Shock! Microsoft’s BSOD Will Actually be a Black Screen of Death in Windows 8

Microsoft's Blue Screen of Death has been simultaneously worrying and pissing people off since Windows 1.0. No doubt trying to add a bit of sexy glamour to an otherwise frustrating experience, Microsoft's next OS looks to include a black screen.

The change in colors (well, color to an absence of color) was dug up in an early build of Windows 8. It's possible Microsoft could have a change in heart and decide not to paint everything in black—after all, early copies of Windows 98 and Vista showed a Red Screen of Death. It's just as well they defaulted back to the BSOD—I would've had a heart attack seeing a blood-red RSOD flashing up.

 

 

Acer Iconia Tab A500 Now on Sale

Yearning for some diversity in your hunt for a Honeycomb tablet? Acer's new Iconia Tab A500 doesn't really stray from the Tegra 2 norm when it comes to internal specs, but it does have that brushed aluminum back, a full-sized USB 2.0 port, and a sane $450 price point going for it. You'll get 16GB of storage and 802.11b/g/n WiFi connectivity for your money.

 

 

FDA Gives Robots Permission to Sew Hair On Your Scalp

Balding sucks. But will you trust the machines to repair your scalp? The FDA does, which is why they approved this piece of robotery to perform hair transplants. It's name is ARTAS, and it lives in your dermatologist's office.

If you have straight hair that's brown or black and you want more if it, you can sit in ARTAS' lap, at which point it will massage your scalp (along with a few "dermal punches" thrown in for good measure). A year later, you'll have a scalp full of healthy hair, or so the story goes. 

 

 

HTC Sensation 4G Launching on June 8th, Because Google AdWords Says So

The dual-core Sensation 4G will be showing up in the states "beginning this summer," though HTC and T-Mobile have been mum on an actual date. If you look up said phone on Google, you should see a cheeky Adwords ad mentioning a "6/8" date in the link. Of course, anything could change between now and June, but this preliminary date is certainly a good sign for all HTC Gingerbread anticipators -- or, you know, you could just get the leaked ROM right now.

 

 

Beats by Dr Dre Get a Chrome Paintjob and $1,000 Price Tag

Love 'em or hate 'em, plenty of people seem to have a pair of Beats by Dr Dre headphones. Mind you, plenty of people watch reality TV shows. And eat MaccyDs. I do think these special limited-edition chrome ones look great though, but at $1,000 each you've got to be a special kind of deranged to cough up for one of the 50 pairs.

 

 

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Shows Up Online, Looks Freakishly Thin

ThinkPad aficionados mourning the loss of the X300 series of ultraportable laptops might have something mighty fine to look forward to in the near future. A ThinkPad X1 has shown up at Swiss e-tailer Tell IT systems and other online locations, replete with a 2.5GHz Core i5-2520M CPU, a 160GB SSD, a 13.3-inch Gorilla Glass screen, and as you can see above, a profile thin enough to rival the likes of the Samsung Series 9 and Apple MacBook Air. 

The X1 is said to be 21.5mm thick, so it doesn't quite match those crazy cats, but -- provided we're not looking at an extremely elaborate hoax here -- it'll still be the thinnest ThinkPad by far when it launches. One 8GB stick of RAM, an SDXC card reader, and a 1366 x 768 resolution, while a price of 2,585 CHF ($2,920) sits alongside a promised delivery date of May 20th on Tell IT's website.

 

 

Sony Ericsson Saps Walkman Logo on X8, Renames it W8

Take one Xperia X8, add a dash of color, paint a "W" on it and, voilà, you have the first Walkman phone running Android -- the W8. Not it on the US Sony Ericsson site yet, but a quick visit to the company's German page reveals the decidedly low-end specs: a 3-inch, 320 x 480 touchscreen, a 600MHz processor, 168MB of RAM and Android 2.1. The W8 may not recapture the luster the Walkman brand enjoyed in its TPS-L2 heyday, but at least it'll update your Twitter status. 

 

 

Fujitsu LifeBook Replace Optical Drives With Projectors

Optical disc drives may be passé nowadays, but the enclosures usually reserved for them in laptops need not go to waste. Fujitsu has just rolled out its latest line of portables and a pair of them pack a pretty awesome new extra: an integrated pico projector. The 13.3-inch LifeBook S761/C and 12.1-inch P771/C both fill their ODD slots with a small visualizer, and while the specs of its actual output aren't clear, the two machines have been fully specced and priced. 

The S761/C can offer you a Core i5-2520M CPU, a (presumably upgradeable) 1GB of RAM, 160GB of storage, and a 1366 x 768 resolution for a price of ¥219,450 ($2,675). Moving down in size class but up in price, the P771/C matches those specs, but for a squarer 1280 x 800 resolution, and asks for ¥255,150 ($3,110). Both will be available in Japan in mid-May, which is also when Fujitsu will release its LifeBook E741/C, whose claim to fame is the ability to authe 

 nticate users by reading the veins in their palms. 

Obama Is Sending Predator Drones to Libya

Robert Gates, the US Secretary of Defense, just said that Obama has authorized the use of of Predator Drones in Libya against Gaddafi's forces. In fact, the first mission of the Predator Drones in Libya had taken place earlier today.

They've already used drones for gathering intelligence in Libya, but sending in Drones armed with Hellfire missiles would mark a significant growth in our country's contribution to the now NATO led effort in Libya. These unmanned predator drones pack a punch but more importantly mean that by sending these drones, no troops are sent there. Hopefully, that won't change.

 

 

Ideum Releases MT55 HD Multitouch Table For Hands-on Museum-Goers

Ideum has taken the wraps off the latest addition to its growing family of multitouch tables, with the release of the MT55. The table, originally announced late last month, boasts a handsome 55-inch LCD display, which beams LED-backlit graphics in 1920×1080 HD resolution. As with its predecessors, the MT55's screen comes coated with a 5-mm layer of sturdy, tempered glass, and sits atop a pedestal made of aluminum and steel. Within that pedestal lurks an Intel Quad Core i7 CPU, with 4GB of RAM, a pair of 250GB SATA hard drives, and an NVIDIA Quadro 600 video card. 

The system runs Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, and comes packed with GestureWorks multitouch software for both Flash and Flex. The MT55 also features an integrated Bose Audio system, and can support up to 32 simultaneous touchpoints -- not quite as many as the 50 that its 100-inch counterpart can handle, but definitely enough to enthrall any class of 4th-graders on a field trip to the museum. You can find it here.

 

 

Nokia and Microsoft Sign Definitive Agreement, Bring Windows Phone Handsets Closer to Realization

Microsoft and Nokia's industry-altering announcement of a strategic alliance back in February has today been bolstered with the signing of a definitive agreement between the two companies. In announcing the inking of the paperwork, the Microkia crew point out that they're already hard at work developing "a portfolio" of Nokia Windows Phone devices, which will be shipping "in volume" in 2012, but there's still a twinkling hope that they can get something out on the market in 2011. Nokia devs have started porting key applications and services to Windows Phone, with mapping and navigation getting a highlight mention, while there will indeed be a "Nokia-branded global application store that leverages the Windows Marketplace infrastructure." Notably, this is described as a single portal where devs can serve their apps to users of Windows Phone, Symbian and Series 40 devices -- it'll be interesting to see how they work out the details of that. There's also confirmation that Microsoft will pay Nokia multiple billions of dollars as part of the agreement, some of which will be spent on completing an intellectual property-sharing agreement between the two teams. So yes, the third ecosystem is well and truly on its way.

 

 

Indulge Your Deepest Digital Paranoia with Signal-Blocking Faraday Bags

In light of recent cellular privacy revelations, your most paranoid neurons might be firing hard. You can put a tinfoil hat on your head, but what about your gadgets? These Faraday Bags put your device in a radio-proof vault.

The cases, like a standard (room-sized) Faraday cage, block out electrical charges and electromagnetic radiation—so zero signal bars for you, sir. The bags come in a variety of sizes, priced from $80 to $275 here.

 

 

Samsung Crafts an Underwater Flip Cam Clone

 

Samsung's new W200 digital camcorder is very, very similar to the recently murdered Flip. It looks the same, functions the same, and has about the same quality (1080p at 30 FPS). But it's got a trick—it swims.

The W200's waterproof up to three meters, and ruggedized against nasty falls. The W200 also snaps 5 MP stills, but the main draw will be for those who want to capture video where a smartphone might wuss out. Check for it in May.

 

 

Stuff Your Camera Inside the Body of an Easter Bunny

Just in time for the holiday, this adorably strange Micro 4/3 camera case has my ears (eh? EH?) perked up with excitement. Sure, it may not be "practical," but come on—it's a furry rabbit case.

No mention on pricing, but it's stitched of cotton and leather, so probably not cheap.

 

 

ASUS Bamboo-plated U43SD Laptop

The U43SD doesn't appear to stray from its predecessor's industrial design (save for its bigger 14-inch screen), but it steps up to the latest Core i3 and Core i5 processors, along with NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M graphics with 1GB of video memory. You can also choose from 5,400RPM and 7,200RPM hard drive options and either a six- or eight-cell battery.

 

 

Maxell's Vibrabone HP-VBC40 Earbuds Can Rattle Your Skull, if You'd Like

Maxell has taken a slightly different approach to the bone conduction trope with its new Vibrabone HP-VBC40 earbuds – headphones that combine standard stereo drivers with the same bone-rattling, vibration-based technology we've all come to know and love. According to Maxell, the Vibrabone's hybrid system enhances the bass that would be coursing its way through your cranium, while its dual volume control allows users to fine tune that bass flow. 

Apparently, this bass adjustment mechanism puts less stress on your eardrums, which might make the entire bone conduction concept seem slightly less creepy. The earbuds come in black, blue and white, and will be available in Japan toward the end of April, for a little under ¥4,000 or about $50.

 

 

Samsung Sells HDD Division to Seagate for $1.375 Billion

The Korean electronics giant has just announced that it's selling its hard disk drive-manufacturing arm to Seagate Technology for a neat $1.375 billion in equal measures of cash and stocks. As a result, Samsung Electronics will own approximately 9.6 percent of Seagate and get to nominate one new member to join Seagate's Board of Directors, while the two companies have further agreed to deepen their strategic relationship with related cross-licensing and supply stipulations. 

Samsung will provision Seagate's solid state drives with NAND flash memory, whereas Seagate will furnish Samsung's PCs and consumer electronics products with hard disk storage. 

 

 

The iPhone 4 is Killing Compact Cameras When it Comes to Photo Uploads

The iPhone 4 has steadily been pushing its way up the most-uploaded list at Flickr for some time now, it's almost toppled the Nikon D40 off the pedestal. It'll be around a month when Apple receives the Flickr crown, on Flickr, at least.

Interestingly, the D40 is three years old, and the iPhone 4 is under a year old. Behind the iPhone is the Canon EOS Rebel XSi, which is also three years old. The second chart, above, shows the decline of the most popular compact cameras, which coincidentally are all Canon PowerShots.

So what's behind this trend? Is it that more people own iPhones than compacts, or simply that the iPhone's always-connected status (well, if you're not on AT&T, anyway) is a better conduit for uploading pics on the fly?

MacBook Airs With Faster Blade SSDs

When Apple released its redesigned MacBook Air in October 2010, much was made of the switch to flash storage using a custom-built Mini PCI Express form factor SSD drive. It took a few weeks but these SSDs would ultimately be released as the commercially available Toshiba Blade X-gale SSD module, model TS128C. Now we're seeing user reports showing MacBook Airs equipped with a second, even faster SSD with a SM128C part number -- the "SM" hinting at its presumed Samsung manufacturing origins.

 Samsung's SSD manages up to 260MBps read and 210MBps write speeds compared to Toshiba's 210MBps read and 185MBps write performance. Of course, it's hardly unusual for Apple to multi-source components. And a recent decision to source parts from Korea's Samsung would have been a smart move to keep just-in-time supply lines fully stocked following the spate of disasters in Toshiba's home country of Japan. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any way of confirming which SSD you're about to purchase without cracking open the retail box and running the OS X System Profiler. Good luck with that.

 

 

The Minimalist, Lightweight Knife

These tiny, lightweight knives might make the perfect pocket knife for everyday use, and they're no doubt great for travel. Note: Probably not on planes.

Manufactured by Baladeo, the knife is available in two featherweight varieties, 22g and 34g, and performed pretty well in basic knife-related tasks (although, as Boing Boing notes, they are not workhorses).

The only "minor" issue they discovered while using the knife was that the locking mechanism slipped once and folded in such a way that it could have conceivably cut the tester's fingers. But it didn't!