Awethumb is amaathing!

Whittling might have been a hoax and Blackberry massages just a ruse, but the Awethumb is all too real -- and all too freaking amazing. Yeah, we're not at all sure that these $8 plastic thumbguards -- available in your choice of colors! -- will actually protect you from repetitive stress or even make typing easier, but all the dudes and dudettes on the El train will know you mean business when you slip 'em on. As an added bonus, lack of compatibility with the iPhone will allow you to express your disdain for touchscreens in a satisfyingly dramatic way -- if you can't rock it with an Awethumb, you're not rockin'. Ah, to be young and ensheathed in plastic thumb protectors. Frankly astounding video after the break.

[Via: Engadget ]

Mintpass' tiny Mintpad brings handwriting back from the 20th century

We can't remember the last time we stealthily scribbled a note to a coworker instead of shooting an IM, but Mintpass (a Korean firm founded by former iriver minds) believes some folks want to do both at once with Mintpad, a wireless handheld that's one part Nintendo DS, one part iPod, and another part Post-it note. Yes, it surfs the web on 802.11b/g WiFi and plays 4GB (or more with a microSD card) of music and videos on its sub-3-inch 320 x 240 display, but the draw is handwriting with a stylus. Don't pick it up if you're looking for handwriting recognition, though -- you just jot down notes the old fashioned way, though you can pass them over the internet to others who have their own Mintpads. We've seen a note or two saying you can pick one up in South Korea for в‚©198,000, or about $156.
[Via: Pocketables ]

Sony pushes out firmware 5.0 for PSP

"Soon-ish" has turned to "now-ish." PSP owners eager to get their minds into the PlayStation Network (and thus, the PS Store) right on their handheld can now do so... right after they suck down the freshly released firmware 5.0, of course. Aside from the obvious changes, the PlayStation format software can now be output in full-screen size on a connected device, the sleep timer feature can now be used under [Music], the system automatically reverts to USB mode when a USB cable is connected and the [Original] theme has been redesigned. Get it while the gettin's good.
[Via: Engadget ]

Ed Hardy-ruined Palm Centro not available to general public, and that's okay

If you were wondering why Palm just posted another less-than-stellar quarter of earnings despite the runaway success of its Centro line, we think we have the answer: it's been digging into the piggy bank to ice out its gear. Palm has commissioned Ed Hardy to "specially equip" some Centros as gifts for presenters at the Primetime Emmys (which fall somewhere between Cable Ace and Teen Choice Awards for prestige), and the result is... well, this. The designs won't be available to the general public, but we think we're going to reserve our envy for anything else.
[Via: Engadget ]

Sony Reader goes open, will be able to work with other booksellers

While Sony's Reader has never received the enormous press or enjoyed the supposed whirlwind sales of Amazon's Kindle e-book, and is certainly lacking in, erm, EV-DOness, the Reader is about to get one trick the Kindle doesn't have yet: openness. Sony will be shooting out an update on Thursday to allow the Reader to use purchased books in the protected EPUB format from whoever is peddling them, instead of being tied to the Sony's e-book store, or just DRM-free text and PDF documents. That openness should help Sony beef up its selection -- which is lagging behind Amazon's -- and will hopefully mark a bit of a turning point in the e-book market to more standards and, more importantly, more books.

[Via: Engadget ]

Princeton to start publishing Kindle-edition textbooks

Amazon's Kindle ebook reader has been doing pretty well as a consumer device, but we've always thought it had amazing potential as a textbook reader -- especially coupled iTunes-style with Amazon's online distribution system. Apparently Princeton University (Jeff Bezos's alma mater) agrees with us, because it's just announced plans to publish Kindle version of its textbooks this fall, joining Yale, Oxford, and Berkeley in supporting the device. It's not clear how many books are due to be published on the device or how content like photographs and full-color diagrams will be handled (what's a bio book without red mitochondria? They're the "powerhouse" of the cell!), but we're certain students will gladly make the tradeoff to reduce their backpack loads just a little bit.

[Via: Engadget ]

Comfile intros rugged Windows CE-based touchscreen controller

It's definitely not for everyone, but if you fashion yourself an amateur MythBuster, you may do well to add Comfile's new rugged Windows CE-based CuWIN3500 touchscreen controller to your homebrew arsenal, which will let you control an array of sensors, motors or just about anything else you can plug into it. Up front and center on this one is a 7-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, which gets backed up by a 32bit ARM9 266MHz processor, 64MB of SDRAM, 64MB NAND Flash, built-in Ethernet, and an SD card slot for further expansion. If that sounds like the piece of kit you've been waiting for, you can get your hands on one of these right now for $600.

[Via: Zedomax ]