This week Palm announced the Foleo, an ultraportable Smartphone companion laptop. The January 2007 issue of Make shows you how to take a hardcover book and turn it into an ultraportable laptop by embedding a Palm Pilot and keyboard. The designer, Allen Wong, even powered it with AAA batteries that last for days. How does the Foleo stack up against Wong's Palm Notebook? It's time for... Iron Gadget!

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D5, Mossberg and Swisher's conference is over, and I am still smiling. 100% news, no bullshit. And it was fun. Did you know that D had a Ben and Jerry's ice cream booth? Wednesday was intense. 5 hours of liveblogging, inside of a 20 hour work day. • Ballmer and the Surface Table, with Mossy • Mossberg and Foleo unveil by Jeff Hawkins • Mossberg and Steve Jobs • Afterwards, basking in the glow of the Jobs interview, Ryan Block from Engadget and I got up on stage and sat in the D Chairs when no one was looking. (Photo here) •And then my accidental Steve Jobs meeting. •And of course, Mossberg and Swisher talking with Gates and Jobs. (Videos here) •Not to mention the Gropes of the Surface Table and Foleo. Afterwards, I bumped into Mossberg, and there was a little friction.

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Context: The Super Bowl iTunes/Pepsi ad from 2005 featured a cute girl by the name of Mandy Amano who set the internets ablaze with her dancing. Websites such as thatpepsigirl sprang up just to keep track of her comings and goings. Wired's Leander Kahney, whom Silicon Valley sister site Valleywag thought was Fake Steve Jobs for a couple hours, even called her the new Ellen Feiss. That's quite an Apple rep to live up to. Where is she now? She's Macenstein's Mac Chick of the Month. Head over there for a couple more shots. Which means now you get to look at her without a shirt on. p.s. ladies? Go look at Aussibum again.

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Jeff from Thunder Eagle really outdid himself this time with this brand new home-made Steampunk Guitar. You may have seen (and ogled) his first creation here back in April, but this Nautilus looks amazing as well. As the name implies, it's more of a sea-punk than a steam punk. Then again, steam punk can go under the water, like that new Xbox 360 game Bioshock. Either way, the guitar goes up on eBay on June 3. We'll post an update when it does. A++++++ Would Overthrow Dystopian Dictatorship Again!!!! – Jason Chen Project Page [Thunder Eagle Guitars]

The online movie biz is about to get a pair of newcomers now that Blockbuster and Best Buy are joining in on the fun. Lionsgate CEO, Jon Feltheimer, let the news out a little early in a conference yesterday.... Read More »

Folks, we have moved one step closer to robot dominance. Before they couldn't get around very quickly or efficiently; just look at Asimo. But now we've made them mobile. HUBO has become the first robot to successfully ride around on a Segway-like scooter. Which allows him (her?) to reach speeds over 10x his walking rate. For now HUBO is restricted to going where his scientist parents tell him by way of remote control, but they plan to allow HUBO to drive himself in the future. Drive himself? Korea, do you know what you have unleashed? Next thing you know they'll be harvesting us like little human batteries.– Ben Longo Hubo the first robot in the world to get on a Segway [Fareastgizmos.com]

We had a chat with the Parallels guys earlier today, and got some new information that should be very interesting to people who are even the slightest bit interested in running Windows on your Mac. We went over some of the stuff we covered yesterday, but there's lots of new stuff and even one major feature we didn't mention: Snapshots.

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Those of you wanting a piece of the Sony Ericsson P1 smartphone will be happy to hear that it's one step closer to getting into your cheese-stained hands. The FCC just approved the smartphone in a session—in our imaginations—that was filled with wigs, gavel banging and annoyed harrumphing. – Jason Chen Sony Ericsson P1 Receives FCC Approval [Wireless Info]

Ever since the Xbox 360 Nyko Intercooler melted down consoles everywhere thanks to its siphoning off the Xbox 360's power, people have been wary of attaching any cooler at all. But as the failure rate shows, Microsoft's console could use a little help in the cooling department. The Xfan from Titan Computer might be just the thing for you if you can get past the fact that it's convex—the 360 itself is famously concave—and the tacky looking green LEDs. Other than that, it's USB powered, which means it's a little safer to use, and will be released in the middle of June. – Jason Chen Product Page [Titan CD via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

You saw a version of the HTC Cavalier back when Boy Genius had it in January, but On the Go Solutions has a video of the T-Mobile Dash (HTC S620) successor. It's got Windows Mobile 6, a 400MHz processor, 2.0-megapixel camera, and even 3G. As a side note, the narrator's voice is so deliberate and confident, we couldn't keep from laughing for some reason. Maybe it's just because it's Friday. As a second side note, I think it's pronounced like "Dew pod" instead of "D'oh pod." – Jason Chen Dopod C730 (HTC Cavalier) [Onthegosolutions]

Engadget's got a tip from one of their sources that AT&T and Apple are working together to embed IPTV capabilities into the Apple TV by 2008. We're skeptical. Apple TV? Not doing so hot. IPTV? Not doing so hot.... Read More »

Ever wonder how tripods are made? Enjoy seeing large robots cut, bend and flatten tubes of metal as they careen down an assembly line? Kick back and watch as we take you on a guided tour of the Manfrotto Tripod factory in Bassano del Grappa, Italy. It's a four-minute segment, so if you have to use the restroom, go ahead and do it now. – Curtis Walker Disclosure: Freelancer Curtis Walker's tour was part of a junket paid for by Manfrotto. Gizmodo staff members are disgusted by the very notion of paid trips from companies; But frankly, the video was entertaining. This is in no way a paid advertisement for Manfrotto.

It's rumor time again, and we'd be doing you a disservice if we didn't tell you about the latest one involving MacBook Pros. Mac4ever says they had a tip from a French reseller about ordering new MacBook Pros. The reseller made the order "blind," as in they didn't know what the new specs were going to be, but that it coincides with Apple's Educational Back to School Program starting next week. To recap the rumor: Tuesday June 5, new MacBook Pros, unknown specs. That is all. – Jason Chen New MacBook Pros on Tuesday, June 5th 2007? [Updated] [MacRumors]

Bill Gates' slip at the D conference was one of those blink-and-you'll-miss-it slips that you probably wouldn't even notice if you weren't vaguely familiar with the product. His gaffe? The unintentional announcement of "RoundTable," a research project we've been hearing about back in early 2006 when it was still called Ringcam. What it is, essentially, is a 360-Degree conferencing camera that's made up of four individual webcams to capture everyone that sits around a table. Hence, RoundTable.

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You may have seen our live coverage of the meeting of Steve and Bill, but words can't convey the nuances of a sidelong glance or a gentle brush of the thigh. It was like an old divorced couple, meeting on amiable terms for the first time in years. Watch the video to see what we mean. – Jason Chen with video by Richard Blakeley

You won't care much about storage space if you're lucky enough to win one of these cards. They're the grand prize in SanDisk's Hong Kong contest. All you gotta do is buy the real deal, scratch off some numbers on the packaging, and if you win, you get these little nuggets of gold. So how much will they fetch you? About five grand US currency. Not enough to retire, but enough to make me wish I lived in Hong Kong. – Louis Ramirez SanDisk Gives Gold Memory Cards Away in Contest [Everything USB]

Plug this Multi-Port Power Inverter into your car's cigarette lighter, and all of a sudden you have a couple of USB ports and an AC socket at your fingertips. We took a look last week at a similar inverter for the car, but it only had one USB port, plus it takes up that cigarette lighter, so you can't light up a blunt while you're charging up your cellphone, and shaving, and running that MP3 player all at the same time while driving. Major drawback. The kicker? You can get this one for five cents less—it's $39.95. Someday, all cars will have these ports as standard built-in equipment, plus a universal dock for your iPod. – Charlie White Product Page [Herrington, via Coolest Gadgets]

What could be in all these boxes taking up my living room/ruining my otherwise healthy marriage? Oohhhh! An exciting mystery! Any guesses? Stop by this weekend to find out...about the boxes, not the marriage. – Mark Wilson

Broke Apple fanboys take note. Apple's newly launched Outlet has some pretty sweet deals worth checking out. Sure, they're all refurbished, but you still get a warranty and besides, would you turn down a $1,300 MacBook Pro or a... Read More »

Sometimes you park your car in a huge garage, say, at the airport, and when you return a week later, dammit if you haven't forgotten where you parked. Hey, why not use that keyless entry remote, pushing the Lock button and listening for your car to respond with a little toot of its horn? If your wireless transmitter is out of range, here's a way to extend its reach using body parts. – Charlie White Keyless entry remote not working? [Autoblog]

Thanks to the enthusiastic response of thousands of Gizmodo readers, Bill Shackelford's interactive art installation at The Ohio State University entitled "Blogged" was a huge success yesterday. With each page view, a compressor turned on for one second, inflating a huge balloon seen by the world via live streaming video.

"Thanks, Charlie, for posting my installation yesterday. Your readers popped the balloon! I first turned everything on at noon and it finally popped at around 5:30. I have posted new pictures on the site and will have additional video later."

I'd like to add my thanks to you, the best readers in the world! We'll be looking for Bill's exploding balloon video. Meanwhile, let's give Bill some suggestions for his next interactive art installation. What should he make happen with each page view? Give doggy treats to adorable puppies? Apply electric shocks to a hapless but comely test subject? – Charlie White Blogged [Bill Shackelford]

If you're anything like me, all of your video game accessories must match up perfectly—all my Dreamcast controllers have matching color memory cards, and I gave away a gray Wavebird to complete my set of four platinum ones to go with my platinum 'Cube. So I'm (sadly) extremely tempted by these color-coordinated DS Lite AC adapters by ToyTech, which come in pink, light and navy blue, white and black. They're $17, which is a small price to pay to satisfy my OCD. God knows, I've paid more. – Matt Buchanan Color coordinate your DS Lite and its AC adapter [Siliconera via Kotaku]

When you get tired of listening to its measly 128MB worth of music, slap this MPION MP3 player up against your face and it'll give you a nice soothing facial. Get your mind out of the gutter, not that kind of facial. Its negative ion generator is said to magically clean all that gunk out of your skin's zillions of pores, supposedly doing that job far more effectively than mere soap and water. If you think about that term "facial" long enough, it might even serve as a temporary penis enlarger, too. It better do something special, because let's face it, it's a 128MB MP3 player that costs $170. – Charlie White MPION MP3 player give users a facial too [Newlaunches]

Really, this is just a standard body fat meter with a Hello Kitty sticker slapped on the front of it. But it also comes with a numeric health meter and a cooking scale, so you know what'll expand your waistline before shove it in your face. At $50, it's not as cheap as the (free?) camera phone diet assessment making the rounds in Japan, but the results are more immediate. Besides, hello, Hello Kitty sticker—it's never too early for young girls to obsess over what they eat. – Matt Buchanan Hello Kitty Body Fat Meter [Gizmodiva via Ubergizmo]

A few weeks ago, ABC.com announced that it'd deliver some of its popular shows in high-def online. Well, as it turns out the content won't be that HD afterall. ABC.com will rely on a codec from On2 Technologies to... Read More »

Certain that dozens of different cellphones weren't quite enough for its bloated line, Samsung rolled out yet another one today, and this SCH-C220 is cute enough to call the Anycall Miniskirt. Attempting to imitate the thin, well-heeled chicks at whom it's aimed, its 10.9mm thin silhouette is unusually svelte, especially for a slider. It's so shiny and reflective, those babes will be able to use it as a mirror, and then they can take pictures of all their adorable friends with its 2-megapixel camera. It'll be available in a choice of white, red, or blue, and it's not going to be cheap, either, selling for around $650. We especially like its built-in GPS that displays real-time traffic information, but dang if this little trinket is only going to be available in Korea. – Charlie White Samsung SCH-C220 - Anycall Mini skirt phone [Gizmodiva]

It's only been out for a day, yet Google's new Street View feature is already causing havoc, invading the privacy of Mary Kalin-Casey, whose cat Monty is shown in the above photo outside her home. Personally, I can barely make out a cat in that photo. What do you guys think? Is this an invasion of privacy—should Google take the image down? – Louis Ramirez Google Photos Stir Debate Over Privacy [NYT]

We've seen a lot of lazy gadgets, but this has to be the grand prize winner: the Lazy Teapot, relieving you of that cumbersome and backbreaking chore of actually picking up a teapot and pouring its hot water into a cup. Designer Lotte Alpert created a design concept for this teapot and its holding device, whose saving grace is its temperature scale on the back that lets you first boil liquid and then dial up a specific temperature to keep that liquid warm. Okay, this might be a great idea for disabled people who drink a lot of tea, but please, if you're able-bodied, it least get the exercise of picking up a pot or a pan every once in a while. Sheesh! – Charlie White The Lazy Teapot [Yanko Design]

Formac is about to ship its Disk Maxi drives, packing 750GB into their relatively small 4.5-inch long form factor. The triple play drives can handle USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and 800, and the company says they're nice and quiet, too. If you don't mind their plain-vanilla appearance, they'll soon be shipping in three different capacities: a 300GB model for $198, 500GB for $237, and 750GB for $395. – Charlie White Formac Disk Maxi [AllMacShop]

As fans of the Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS, we can't help but like the new Nuvi 200W. In a nutshell, it's a Nuvi 200, but with a wider, 4-inch screen. Screen resolution also got a bump up to 480x272. The 200W seems to be the European version while the 250W will probably make its debut here in the States. The 200W is going for $400 while the 250W is around $469 (which is pricier than I would've liked). – Louis Ramirez Garmin Nuvi 200 Series Get Wider [Navigadget]

Pro photographers might start hyperventilating when they see this Mamiya ZD 645AFD II Digital System, which the company touts as the first 22-megapixel digital camera system for under $10,000. That's a pretty good deal, considering that a 31-megapixel Hasselblad costs $25,000. This Mamiya supercamera is offered as a $9999 kit including a 80mm f/2.8 autofocus lens, the 645AFD II body which usually sells for $3000 separately, and the new part of the system, the Mamiya ZD 22 Megapixel Digital Back. What, they're selling the fronts and backs of cameras separately now? WTF?

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