Brazilian Website, Cellular Café, says the “X” version adds the Wi-Fi and 3G/HSDPA (850/1900/2100MHz) connectivity that the Chinese 3i lacked. The camera remains at 3 megapixels, but the interface on the phone’s 3.5-inch touchscreen display now looks closer to Android’s default look and feel. [Cellular Café (translated) via Unwired View]

Much of this country’s geography is remote, and beyond the reach of mobile phone coverage, making American satellites an ideal, if illegal, communications option. The problem goes back more than a decade, to the mid-1990s, when Brazilian radio technicians discovered they could jump on the UHF frequencies dedicated to satellites in the Navy’s Fleet Satellite Communication system, or FLTSATCOM. They’ve been at it ever since.

In fact, everyone from truck drivers to drug dealers to soccer fans have hijacked the system to increase the range of their communications or coordinate operations. Because the practice is so widespread, eradicating it on the ground is probably not going to have a major impact. However, it does illustrate the woeful obsolescence of military satellite technology. [Wired]

We are excited to partner with Zeebo on their visionary and ambitious global gaming initiative. The evolutionary combination of fast 3G wireless digital distribution and a simple yet elegant business model will open up new avenues to reach gamers directly with some of our top titles such as Street Fighter Alpha.

That corpospeak blurb is from Takeshi Tezuka, general manager of Mobile Contents Development at Capcom. Colour me surprised. And Namco and THQ are also publishing titles. Apparently, the idea of distributing games easily—via the free 3G connection of the Zeebo—to millions of poor kids in emerging countries is an attractive proposition for these powerhouses.

I’m all for it. [Crunchgear]

Brazilian artist Paulo Nenflidio, who’s currently showing off his work in Arizona, creates weird noise-producing sculptures like this robot drill spider, which ends up sounding as frightening as it looks.

Each of the six hammer drills is linked keys on the main body’s keyboard. When a key is pressed, it causes the drills to start operating, producing a terrible calamitous sound. The keyboard is sensitive to pressure, so pressing down harder causes the bit to drill faster. Like so:

It’s like the world’s most aggressive piano ever. [Makezine]

The haven’t gotten away with it, however, as Brazil has been trying to crack down on illegal logging. Now there are 107 companies being sued for $US833 million. In addition, 202 people are facing prosecution, including 30 “ringleaders” who brought the hackers and logging companies together.

Essentially what they did was falsify transportation permits. The Brazilian system is set up so that companies receive permits to transport their felled trees. The load is measured and that amount of wood is deducted from the total amount allowed. Once a company reaches its quota, it can’t get more permits and therefore can’t make more money by cutting down trees. However, hiring hackers got them around the system for long enough to do some big illegal damage.

We’ll see if anything actually happens in court to stop this practice. [Greenpeace via Treehugger]

In addition to the hefty $US15,000 price tag, this door boasts a biometric sensor that serves as the lock. Oh, and lots of carbon fibre. Did we mention it’s made of carbon fibre? There was, sadly, no word on what this door was protecting. An underground secret lair, perhaps?

Anyway, we sincerely hope the wealthy Brazilian businessman who commissioned this piece gets his money’s worth, because this sucker would do nicely as the door to the next Gizmodo Gallery, don’t you think? [Carbon Fibre Gear]

The system itself features an SD card slot, two USB ports, and comes preloaded with a few games, including quake. It’s not intended to go compete with the current-gen offerings, but as mentioned earlier, it’s for markets where the average consumer can’t afford the cost of a Wii or Xbox (considering the cost of games after import fees). The Zeebo will arrive on Brazilian shelves in July 2009 and sell for roughly $US258. Games will cost between $US10 and $US30. [Folha Online via Engadget]

Clearly we’ve been seeing changes in the ocean circulation in the Southern Hemisphere. The question for the future, and we don’t have an answer yet, is how is that going to shift against the backdrop of climate change?

The story here, however, is that the Brazilian Air Force is going to be flying the penguins back to South Atlantic, possibly in freezing chambers onboard cargo airplanes. Oh yes, and they are so cute that I’m about to have a diabetes arrest.

[Daily Mail]

A music aficionado/engineering genius has created this wonderful musical piece using just electromagnetic solenoids–devices that convert electricity into linear motion–placed next to different objects around the office, and a computer control program. The result is so good that it makes me want to drink caipirinhas, dance samba, or move to Rio do Janeiro. But since I just moved to New York and it’s 11:30PM already, I will just do myself a caipirinha and watch the episode 1 season 2 of Californication.

How to do a perfect caipirinha

Ingredients
• Cachaça (brazilian sugar cane liquor)
• Cane sugar
• Limes
• Finely crushed ice

Instructions
• Get a glass, preferably one with a wide diameter and short (but I made them large myself)
• Cut one full lime into eight sections.
• Put the lime in the glass and cover with sugar (you can add more sugar later if it’s too strong for you)
• With a wood pestle (you can also use a metal one or any other instrument) mash the limes with the sugar until the juice and the sugar create a syrup.
• Add the crushed ice until you top the glass (I crush it by hand, in a cloth)
• Fill with cachaça to the top.
• Stirred well with a spoon until the whole thing is mixed (if you have a cocktail steel glass, you can also shake it).
• Taste and see if you need more sugar (add and mix again if needed).

Enjoy one of the most delicious drinks in the world, perfect for a hot sunday (which it is, here in my apartment in New York).