Why has nobody thought of this before?

Ah, mother sun: you give us maize, you give us warmth, and in the summer you give us just a little color, not too much, just maybe a little around the shoulders so we look like we went outside. Now you can charge our keyboards!

The $80 Logitech K750 is the first solar keyboard built of fully recyclable plastic. The device has a set of solar panels along the top edge and even includes a luxmeter to tell how well things are charging. It charges in sunlight and even under a standard bulb.

If you’re familiar with Logitech keyboards they usually last for months – if not years – on the same battery. This, however, will ensure that you don’t go dark in the midst of a marathon blogging session. It is also wireless.

Brilliant!!!

[Logitech via CrunchGear]

Man Racks Up $85,000 Cell Phone Bill

Man I thought might cell phone carrier was a bunch of jags!!!

Piotr Staniaszek thought he was pretty smart when he connected his $10-per-month unlimited mobile browser phone to his computer for Internet access. Well Canadian phone carrier Bell Mobility hit him with a $85,000 phone bill, ending what he thought was a good idea. The best part about it is that Bell Mobility continued to let him rack up the charges, and never let him know about it until the bill hit. Check the quote:

"The thing is, they’ve cut my phone off for being like $100 over. Here, I’m $85,000 over and nobody bothered to give me a call and tell me what was going on,"

Bell Mobility was nice enough to lower the bill to $3,243 as a "goodwill gesture". Somehow that still looks like an awful lot of "goodwill" to still pay.

Shock at $85k mobile phone bill [BBC News via Crunchgear]

Nokia 8800 Gets 3G For $800 More

I remember when the Nokia 8800 first hit the streets, I instantly fell in love with this phone, until I saw the price. The Nokia 8800 had no touch screen, no 3G, no Wi-Fi, just a phone, Edge technology and a staggering sticker price of $800. That was two years ago, so with all the new features out today, you would think the price would've dropped by now? Nope!

In fact, the price is going up. Now Nokia is introduced two 3G edition 8800s, and jacking up the price to $1,470 for the Arte version of the 8800, and $1690 for the Sapphire Arte. But Nokia was kind enough to though in a 3.2 megapixel camera, 1G of on board memory, and anti-fingerprint coating.

Yay!!!

I know that this phone is Nokia's "flagship", but that's just plain dumb. I guess this phone was made for rich people ust to say "I've got a phone that you can't afford". If that's the case, well done Nokia, well done!

Vista Updates Tomorrow

Well it's not quite SP1, but it will be a welcomed update. Come tomorrow, Microsoft will update Vista with some much needed features. The new update is said to "extends laptop battery life, improves the stability of wireless network connections, shortens recovery time after exiting hibernation or sleep, and deals with compatibility problems with some antivirus software."

These issues should have been addressed within the first week or two of the release, and not several months later. I personally have run into the battery life issue and the wireless network connection problem from time to time. So I'll be first in line to get this installed on my laptop ASAP, so hopefully my "Wow" experience with Vista will be of a good thing for a change.

Vista speed, stability fixes to hit Windows Update on Tuesday [Computerworld via Crunchgear]

The New "Twins" Is Worlds First Dual Mode Phone

TechFaith Wireless Communication Company has developed what they call the "World's first WCDMA/GSM dual mode phone.". The China based company is calling the new cell phone the "Twins", and it gives you the option of loading one WCDMA and one GSM card, or 2 GSM SIM cards in the same phone. So there will no longer be a reason of swapping out SIM cards or carrying two phones for business and personal lines.

It has a 2.0 megapixel camera, MPEG4 player, MP3 player, Bluetooth, WCDMA modem, video call capability, and a 2.8" touch sensitive TFT-LCD display.

No word on pricing or when this will be state side.

[TechFaith via Gizmodo]

Wi-Fi Built Into 2GB SD Card

At first look at this SD card, it seems like any other 2GB memory card that you would find in any camera. But this one does one cool thing that others do not, it has Wi-Fi built into the card. Once you take some pictures, you can upload them (via your wireless network) directly to one of 17 photo sites out there. For the price of the $99 card, you can send it to Flickr, Picasa, Shutterfly, Snapfish, Photobucket, and Facebook just to name a few.

And it works with any camera that supports the SD memory cards!!!

Very cool!

[Eye-Fi via Crunchgear]

3G Coming To iphone Soon?

Apple continues to wheel and deal with different partners, and this time with InterDigital. It is reported that a deal was signed worth around 56 million dollars, that covers "various 2G and 3G cellular technologies."

The new deal would signal that 3G will be coming to the iphone, and I'm hoping very soon. Although I know that if that happens, we'll get another bunch of whiny punks crying about how they bought the first iphone and now they don't have 3G.

So if Apple does this, get ready to open the check book again Steve-O!!!

[Engadget]

Samsung Wireless Plasma HDTV

Look at this thing!!!

This is Samsung 94 Series plasma TV. What?! So what is the big deal about it?

Well my friends this little set is wireless!!! That's right! It only has the power cord in the back, so mounting on the wall is easier when hiding only one cord. It communicates with a hidden receiver, and it does this with a built-in 802.11n connection that has the range of 200 feet. Check the quote:

"Rather than plug various home theater components into the back of the HDTV, such as Blu-ray/DVD players, home theater in a box systems and cable boxes, consumers can instead connect them to a receiver, leaving only the HDTV’s power cable to hide. With a range of up to 200 feet, the receiver then wirelessly transmits the audio and video signals - up to 1080i HD resolution - directly to the television set. The receiver features a number of connectivity options for easy home theater expansion including three HDMI 1.3 ports with CEC technology. Over-the-air HDTV channels can be viewed with the built-in NTSC/ATSC/QAM digital tuner."

These Samsung babies will come it at 50-inch and 58-inch, and run you $3599 and $5299.
They're totally out of my budget, but maybe not for you.

Hit the jump to read the Samsung pdf press release. [via Crunchgear]

Sneaked Shot of Upcoming Logitech MX Air Mouse?

Logitech's apparently planning a run into the air mouse market with its MX platform. It looks to sport both gyration-based movement and a standard laser, though they're supposedly holding off on Bluetooth in favor of RF. Expected drop date is sometime this summer.

What do guys think of air mice, anyway?

Child pornographer tries to out smart the US government

Never underestimate a child pornographers ability to try to cover their own butts. Such is the case from one Javier Perez in Texas, who was purposely leaving his wireless access points open, so that if he ever got caught, he could pin the bad stuff on possible "leachers."

Here is how it went. A Yahoo! member sent an IM containing the picture of a naked child from an IP address registered to one Javier Perez. When the FBI found out, they raided Perez's apartment and found a CD-ROM containing more porn pictures. He was charged and subsequentially sentenced to more than 4 years in jail.

Perez appealed saying that his WiFi network was open and that the IM name was actually registered to his roommate. This did not satisfy the court, who upheld his sentence.

Every now and then, they get it right.

So the moral of the story? Don't think not locking down your wireless network with a password will help you escape the wrath of the US government ya sicko!!!

Two cautioned over wireless Internet "piggy-backing"

I just had a conversation a few days ago about possible repucussions of "going on someone else's wireless broadband". I've not done it; after reading this I'll be even more cautious about it.

What are your thoughts?

Two cautioned over wireless Internet "piggy-backing"

By Peter Griffiths
LONDON (Reuters) - Two people have been arrested and cautioned for using someone else's wireless Internet connection without permission, known as "piggy-backing", British police said on Wednesday.
The practice, which sharply divides Internet users, has been fuelled by the rapid growth of fast wireless broadband in homes and people's failure to secure their networks.
On Saturday, a man was arrested after neighbors spotted him sitting in a car outside a home in Redditch, Worcestershire, using a laptop computer to browse the Internet.
A 29-year-old woman was also arrested in a car in a similar incident in the same area last month.
Both received an official caution, a formal warning one step short of prosecution, for "dishonestly obtaining electronic communications services with intent to avoid payment".
They were among the first to be arrested for piggy-backing in Britain. Gregory Straszkiewicz, from west London, was the first person to be convicted of the offence in 2005. He was fined 500 pounds and give a 12-month conditional discharge.
"Wireless networks don't stop at the walls of your home," said PC Tony Humphreys, of West Mercia Constabulary. "Without the necessary protection, your neighbors or people in the road outside may be able to connect to your network."
There is a lively ethical debate in Internet chatrooms over whether piggy-backing is immoral or harmless.
"If it travels through the air it is open season," wrote one contributor to a Web forum. Another wrote: "If it's out there unsecure and I'm not trespassing, it's fair game."
Up to a quarter of home wireless connections are unsecured, according to a recent survey by the consumer finance Web site www.moneysupermarket.com.
Jason Lloyd, the site's head of broadband, said it left people open to identity theft, fraud and pornography being downloaded using their account.
"The repercussions can be severe," he said. "It's bad enough when your neighbors can use your Internet connection freely, but this becomes far more sinister if someone uses your wireless connection for criminal activity."
Businesses are also at risk. A survey of 320 companies by the London trade show Infosecurity Europe found that a quarter have no wireless security policy.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.