This gigantic LEGO BlackBerry was created by LEGO sculptor Nathan Sawaya for the BlackBerry Developer Conference. The five-foot tall smartphone is based on the BlackBerry Tour 9360, and not only incorporates thousands of LEGO blocks, but also has a flat-screen LCD television built into the middle of it.

While it won’t actually send and receive messages or make phone calls, the enormous BlackBerry could be used to surf the web – if only Nathan were to connect a computer to the display.

[via Gearfuse]

The Pong anti-radiation cases are mostly made of silicone, but the thing that really separates them from other cellphone cases is the “Pong gold PCB module” embedded in the case. As stated in a Wired article, the module has been proven to reduce the radiation from an iPhone into a users’ head to “a third of what it would be without the case.” Here’s a diagram of an ear farting the radiation being diverted/reflected/whisked away by the case:

The Pong case reduces the radiation going to into a users’ head with practically no signal loss; in fact Pong Research even says, “you may find that your communication efficiency actually improves with the use of the Pong case.” You can order the iPhone 3G/3GS-compatible Pong case for $60 (USD) at the Pong Research online store; the Blackberry Curve case (only compatible with models 8300, 8310, 8320 and 8330), also available at the store, sells for $50.

What do you guys think? Willing to drop $70 for something that might very well be unnecessary? And how about that “Pong Research” name eh? What’s up with that?

[via uncrate]

Here’s iDriver and Spirit of Berlin in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Praise Apple and the iPhone! Well, not really. Upon reading about iDriver at 8bitfix, commenter Solidsnake72 took time off from sneaking about and shared the video below. It starts small, but an insane turn of events comes about 2 minutes into the clip:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Blackberry FTW! Although RIM’s smartphone loses points for using Bluetooth, which of course has a limited range, I think we can all agree that controlling a real F1 car is infinitely more fun than controlling a station wagon, even if said station wagon has lasers onboard.

Update: as nobbi points out in the comments, the Blackberry video is (almost) certainly a viral marketing stunt. Can anyone confirm this? At least no kids on balloons  were involved. And thanks to gusto for the tip!

Mentalfloss has the details on that as well as on 7 other hi-tech names, like Toyota’s Prius (whose plural is still Prius according to the Japanese automaker), and Wikipedia (“wiki” means “fast” in Hawaiian). It’s something you can use to strike up a conversation with that cute geek you’ve been eyeing. You just walk up to her and go, “Did you know that Hulu means “butt”?” Nevermind. It’s all useless information.

Also, as you can see I have once again leveled-up my Photoshop skillz. They’re now at a world class level -7.

[via Gizmodo]

Toronto artist Barb Feldman handcrafts these teeny tiny iPhone 3G and BlackBerry (Curve?) dangly earrings by precisely layering and slicing Fimo polymer clay.

If you have any doubt about how detailed these earrings are, check out this close-up shot of the iPhone interface, complete with all of the familiar application icons:

Of course, there’s no App Store support, so don’t plan on installing any new programs on these unless you plan on upgrading your earlobes.

The iPhone earrings run $22 a pair, while the BlackBerry earrings sell for $19 a set, and there is no telco demanding 2-year commitment required when you buy these phones, so that’s all you’ll be on the hook for with these (other than shipping).

You can find these and other fun miniature Fimo items over at Barb’s Etsy shop. Just one question for Barb – where’s my Palm Pre?

So why is the SPPS200 200 Wh Portable Power Station the BMW M6 of battery packs? Because its little brothers, the 118 Wh and 130 Wh models, are the BMW of battery packs, that’s why. So why are they the BMWs of battery packs? Because they’re expensive. So why are they expensive? Because they can power your laptop, for up to 30 hours. Vrooom.

The SPPS 200 can power PC laptops for 20-30 hours, while MacBooks owners can expect 16 hours of extra runtime. BMW of runtimes if you ask me.

And that’s not all: As you may have guessed from the picture, you can adjust the output voltage of the PPS so that aside from giving your laptop the BMW of battery lives, it can also power and recharge your cellphone, your PDA, your PSP, your iPhone, your iPod and other mp3 players.

And that’s not all: You don’t even need to bring the chargers for any of those devices because the PPS comes with adapters that will fit with your gadget. You can check out the link to Battery Geek below for the BMW of supported laptops and mobile devices. And that’s not all: while Macbooks are supported, Battery Geek charges an extra $20 for the Macbook/Macbook Pro adapter. G4 and Powerbook adapters are already included with the PPS.

And that’s not all: The PPS weighs only 4.4 lbs. and is just over an inch thick. What’s the catch? The BMW M6 of battery pack prices, of course. The list price of the SPPS 200 is $800 (USD). Fortunately, you can buy it straight from Battery Geek for the BMW of discounted prices of $500. And that’s not all: when you buy the SPPS 200, you’ll get the BMW of freebies, a free leather & canvas travel case.

And that’s not all: Here are the BMWs of introductory videos for battery packs:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Now you know the BMWs and the BMW M6s of the tech world. Next time we’ll take a look at the Scot Pollard of rap.

Update: a couple of commenters have pointed out that the spps200 may in fact be the Ford Edsel of battery packs. Apparently Battery Geek also has poor service. Caveat emptor.

BlackBerry (or as it’s commonly known, crackberry) addiction is actually getting to be somewhat passé, what with the iPhone mania. Still, look at every train, plane, and automobile, and you can generally find someone buried in their blackberry, furiously typing on those tiny keys and scrolling through their email.

These are handcrafted by picnicbybarbfeldman. They’re made of Fimo with all the details built in, not painted on. You can get them in dangly form, or studs (gents, that means you!) A pair can be yours for $19 from Etsy.

[via GeekSugar]

The theme installs on BlackBerry 8700, Pearl, Curve and 8800 models, assuming you have at least OS 4.2.1 installed.

While the icons and interface aren’t identical to those on the iPhone, they’re similar enough to give you the same general look and feel. Even the battery and signal strength indicators are stylized versions of the iPhone UI elements. For areas where there wasn’t a clear parallel between iPhone and BlackBerry Mac OS X design standards were used (like using a beachball for the “busy” indicator).

Sorry, no multi-touch display or motion sensor is included.

[via methodshop]

All of the popular BlackBerry applications, including e-mail, phone, text messaging, web browsing, and organizer capabilities are expected to be supported. In addition, devices running the suite will be able to interact with BlackBerry Enterprise and Internet servers, and take advantage of their popular “push” e-mail capability.

No specifics were revealed about which particular Windows Mobile devices will support the BlackBerry Application Suite, but details should emerge later this year.

The 8800 is a full quad-band GSM/EDGE phone, and lifts many of the features found in the popular BlackBerry Pearl model, such as its well-received trackball navigation. The phone has a solid 320 x 240 pixel color display with light sensing technology to automatically adjust screen brightness depending on ambient light levels.

Since the 8800 has added both media player software and expandable memory via an SD slot, it has the potential to be your primary media player now. Built-in GPS and mapping features are also included.The 8800 also features enhanced battery life, with a standby time of 22 days and talk time of 5 hours. As is the case with other full-sized BlackBerries, this one also has the standard full QWERTY keyboard, push/pull e-mail, web browsing, calendar and contact management capabilities.

The BlackBerry 8800 should be available from major carriers (Cingular/AT&T for sure) later this month, but pricing has not been announced yet.