CrunchGear

The Not-So-Crazy Rumors About Microsoft Taking Over Nokia’s Smartphone Division Resurface
The Logitech Cube Attempts To Redefine The Humble Mouse
Daily Crunch: Smarter
Lenovo Debuts A Pair Of Ultrabooks, The $1599 ThinkPad X1 Hybrid And $849 ThinkPad T430u
Fujifilm Reveals 19 New Cameras For CES – Here Are Some Of Them
Apple Reportedly Butting Heads With Content Producers Over iTV
Fly Or Die: The Nokia Lumia 710 And The Meizu MX
Mogees: Multitouch On Any Surface With A Contact Microphone
Kodak Reportedly Preparing For Bankruptcy Auction Of Patents
AT&T’s Pantech Element LTE Tablet Leaked, Arriving January 8
Roku’s Streaming Stick Makes Your Dumb TV Much Smarter
Augmented Reality App Instantly Translates Foreign Text On Signs, Menus
The Samsung DA-E750 Is A Speaker Dock For Wannabe Audiophiles
Velocity Micro Shows Its New Tablets And Pico Projector Before CES
Cubelets Promise Robotic Good Times
The iPhone 4S Hits China (And 21 Other Countries) Next Friday

The Not-So-Crazy Rumors About Microsoft Taking Over Nokia’s Smartphone Division Resurface

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 02:38 AM PST

Mobile industry watcher Eldar Murtazin took to Twitter today, claiming that Microsoft and Nokia executives will be meeting each other shortly to discuss the possibility and terms of a deal involving the sale of the Finnish phone maker’s smartphone division (including “one or two” manufacturing plants).

Such an agreement between the two tech giants, which Murtazin says could be finalized in the second half of 2012, would leave Nokia with nothing but its ‘dumbphone’ or feature phone business, mapping services subsidiary Navteq and Nokia Siemens Networks, the flailing networking and telecom equipment company (a joint-venture with Siemens).

Murtazin also asserts that current Nokia head honcho Stephen Elop will resign from his chief executive role in the course of this year (possibly to return to Microsoft, where he used to run the Business Division?). Furthermore, Windows smartphones would no longer be branded ‘Nokia’.

Finally, Murtazin says the decision to make the move is entirely Microsoft’s to make at this point, and that they’re particularly interested in purchasing Nokia’s valuable mobile patent trove.

Let’s back up for a second.

First, we should note that Murtazin has been telling everyone who would listen that this deal was in the works since May 2011, mere months after Microsoft formed an alliance with Nokia to make Windows Phone the primary platform for Nokia-made smartphones.

Nokia vehemently denied that such a sale of its smartphone division to Microsoft was ever on the table, but I’m increasingly leaning towards believing that it was – and that it still very much is.

Murtazin isn’t always right, but some of his predictions about everything related to Nokia’s business have been pretty spot on in the past, and the man has had some massive scoops, often breaking major news before any official announcements were made, as a result.

We should also note that Murtazin is not the only one whispering about a potential sale of Nokia’s smartphone unit. Such a move would make sense, after all; Nokia certainly hasn’t exactly been heading in the right direction in recent years.

On that note, it’s worth reminding you that Microsoft and Nokia were also rumored (see WSJ report) to make a joint bid for troubled Blackberry maker Research In Motion just two weeks ago.

If Microsoft were to buy out Nokia’s smartphone division, the deal would be reminiscent of Google’s (pending) acquisition of Motorola Mobility, and put the Redmond software giant in a slightly better position to compete with Apple, ‘Googorola’ and other Android handset vendors.

Rumor today, reality later this year? I wouldn’t be too surprised.

Also read: Chart: How Google And Apple Won The Smartphone Wars

The Logitech Cube Attempts To Redefine The Humble Mouse

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 01:00 AM PST

Somewhere deep in the bowels of Logitech, a committee, attempting to think outside of the box, created a box. It’s called the Cube (even though it’s clearly not a cube) and it’s a mouse. And a presenter. I think.

The tiny mouse is designed with portability in mind. The top portion houses two hidden mouse buttons and also a portion for scrolling. To scroll “swipe your finger along the main panel,” says the press release. Then if you lift the mouse up, it turns into a presenter allowing the user to advance slides by just click the top of the device. The Cube connects to a computer though Logitech’s tiny Unifying 2.4 GHz receiver. Or, if you wish, the mouse can also connect via MicroUSB.

Look for the Logitech Cube this month at a suggested retail price of $69.99. Hopefully the device is a bit more comfy than the geometric shape suggests. It looks like arthritis to me.

Daily Crunch: Smarter

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 01:00 AM PST

Here are some recent Gadgets stories:

Mogees: Multitouch On Any Surface With A Contact Microphone

Cubelets Promise Robotic Good Times

Velocity Micro Shows Its New Tablets And Pico Projector Before CES

Roku's Streaming Stick Makes Your Dumb TV Much Smarter

Kodak Reportedly Preparing For Bankruptcy Auction Of Patents

Lenovo Debuts A Pair Of Ultrabooks, The $1599 ThinkPad X1 Hybrid And $849 ThinkPad T430u

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:01 AM PST

Lenovo is serious about ultrabooks. The company just introduced two new ultrabooks that will live alongside the company’s existing model, the ThinkPad X1. These three models put Lenovo in a unique position in the ultrabook game. While other companies are releasing their first ultrabooks, here’s Lenovo, with a relatively large product offering including a high-end model and an attractive entry-level model.

The ThinkPad X1 Hybrid will sit atop Lenovo’s ultrabook product line. As the Hybrid moniker suggests its a variation of the ThinkPad X1. Like original, the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid is available with three Intel Core CPU options (i3, i5, & i7) along with a 13.1-inch Gorilla Glass screen. The main difference between the two models is that the new model features a supplementary Qualcomm dual-core CPU and up to 16GB of memory that runs a custom Linux-based operating system.

Lenovo states this back-up OS is perfect for browsing the Internet, watching movies and other mundane tasks. In this mode the battery is said to last ten hours where it’s only five using the traditional Windows/Intel platform.

The ThinkPad T430u approaches ultrabooks in a slightly different manner than the X1. This is a budget ultrabook. But an good lookin’ one at that. The T430u rocks a 14-inch screen but is still less than .8-inches thick. There’s a choice of Intel Core CPUs and optional Nvidia graphics. Buyers can opt for an SSD instead of a traditional spinning disk drive. The larger ultrabook also has a large battery with a stated life of six hours.

Look for the X1 Hybrid in the second quarter with a starting price of $1,599 (that’s currently $200 more than the standard X1). The T430u will ship in the third quarter for only $849.

Fujifilm Reveals 19 New Cameras For CES – Here Are Some Of Them

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 11:59 PM PST

The compulsion in camera makers to release a dozen or more cameras at a time is understandable, I guess. Get ‘em all out of the way so the PR company isn’t always worrying about this or that release date, embargo time, or what have you. But for your humble blogger, it is something of a trial.

In this case Fujifilm has revealed their CES lineup of point-and-shoots, and there are no less than 19 of them. And that’s not counting the rumored X1 interchangeable-lens camera we are also expecting. Let’s take a little sample of Fuji’s offering. There’s nothing groundbreaking, just so you know, but if you’re in the market for a point and shoot, take a quick look.

If you’d like more complete specs and the whole lineup, go to Fuji’s CES page; these are just our highlights.

X-S1

The X-S1 will be making its debut, though as we suspected, it’s a strange device to bear the “premium” X-series moniker we see on the X100 and X10. It’s a DSLR-lookalike that’s actually a superzoom, with 26x (24-624mm equivalent) F/2.8-5.6 zoom and a 2/3″ 12-megapixel sensor. I have a hard time recommending superzooms, and a ton of today’s new cameras are that type of camera. I’m sure it’ll produce great pictures, decent video, and so on, but at $800 you have so many options that this one doesn’t really pop.

F series

The F series is their premium point and shoot line. These cameras pack monsters zooms (20x on the F770 and F750, 15x on the F660) and Fuji’s more powerful EXR sensors, which offer a number of specialized shooting modes for low light, multiple exposure, and other situations. The F660 is the cheapest at $280. The F750 gets you the longer zoom, and the F770 adds RAW shooting and GPS features. Of these I’d say the F660 is your best bargain – the extra zoom and GPS don’t strike me as adding $100 worth of value, and at that point you’re getting up to the price of super-nice pocket shooters from Canon and Olympus.

T series

If you don’t feel the need for Fuji’s special EXR sensors, the T series is where you want to look. The T-400 and T-350 (which differ only in megapixels, 16 and 14 respectively) are your basic better-than-budget cameras, with face recognition, 720p shooting, 10x zooms, and 3″ LCDs. Perfectly good choices for a vacation cam or gift for a non-techie who just wants a camera. At $180 and $160, I’d recommend the cheaper T-350 – you’re not going to miss those 2 megapixels, and you can use the extra cash to get a case or tripod.

XP series

I have to admit that I wasn’t very impressed with the XP10 I reviewed, but that was over a year ago, and the new ones look significantly nicer. Basically you have your $280 XP150 and $250 XP100, both of which are rated for 33ft of water, 6.5ft drops, 14F-degree weather, and are dust- and dirt- resistant. The 150 has GPS, but not the 100. Then there’s the $200 XP50, which is the same camera on the inside but not rated so highly for ruggedness. I wouldn’t presume to recommend one of these over the other without testing, but usually with “rugged” you get what you pay for up to a point, and who wants to worry about whether they’re going to hit their camera’s depth limit when they’re on vacation?

There you have it. There are more coming out, mainly superzooms, and you can find them here. We’ll be dropping by Fuji’s booth at CES to give these a feel and see any interesting prototypes they might have. Last year they had an X100 sitting around and didn’t even tell anyone. I mean come on! So we’re definitely going to be heading their way.

Apple Reportedly Butting Heads With Content Producers Over iTV

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 09:19 PM PST

There’s a problem with the idea of an iTV, rumors of which have been sloshing about for a long time, but with greater intensity since Steve Jobs’ biography hinted at one. Unlike an Apple TV, an iPhone, an iPad, or other devices, an Apple TV wouldn’t be tied to a Mac, and it wouldn’t take advantage of iTunes the way those devices do. It’ll be related, of course, but it doesn’t promote the “hub” idea that drives iPhone owners to buy Macs, Mac owners to buy iPhones, and all the other crossover purchases that interweave the Apple ecosystem.

Instead, it would be an Apple-designed window into content that Apple has very little control over. And while you can bring a new idea to the TV space, as set-top boxes and Google TV have, you can’t make the TV space play nice. Google learned that the hard way. And it looks like Apple may be facing a similar challenge.

USA Today has a story on the so-called iTV, with a few juicy nuggets hidden amongst a bedding of fluff. They say that Jonathan Ive has a big, beautiful 50-inch television in his studio. And several sources describe difficulties on Apple’s part securing the content that would be necessary to make their device worthwhile. After all, people using a next-generation content consumption device don’t want to be told that Fox shows are available but not Universal ones. We’re supposed to be leaving all that 20th-century dross behind.

The thing is that guys meeting with Apple over show licenses aren’t stupid. They’ve seen what Apple has done to the music industry over ten years, and they have no intention of entering the lion’s mouth, as their friends at the labels did. In the early 2000s, of course, the labels had no idea that Apple was a lion, and really, neither did Apple. But things are different now, and the guys at Warner and HBO and Turner and so on are happy to make a power play. After all, until someone revolutionizes the channel by which people at large get their TV shows, they’re still king. And Apple can’t revolutionize without their express permission.

That’s not to say they don’t recognize an opportunity. They smell money, but they’re not willing to bite until they can be sure they aren’t falling into a trap. Some of them went along with Google for a lark, but as we saw, they didn’t like the way Google did business (they tend to want to give things away). Apple may be happy to charge, but they also tend to take quite a bit of the sale, and it’s likely that the content producers aren’t willing to let their prize possession, new TV shows, be used as a money-printing machine by Apple. And Apple doesn’t want to leave anything to the discretion of the content producers, who could deep-six the iTV at the drop of a hat and get into bed with Google purely out of spite. And believe me, the TV industry isn’t short on spite.

Difficulties, however, are not failures. They are made to be overcome, and Apple, if it indeed has its sights set on the living room and the burgeoning net-broadcast TV sector (for which people can be made to pay handsomely), will do what it needs to in order to seal the deal. Time, in the end, is on their side: they are sitting on enough money to choke the entirety of the TV business, and they know that their device will be a moneymaker for all involved (not the users, naturally). “Softly, softly, catchy monkey” is their motto. Google’s was a bit more “Leeroy Jenkins”.

Note that there is plenty of time for this to pan out, and the devices we’ll be seeing at CES next week will have a long, full life (which is to say, about six months) before we start seeing the inevitable reports from Digitimes of Apple ordering five million 50-inch LCD panels.

Fly Or Die: The Nokia Lumia 710 And The Meizu MX

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 09:01 PM PST

I’ve been playing with the Nokia Lumia 710 for a week or so now and I’m pleased to report that Nokia may have a chance. The phone, while a bit chintzy, is inexpensive, fast, and feature-rich. I doubt you’d be able to find a device as easy to use and comfortable as the 710 at a $50 price with two year contract.

We also tried the Meizu MX and came away, well, un-awed. It’s a cool phone, it’s only available in China right now, and there are a few bugs to work out before it could consider a second life on this side of the pond. I was more kind to it than Erick, but we’re both equally trepidatious.

Look for a full Lumia 710 review in a few hours and until then, enjoy our handsome mugs and even more handsome cellphones.

Mogees: Multitouch On Any Surface With A Contact Microphone

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 03:20 PM PST

Here’s an interesting little project that, while it’s unlikely to grow into a major product, nevertheless demonstrates the potential of alternative interfaces. Bruno Zamborlin’s Mogees (an abbreviation of “mosaicing gestural surface”) takes input from a contact microphone and analyzes it to determine the placement and direction of gestures on any surface through which vibrations can be detected.

I wrote a while back about how the “finger on a glass touchscreen” wasn’t the be-all and end-all of user interaction. The stylus, for example, has much life left in it. And interfaces we haven’t even thought of will emerge as well. Why not a puck that turns your table into a touchable surface?

It really has to be seen to be understood:

Naturally this demonstration doesn’t speak to the practicality of using it to, say, scroll down a webpage or control a cursor. But don’t you kind of get tired of resting your hand on your laptop, inching your fingers along a patch of plastic or glass to move the next paragraph into view, or some such action? I like the idea of taking gestures off of the device itself and moving them into its vicinity.

And objections to this particular system are ready enough: how would ambient vibrations and music affect it? What about typing? And so on.

But the point isn’t to take this device and apply it in your mind to something for which it wasn’t designed (the Mogees is a sound creation and control device). It’s to take the idea of taking what you have and doing something new with it. What if you could put your iPhone on the table and, if it rang, tap the table once to answer, tap twice for speakerphone, put your whole hand down to silence it, etc?

This particular item may be more suited to Theramin-style musical noodling, but it descends from a larger concept of disengaging the controls for a device from the device itself — of improvising the medium of interaction but retaining the content.

[via Extremetech]

Kodak Reportedly Preparing For Bankruptcy Auction Of Patents

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 12:45 PM PST

Poor Kodak. At this point, they’re just along for the ride. The last few years have been rough on them, and they’ve made a few big decisions that haven’t panned out. I must admit that while my unsolicited advice to them was sound, it probably would have to have been put in place a decade ago for them to have avoided the current state of things. As it is, the WSJ has word that they are planning to file Chapter 11 and do a court-supervised auction of their many digital imaging patents.

It’s sad, but the truth is that while Kodak is very much still a valuable company, it’s simply not a viable business any more. Their efforts to change the business they’re in came too late — and now they’re in the business of going under.

In some ways, it’s a good call (not that I’m a big bankruptcy expert), but it’s also risky. Kodak has been trying to offload more than a thousand patents in order to gain the cash it needs to keep operating. It’s not clear what exactly they’d be doing after they sold off the most valuable part of the company, but they might have noted that “a living dog is better than a dead lion,” and opted for solvency and a lease on life.

Whatever their intentions, the patents haven’t sold. They sold their sensor business related assets, but the patents are still on the shelf. Why? Kodak practically invented the digital camera, and some of their IP must surely be useful to the likes of Sony or Samsung.

The problem, I’m guessing, is this: why pay full price when you know the store’s going out of business? If Sony and Samsung both wanted a set of patents, Kodak would keep them both informed if the other bid something, so they run little risk of having their targets slipped out from under their noses. And in the meantime, Kodak swirls endlessly towards bankruptcy, at which point the whole patent portfolio will be on the block for public bidding and unbeatable prices.

Unfortunately, it’s extremely unlikely that Kodak will bounce back from this. The only way they can live is by selling their core assets and taking a fortune in loans, and after that there’s nothing to do but sell the brand and find work as a badge for other people’s products. Oh fate most ignominious! But it is their own doing.

[image source]

AT&T’s Pantech Element LTE Tablet Leaked, Arriving January 8

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:49 AM PST

AT&T is slowly and steadily building up their portfolio of LTE-capable devices, and it looks like yet another has just broken cover. Due to be officially unveiled on January 8, the Pantech Element is AT&T’s newest LTE tablet, and is the first in AT&T’s lineup not to cost an absurd amount of money with a contract.

According to BGR, Pantech’s Honeycomb-powered tablet features an 8-inch display, a dual-core 1.5GHz processor of unknown origin, and 16GB of internal storage. The Element also sports two cameras — a rear-facing 5-megapixel shooter with 1080p video capture, and a smaller 2-megapixel frontfacer for video calling and goofy self-portraits.

The Element is also meant to be one of AT&T’s more rugged offerings, touted as being "waterproof for real life." You shouldn’t take that as carte blanche to take it for a swim though, as BGR reports that the Element can’t actually survive more than a splash on the face.

Strangely, also they mention that the Element has an IP57 waterproof rating, which actually means that the device would be capable of surviving submersion in up to 1m of water. I’m chalking that up to some crossed wires though, as AT&T is reportedly telling reps that it isn’t in fact a waterproof tablet.

At $299, the Element is an easier pill to swallow than either of AT&T’s previous LTE-friendly tablets. While the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and the HTC Jetstream both come from bigger companies, they cost $479 and $599 respectively — more than a little ridiculous considering you’re signing a two-year contract on top of it.

Roku’s Streaming Stick Makes Your Dumb TV Much Smarter

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST

Smart TVs are great and all — who doesn’t want a dash of WiFi with their daily dose of reality television? — but the segment will face challenges in the market. For one, a $49 Roku LT is a much better value proposition than a $1,000+ smart TV. Secondly, the hardware moves at such a rapid pace that even with solid software updates, your smart TV will likely be outdated much sooner than you’re ready to buy a new one.

But even with the hardships to be faced by the smart TV segment, Roku still wants a piece of the pie. Enter: the Roku Streaming Stick. It’s a little USB drive-sized stick that packs a processor, memory, software and WiFi to virtually transform your regular old television into a Smart TV, with access to all of Roku’s 400+ channels. The new offering streams video in 1080p, and thanks to a Broadcom mobile chip, Roku claims that you shouldn’t see any difference in performance between this and its other boxes.

Unfortunately, the Streaming Stick loses many of the extra ports you’d find on Roku’s other streaming boxes. But the real drawback is that you’ll need an MHL-enhanced HDMI port on your TV to get the Streaming Stick working. If you haven’t heard, MHL is a proposed industry standard that uses the HDMI port on a television to deliver power to mobile devices while they’re plugged. In other words, you’ll need a relatively brand new TV.

In my opinion, this is a tough catch. The whole point of getting the Streaming Stick is to be able to have what feels like a brand new TV, without, you know, actually buying said brand new TV.

Roku this year introduced gaming onto its platform, and the same will be available to owners of the Roku Streaming Stick. Since the Stick can be used with your current TV remote, gamers will need to shell out a few extra bucks to get the Roku Gaming remote. Luckily, that one should work fine with your TV so you won’t have to switch back and forth all the time.

Roku said that the Streaming Stick will hit shelves in the latter half of 2012, but wasn’t clear about pricing. But from what we’ve seen out of Roku before, I would expect that the Streaming Stick should go for no more than $100.

Augmented Reality App Instantly Translates Foreign Text On Signs, Menus

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 06:54 AM PST

If you ever wanted to be able to read text on a street sign or on a menu in a restaurant when abroad, your smartphone might be able to help you soon. Japanese electronics company Omron has developed a smartphone application that can instantly translate (short) foreign texts you come across – firing up the app and pointing the phone’s camera at the text in question is enough.

Omron says that in its current form, the app (which isn’t available yet) can handle English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. Translations are superimposed over the text shown on the display (in the picture below, you can see three items on a Korean menu shown in yellow Japanese letters).

Users aren’t required to take pictures, as translations are delivered based on live images. Omron says their app can also handle text captured in bad lighting conditions or from difficult angles.

Japanese business daily The Nikkei is reporting that the company hopes the app will be pre-installed on smartphones released within 2012.

Word Lens is a very similar app (available for iOS), and in fact, Japanese companies have been working on mobile translation solutions like this for years.

The Samsung DA-E750 Is A Speaker Dock For Wannabe Audiophiles

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 06:00 AM PST

There is a surefire way to improve the look and feel of any audio device: add vacuum tubes. These ancient electronic valves drip with nostalgia. Traditionally only high-end analog audio devices employ vacuum tubes as audio nerds proclaim they produce a richer, warmer sound. But Samsung is smart. They know that simply adding several trivial vacuum tubes to an otherwise mundane wireless speaker will increase its appeal (and justify a higher price tag). It’s working on this wannabe audiophile. I want this speaker.

The DA-E750 speaker dock sports a 2.1-channel speaker setup and a 100 watt amplifier. The vacuum tubes are used in a hybrid manner that also utilizes digital amps. Samsung claims this device is the first speaker dock on the market to sport docking stations for both the Galaxy S and iOS devices including the iPad. However, in the provided pic, it’s not exactly clear how that’s done. The speaker dock allows for wireless playback through both Sasmung’s AllShare, Apple’s Airplay and good ol’ Bluetooth. There’s also a USB port for direct playback from a flash drive.

No word on pricing or availability. Samsung will likely release those details next week at CES.

Velocity Micro Shows Its New Tablets And Pico Projector Before CES

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 05:59 AM PST

While many big companies are putting on big press conferences next week at CES, many smaller ones are getting their new gadgets out there early so people will want to drop by their booth. Velocity Micro just dropped a few new things, and we’ll be sure to swing by their corner of the show if we’re in the area.

They’ve got a pair of budget tablets that won’t really blow anyone away, but their new Shine pico projector looks really nice.

The tablets are the 7″ Cruz T507 and the 9.7″ T510. The latter, it is worth noting, has a 4:3 aspect ratio and appears to be very iPad-ish. Not very original, I’m afraid. The 7″ one is widescreen – and that’s about the only thing between them that differs. They both have a 1.2GHz Arm A8 processor, 8GB of internal storage, HDMI out, and a few other little features. Both run Android 4.0, mercifully. Any tablets at CES that don’t are plain crazy. Strangely enough, neither has Market access – just the Amazon market. The T507 will go for $150, and the larger T510 will naturally be a bit more expensive, though no price has been mentioned just yet. More info here.

Then there’s the Shine, a small projector that’s certainly bigger than the early, ~20-lumen pico-projectors, but definitely smaller than the loud, hot, 1000-lumen “real” projectors. The Shine does 300 lumens at a resolution of 1280×768, which means you can do HD content on a fairly large screen, and not just in the pitch dark like weaker pocket projectors. They’re also claiming good color and contrast, which of course I’ll believe when I see it.

I like its unapologetically gadgety look, with the bright red and the grills. Not as tasteful as 3M’s stuff, but not as boring as some others I’ve seen. Price? “Under $400,” which sounds to me like $399. But we’ll see.

Then there’s the little VMUltra drive – optical drive, 500GB of storage, and a few USB hubs to boot. Very handy for the mobile gadgeteer, perhaps the perfect accessory for someone moving to an ultrabook or MacBook Air.

Like I said, we’ll try to drop by and get a feel for these gadgets when we’re down in Vegas. No promises! But we’ll definitely be reviewing one or more of them, so stay tuned.

Cubelets Promise Robotic Good Times

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 05:55 AM PST

Do you like nature? Do you have a beard? Then you’ll love these things. Cubelets are essentially robotic building blocks. By connecting sensors, motors, and feedback devices, you can create clever little automatons that can interact with the world around them (within reason). Most important, however, is that Cubelets has decided to feature a bearded, Dutch spokes-mountain-man to sell their product, an excellent choice for almost any kit-based robotics project.

Sold by ModRobotics, the kit is available for pre-order for $160. This includes six Cubelets – two sensors, two “action” blocks, and two “brains” including a battery pack. A giant kit costs $520 and includes 20 pieces. They’re made for kids eight and up and run on rechargeable batteries.

These things are clearly very pricey but they are educational and aimed more at schools than at kids who just want to jam blocks together. It is unclear if every package comes with a hirsute Dutch man to help you build your Cubelets, but you would think that for a few dollars more they could ship one out along with a supply of beer and Edam to keep him fed and happy [UPDATE - I checked: it doesn't].

The iPhone 4S Hits China (And 21 Other Countries) Next Friday

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 05:33 AM PST

Apple this morning announced that its massively popular smartphone, the iPhone 4S, will be available in China and 21 additional countries on Friday, January 13.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, that means the iPhone 4S will shortly be available in a total of 90 countries.

It also means the phone will indeed launch in China before the Chinese New Year (January 23), which is sort of the equivalent of Black Friday in the United States.

Put differently: ka-ching.

From the official press release:

Beginning Friday, January 13, iPhone 4S will be available in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, China, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guam, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and Uganda.