Nook Tablet Gets Rooted, Bootloader Stays Under Lock and Key

Jealous of that root-ready Kindle Fire, but not ready to trudge through the Amazon to get it? Don't worry, you can stay huddled up with your Nook Tablet and get all the device rooting you want -- with a few caveats. Although the good folks on the XDA Forums haven't unlocked the slab's bootloader just yet, they've managed to root the tablet all the same. Jumping through a few technical hoops (or stumbling across forum user Indirect's one-click Windows utility) will score you access to the Android market and another way to sideload apps on the souped up slate. Custom ROMs? Not yet; in addition to killing the root with every device reboot, the locked bootloader is keeping the Nook's tweaked build of Android 2.3 front and center. More here.

 

 

Apple Patent Application Aims to Keep iPhones Shatter-proof With Shock Mounted Glass

From 'smart' pens to a smarter Siri, Apple's always attempting to find new ways to improve the iPhone, and the company's latest patent application wants to keep its crack-prone glass blemish free. Aptly named a "shock mounting cover glass in consumer electronic devices," the invention claims a tunable shock mount sandwiched between the phone's glass and other hardware.

There's also plans for a sensor that can distinguish a "drop event" from normal phone movements and an actuator to prepare the shock mount for impact. Given that it's only at the application stage, we won't be seeing bombproof iPhone displays any time soon, but here's hoping it'll become a product reality someday. Mostly so we can see just how much of a beating it can take.

 

 

Siri, Coming To Android?

We already know that Siri does most of its processing server-side, and that Apple's claims of hardware as a limiting factor are tenuous at best. But new research from French developer Applidium reveals that Apple is truly full of it.

They've managed to completely reveal the entire process used for communications between the iPhone 4S and Apple's servers. In doing so, they discovered that the only thing keeping Siri from running on Android (or just about anything with a microphone and an internet connection) was a single line of code. Furthermore, they suggest that it's entirely possible to create a third-party Siri client that could fool Apple's servers into thinking they were talking with a normal iPhone 4S. Unfortunately, it's that single line of code that could severely hobble any attempt to capitalize on this discovery.

As it turns out, that code is unique to each individual iPhone 4S and as of now, there's no way to replicate it. So in order to get a third party-client working, you would either have to sacrifice a large number of iPhones, or risk easy detection by the Apple Gestapo. Basically, the only thing standing between you and a Siri-equipped refrigerator is a string of random characters.

 

 

Most of Einstein’s Brain Is Now Concentrated in New Jersey and Philadelphia

What, you didn't think academia would just let the finest mind in science rot do you? When Einstein died in 1955, his grey matter was preserved for posterity. Now, 46 slivers of his thinking cap have been donated to Philadelphia's Mütter Museum.

Lucy Rorke-Adams, a neuropathologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, donated the slides yesterday to the museum, part of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Rorke-Adams received the slides in the mid-1970's from the widow of a physician who helped arrange their preparation.

While some of the slide sets have been lost over the decades, a majority of his brain remains at Princeton University where the autopsy was performed and where researchers have spent the better part of 50 years inspecting them for physical clues to Einstein's genius. The Mütter slides "are a very important part of medical history," said Rorke-Adams.

 

 

Kingston HyperX is an SSD Soul Stuck in a Flash Drive's Body

The performance is pretty impressive, getting 225MB/s read and 135MB/s write -- making it Kingston's fastest ever flash drive (and a tempting shot at expanding the solid state storage on a laptop). The setup is capped off with a sturdy rubber cover and keyring hook, although we wouldn't fancy putting gear this expensive at the mercy of our car keys. Kingston isn't saying when the devices are coming out, but expect the 64GB model to set you back $193, with 128GB running up a tab to the tune of $377.

 

 

I Want to Take a Bite Out of the Most Insane-Looking Camera Ever

Pentax, longtime king of the hideous/genius technicolor DSLR, has lost its throne. This custom job looks like someone took a Canon and dipped it in Willy Wonka's exposed brain. Only... delicious!

It has sprinkles, chocolate sauce, advanced imaging circuitry, and perhaps some sort of homage to Dippin' Dots? At any rate, it's extremely rad looking, and I wish more cameras dared to be more than black or grey. Maybe not candy store nervous breakdown, but a tad more expressive. More here.

 

 

Yup, Some People Are Already in Line for Black Friday

I don't know what's in the water in Florida but the same exact Best Buy location that got ridiculously early Black Friday line ups last year is getting ridiculously early Black Friday line ups this year. Yep, people are in line RIGHT NOW.

More than a week early! Skipping Thanksgiving! Who needs to work? YAY WE GET LAPTOPS AND TVs FOR A LITTLE BIT LESS EXPENSIVE THAN USUAL. The magical Best Buy where they must pump fairy dust and heroin through their vents is located near the Tyrone Square Mall in St. Petersburg, Florida. Last year, that Best Buy awarded the family who camped out early free iPads for their dedication. There's no mention of such luxurious treatment this year. Aww.

Christine Orta actually set up her tent (and motorcycle?) on Wednesday and is coordinating a stakeout strategy with three other families. Orta and her cohorts are all students which well explains a lot—save money, waste time, be crazy.

 

 

Self-Healing Plastic

By adding some extra ingredients and a pinch of a zinc compound to a traditional epoxy resin, a team of French researchers have made a plastic whose chemical bonds continually break and reform. When it's cold, the material is pretty rigid, maintaining its shape. Warm it up, though, and the plastic becomes malleable, allowing the material to heal small scratches and dents.

Normally synthetic plastics fall into two types: thermoplastics and thermosets. The former can be heated and remoulded but are weak, and the latter can only be processed once but are strong. This new plastic sits in the middle: it's possible to remould it, but it's also strong. It even maintains its properties when it's ground up and recycled.

It sounds too good to be true. Maybe it is. But I want everything plastic I own from now on to be made out of it.

 

 

Your Next Phone Might Be Fuelled by Liquid Metal, More Like Terminator

This week rumours have circulated about HTC launching a blisteringly quick 2.5GHz quad-core phone. But that will soon seem paltry, when our mobile devices are fuelled by liquid metal.

IBM have been working out how to use liquid to simultaneously fuel and cool processors - and they've managed it. In their Zurich Research Laboratory, the team have taken their inspiration from the human brain.

"The human brain is 10,000 times more dense and efficient than any computer today. That's possible because it uses only one, extremely efficient, network of capillaries and blood vessels to transport heat and energy, all at the same time," IBM's Bruno Michel told New Scientist.

First, this bunch of IBM engineers stacked hundreds of silicon wafers on top of each other to create three-dimensional processors. Nothing particularly new there: after all, Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors, to be launched in 2012, do just that.

But IBM have created channels between the wafers which allow liquid metal - vanadium, to be precise - to run through the entire processor. Because the liquid is metallic, it can be used to carry charged particles that power the chip. As the vanadium loses its charge, it also absorbs heat, meaning the fluid acts as a coolant, too.

The knock-on effect? Far high efficiency, and far higher clock speeds in tiny devices. Which could leave the 2.5GHz HTC quaking in its boots.

Google Music Drops beta, MP3 Store and Google+ Integration Along for the Ride

Been dutifully uploading music to Mountain View's cloud since Google I/O? Might want hit pause for just a sec, while you tune to Google's beat here in Los Angeles, as it's just gone and launched its own music store integrated with Android Market. Best part is, the service still free, though you can now purchase millions of songs from the store to expand your collection of tunes. 90-second track previews are available, and all songs are high quality 320kbps MP3s. And for those with an aversion to waiting, which should be all of you, uploads can now be nixed entirely, provided tracks in your possession jive with Google's master copies. The company is now on equal footing with Cupertino and Amazon's music offerings, who both offer direct sales coupled with a cloud component that allows for unlimited redownloads. Yet it more closely resembles the latter, as unlike the former there isn't a $25 yearly free as all tracks can be streamed for free.

Naturally, a new version of the Google Music app is already available in the Android Market, and a fresh look for Music Manager will follow in the next few hours. Unsurprisingly, Google Music sans beta brings tight integration with Google +. You can now share songs on your friend stream, and not just samples, either -- your buddies can listen to full tracks or albums one time through without ever leaving your profile.

 

 

Nokia to Release Windows 8 Tablets This June, top Drawer Lumia in the Works?

There's some intriguing Nokia news coming out of France this morning, thanks to Paul Amsellem, head of the company's Gallic outpost. In a recent interview with Parisian daily Les Echos, Amsellem described Nokia's aspirations to regain some of the market share it's lost within France, explaining that his firm is squarely targeting the 60 percent of French users who currently don't own a smartphone. More salient, however, is what the exec had to say about Nokia's plans for future releases. 

According to Amsellem, Espoo will unveil a new Windows 8 equipped tablet by June 2012. Unfortunately, that's about all he had to say on the subject, but it's certainly enough of a carrot to raise our heart rates -- as are Amsellem's comments on the Lumia 800, which hit French stores yesterday. Comparing the handset to a BMW 5 series, the chief went on to say that Nokia "will soon have a full range with a 7 Series and 3 Series." 

 

 

Ballmer didn't say Windows 8 is Coming to Phones

Oh, what a difference punctuation makes. Speaking at the company's shareholders' meeting earlier today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a remark that set more than a few geek hearts aflutter. According to various reports, he said "We've got broad Windows initiatives driving Windows down to the phone with Windows 8."

Turns out, that's not how he said it. A Microsoft rep confirmed to us that if transcribed correctly, Ballmer's remarks (documented in the recording below) should read, "We've got broad Windows initiatives driving Windows down to the phone. With Windows 8, you'll..." By "Windows," then, he meant the overarching family of software bearing the Windows name, and not Windows 8 specifically. 

 

 

This Edison Bulb with an LED Heart Makes Us Love Incandescents Again

Like an obnoxious great uncle who's overstayed his welcome, horribly inefficient incandescent bulbs are still lingering around because we're just used to them. So Panasonic has designed a new LED alternative with a visible filament and clear glass that looks like the classic Edison bulb, while still being remarkably more energy efficient.

There's no word on when you can get your hands on one, or how insanely expensive they'll initially be, but Panasonic's new LED bulb goes a long way to bridging the psychological gap that keeps people buying inefficient incandescents because they prefer the way they look. Using just 4.4 watts of power, the LED filament in this bulb is rated for up to 40,000 hours of use. So if you were to install one just after you were born, you wouldn't have to change it until your 40th birthday, with just a few hours of use every day.

Besides the energy saving benefits, LEDs aren't as harmful to the environment as CFLs, which contain mercury and need to be disposed of properly. And they reach full intensity as soon as they're turned on, making them better suited in places like bathrooms where you don't necessarily want to have to wait for the lights to warm up. The development won Panasonic a2011 Good Design Award, and hopefully convinced the powers that be that these are certainly worth putting into production. Even if only those of us on the bleeding edge are willing to spring for them.

 

 

Shimano Showcases the Ultegra Di2 Electronic Bike Gears

How much would you spend for an upgrade to smooth shifting on your next road bike? If $8,000 is in the ballpark, then Shimano-powered electronic shifters may be in your future. Outfitted with the company's newest Ultegra 6770 Di2 series of gears, the shifters give a taste of technology normally reserved for Tour de Francers -- at new, more affordable pricing. So what was it like to be the envy of cyclists everywhere?

Many aspiring Lance Armstrongs will tell you that the future of bike technology is all about electronic gear-shifting. Unlike the traditional lever shifter, the electronic variety uses a motorized derailleur to move the chain from cog to cog. Thought by many to be faster, smarter and easier to use than a regular shifter, the electronic version only requires the click of a mouse-like button. The handlebar controls move both the front and the rear gears, giving the rider enhanced control over the ride with minimal effort. The shifter is powered by a removable lithium ion battery, which requires a 90-minute charge every 1,250 miles or so.

Even an amateur bike rider will be able to feel the difference between Shimano electronic gears and those on a standard road bike. The super sensitive shifter only requires a light press to move the chain in the front or rear derailleur and find the perfect gear. There's no sticking or bumpy shifting, making the action smooth and effortless -- getting the shift right every time. Of course, moving between gears may not be that big of a deal for those of us used to a Huffy, but when it comes to winning triathlons and road races, a smooth shifter is one of the key components to copping a gold medal to compliment your Lycra bodysuit. Expect to see Shimano's new line of electronic gears in various bikes in the coming months.

 

 

Impossible to Destroy Hardshell Backpack

This super slick hard shell backpack, called Solid Gray and made in the Netherlands, is cut and shaped from a single sheet of polypropene block copolymer. It's supposedly so strong that even if you bend it a million times it will never break or tear.

The material made to create the Solid Gray backpack was previously only used for industrial purposes but is now finally being used in a consumer product for the first time. The Solid Gray backpack has a special strap to hold a laptop in place (15.6" and under) and is water resistant. Get it here.

Sunken Pedestrian Bridge Parts The Waters Without a Miracle

Designed for tourists visiting a fort in the Netherlands, instead of being a means for the ancient Israelites to escape the Egyptians, this Moses Bridge sits below the water line of a moat so it visually disappears. Recreating what the fort and surrounding area would have looked like back in the 17th century,

Originally built in the early 1700s to protect the Netherlands from invasion by France and Spain, Fort de Roovere was surrounded by a shallow, muddy moat that prevented armies from crossing it, even with boats. But now that those threats are mostly gone, the fort is opened to tourists. And since an elevated bridge would have taken away from the aesthetics of the fort's design, this sunken bridge was designed instead.

It's made from sustainable Accoya wood treated with a non-toxic waterproof coating that protects it from decay, and since the moat is too shallow for boat traffic, there's little risk of waves splashing up over the side. But, it also finally provides both France and Spain with an easy way to cross the moat, so I'm hoping that the Netherlands hasn't let their guard down too early.

 

 

Apple iPhone 4S now Available for $99 in Puerto Rico

Sure, you can now purchase an unlocked iPhone 4S within the US officially, but folks in the outlying territory of Puerto Rico have some tempting options if they'll go the long-term contractual route. The region's division of carrier, Claro, is now selling the Siri-packed device starting at the low, low price of $99 for the 16GB model on-contract -- those scared of commitment can also snag it unlocked, albeit for a slightly pricey $670 (which as 9to5Mac points out, is up $20 from Apple). 

The carrier also lists the 32 and 64GB variants as "expected soon," marked to sell at $199 / $299 with a two-year commitment and $770 / $870 unlocked. Notably, you'll have a choice of four monthly plans featuring unlimited talk and text ranging from about 65 to 85 bucks, with data allotments starting at 250MB and peaking at "unlimited." Apparently, Claro isn't offering the 4S for purchase online, but it does list a number of retail locations you can grab one from if you're interested. More here.

 

 

These Keychain Multi-Tools Prove That Nothing Is Cooler Than Milled Titanium

I couldn't tell you why, but CNC-milled titanium seems to invoke the same testosterone pumping response as watching a grizzly bear fight a bald eagle. 

At first glance I'm not quite sure what to make of these supposed 'multi-tools.' Despite having edges designed for prying and a nonadjustable wrench on the Barbar, neither of them have any dedicated screwdrivers, pliers or even a blade. So they don't appear to be particularly useful as actual tools. But at the same time, they're friggin' beautiful! It's as if someone gave Picasso a CNC machine, a chunk of titanium, and told him to make a keychain. Plus, there's a bottle opener, and let's be honest, that's the only tool you really need. Get them here.

 

 

Genius Vented Candleholder Provides Easy Access For a Lit Match

Since your fancy gooseneck lighter always seems to be out of fuel, you might want to pick up a set of these vented tea light holderswhich are a stroke of genius. They feature a slit down the side that lets you easily light a candle with even the shortest of matches, reducing those burns that have become a holiday tradition for me.

Created by Form Us With Love, the Match Candleholders are fortunately actually available from Design Within Reach in green, blue, purple, and grey. But unfortunately, a set of four will set you back a whopping $75. So with an ever growing credit card bill around Christmas time, I think I'm going to stick with bandaged fingertips and an extra $75 in my pocket this year. Get them here.

 

 

HTC Rezound Starts Shipping Early Because you can't Stop the Beats

When HTC took the wraps off the Rezound, it tipped us all off to a November 14th launch for Verizon'sBeats Audio-branded device. Now, it appears that those of you who jumped on the pre-order bandwagon are getting premature access to the red-and-black-tinged goods, with some units arriving as early as today. 

How'd this come about? Well, it seems a few eager beavers lucked out during the purchasing process, selecting overnight delivery and receiving the phones toute de suite. I have a feeling Dr. Dre would approve.