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Things haven't been looking so good for Chumby recently -- in April, the company stopped hardware sales, and that was pretty much its bread and butter. Though the device may be well past its prime, at least it has some worth to the hackers among us. Take Huan Troung, who decided to use the Chumby as the starting point for making a temperature logger. To be fair, he ended up using the Insignia Infocast, a Chumby copycat, and while the device was a good fit for his project, he wanted more freedom than the Flash framework allowed him. So Huan decided to run WebKit on the Chumby-like gadget. The result is a more app-friendly interface with support for a wide range of coding languages. Check out the video below for a look at the device running the temperature app.

Though already available through Amazon and SkyMall, the Vinci Tab II -- who we met in a previous life -- has found its way to WalMart.com and is moseying to other e-tailers such as ToysRUs.com, Diapers.com and YoYo.com next month. The Vinci carries a 7-inch (800x480) display, a 3-megapixel camera, 1.2GHz Cortex A8 processor, 8GB of intenral storage, a microSD card slot, runs Android (flavor unspecified) and is touted as the only tablet certified for child safety. The tab also supports three levels of premium educational apps and includes a few samples, interactive storybooks and animated music videos for your rug rats to work their noggins.While the slab's first incarnation lacked WiFi to minimize radiation exposure to little tykes, the latest iteration can pack WiFi for those who'd rather not update apps via microUSB. Interested in keeping your young'un busy? You'll be set back $249 for a WiFi model or $199 if you forgo wireless connectivity -- a hefty drop from its predecessor's $389 starting point.

While we've been pleasantly surprised by some favorable browser scores, we couldn't help sneaking another peek at the phone's (second) launch -- this time right in the center of London. We took the Orange Santa Clara San Diego for a spin on our latest benchmarks. See how Intel's new mobile processor fares against much pricier competition right after the break.

You'd be more than forgiven for not knowing who Klas Tybrandt is. The doctoral student at Linköping University is hardly a household name, but his latest creation may garner him some serious attention. The Swedish scientist has combined special transistors he developed into an integrated circuit capable of transmitting positive and negative ions as well as biomolecules. The advantage here is that, instead of simply controlling electronics, the circuits carry chemicals which can have a variety of functions, such as acetylcholine which the human body uses to transmit signals between cells. Implantable circuits that traffic in neurotransmitters instead of electrical voltages could be a key step in taking making our cyborg dreams a reality. We're already counting down the days till we're more machine than man.

Round Rock just rolled out some new consumer machines this week, so it comes as no surprise that it's doling out some fresh computing goodies to the enterprise as well. First up is the new Dell Latitude E series laptops that come with a variety of ports for your connecting pleasure: one eSATA/USB combo, two USB 3.0 ports, a serial connector, 3.5mm headphone jack, plus HDMI and Gigabit ethernet. All those sockets come embedded in a chassis made of magnesium alloy that's been powder-coated on the bottom, giving it a lightweight, yet sturdy look and feel. In keeping with the tough-but-light theme, the top of these Latitudes are sheathed in aluminum, and the hinges are made of steel. Additionally, though it's a new machine, it's backwards compatible with many previous-gen Latitude docks and batteries

Dell Latitude E6430s hands-on

Microsoft isn't resting on its cloud with SkyDrive -- it's announcing a new update, which rolls out today for Mac and Windows. It teased a new feature for Windows 8 Release Preview -- due early June -- that allows photos to be retrieved from any PC with SkyDrive, whether your cloud storage is maxed out or not. Though we doubt you've topped out your 150,000 file limit, Redmond says it's taking power users into account with a huge bump to 10 million files -- with the same 7GB free / 100GB paid limits. It's also promised more speed and reliability, many small bug fixes, and has dropped the app icon from the OS X Lion dock -- saying it "definitely heard feedback" to do it. Updates will happen automatically, so you might be able to shoot more of those dusty files off to the cloud sooner than you think.

Lovefilm certainly seems to be on the charm offensive to secure those movie viewing eyes. Yesterday it was the announcement of an exclusive deal with NBCUniversal, and today it's HD streaming for its "Instant" service. Subscribers in the UK and Germany can suck up full 1080p content when viewing on a Mac or PC, and 720p when watching via Xbox 360 or Smart TV (UK only) at no extra cost. The HD library is rolling out now, and currently includes only a selection of films and TV shows, but is set to expand over the coming months. So if you're a paid up member, you can start browsing the library today, and hunt out those HD badges.

If your website lacks a little... je ne sais quois, it either needs something special, or that thing was lost in translation. If your managing different languages with Google's Website Translator plugin, however, then a new feature could put a stop to odd or inaccurate interpretations of your text. It's only in beta at the moment, but if you add a customization meta tag to a webpage, readers who know better can click on badly translated text and amend it (pending your approval). Likewise, you can fix up any broken translations yourself, and folk will see that version when using Chrome, or Google Toolbar to switch languages. Likewise, it looks like the official translate app for Android got a little spit and polish too, plus Esperanto support and new text to speech languages, so at least you can look a little more stylish while you order unknown items from the menu. Travel on over to the source links for the Rosetta stone.

Orange took its time to decide, but now it's settled. The first European Intel-equipped smartphone is the San Diego, replacing the Santa Clara codename assigned to it since February's Mobile World Congress. It will launch on pay-as-you-go at £200, including £10 of credit -- although Orange tell us this will be an introductory price. On contract, prices will start at £15.50 per month for two years and Brits will be able to pick one up from June 6th. We're getting the full run-through from Orange UK and Intel, but we're itching to run our new benchmarks on the Medfield phone as soon as they let us at it. And that pesky Gingerbread OS? We've been told to expect Ice Cream Sandwich closer to the end of Q3. But with just the single carrier, we're hoping testing time could be shaved off significantly.

Orange Santa Clara hands-on at MWC 2012

Nanowires, although they're building steam, still have to overcome the not-so-small problem of cost -- they often have to use indium tin oxide that's not just expensive, but fragile. Duke University has developed copper-nanowire films that could remedy this in style. The choice of material is both a hundred times less expensive to make than indium and is much more durable. It's flexible, too: if layered on as a coating, the nanowires would make for considerably more viable wearable electronics that won't snap under heavy stress. The catch, as you might suspect, stems from the copper itself, which doesn't conduct as much electricity as indium. The nickel will keep your copper electronics from oxidizing faster than the Statue of Liberty, however. Any practical use could be years away, but further successes from Duke could quickly see printable electronics hit the mainstream power and power our dreams of flexible displays.

We got a look at N-Control's Avenger Controller Elite just last month, and the company is rounding out the hardware's May release with a full-court press on GameStop. The retailer's online store is now selling both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 variants of the controller assist as straightforward, bundle-free $50 units. Company creator David Kotkin also tells us that the add-ons have had an extremely warm reception so far: although the Elite lineup had an unsung launch at GameStop on May 29th, it sold out on day one and is still in tight supply, with Xbox 360 examples currently on backorder as we write this. N-Control may have had a tough road in the past several months, but it looks as though that perseverance has paid off.

Well hello there again, Gigabyte X11. Hot on the heels of yesterday's leak, Gigabyte's just made its 11.6-inch X11 laptop (or is that an Ultrabook?) official. At 975g (2.15 pounds) it claims the title of "lightest notebook on earth" -- and weighs even less on Mars. Design-wise, you're looking at a 16.5mm (0.65 inches) to 3mm (0.19 inches) thin Macbook Air-like body made of real carbon fiber (!) with an aluminum hinge. Under the hood you'll find unspecified third generation Intel Core processors (read Ivy Bridge), 4GB of DDR3 RAM, Mobile Intel HM77 Express chipset with Intel HD Graphics 4000, a 128GB SSD, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.

Ports include power, USB 2.0 and mini DisplayPort on the left side plus microSD, combo audio and USB 3.0 on the right. While the specs also mention gigabit Ethernet, there's no sign of it anywhere in the press shots. The display is a 1366x768-pixel LED-backlit affair dotted with a 1.3 megapixel webcam. A chiclet keyboard, buttonless trackpad and 4730mAh 7.4V Li-ion polymer battery (likely sealed) complete the package. There's no word on availability, but prices will range from $999 to $1299 with Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional in tow. Expect more information when we get our hands on this sexy beast at Computex next week.

Update: Our colleagues over at Engadget Chinese just got to spend some time with this svelte black slab. Take a look at the gallery below and hit the break for the hands-on video.

Gigabyte X11 hands-on

Gigabyte X11 press shots

In addition, Gigabyte's announcing two 14-inch laptops -- the U2442 and U2440 -- which feature third generation Intel Core processors and NVIDIA GeForce graphics. Unfortunately, we're still busy drooling all over the X11 gallery, so we'll direct you to the full PR after the break for the complete details.

Andy Yang contributed to this report.

Scientists will soon have a new tool at their disposal in their search for black holes and a greater understanding of what NASA describes as "the most energetic and exotic objects in space." The space agency announced today that it has begun preparing its Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array -- otherwise known as NuSTAR -- for launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, with a liftoff planned for no earlier than June 13th. The telescope is by far the most advanced of its type to date, boasting ten times the resolution and more than 100 times the sensitivity of its predecessors, as well as a new design that relies on a complex set of 133 ultra-thin nested mirrors -- a setup NASA compares to a Russian Doll. Those interested can get a brief overview of the mission in the video after the break

OmniVision has been on a bit of a tear introducing new mobile camera sensors this week, and its newest could well have the biggest impact on smartphones in the next year. The OV12830's 12.7 megapixels don't make it as dense as the 16-megapixel sensors we've seen, but it makes up for that with some mighty fast still photography. As long as the attached phone can handle it, the CMOS sensor can snap full-resolution photos at 24 frames per second, or the kind of relentless shooting speed that would make One X and Galaxy S III fans happy. The same briskness musters 1080p video at 60 fps, even with stabilization thrown in. Production won't start until the fall and likely rules out a flood of 12.7-megapixel phones and tablets until 2013, but the OV12830's dead-on match for the size of current 8-megapixel sensors gives it a good shot at becoming ubiquitous -- and guarantees that phones won't need a giant hump on the back for a higher resolution.

Many of us use gadgets that sport gleamingly refined, anodized aluminum or titanium cases -- but have you ever wondered exactly how the process works? Bill Hammack, at it again after explaining to us how the CCD, LCDs, and hard drives work, breaks it down (pun intended) for us -- in less than five minutes. He talks about, and even shows us how the surface of titanium is meticulously rusted using electro-chemicals to grow an oxide layer, changing the color based on its thickness. He follows that up with some commentary on how a similar reaction gobbles up and transforms aluminum, creating a much thicker, porous oxide layer that can be filled with any color dye. So, just to be clear: controlled corrosion is good for your Mac, border control -- maybe not so much. You can watch the video right after the break.

When Intel first unveiled its grand plans for Ultrabooks at last year's Computex, many of the fireworks were consciously reserved for Ivy Bridge-based variants in 2012 -- well, they're here. This year's show in Taipei will show off the third generation of the skinny, MacBook Air-inspired platform, and Intel is toughening up the design requirements in the process. The thickness requirements are the same as last year, at 18mm for systems with screens under 14 inches and 21mm for bigger machines, but high-speed ports are now mandatory to get that coveted "Ultrabook" label and the full marketing weight of Intel's $300 million Ultrabook Fund: if a PC doesn't have either USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt, it's out of the running. Intel also wants security built-in, rather than optional, as well as guarantees that a system is quick and responsive when it's fully awake. Not that this would be terribly hard with the low-voltage Ivy Bridge processors launching at the same time, mind you.

Just to reinforce the importance of it all, Intel is noting that the flood of Ultrabooks is about to pick up in a big way as the category hits the mainstream. We were promised 75 Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks this year in a presentation back at CES; that number's now up to 110, 30 of which will be Windows 8-friendly touchscreen models and another 10 opting for the convertible tablet route. At least some of those lightweight portables should pop up at Computex next week, and you can be sure we'll be investigating as many of them as we can to see just how well Intel's partners have advanced the game.

Intel announced its quad-core Ivy Bridge processors in April, but we've known that dual-core CPUs must be on the way too. And alas, the chip maker does have some up its sleeve -- 14, to be exact. Core i5 and Core i7 versions will be the first to ship, with Core i3 processors launching later this year along with new Pentiums and Celerons. Of the 14 dual-core processors, six are desktop-grade. The rest are mobile, though four are ultra-low voltage (which will be denoted by a U at the end of their name). Computex is just around the corner, and we expect to see plenty of Ivy Bridge systems -- especially Ultrabooks with ultra-low voltage CPUs -- there next week. In the meantime, we've already reviewed the Lenovo ThinkPad x230, a system running a dual-core 2.6GHz Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor. If you're into the nitty-gritty details, you'll find plenty to love in the Intel slides below the break.

Today is May 31, 2012, the day Intel finally revealed specifics on its dual-core Ivy Bridge processors. That means the month of June is going to be teeming with new laptops, many of them packing Intel's latest chips. Lenovo's 12-inch ThinkPad X230 will be one of them when it goes on sale June 5th, and it happens to be the first machine we've tested with one of Intel's dual-core-flavored CPUs. But make no mistake: the X230 brings more than just a speed bump. With this generation, Lenovo overhauled its signature keyboard, opting instead for an island-style layout with wider-spaced keys. Rounding out the list is a 300-nit IPS display, a battery rated for nine hours of runtime and, of course, that brand-new Core i5-3320M CPU. So how much better is the performance? Is it a good deal for $1,249? And what to make of that revamped keyboard? Find the answers to all those questions after the break.

Lenovo ThinkPad X230 review

English entrepreneur and chairman of The Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson thinks that your tap water is dirty. So much so, in fact, that he's partnered up with Strauss Water to get one of his new purifiers into your home and onto your countertop. The colorful Virgin Pure T6 (£299, $466) can dispense 1.3 liters of chilled H2O per minute, or 1.4 liters of hot water that's stored internally. The T7 (£379, or $591) delivers a bit more swagger to your crib with its minimalist, tapered design that offers 50 percent faster cold water flow. It even gets a small power bump to heat your hot water more quickly than its less-expensive sibling. It all sounds well and good, but we'll really be impressed when Virgin crams one of these into its seatbacks in first class.

The White House has been drumming up momentum for tighter internet privacy laws for a while now, and today it's furthering that online safety agenda with a new initiative for combating botnets. Washington just announced a pilot program for fighting viruses, citing a whopping five million PCs infected worldwide this year. The program will use principles outlined by the Industry Botnet Group, with the main goal being to educate internet users on the dangers of cyberspace while preventing botnets from spreading by sharing data about infected computers. The White House is working with the Information Sharing and Analysis Center to develop and implement the "botnet pilot," presumably to enact those anti-virus principles.

You probably don't need a 112 slide PowerPoint presentation from Mary Meeker and the venture capital firm KPCB to tell you this, but the Internet, she's getting bigger. Every year more and more people sign on and, not surprisingly, many of the 663 million netizens added over the last three years have come from developing nations like China and India. In fact, since 2008, China has accounted for almost a third of new web users, adding 215 million to the connected population. What also shouldn't come as a shock, is that the boon in connectivity is also being pushed by the broader availability of 3G data connections. Areas like India, China and Vietnam have all seen triple digit percentage growths in 3G penetration since last year. Wireless broadband has really exploded in India, where year over year growth in subscribers was 841 percent, though, that still only equates to a four percent penetration rate. For more info about the state of the internet and the world's 1.1 billion 3G subscribers hit up the source link.