CrunchGear

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• Some dude: Foxconn is making the next iPhone
• Central PA police called when router falls from sky
• Onkyo to sell beefed up version of Kohjinsha’s dual-screen notebook
• Thursday Giveaway: Pulse Smartpen
• AT&T says you’re using too much bandwidth! Bad you!
• Onkyo’s 7-inch tablet PC with integrated GPS module
• Reminder: One more commenting day left to win the SMART Board!
• Nook is getting it in the noots
• Seagate to announce new ultra-thin drives at CES
• Daily Crunch: Sleuth Edition
• Ford lets people reserve a 2011 Ford Fiesta online
• The Passenger
• Ruler Pen: wish I’d thought of that
• Apple hiring a game designer – what could it mean?
• Oh my GOD it’s Mega Man 10!
• IBuyPower to be the only integrator to sell the Thermaltake Level 10 case
• Rugged SD cards? Actually, that’s a really good idea
• NASA testing helicopter airbags – sounds like fun!
• Hands-on with the Blump.it Firefox plug-in on a Viliv X70
• Giftable: Star Wars Republic Squadron motion flight game

Some dude: Foxconn is making the next iPhone Posted: 10 Dec 2009 04:47 AM PST If you’ve been following my CrunchGear in China posts, you’d know that leaks out of companies like Foxconn are usually pump and dump situations. Well, some dude twooted that Foxconn is making the next-gen iPhone. Anyone want to comment on what could be happening here? Interestingly, said dude is Eldar Murtazin, EIC of Mobile Review. Two things could be happening here: Eldar is on the assembly line at Foxconn right now or someone wants to increase Foxconn’s share price. You decide. We are due for a refresh but I doubt it’s happening this year. via Eng

Central PA police called when router falls from sky Posted: 10 Dec 2009 02:30 AM PST The bomb squad in Carlisle, PA “neutralized” something that fell out of the sky triggered a total panic in the town. What was the bomb? It was a wireless router wrapped in duct tape that a man was using to grab free Wi-Fi from a nearby library. Here’s a note to cops: the vast majority of items in the world are not bombs. Especially things that look like the kind of bombs you’d see on TV. If it appears to be something Bruce Willis would throw out of an ascending helicopter at the end of Die Hardest there is a 99.99% chance that it is not a bomb. Oh well. At least they got to use the bomb squad’s “mechanical” neutralization solution. I suspect it was a hammer.

Onkyo to sell beefed up version of Kohjinsha’s dual-screen notebook Posted: 10 Dec 2009 02:00 AM PST I’m sure many of you remember the pretty cool-looking dual-screen notebook Japanese company Kohjinsha announced last month (it’s already available over here). As it turns out, another Japanese PC maker, Onkyo, thought the device is worthy enough to get rebranded and improved spec-wise. The result is the DX1007A5 [JP], which is slightly more expensive than the Kohjinsha original though. So what’s new? The device still features two sliding, LED-backlit 10.1-inch LCDs (no touch screens) but with an improved resolution of 1,366×768 (instead of 1,024×600). Onkyo also beefed up some internal specs: The notebook now has 2GB RAM (Kohjinsha: 1GB) and a 320GB HDD (Kohjinsha: 160GB) but doesn’t offer the 1-Seg digital TV tuner anymore (which was usable only in Japan and parts of South America). And the body color changed to white. Spec-wise, you still get an Athlon Neo MV-40 (1.6GHz) with a RS780MN chipset, an ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics card, WiFi, three USB ports, a 1.3MP web camera, IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and a reader for SD/microSD/MMC/memory sticks. Onkyo also throws in Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit. The battery life stands at roughly 4 hours. At $950, the Onkyo version is $55 more expensive than the Kohjinsha original, but I’d say the plus in price is definitely worth it. Geek Stuff 4 U offered the Kohjinsha model to international buyers when it came out so they might be able to ship the Onkyo version to you as well (sales in Japan start at the end of this month). But please keep in mind this is a Japanese computer with a Japanese keyboard layout.

Thursday Giveaway: Pulse Smartpen Posted: 10 Dec 2009 01:40 AM PST Man, am I sleepy! I almost didn’t post a giveaway for you all today! Maybe I won’t post the giveaway and maybe I’ll just go take a nap… what do you guys think? Nap? Or Pulse Smartpen. You’ll recall that the Pulse Smartpen is one of the coolest toys we’ve played with this year and we’re giving a kit away to one lucky commenter. How do we keep our prices so amazingly low? We get this stuff free and pass the savings on to you! To enter, simply comment. We’ll pick one winner at random. Special thanks to Livescribe for hooking us up.

AT&T says you’re using too much bandwidth! Bad you! Posted: 10 Dec 2009 01:14 AM PST All you punks out there watching Internet video and downloading monkey porn had better stop! There's a current 5 gigabyte cap on data right now but soon, friends, AT&T is going to close up that "unlimited" plan and hopes to educate the consumer on proper data use.

Onkyo’s 7-inch tablet PC with integrated GPS module Posted: 10 Dec 2009 01:00 AM PST Onkyo Japan has announced a few notebooks today, all of which are in fact re-branded (but beefed up) models competitor Kohjinsha released earlier on the Japanese market. Perhaps the most interesting new model is the NX707A4 [JP], a 7-inch tablet netbook with an built-in GPS module. The tablet is powered by Atom Z520 processor (1.33 GHz) and has an 80GB HDD, 1GB RAM, Intel US15W chipset, two USB ports, an ExpressCard/34 slot, SD/SDHC/MMC/Memory Stick Pro slots, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, 802.11n Wi-Fi and two web cams (3MP and 0.3MP) on board. The display is a touch screen with 1,024×600 resolution. Buyers will get Windows 7 starter as the OS and can expect a battery life of about 3 hours. The NX707A4 weighs 720g and is sized at 193 x 132 x 22 – 30mm. Onkyo will start selling the device in Japan at the end of this month (price: $680). The company hasn’t said yet if it plans to sell the tablet outside this country as well so you might want to contact import/export specialist Geek Stuff 4 U if you want to get one.

Reminder: One more commenting day left to win the SMART Board! Posted: 10 Dec 2009 12:33 AM PST This is your fourth official notification of requirement to comment to enter to win a SMART Board you must comment on the first three posts and this one to win. What is this thing? Glad you asked. Experience interactivity like never before with the SMART Board 685ix interactive whiteboard system. As the world's first ultra-short throw interactive whiteboard system, the 685ix combines an ultra-short-throw projector with a widescreen interactive whiteboard. The 685ix offers you unparalleled image quality, a precise touch experience and a large interactive surface for teaching and learning. The system's ultra-short-throw projector, the UX60, virtually eliminates shadows, glare and distracting projector light. It is positioned directly above the interactive whiteboard, projecting crisp, bright images from only 12″ (30.5 cm) away. And because the 685ix's interactive whiteboard is widescreen, it has 20% more working space than a standard board. Remember: You must comment on all five posts to enter. DO NOT FAIL!

Nook is getting it in the noots Posted: 10 Dec 2009 12:11 AM PST Man, B&N can’t get a break. David Pogue, the only tech writer who still likes to cuddle, hates him the Nook. The device is unresponsive, the color touchscreen is dumb, and those “million books” the Nook offers? Most of them err janky Google scans. His bottom line? To use the technical term, it's slower than an anesthetized slug in winter. E-readers will be hitting more and more homes in the coming year. Barnes & Noble could have waited on this device for a few months, released something better, and everyone would have been happy. My suspicion is that they were so scared of the Apple Tablet that they wanted to get something out the door. However, people have been saying this thing is basically a 0.1 product at best and should have never shipped. We wouldn’t know because B&N’s PR team won’t get back to us. So we’ll just say the Nook eats it and read some books on the Kindle by the fireside.

Seagate to announce new ultra-thin drives at CES Posted: 10 Dec 2009 12:00 AM PST Seems like Seagate is trying to make up for some lost time in the storage technology field. After a late entry into the SSD market, Seagate may be getting a jump start on the ultra-thin drive market. One of the issues with the new ultra-thin generation of notebook computers is the hard drive size. You can only make a computer so thin before you run into issues with the thickness of the components. Currently drives are either 9.5 millimeters for a laptop, or 12.5 millimeters in the more traditional desktop drive. The thicker drives normally come in larger capacities, because they allow for more platters. Seagate has been working on improvements in magnetic storage techniques, which has reduced the need for multiple platters. Seagate has been mum about the capacities that the new drives will come in, as well as keeping the pricing quiet. The official announcement is expected to come on January 5th. [via HotHardware]

Daily Crunch: Sleuth Edition Posted: 10 Dec 2009 12:00 AM PST Good job, government: TSA manual leaked online, de-redacted very easily The only thing better than the iLikeCereal!! app is the press release Exemode SQ28m: Cute mini designer digital camera (video) Ruler Pen: wish I'd thought of that The Passenger

Ford lets people reserve a 2011 Ford Fiesta online Posted: 09 Dec 2009 11:00 PM PST Ford revealed recently that they’ve had over 1,000 pre-orders placed online, using their new car-reservation site for the 2011 Ford Fiesta. The Fiesta has been available in the UK since last year, but this will be the first time in many years since there has been a new Fiesta in the US. This is interesting because the car isn’t even in production in the US spec yet. Despite this, customers can add their names to the list of potential orders just by texting the word “reserve” to 4Ford. Ford isn’t requiring any cash down on the reservation and if you seal the deal, they’ll throw in free installation of the $600 Sync system. Ford has stated that reservations can be cancelled at any time, if you find that the $14,000 is a little more then you want to spend. When the WSJ first reported all this, there were roughly 1,000 reserved, however that number may increase significantly as word gets out. Keep in mind this isn’t the old Fiesta of the 80’s, this new breed comes from the “hot hatch” school of car design. This is particularly useful if you find yourself being pursued through a mall by a Corvette.

The Passenger Posted: 09 Dec 2009 08:55 PM PST The story goes that one man did everything in this animated short from the modeling to the soundtrack over an eight year period. Why not spend 7 minutes of your life to watch his work. Or even better, buy the high-res version here.

Ruler Pen: wish I’d thought of that Posted: 09 Dec 2009 07:40 PM PST Yeah… that’s definitely useful. I’ve got shaky hands because I drink too much coffee, so a pen with integrated ruler would be handy for all those… lines I draw. I expect I’ll be seeing these at Muji in a few months.

Apple hiring a game designer – what could it mean? Posted: 09 Dec 2009 07:00 PM PST I’m sure speculation is going to get out of hand around this job posting put up by Apple for a game designer. The job calls for 3D modeling skills and experience with this sort of development environment — online distribution and all that. I wrote a little while back about why Nintendo has nothing to fear from Apple — the idea being that the two aren’t competing in the same areas. Does this job posting suggest otherwise? Nah. I noted that Apple, in a rare show of unpreparedness, underestimated the demand for games on their devices. They’ve come to their senses now, perhaps a little late, but at least they didn’t snub gamers altogether (as they’ve done on Macs for the last decade or so). And since Apple likes to have first-party options for pretty much everything under the sun, I’m guessing they’ll want a few first-party games too. I’m guessing they’ll put together a few games that demonstrate the platform’s power, which will come pre-packaged on every iPhone and iPod. It’s a good way to drive demand, since once a customer plays one or two games, they’re far more likely to want to check out some more. If Apple were really getting serious about this, they’d set up a big partnership with a mobile gaming company or just buy one outright. No need to go about hiring people one at a time. Expect the next big iPhone update to include a games browser and a few solid, built-in games. [via Giz Modo]

Oh my GOD it’s Mega Man 10! Posted: 09 Dec 2009 06:40 PM PST Sweet fancy Moses. Nintendo Power (naturally) has the scoop on Mega Man 10, the next old-school WiiWare game starting everyone’s favorite blue robot. I like how this breaks on the same day Yahtzee takes Nintendo to task for rehashing the same games over and over again — and a week after I criticized them for breaking news via their own propaganda machine. Hey, I’m disappointed with their level of creativity as well, but even Yahtzee will have to admit that these remakes are a hell of a lot of fun. The full details will be revealed soon, but in the meantime you really just need to know that Mega Man 10 is happening, and one of the robot masters is called Sheep Man. Are they really that hard up for robot masters that they’re designing them after farm animals now? And the weapon you get is the Thunder Wool. Whatever, guys. Just keep the Mega Men coming. Check out the preview page over at Nintendo Power. [via 1up]

IBuyPower to be the only integrator to sell the Thermaltake Level 10 case Posted: 09 Dec 2009 06:20 PM PST We told you about the Thermaltake Level 10 back in September — you remember it, the exceedingly cool-looking case designed by BMWGroup Designwork. It’s a little later then expected, but it’s here, and IBuyPower is going to be the only custom PC configurator to have it for a while. So what are we looking at here? IBuyPower put a Core i7, 6 GB of RAM and a 128 GB SSD as the basic system. Expect the price to start at $2500 and go up from there, depending on what extra goodies you want shoe-horned in there.

Rugged SD cards? Actually, that’s a really good idea Posted: 09 Dec 2009 06:00 PM PST I saw this headline and immediately made my “skeptical” face. Rugged flash media? Don’t those things spend all their time jacked into your device? Why not have rugged batteries, too? But then I thought about those poor, fragile SD cards, living sheltered lives in cases, pouches, and so on because we’re too worried that they’ll snap in half or get a drop of water on them at any moment. I mean, your 7D may be seal-resistant, but what happens when you have to switch cards in a blizzard? A little moisture between those cracks, some sub-zero temperatures, and that sucker is going to rupture like… I don’t know, something that totally ruptures. Anyway, I’d totally buy these things. They’ll survive a whole day underwater, won’t get busted by bouncing around in your bag, and they’re guaranteed to hold their data for years without letting it degrade. I think a big 16GB one of these will serve for you for all purposes, and last long enough to see its successor take over. They even go faster than regular cards! SD and CF flavors will be released in Europe before they hit us Yanks and others, but Samsung hasn’t mentioned price yet. Probably because these things are going to cost about twice as much as a regular card the same size.

NASA testing helicopter airbags – sounds like fun! Posted: 09 Dec 2009 05:30 PM PST So, big problem with flying in a helicopter: if you crash, you’re screwed. It’s not like a jet, where you can eject (for obvious reasons), and it’s not like helicopters are designed with a crumple zone. For this reason, NASA has been testing a possible solution that utilizes an airbag-type system. NASA has developed a shock absorber system that mounts from the bottom of the helicopter to take up the force of the impact. Recent tests have involved a small helicopter being dropped from a height of 35 feet. This caused the chopper to hit the ground at 54 miles per hour, which normally would be a severe if not necessarily fatal crash. Instead of smashing into many small pieces, the helicopter landed on NASA’s “deployable energy absorber,” a honeycomb airbag system. This took the majority of the force of the impact, and the four crash test dummies managed to escape more or less unscathed. Of course, all of this is experimental, so don’t expect to see it in public any time soon.

Hands-on with the Blump.it Firefox plug-in on a Viliv X70 Posted: 09 Dec 2009 04:59 PM PST The Blump.it Firefox plug-in just hit the blogosphere today and I had to try it. So I loaded it up on the Viliv X70 with the hope that it will improve the functionality of the small-ish touchscreen and turn it into a certain tablet computer clone. In short, it does both very well. Check out the video after the jump to see it in action. It’s just what touchscreen mobile devices need, in fact. It’s fast, designed just for a touchscreen, and surprisingly stable for an alpha release. There are some bugs, but if the developers keep coding away on it, the plug-in might just satisfy those looking for a dedicated web-browsing touchscreen device. The home page is just a bunch of large shortcut icons. There can be multiple pages and the icons can be dragged around for organization. It’s as easy as clicking the shortcut button on the top menu bar to give any website it’s own shortcut, although it’s a generic icon. Since it’s using Firefox, it loads each page just fine and handles flash like a champ. It needs tabs though. Really the only major bugs I found are that the keyboard is missing key characters like the period and dash. It makes it somewhat difficult to navigate to certain sites without those. But you can always use the device’s on-board keyboard so it’s not totally impossible. If you have a MID or UMPC laying around, give this Firefox plug-in a go. Just make sure you have the Firefox Grab & Drag plug-in also installed so you can scroll on webpages a bit easier. The company also stated in a recent video that they are working on a Chrome release now that the browser supports plug-ins too. The future is looking up for small touchscreen computers.

Giftable: Star Wars Republic Squadron motion flight game Posted: 09 Dec 2009 04:30 PM PST If you have a kid that likes Star Wars – especially the Clone Wars cartoons – then here's one of the only gifts you'll need to buy. Of course, that's totally false because if you have kids you need to buy thousands of gifts around the holidays, right? Well with this one you'll have a sure-fire hit on your hands. According to the product description: Republic forces under siege! Jedi leaders Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker lead an elite squadron of Clone Troopers against General Grievous and his Separatist forces! The Force is with you when you use the Plug It In & Play TV Games Flight Motion controller. YOUR moves control the game as you fly and blast your way to victory. No video game console or software needed – just plug right into your TV! Requires 4 AA Batteries (not included). I can't in good conscience agree that The Force is with you when you play with this item. I used it for hours and felt nothing out of the ordinary. There's a lot of disagreement about what The Force actually is or does but I found myself with absolutely zero additional metaphysical power while playing. I did have fun, though. The controller you see up there consists of four main buttons – right and left thumb buttons (seen in blue) and right and left trigger buttons located on the other side of the handles. You tilt the controller up, down, left, and right to control the in-game vehicles. For some missions you'll be sitting in a gunner's seat, so you'll use the controller simply to aim at enemy ships. Other missions, you'll use the controller to speed up, slow down, and bank left and right. Here's a quick two-minute video of some of the gameplay. All in all, the $30 Star Wars Republic Squadron motion flight game would make a great gift for the little Star Wars fan in your life. Graphics and music may be circa Sega Genesis days but the motion control is wonderfully responsive and there's plenty of variation in the missions to keep things entertaining for hours on end. Product Page: Motion Star Wars Republic Squadron

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