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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Peripherals

You know, we typically have nothing but respect for the For Dummies line (with one title in particular being our fav), but this is just downright insulting. For those buying a new HDTV on Black Friday or soon after, 4D Global Partners and Cables To Go have linked up schemed to sucker you into buying this pathetic kit for hooking things up. Ironically enough, this supposedly simple package gets confusing right from the get-go by coming in two versions — as if HDTV newbies will really understand which one to go for. Beyond that, the only difference between the HDTV Cable Kit For Dummies and the HDTV Premium Cable Kit For Dummies is the number of HDMI cables (two and three, respectively). Each box comes bundled with a few basic HDMI connectors, “additional cables required to connect non-HDMI components,” reusable cable ties and a booklet that provides vague installation details for a TV you don’t actually own. Worst of all, the For Dummies crew somehow got the idea that pricing these at $99.99 and $149.99 (in order of mention) was a bright idea, which makes us awfully suspicious that Noel Lee has his sketchy hands in this somewhere.

HDTV Cable Kit For Dummies is really just for suckers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The six-blade razor. It had to happen sooner or later, and we don’t expect the razor manufacturers to stop until they get to the full 76 blades contained in Mad Magazine’s Trac LXXVI Razor. But although billed as a six-blader, the Rolling Razor in fact has two triple-bladed cartridges, surely a trick to make you buy more of them. We also see plenty of anxiety as you struggle in the pre-coffee hours to work out which half has had the most wear.

So, apart from the excess of cutting edges, what other gimmicks are contained within the Rolling Razor? First, and most obvious, is the handle. Instead of the regular stick-shaped handle we all know how to use, the Rolling Razor has a kind of wheel-shaped appendage with a finger-hole poked through. This, apparently, gives a better grip.

The other twist is the base. It can, as the product site suggests, be used to proudly display your razor in the bathroom. It can also be stuck inside your shower cubicle using the integrated suction cups — actually a rather useful addition. The best part? The Rolling Razor is available in two flavors of manly camouflage coloring: Desert and Jungle, although unless you have some decidedly odd bathroom decor, neither will actually be very hard to find. There’s a girls’ version, too. It’s pink. $15

Product page [Rolling Razor via New Launches]

A couple of dudes with more smarts than brains were busted for stealing the identities of legitimate trucking firms, setting up actual jobs and pocketing the cash, says Wired’s Threat Level blog. But though the hackers operated for years out of the comfort of their home, the master plan was doomed to backfire.

The first part of the plan was simple—Nicholas Lakes and Viachelav Berkovich, two Russian immigrants, hacked the low-security government-run Safersys.org, which lists approved safe trucking firms. They’d go in and replace the phone number and address of a legitimate company. Posing as that company, they would take an order to deliver a load, then subcontract the job to some other trucker.

Once the subcontractor delivered the goods, the client would pay Lakes and Berkovich directly, and they’d disappear with the cash. The poor subcontractor, the hardest-hit of the victims, would go to the legit company in search of payment. The legit company of course knew nothing about the deal.

Even though the two men ran this fraud for three years, and raked in $500,000, they should have known they’d be caught eventually. The plan was flawed in that it left too many people scratching their heads every single time. Someone sooner or later was bound to trace the phone calls and track the paper trail back to the source. [Threat Level]

Filed under: Laptops

Of course it had to happen sooner or later, but we’re a little taken aback that someone at Sony had the temerity to slice open a newborn Vaio TT and put it on display — in a booth at CEATEC, no less — for the whole world to see. Righteous indignation aside, the thing is pretty impressive, especially considering that without the Blu-ray drive it would only be about half the size. We have one more pic for you after the break, and be sure to check out our look inside the Z series while you’re at it.

[Via Sony Insider]

Continue reading Sony’s Vaio TT gets dissected, found to contain small components

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