A USB Flash Drive That Might Be More Beautiful Than a MacBook

This sleek flash drive is the perfect complement to your beloved Apple hardware, even going so far as to match its silvery finish.

Available in 16 and 32GB capacities for $60 and $82 respectively, these ultra-compact flash drives from Elecom add a bit of stylish extra storage to your hardware. And given their compact cylindrical design sits flush to the edge of your laptop, in theory you'll never need, or want, to remove it. Besides, why would you ever lend it to someone and risk never getting it back? More here.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Now Available for iOS

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is now available for the iPod touch, iPad and iPhone, as expected. Oddly, however, Rockstar hasn’t yet released the Android version, which was also due out today. The game has been tailored specifically for touchscreen devices and features updated graphics with improved character models and lighting effects, the ability to save games to iCloud, support for Retina displays and the option to play your own iTunes playlists. Here’s a bit about the game:

From the decade of big hair, excess and pastel suits comes a story of one man’s rise to the top of the criminal pile. Vice City, a huge urban sprawl ranging from the beach to the swamps and the glitz to the ghetto, was one of the most varied, complete and alive digital cities ever created. Combining open-world gameplay with a character driven narrative, you arrive in a town brimming with delights and degradation and given the opportunity to take it over as you choose.  More here.

Secret Elixir Makes Any Glove Touchscreen-Friendly

By now it's almost impossible to find a winter glove that doesn't work with touchscreen devices. But if you've got a favorite pair that predates the iPhone, this AnyGlove potion will let you use them with a touchscreen display without having to resort to sewing conductive thread onto the fingertips.

Just a few drops is all that's needed for your smartphone or tablet to recognize your gloved gestures. And while the liquid might stain lighter colored fabrics or yarns, it's completely invisible on darker materials. It's not permanent, though, you'll need to reapply the AnyGlove elixir as often as every few days depending on how active you are in your gloves. But a single $15 bottle should last until the warm summer returns. More here.

The Mathematical Formula For a Perfectly Decorated Christmas Tree

It turns out that decorating your Christmas tree isn't necessarily all about taste. Mathematicians at the University of Sheffield in the UK have developed a formula for the perfect way to deck the halls. More specifically, what ratio of ornaments to lights to tinsel will make your tree most aesthetically pleasing.

Since the geniuses behind the formula hail from the UK and embrace that new-fangled metric system, you'll need to know the height of your tree in centimeters. But you're just a tape measure away from having the data you need to use their handy online calculator. Did you know your average six foot tree only needs 37 ornaments to look its best? More here.

Wireless Card Reader Lets You Share Your Shots Without Stupid Cables

Wireless devices are usually far more convenient than their tethered alternative. But in this case losing the USB cable has made the REX-WIFISD1 SD/SDHX/SDXC and flash drive reader a bit on the bulky side. So what do you really gain for it being wireless? The ability to access it from any mobile device.

Apple already sells a memory card adapter for its iOS devices, but this is a more universal solution letting Android hardware and Windows/Mac PCs access the data from an attached storage device. Of course the onboard wireless hardware is powered by a 3,000 mAh battery, which should give upwards of nine hours of operation. And not surprisingly, given the extra functionality the REX-WIFISD1 is priced bit higher than your average card reader at $97. So is this one worth importing? If you abhor cables the answer is obvious. More here.

Feel Free To Spill Whatever You Want On This Waterproof PC

You can be as reckless as you want with your bottle of Moutain Dew around Stealth's new fanless WPC-525F computer. As the name implies it relies on its aluminum chassis as one large heatsink to dissipate high temperatures.

So besides near silent operation, it's also sealed making it completely waterproof and dustproof. The $1,595 base configuration comes with an Intel Dual-Core D525 processor running at 1.8GHz, 4GB of DDR3 memory, and a 120GB SSD so there's basically no moving parts inside. And in order to provide connectivity like USB, video, and LAN while keeping water out, the case uses watertight bayonet connections and adapter cables. So if one unfortunately wears out, they're not exactly common or easy to replace at your local computer shop. More here.

This Is Now the Coolest Microwave of All

Sure, this other microwave is "the most beautiful," and it certainly is "classy," "modern," and maybe even "timeless." But this microwave is a god damn dome. And because it's a dome, it wins it all. It wins microwaves.

The Fagor Spoutnik has two major things going for it: it's called the Spoutnik and it has a dome cover. Also, sike, it has three things going for it: it comes in a ton of wacky colors. Green! Purple! It does everything you'd expect from a microwave—cooking things, cooking things with a timer, etc.—but it does all of it under a dome. This does serve some functional purpose besides being a sweet rainbow dome: you can get a 360-degree view of what you're cooking, and fit odd-shaped foods that might not fit in a rectangle. The microwave used to be a symbol of Space Age luxury—and now that it's no longer a luxury, we can at least pretend we're living in The Jetsons. More here.

Would You Trust a Doctor Checking Your Heart with an iPhone?

Meet the Alivecor Heart Monitor iPhone case. The FDA just approved it. Affordable electrocardiogram (ECG) screening is actually a real need (the AliveCor monitor is just $200), even though you've probably never heard of it. Failure of the ECG screens to detect underlying heart conditions is suspected to have led to many young athletes going into cardiac arrest, and sometimes death. Children's lives literally depend on these things. And being FDA-approved is about as good an endorsement as you can get.

Appending sensors onto the computing power of a device you probably already have is a fine and efficient idea. There are other medical iPhone uses, like blood sugar tests for diabetics, or simple heart monitors. And again, AliveCor has all of the backing of the FDA, as well as the encouraging responses from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology. More here.

It Takes 20 Seconds Before People Get Annoyed About Waiting for the Elevator

Theresa Christy, a mathematician who works for Otis Elevator Co (they probably power your building), told the WSJ that once you press a button and wait for the elevator, it takes about 20 seconds before you start getting impatient and annoyed.

Is that it? Or is that on the long side? If I imagine a 20-second count in my head, it seems on the long side. But if I can see the elevator light up the floors, maybe it's not so long. What do you guys think?

Christy actually revealed a lot of interesting tidbits about elevators and how they work and solve problems with math. Like how to tweak elevator speed to accomodate more rides, how many people squeeze into elevators in Western Countries versus Asia and how she uses a computer simulation program that replays elevator decision making (like a video game!) to analyze what to do. More here.

How To Easily Build the Most Useful Keychain You’ve Ever Owned

If you've got access to a bucket of Lego Technic pieces, then you've probably already got everything you need to build what could possibly be the most useful keychains ever devised. As for the building instructions, just take a look at the image above and you'll easily figure it out.

It's cheap, it's compact, and removing a single key doesn't require you to tear your fingernails to shreds trying to pry open a keyring. And because Lego is produced to such exacting dimensions, there's little to no chance this thing is going to come apart until you want it to. As a bonus it's even easier to build a spot to hang the keychain when you get home—just stick a Lego baseplate to the wall near your front door. Done. More here.

Insane Blasts of Heat Could Make Flash Memory Live Longer Than Ever

Flash memory is fast, it's stable, but it's not without its flaws. It has a tendency to wear out after too many write-erase cycles, for example. Now there's a way to deal with that problem, and it could lead to self-healing NAND flash memory that could last for much, much longer than the stuff we have now.

The discovery comes from Taiwan-based company Macronix who realized that the key to long-lasting NAND memory is the strategic application of heat. If you bake the memory at a heat of around 480 degrees Fahrenheit for a few hours, you can breathe some of the life back into it. The problem is that isn't exactly practical.

Macronix is working on a solution that is more practical, though: a chip with on-board heaters. Instead of baking the whole chip, it would jolt unused-but-aging sectors with a super blast of heat (about 1,400 degrees) every now and then. This could give chips a lifespan of roughly 100 million cycles, orders of magnitude more than the current highs of 100,000 to 1 million.

Before you get too excited, commercial versions are not inbound yet. Macronix will instead be presenting the tech at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting. It's still an exciting development nonetheless and is sure to make it into consumer goodies sooner or later. Hopefully sooner. More here.

This Minimalist Christmas Tree Is Great for the Irredeemably Lazy

Christmas is coming. The goose is getting fat and whatnot. Maybe you're in the market for a Christmas tree, maybe you're not. Maybe you'd like to be in said market, but you are extremely, extremely lazy. Treeasy's got your back, that is, if you don't mind something bare and metallic.

Designed by José Manuel Rebert Alarcon, Treeasy (in addition to being a halfway decent pun) is a single sheet of aluminum cut just so that you can just push it from the bottom and it pops out into a little Christmas tree with almost no effort involved. Granted, it's not your standard Christmas tree by any means, but if you're sufficiently lazy—but can't just not have a tree of some sort for some reason—Treeasy is at least identifiably tree-like, and kind of clever. More here.

Raspberry Pi's $25 Model A Enters Production, Could be in Tinkerers' Projects Early Next Year

Raspberry Pi's Model B computer will be no stranger to regular readers. If you were holding out for the cheaper, lower specced Model A however, your time is near. A recent post on the official Raspberry Pi site confirms that the first Model A samples are rolling off the production line. The main differences? 

Whereas Model B has two USB ports and 512 MB of RAM plus Ethernet, Model A sports only the one port, has half the RAM, and no Ethernet connection, making it more power economical as well as $10 cheaper. Price likely isn't the issue here, but if you were after the even more stripped back version, it's estimated they'll be ready to purchase online early next year. More here.

Hi-Tech Parenting: The DIY Kid-Tracking Surveillance Copter

Parents can be unnerved by the thought of sending their children off to school by themselves. In the past, that usually meant walking the child or following close behind, diving behind bushes to avoid embarrassing the tot. Now, it involves something else — a quadcopter, a GPS signaler and a little know-how.

Paul Wallich rigged a drone with a camera and then stashed the GPS unit in his son’s backpack. Using navigation software, he made sure the copter would stay a certain distance behind the child as it followed the kid to the bus stop.

In concept, it’s a brilliant stroke of hi-tech parenting that allows Wallich to keep an eye on his son remotely. But as a real-world safety measure, it’s questionable. It’s one thing to make sure dangerous strangers don’t approach the boy, but it’s another when the surveillance/tracking copter makes him a target for bullies. More here.

Researchers Can Make Bread Stay Fresh for 60 Days

Most foods deteriorate over time, but bread's a major culprit, often going stale after just a couple of days. Now, though, a US research company claims to be able to make your loaf stay fresh for up to 60 whole days.

The secret? Um, a gigantic microwave. No, seriously. The company, called—wait for it—Microzap, has developed a long, metallic microwave device for the purpose. The concept was orignally developed to kill bacteria like salmonella, but the team put a slice of bread through the thing and noticed it didn't go stale. In fact, even after 60 days the bread "had the same mould content as it had when it came out of the oven." Nice!

Crucially, this microwave is a little fancier than the one in your kitchen. Don Stull from Microzap explained to the BBC:

"We introduce the microwave frequencies in different ways, through a slotted radiator. We get a basically homogeneous signal density in our chamber - in other words, we don't get the hot and cold spots you get in your home microwave."

Of course, it remains to be seen whether consumers want bread that lasts for 60 days. There's something about the concept that seems a little unnerving—but what price a fresh sandwich? More here.

This Portable Bluetooth Speaker Is Different Because It Looks Weird and You Can’t Break it

The world is seething with a billion cheap, portable Bluetooth speakers. To differentiate itself from the pack, Boom Movement has created this thing. It's called the Urchin, and the silicone cloaked beast looks as bizarre as its name implies. It's also certified shock and water-resistant.

The Urchin will cost $150 when it's available at the beginning of February. Additional colorful silicone covers will be available for 20 bucks a pop, if dressing up consumer electronics is your thing.

Boom Movement's audio and design pedigree is impressive: It's an offshoot of the same company that owns undeniably legit Polk Audio. The Urchin is supposedly designed to maximize the full-range potential of its pair of dinky speakers with minimum distortion.

But even if The Urchin sounds better than the competition, you have to wonder if that's going to be enough to help it stand out from the other $150 Bluetooth numbers out there. If not, maybe people will find it while searching for an odd, indestructible fashion statement. More here.

You Can Buy an Unlocked iPhone 5 Now

If you've been waiting to buy an unlocked iPhone 5, you have your chance now. Apple just began selling the unlocked iPhone 5 after promising it'd become available "several weeks" after the initial launch. The prices will be $649 for 16GB, $749 for 32GB and $849 for 64GB. Ship time is a week and be sure to check if the unlocked iPhone 5 works on your carrier. More here.

Moebius Hanger Bends Time and Space To De-Wrinkle Your Shirts

Don't even try to wrap your head around this twisted plywood hanger. It's clearly only designed to support the shirts, belts, scarves, and other accessories of the world's greatest mathematicians and physicists. No one else has any chance of understanding the mysteries of the universe that let this hanger exist.

So be warned; Etsy will gladly let you drop $13 on one, but you'll be getting far more than you bargained for. On the bright side at least you'll have someplace to hang your straight jacket after you go completely insane trying to comprehend this creation and have to be committed. More here.

Japan Unveils Prototype of New Maglev Train, Promises Speeds of up to 311 mph

More than a year after the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tokai) received construction approval to get going on its maglev railways, it has finally unveiled a Series L0 prototype that would put its current bullet train system to shame. Designed to travel at 311 mph, a single one of these high-speed marvels is designed to carry about 16 carriages, which translates to about 1,000 commuters. 

While Japanese travelers already enjoy a speedy 90-minute trip from Tokyo to Nagoya, this new maglev system promises to cut that journey to just 40 minutes. Announced nearly five years ago, the project has since been extended to include an Osaka-Tokyo leg and will cost around nine trillion yen (approximately $112 billion) when all is said and done. 

Don't pack your bags just yet though; the maglev's Nagoya rail isn't scheduled to go live until 2027, and the boarding call for Osaka isn't until 2045. Of course, if you need to ride electromagnetic rails now, there's always China's Shanghai Transrapid, which has been ferrying passengers to and fro the Pudong airport since 2004 -- it once reached speeds of 501km/h (311mph). More here.

The World’s Most Expensive Lego Is A $14,500 Solid Gold Brick

With all the insane, high tech Lego contraptions running around these days, it's easy to overlook the beauty in a single, elemental brick — unless that element is solid, 14-carat gold.

These standard-sized, 2x4 Lego bricks were only given out once or twice a year from 1979-1981. Even then, only select business partners and Lego employees clocking in 25 years of employment had a chance of getting their hands on these rarest of accolades.

But thanks to the internet, these bricks aren't just restricted to Lego legends anymore. Anyone (with $14,500 to burn) can buy their very own, shimmering block from Brick Envy, an online store that has somehow found one in their possession.

This particular brick's origins remain a mystery. So for whoever does end up being the lucky buyer, hopefully the bright, shiny object will be enough to keep away thoughts of the mysterious fate of its original master. More here.

Cadbury Chocolate Will Literally Melt In Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand

The bright minds in Cadbury's R&D department have done something amazing—they've createdchocolate that won't melt. Willy Wonka has to be real. Just has to be.

The "temperature tolerant" candy remained solid, even after spending three hours in an incubator where the temp was 104 degrees, according to its patent filing. At that point it was still solid when pressed with a finger, and it didn't collapse into a brown sticky, molten mess like you'd expect. The logical fear here is that it might not actually melt in your mouth at this point, which would pose a threat to your digestive system, but apparently with a little more pressure it can be broken.

So how does it work? First of all, assuming Oompa Loompas play an important role in the process. But also, researchers at Cadbury found a way to break sugar particles into even smaller pieces, diminishing the amount of fat they're coated with, which apparently makes chocolate bars impervious to heat. Do you live south of the equator? Do you have a habit of leaving candy in a hot car? Do you find melted chocolate in your pant pockets often? Your worries are over. More here.

Those Skinny New iMacs Go on Sale November 30

Announced in September at Apple's iPhone event, the latest desktop machines are just 5mm thin. The base 21.5-inch model has a 2.7 GHz quad-core processor and starts at $1,300. The 27-incher starts with a 2.9 GHz quad-core i5 processor and pricing begins at $1,800. Each machine can be bumped up all the way up to i7 if you please.

The bigger of the two has a resolution of 2560 by 1440. Both have four USB 3.0 ports and two Thunderbolt, 32GB of RAM, and as much as 768GB of flash storage. There's also an SD card, gigabit ethernet, and a fusion drive, which is 128GB of flash storage plus 1 or 3 TB of hard drive combined into one hard drive. And they're skinny enough that they'll fit nicely under that Douglas fir. More here.

Nintendo Sold 400,000 Wii Us in Its First Week, And Almost As Many Old Wiis

The numbers are in and it turns out the Wii U launch went pretty well with around 400,000 consoles sold in its first week. It's not as much as the 600,000 Wiis sold at launch, but it's nothing to sneeze at. And neither are the 300,000 aging Wiis that sold last week, either.

For perspective, the Xbox 360 was able to take the title for most popular console in October by moving 270,000 units. With the help of Black Friday, both Nintendo consoles were able to beat that number. What's more impressive than the Wii U's sizable opening sales is that the now six-year-old (and admittedly cheap at $100 and lower for some Black Friday promotions) Wii managed to achieve 50 percent of the enormous peak it hit all the way back in 2006, which seems like practically forever ago.

Overall, Nintendo managed to move 1.2 million devices including the Wii U, Wii, and a number of handheld devices last week. While it looks like the Wii U is coming out of the gate reasonably strong, it's future—especially considering a (probably) imminent next-gen offerings from Microsoft and Sony—is a bit unsure, but maybe it's inhereited its predecessors staying power. We'll have to wait and see. More here.

Massive Mars Dust Storm Tracked

NASA keeps on delivering some awesome footage from the red planet. Now NASA brings us a massive dust do storm spotted by its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The effects of the dust storm has showed a drop in atmospheric clarity, drop in air pressure and increased nighttime temps from rovers Curiosity and Opportunity.

The dust storm is quite large to the point it is classified as a regional dust storm. Instead of reflecting sunlight, it is absorbing it and causing the entire planet to heat up 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

If the dust storm keeps expanding, there is slight chance Opportunity’s solar panels can be caked with dust, reducing its energy supply. Curiosity on the other hand has radioisotope thermoelectric generator that won’t be affected by the dust storms. More here.

Samsung Galaxy Note II Global Sales Exceed 5 Million Units

Samsung announced Sunday that sales of its 5.5-inch phablet have exceeded 5 million worldwide since it first began selling two months ago. The South-Korean consumer electronics company stated the sales of the Note II have exceeded far more quickly than its predecessor which saw worldwide sales reach the same 5 million mark in five months after its release.

Apple just added the Note II on the long list of devices it is asking the court to include with its recent win against Samsung. It is no surprise the Note II is selling at such a quick pace considering its large screen, multi-tasking, and speedy quad-core processor. More here.

BlackBerry 10-N Series Parts Leaked

With BlackBerry 10 and its associated devices slated to be released early next year, news and leaks keep hitting the Internet with increased frequency. Last week a BlackBerry 10 L-Seriesimage made the rounds and now this weekend we get treated to an alleged image of N-Series keyboard parts.

Immediately one change that is noticeable is the elimination of a curved keyboard that previous QWERTY BlackBerry devices have sported. Which makes sense considering a curved physical keyboard takes real estate that could otherwise be used for a larger display or be consolidated for smaller form factor.

For BlackBerry users out there, are you likely to go with touchscreen or QWERTY keyboard? More here.

Facebook Proposes Changes, Closer to Instagram Integration

Facebook Inc is looking to make some changes to its policies and terms of services, starting with eliminated the current process that allows users of the social network to vote on changes.

Additional changes include who can email users, opening the emailing network to everyone, not just to those in your immediate social network. When asked about potential spammers gaming the system, Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said Facebook will monitor user interaction and feedback to improve services.

Finally, Facebook hopes to merge Instagram and Facebook profiles in to one shared social network profile, making it users to share photos through Facebook.

These changes are meant to improve Facebook profitability, especially since Facebook’s stock has taken a beating for not being able to monetize at a rate that investors had expected.

Through this week, Facebook is allowing users to comment on whether to approve these changes. If the more than 7,000 comments are made the changes will be put to a vote, if vote reaches 30% yeses then it is approved.

What do you think of the proposed changes? More here.

PSY’s Gangnam Style Is Now The Most Watched Video on YouTube Ever

Justin Bieber’s “Baby” has been knocked out of the throne as the most watched YouTube video of all time. South Korean pop-star PSY’s “Gangnam Style” now has more than 806,283,000 views on YouTube — and that’s just since July, when it was published to the popular video site. According to Billboard, the video also has the most “likes” ever (5.37 million). Bieber’s “Baby” only has 1.4 million likes. More here.

Shopping From Mobile Devices Spiked 65.3% This Thanksgiving

Mobile devices, including tablets and smartphones, are more and more used as a way to purchase goods remotely. Instead of running off from Thanksgiving dinner early to hit up deals at local stores, shoppers this year were purchasing products directly from their mobile devices.

According to IBM Smarter Commerce, mobile shopping jumped 65.3% on Thanksgiving this year from the same day last year. iPad owners were specifically responsible for 10.7% of all mobile purchases, too. As The Boston Globe suggests, mobile devices not only help us make purchases without having to sit at a computer or get in long lines at a brick and mortar store, but they also allow us to compare prices across multiple outlets very quickly.

Did you sneak your phone or tablet under the Thanksgiving table to make a purchase? If so, for what? More here.

Apple announces Black Friday deals: $101 off laptops, up to $61 off the new iPad

The finest Black Friday deals may involve risking life and limbin a Best Buy scrum, but that doesn't mean you can't save some cash shopping online. Apple's one-day shopping event has begun, with the company knocking $41 off the price of the 16GB 4th generation iPad and $61 off the 64GB model. If you'd prefer to stick with the older iPad 2, it's available with $31 taken off the tag, and you can also get money off accessories like the AirPort Extreme ($21 cheaper) and EarPods ($7 cheaper). On the computing side, Cupertino has deducted $101 off the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, MacBook Pro andMacBook Air. More here.

Instagram Records Broken on Thanksgiving

Over 10 million photos with Thanksgiving mentions were posted on Thanksgiving Day. At its peak, 200 photos per second were posted with Thanksgiving mentions. According to Instagram, every single traffic record was broken.

Were your images one of the 10 million? Post yours below. More here.

YouTube App Comes to Nintendo Wii U, Works on GamePad

Those of you who picked up a Wii U this week will likely be spending some of your free time this Thanksgiving enjoying your new console. You’ll be pleased to know, then, that you can now use it to show off your favorite YouTube videos on your HDTV, thanks to the official YouTube app.

Available from today, the app can be downloaded from directly within the Wii U main menu. Its user interface resembles that of the YouTube app released for the original Wii, but this time around, it supports 1080p media playback, as well as the Wii U’s new GamePad. Get one here.

Location Marking Stickers Guarantee People Will Put Your Stuff Back Where It Belongs

Designed for neat freaks, the obsessive compulsive, or anyone tired of borrowed gear not returning to where it belongs, these simple location marking stickers serve as the perfect reminder as to where your stuff goes.

At $17 for a pack of 60 they're a little expensive, so thankfully you DIY-minded types can accomplish the same thing with a roll of electrical tape and a pair of scissors. That is, if you can find where the last person who used them left them. More here.

This Delicious Lego Turkey Platter Will Feed No One on Thanksgiving

Tomorrow, you could spend six hours cooking a stuffed 18-pound turkey for a bunch of ungrateful family members. Ugh but so much waiting—not to mention the tedious preparation. Instead, spend considerably less time on following the step-by-step instructions for this 102-piece Lego build just posted by international man of bricks Chris McVeigh. More here.

Spill-Proof Sippy Cup Wine Glasses Solve Your Drinking Problem

Are you tired of getting drunk on wine during dinner and then spending the rest of the evening trying to keep your balance and not spilling your libations everywhere? Well there's now a simple solution to that problem that doesn't require 12 time-consuming steps.

These $15 Vino2Go wine glasses look like sophisticated stemwear, but are actually designed as durable double-walled tumblers complete with a spill-proof sippable lid. So they won't shatter when dropped, and won't leak a drop of whatever fine vintage you've filled them with. Just make sure to keep them out of the reach of toddlers. More here.

Samsung Galaxy S IV Rumored to Get 8-Core Processor, 13MP Camera, 1080p Display

With Samsung’s Galaxy S III becoming this year’s best-selling smartphone, the Korean company will obviously want to follow it up with a fourth. But how does it improve upon a device that is already way ahead of most of its competitors? Well, according to new rumors, with an 8-core processor, a 1080p display, and a 13-megapixel camera.

Let’s tackle the possibility of a 13-megapixel camera first. This seems like a more than feasible upgrade for the Galaxy S IV. Reports had suggested that the Galaxy Note II would get a 13-megapixel shooter, but Samsung was forced to use an 8-megapixel one because Sony couldn’t manufacture them fast enough.

By the time the Galaxy S IV enters production, Sony may be able to churn them out a little quicker. What’s more, it’s unlikely Samsung would release a fourth Galaxy S handset that has the same 8-megapixel camera as its last two predecessors.

As for the 1080p display, that’ll measure in at 4.99 inches, according to a source for Korean site Asiae, with a whopping 441 pixels per inch. Samsung has already been producing 1080p smartphone displays, according to recent reports, and its own flagship handset is likely to be the first to employ one.

What about the 8-core processor? Well, that’s a different story. The Galaxy S III was one of the first smartphones to offer a quad-core processor, and it’s plenty fast enough for the things we do on our devices in today’s world. That may change over time, but for the foreseeable future, a quad-core CPU is just fine.

With that said, adding an 8-core processor to the Galaxy S IV seems crazy to us. Not only is it entirely unnecessary, but just think how quickly it’ll kill your battery — especially when coupled with a 4.99-inch 1080p display.

It’s probably going to be some time yet before we see the Galaxy S IV — its predecessor was only released five months ago — so expect these rumors to change a lot over the next few months.

Are you looking forward to the Galaxy S IV? More here.

Western Digital Ships 4TB WD Black Hard Drive

The 4TB hard drives that we've seen gradually filter into the marketplace have come with a few snags for desktop users; they're usually either external drives we'd never boot from or pokey internal models not meant for anything speed-intensive. Western Digital doesn't want us settling. 

It's shipping a 4TB version of its WD Black desktop drive that holds nothing back for the sake of the extra storage, spinning at a healthy 7,200RPM while packing 64MB of cache, dual processing and a two-stage actuator that together keep the drive working at full burn. At $339, the SATA 6Gbps drive undoubtedly carries a premium in trying to be the best of all worlds; it may be worth the expense for performance-minded types who've been out of options (and capacity) for awhile. More here.

Here’s What You Need to Know About the Next Robocop Movie

I hardly remember the original Robocop movie other than I thought he looked freaking cool. The upcoming remake of Robocop may have die-hard fans worried but I'm always for any sort of movie that marries futuristic weapons with robots and humans.

This sizzle reel shows some concept art for Robocop along with director Jose Padilha's thoughts of the whole thing. Joel Kinnaman, who's going to be Robocop, also pops up to discuss his take on remaking the movie. Are you guys excited for this movie or do you worry that it's going to ruin everything? More here.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II Rakes in $500 Million on Launch Day

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is being said to have earned an Earth-shattering $500 million on the first day alone. All across the board, retailers are claiming the biggest selling game launch of all time. Gamestop sold one million copies through midnight launches alone. Amazon has never seen anything like it before.

And of course, CEOs are out to compare their earnings next to movies rather than the competition within their own markets. Activion’s Bobby Kotick seems more concerned with Star Wars and Harry Potter than Halo or Battlefield:

“With first day sales of over half a billion dollars worldwide, we believe Call of Duty is the biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise have exceeded worldwide theatrical box office receipts for ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Star Wars,’ the two most successful movie franchises of all time. Given the challenged macro-economic environment, we remain cautious about the balance of 2012 and 2013.”

More here

More Than 1 Million Apps Have Been Submitted to Apple’s App Store

More than 1 million applications have been submitted to Apple’s iTunes App Store since it opened its doors in 2008. The milestone was noted by Appsfire, which tracks the iTunes App Store.

493,289 of all of the applications submitted were paid apps and the company estimates that there are currently 736,247 applications in the app store, 45 percent of which require a payment to own. Since that’s far below the 1 million figure, one has to assume that thousands of apps have either vanished or were rejected entirely by Apple. A report at the end of October revealed that Google’s Play Store now has more than 700,000 applications, too, which suggests it’s quickly catching up to Apple’s ecosystem offering. More here.

Are Facebook and Yahoo Teaming Up on Search?

Are Facebook and Yahoo getting ready to go in on a search venture together? According to a report from The Sunday Telegraph sourced by anonymous insiders, yes. Rumor has it that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg have been chatting about working together to maybe get a search engine going.

Ever since Mayer took the helm at Yahoo, the company has been taking a bit of a turn towards search, and by teaming up with Facebook, it may be able to get itself back into the game full time. A partnership with Facebook could get Yahoo the kind of traffic it needs to work on its algorithm, and Facebook has been expressing interesting in getting into search for a while now.

At the moment, Yahoo relies on Bing, and signed up to do so for a whole ten years, only three of which are up. A search agreement with Facebook would likely put some stress on that deal, quite possibly bringing it to a breaking point. Of course these rumors of an alliance are only that, rumors. And there's no way of telling how far along any actual negotations may be. More here.

Apple Now Has a Patent On Turning Digital Pages

I hope you're not a huge fan of skeumorphic virtual page turning. If you are, I hope you have an iOS device. Why? Because Apple just got a patent for that. Yup, Apple has a patent on turning fake pages.

The patent is—as valuable patents tend to be—both simple and extremely broad. The design patent merely covers the sequential animation of the frames show in the three figures, but makes no mention of what this animation applies to. So this patent is actually broader than just an eBook thing, although that's probably it's only use. On the other hand though, it should only apply to that specific animation, not others like it.

This is just a design patent, so it's not like Apple's ownership of this patent will keep other eReaders from providing functionality; it'll just keep them from looking like books while doing it. Or force them to simulate page turning from the top corner instead of the bottom. Granted, this isn't world shattering stuff, but it all seems pretty stupid. Is this really stuff that we need to be patenting? More here.

Sina Weibo Exceeds 400 Million Users, Sees Increasing Mobile Traffic

Microblogging site Sina Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, reported a pretty dazzling statistic in its third quarter results: it now boasts over 400 million registered users. It can't be sure how many are active, of course, but it's still a vast number considering appeal is localized to the People's Republic. It also means is winning the popularity contest with social media competitor Tencent, although it humbly acknowledges their services are somewhat different. The company's platform is still evolving, and it's only recently seen mobile usage exceed computers, so is shifting product focus accordingly. More here.

What the Hell Is China Building Here?

Not happy with building mysterious gigantic structures in the desert, the Chinese are now building inter-dimensional portals in the middle of their cities. What the hell is this 515-foot (157 meters) high metal structure in the the city of Fushun, in northeast China's Liaoning province?

Oh wait, I know, it's just another example of the China's building craze, the one that has got them to build entire ghost cities made of thousands of pre-fab buildings.

It's made of an astounding 3,000 tons of steel and it will glow at night—decorated with 12,000 LED lights. According to Fushun Municipal Government's officials, this titanic structure does absolutely nothing except serve as an elevated sighting position. They claim it is pretty "landscape architecture"—like the Eiffel Tower. It uses four elevators to take people to the top.

The Chinese media has been harsh about the building after a blogger posted these photos on Sina Weibo, which is the country's "largest microblog platform." Not surprising, since this thing costs $16 million.

The ciy's defense: "there's not enough people to build entertainment, so we just build something pretty, OK?! ARE WE COOL NOW!". Or something like that. They also claimed that they don't have enough citizens to build other more useful buildings. They have all the hospitals, recreation centers and municipal buildings they need, so they probably decided to blow their excess budget in this thing.

According to Fushun's Urban Construction Bureau, the "Ring of Life" means "a round sky and a path leading to a paradise in heaven." More here.

Apple Stock Falls to Lowest Price Since May

Apple’s stock has been tanking for the past several weeks, perhaps adjusting to market conditions. Here’s a trivial explanation for why a stock price might fall even when a company appears to be performing well: sometimes in a weaker market a firm’s stock price will decline to meet demand expectations, suggesting that perhaps it was too high before.

One might assume, in that scenario, that it will climb back up to somewhere between its current low and its previous high. Right now, it’s trading at the lowest price since May, six months ago, as noticed by 9to5Mac. The stock price is around $529 at the time of publication, and its market cap is at $499 billion. In August, the company became the most valuable company in the world when its market cap hit $621 billion on a stock price of $663. It closed just above $702 in September. More here.

This Keyboard’s Numpad Doubles as a Gesture-Friendly Touchpad

If you want to take advantage of all the handy gesture shortcuts in Windows 8, but would rather skip the tablet or touchscreen display, Elecom's got a new space-saving keyboard that's right up your alley. It's a full-sized wireless keyboard complete with a dedicated number pad that does double-duty as a gesture-compatible touchpad.

When it drops in December for around $105, the Elecom TK-FDP055BK will also be able to be used like a laptop's trackpad for controlling the cursor and performing more common gestures like scrolling. But at the push of a button it will revert back to functioning like a typical number pad. Accountant-types who work with numbers all day might not appreciate the lack of physical keys, but the average PC user should find the added functionality more useful, particularly if they've already updated to the latest version of Windows. More here.

Skype Updated with iPhone 5 Support

The iOS 6 version of Skype has been officially updated to support the larger 4-inch display on the iPhone 5. Prior to today, the application showed borders along the top and bottom of the screen, which was a bit frustrating since it didn’t provide an full, more immersed experience. Skype also said it fixed several bugs in the application, although it’s initially unclear what bugs were prevalent. As always, Skype is available from the iTunes App Store for free. More here.

Baseball Bat Flashlight

You can pretend you're just a baseball fanatic, or prefer batting practice at night, but there's really only one reason someone is going to buy this heavy-duty machined aluminum flashlight shaped like a baseball bat. It's for protection—or more likely—for delivering physical intimidation to one's enemies under the darkness of night.

It's available in both 15-inch and 23-inch lengths for $36 and $46 respectively, but most will probably opt for the longer, heavier version. It's got a 3-watt LED bulb and various flashing modes, but again, these are features the flashlight's true target market probably cares nothing about. More here.

Are These the Most Popular Keys on a Keyboard?

In a cute, little art project, this keyboard supposedly shows the most used keys on a keyboard. Think of it as an infographic IRL. Do you agree that these buttons are the most popular key? I swear I use C more than that! More here.