If you’ve seen one of those tiny pico projectors, chances are, Texas Instruments‘ DLP tech is inside. And their latest version, the mHD DLP Pico, may be the first to squeeze into a cellphone that’s humiliating to use.

The new, low power chipset drives an optical module that’s 20% thinner and 50% smaller than TI’s last pico projector, which was notably 20% thinner than its predecessor.

Resolution has taken a hit in this smaller form factor, dropping from DVD quality to 640×360. But the system claims a 1000:1 contrast ratio (that’s LCD monitor territory) and a wider color gamut thanks to RGB LEDs. Of course, brightness will probably still be the chief issue.

TI’s latest pico hardware is planned for production starting in Q2 of this year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it popped up in some handset at MWC this week. [SlashGear]

It’s not hard to find a neoprene laptop sleeve, but few are made from the discarded remnants of an actual wetsuit factory like LooptWorks’ cases (starting at $30). Authentic shark bites and pee stains not included. [LooptWorks via Treehugger]

A USB hub/SD card reader is a handy thing to have on your desk. But the huBox takes both of these components and sticks them into a small, Mac-Mini-friendly box. Clever. (On sale soon for unknown price.) [huBox via AkihabaraNews]

First, the Eye-Fi added Wi-Fi to any camera with an SD card. Now, the Sagem Orga SIMFi does something similar. It’s a SIM card that adds Wi-Fi capabilities to cellphones…Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities, that is.

Just like the Eye-Fi, the SIMFi runs its own integrated software, meaning there shouldn’t be any special setup on your phone. You pretty much just plug it into a phone and you’re good to connect a laptop, or any other Wi-Fi device, to the internet at 3G speeds.

But whether or not the SIMFi is coming to market under its own branding is unknown. For the time being, it may just be a proof of concept that’s being shopped around to interested entities like AT&T or T-Mobile. You know, so someone can charge you an extra monthly fee for the thing. [Sagem Ogra via SlashGear]

Not even Bono can pull off wearing huge glasses to use a HUD through life. But ski goggles? They’re practically designed to look ludicrous. These Zeal Recon Transcend Ski Goggles display GPS, speed, altitude and more in real time.

Available this fall for between $350 and $450, Transcend goggles are a partnership between two companies: Zeal Optics and Recon Instruments. The result is a pair of goggles that contain hardware to measure speed, altitude, time, temperature and GPS coordinates—a slew of information that’s displayed through a HUD. Charging and data transfer occurs over USB.

Buttons on the side of the goggles will allow you to scan through information on the ski lift, which will be especially useful as Transcend gains additional promised functions, including trail maps, cellphone display integration and video recording.

There’s no doubt about it—the Transcend goggles sound a bit too good to be true. But we’re childishly refusing to temper expectations while waiting impatiently for fall. If these things actually worked, I’d wear them just, like, on the street. No snowboard required. [Transcend and Zeal Optics via RedFerret via CrunchGear]

The NYT published an interesting piece on display technologies, allowing doctors and professors to attack the age old question, are LCDs worse for your eyes than eReaders. The answer? It depends.

As Michael Bove, director of the Consumer Electronics Laboratory at the MIT Media Lab, puts it:

“It depends on the viewing circumstances, including the software and typography on the screen…Right now E Ink is great in sunlight, but in certain situations, a piece of paper can be a better display than E Ink, and in dim light, an LCD display can be better than all of these technologies.”

Apparently, the high refresh rates of modern LCDs make it as easy on the eyes as any e-paper/e-ink technology, when ignoring environmental factors like light and ergonomics. Problems seem to arise from eye fatigue, which is more a product of the lighting situation and the user’s practice of taking proper breaks (let your eyes rest every 20 minutes).

Also, Stephenie Meyer novels have been known to cause brain damage when read on any screen technology. [NYT]

I can’t imagine the $30,000 Superplexus puzzle as a real product. All I see is a boy who’s trapped some sort of ligneous, sapient life form in a sphere. And he’s spinning it, slowly. [HammacherSchlemmer via TheGreenHead via OhGizmo!]

Just another of Kevin Smith‘s classic, self-censored, family-appropriate comments from his Macworld Q&A session. [Wired]

Long before we had sultry Cylons, the world imagined a different type of robot—one that wasn’t wearing makeup and lingerie, but celebrating its own mechanical aesthetic.

Michael Rivamonte is the artist behind these sculptures of “robots and spacemen capable of flight and mischief.” Most of his pieces stand about three feet tall and include design details ranging from exposed wiring to LED jetpacks—crafted from materials including steel, clay, wood and what looks like a few repurposed antique cameras.

You won’t find any prices on Rivamonte’s site, but his artwork is for sale. Now if only Honda would give him the greenlight to retrofit Asimo, we’d really have something. [Michael Rivamonte Thanks Rodney!]

During WWI, German U-Boats were alarmingly effective at sinking allied warships and transport vessels alike. But since a ship couldn’t exactly be cloaked, Norman Wilkinson, British artist and naval officer, developed another method nicknamed razzle dazzle.

U-Boats were effective but simple—they shot torpedoes, not directly at ships, but where they estimated a ship would end up once the torpedo got there. Razzle dazzle was an artistic countermeasure, less camouflage and more just a highly confusing pattern meant to make judging a ship’s direction and size more difficult.

What you won’t see in the lead shot was that these ships weren’t just striped—they were covered in an array of colors, as seen in this colorized photo:
To each his own, but if it’s between razzle dazzle and covering my ship in branches and termites, I’m going razzle dazzle. [Twisted Sifter via inspire me now]

It’s been a long road from conceptual render to final product, but the Riiflex Wii weights (for Wii Fit, or any other game) are available now for $30/pair. Me? I’m too lazy to even waggle a stock Wiimote. [Riiflex]

We’ve all seen clocks running off foods like oranges and potatoes, but what kind of citrus power does it take to charge an iPhone? This ever-so-strange, ever-so-enchanting video reveals the answer. [Hacker News via Geek]

Gizmodo is a blog, yes, but it’s also become a more encompassing entity—one that’s dynamically enriched by its readership. And we can think of nothing more important for you to share than the real-world stories about your gadgets.

#Broken

For whenever a device hasn’t lived up to its promises or a company has just screwed you royally, tip the #broken tag. Not only will it allow you a place to vent (which helps, trust me); having all of these complaints in one place allows us to spot/legitimize trends. Plus, it’s my personal hope that particularly savvy companies will be smart enough to peruse the #broken tag to ensure that their customer base is happy.

You may recognize #broken as the same tag we’ve been using to follow the Faulty iMac Saga. That’s really just the start of what #broken can be—your participation will make it far more relevant and powerful.

#Lifechanger

But all gadgets don’t always suck (that’s why, ultimately, we’re all hanging out at Gizmodo). To laud the gadgets and everyday devices, from new to antiquated, from ordinary to extraordinary, that you just could not live without, use our #lifechanger tag.

We debuted #lifechanger with my ode to Pyrex Colors bowls. In an era when we covet everything new and shiny, the idea that something lacking logos and multi million dollar marketing campaigns can make our lives better is more important to acknowledge than ever before. (Though, if you just want to talk about your totally spectacular Nexus One, that’s fine too.)

Ultimately, it’s not any small group of technology editors writing for any publication who decide whether or not a product is relevant; it’s the masses, the people who buy the products and use them, rather than just “test” or “review” them, in their everyday lives.

You are the masses, so make these spaces your own, and allow Gizmodo to speak in a new, truer way.

We’ve all received the Nigerian Letters, or 419 scams. And I doubt I’m the only one who was tempted to follow up, just to see how the scam worked. Now Scam Detective published a 3-part interview with a reformed prince.

The process he shares is enlightening. It also explains all the bad English.

John [the scammer]: First you need to understand how the gangs work. At the bottom are the “foot soldiers”, kids who spend all of their time online to find email addresses and send out the first emails to get people interested. When they receive a reply, the victim is passed up the chain, to someone who has better English to get copies of ID from them like copies of their passport and driving licenses and build up trust. Then when they are ready to ask for money, they are passed further up again to someone who will pretend to be a barrister or shipping agent who will tell the victim that they need to pay charges or even a bribe to get the big cash amount out of the country. When they pay up, the gang master will collect the money from the Western Union office, using fake ID that they have taken from other scam victims.

Even though Scam Detective hasn’t verified the scammer’s identity, his story certainly sounds true. There’s a lot more in the series, so start from the beginning here: [Scam Detective via Schneier via boingboing]