Screen mode integrated. That doesn't mean windows are disappearing (yet), but this is clearly enabling the way to full modal computing—which is clearly indicated by the user interface in iLife'11.

HTC Goes Off-Piste With Forest Green Gratia Android Phone

Have you ever seen an Android like this before? Unfortunately it's only destined for Europe, and while the specs aren't quite as high as HTC's recent Androids, it's running Froyo and comes in three delicious colors.

Really, it's no contest though—that forest green is just too nice for words. I'd love to see them roll that colorway out across some of their other models, like the Desire range, if possible.

The Gratia has a 3.2-inch 320 x 480 display, and will include a 600Mhz processor, 512MB ROM and 384MB RAM, and has a 5MP camera on the back, with a VGA cam lurking on the front there. It's got all the usual features too, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a g-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, and microSD card slot. It weighs 115 grams, and measures 103.8 x 57.7 x 11.7 mm. It'll be on sale in November, across Europe.

This Is the Largest SATA Drive In the World

It just looks like any other, but this WD Caviar Green is three terabytes, using 750GB-per-platter. At just $240, it comes just in time to upgrade my backup storage unit.


WD® Now Shipping the World's Largest Capacity SATA Hard Drives

WD Caviar® Green™ 3 TB Hard Drives Support the Continuing Demand for Increased Capacity in External Storage and Advanced PC Applications

LAKE FOREST, Calif., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ — WD® (NYSE: WDC) today announced that the company is shipping the world's largest capacity SATA hard drive. As the latest addition to its WD Caviar® Green™ family of SATA hard drives (photo), the new hard drives deliver up to a massive 3 terabytes (TB) of storage capacity on a single drive. WD is leading the industry in capacity for SATA hard drives by utilizing 750 GB-per-platter areal density and Advanced Format (AF) technology.

WD Caviar Green drives are an eco-friendly storage solution with WD GreenPower Technology™, which reduces power consumption by enabling lower operating temperatures for increased reliability and decreases acoustical noise for quiet operation. The WD Caviar Green 2.5 TB and 3 TB hard drives are designed for use as secondary external storage and next-generation PC storage in 64-bit-based systems.

Drives with capacities in excess of 2.19 TB currently present barriers for PC hardware, firmware and software. To satisfy the new set of requirements of which users must be aware to successfully integrate larger capacity drives, WD is bundling its WD Caviar Green 2.5 and 3 TB hard drives with an Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI)-compliant Host Bus Adapter (HBA), which will enable the operating system to use a known driver with correct support for large capacity drives. For more information on solving the 2.19 TB drive barrier, please see the WD information sheet at http://products.wdc.com/largecapacitydrives.

"WD remains a leader of hard drive capacity and low power innovation. With our WD Caviar Green drives, we enable energy-conscious customers to build systems with the highest capacities that deliver the optimal balance of system performance, ensured reliability and energy conservation," said Jim Morris, executive vice president and general manager of WD's client systems storage group. "Customers will be able to take advantage of this breakthrough capacity point now for secondary external storage in legacy 32-bit systems that run on Microsoft® Vista® or Windows® 7 platforms."

Price and Availability

WD Caviar Green 2.5 TB hard drives (model number WD25EZRSDTL) and 3 TB hard drives (model number WD30EZRSDTL) are available now in the U.S. at select resellers and distributors. MSRP for the WD Caviar Green 2.5 TB hard drive is $189.00 USD and the 3 TB hard drive is $239.00 USD. WD Caviar Green hard drives are covered by a three-year limited warranty. More information about WD Caviar Green hard drives may be found on the company's website here!

The Most Popular Phone in the World

Nokia has problems. Smartphone problems. Software problems. American problems. But to fully understand what's wrong, we've got to understand what's been right, or to put in another way, what's distracted Nokia. Meet the most popular phone in the world.

It has been said that more of the world's population has access to a cellphone than to a sanitary toilet. But of the planet's estimated 5 billion cellphone users, a privileged minority have smartphones; a paltry few, iPhones.

If you spend hours thumbing through pages of apps, scoffing at less-than-perfect software upgrades and grousing about screen resolution and pixel density, it's easy to forget that the very concept of a mobile phone is a miracle. It's a device that shrinks your day to day world into a single point, making you simultaneously accessible to and able to access nearly everyone you know, instantly and everywhere.

The Instant Coffee Straw

The Open It! instant-coffee-in-a-straw kind of makes me hurt inside. But it is very clever!

BlackBerry Style 9670 Clamshell

Running on OS 6.0, the flipper has two screens—one 2.7-inch QVGA on the inside, and on the outside there's a 2-inch QVGA. New messages and caller info is displayed on the outer, with the inner being the screen you'd mostly use. Sadly RIM hasn't used the Torch's touchscreen tech on the Style, but considering this phone is going to be firmly aimed at the young'uns, I imagine that was a sensible pricing decision.

There's a 5MP camera with flash, GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and comes with an 8GB microSD card. On sale October 31st at Sprint, it'll cost $100 after a $100 mail-in rebate.