RIM's a little late to the touchscreen party, but comes bearing goodies. The BlackBerry Storm is a beast of a phone in more ways than one. Fronted by a meaty, high-resolution touchscreen with an innovative clicking mechanism, the phone is easily the prettiest by RIM to date. There's a brushed metal back, a beautiful new OS interface, and enough radios to give your grandkids cancer (EV-DO Rev. A, quad-band GSM, Europe-friendly HSPA, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, though sadly no WiFi). But the real test of a phone is usability, not flash. Check out our impressions after the break.

A storm's arrival typically isn't something to celebrate, but we're going to make a notable exception here seeing how the BlackBerry Storm is less of a destructive weather pattern and more of an incredibly hot smartphone -- arguably RIM's hottest to date. Fit to its business-savvy roots, the long-rumored handset comes equipped with the most comprehensive global roaming capabilities of virtually any wireless device you'll find anywhere, featuring EV-DO Rev. A, quadband EDGE, and 2100MHz HSPA for Europe. Beyond that, the Storm becomes RIM's very first touchscreen phone, mounting a 3.26-inch 480 x 360 glass display on a unique clickable surface so that the entire thing can be pressed downwards -- just like a real button -- for tactile feedback when making selections. It includes a full HTML finger-navigable browser, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint editing capabilities, Bluetooth 2.0, 1GB of on-board storage with an 8GB microSD card bundled in the box, 3.5mm headphone jack, automatic orientation and ambient lighting sensors, and a 3.2-megapixel autofocus cam with dedicated flash, making it a legitimate jack-of-all-trades that seems likely to be able to handle even the most chaotic personal and professional lives users can throw its way. It'll allegedly do 15 days of standby or 5.5 hours of talk time on either GSM or CDMA networks. No word on pricing yet -- we're told all will be revealed "in the coming weeks" -- but it'll launch on both Verizon and Vodafone in November.

Oh sure, Stealth could've just phoned up NextComputing or ACME in order to acquire a beastly (albeit portable) LCD-infused desktop, but seriously, where's the joviality in that? Instead, this clearly skilled individual decided to concoct a custom rig of his own, complete with two 22-inch LCDs, lots (and lots) of diamond plate and "zero compromises." Dubbed the CinematographHD after a Lumière Brothers device from the 1980s, this massively potent video editing system also packs a Blu-ray drive, inbuilt speakers and a storage compartment for mice, keyboards and copious amounts of BAWLS. Check out the construction video just after the break.

[Thanks, Justin]

We could tell from the press shot that this here laptop bag was far and away the most beautiful of the TSA-approved bunch, and a recent review over at Gadling confirms it. Put simply, the Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer is "fantastic," and even the reviewer found himself startled at just how much he dug it. The build quality was remarkable, the ease of use was commendable and the design itself was obviously worthy of praise. The only real rub is the bloated sticker; the price of admission is a stiff $220, and that's before you add in any useful straps or extra packing cubes. 'Course, you're probably wondering how this thing fared in real-world use, and we're happy to report that no cavity searches were required when passing through security on a flight from Chicago to Amsterdam. Check the full writeup and a hands-on gallery in the read link.

It's been a long time coming, but we've finally found a KIRF suitable to become the one and only successor to our very first "Keepin' it real... WTF?!" This here iPhone -- which is little more than a familiar chassis with a lead weight and a small amount of internal hardware -- is reportedly used by scammers in Russia in order to barter for train tickets, grub, etc. In essence, the phone has just enough electronics within it to give the appearance of a "boot up" sequence, complete with the Apple logo; the scammer in possession of it then explains that the battery is simply drained, but that it will work perfectly fine once charged. After any given sucker hands over something quite valuable in exchange for this heap, he / she proceeds to crush it into a million pieces while cursing the unknown name of whoever fooled them in the first place. Moral of the story? Stay sharp, street traders.

[Thanks, Abhijit]

Uncle Woz is stirring things up today in an interview with The Telegraph, saying that he thinks "the iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one, things like, if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while... they get real cheap and then they are not selling as much." That's certainly an interesting parallel to draw, since the iPod is unquestionably the market leader and the recent updates to the nano and classic weren't particularly overwhelming -- but we've got to disagree here and say that the metaphor doesn't quite work.

Walkmans and radios were standalone products that didn't really change over time, while the iPod is clearly evolving into a compelling standalone computing platform -- and it's tied to iTunes, which, hate it or love it, is the most popular content store out there. Sure, things could change dramatically -- competitors like the Zune are getting way better, subscription music could finally take off, and DRM is slowly going away (at least for music) -- but it's hard to see Apple getting baited into a brand-tarnishing price war or simply letting the iPod fade away without putting up a fight. We'll see, we suppose -- any of you willing to throw down some bold predictions?

[Via Wired]

We're still waiting on Verizon to stop teasing us about this thing, but Vodafone (who's been hinting at the phone since last month) just announced the BlackBerry Storm, RIM's touchscreen flagship. As if you didn't know already, Vodafone is confirming a 3.25-inch 480 x 360 touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, automatic orientation flipping, 1GB of built-in storage and a host of multimedia capabilities, including iTunes sync.

[Thanks, Bob]

If you'll recall, Tsukuba University professor Yoshiyuki Sankai designed a robotic suit called HAL-5 a few years ago. Production of this handicap-overcomer began back in 2006, and as promised, manufacturer Cyberdyne (not to be confused with Cyberdyne Systems, best known for its genocidal Skynet AI and army of Terminator robots) is finally ready to crank it out in large numbers. Starting this Friday, HAL will be available for rent in Japan at the modest rate of $2,200 per month. Sankai hopes it will prove useful to the elderly and folks with disabilities by providing super-strength mechanical assistance when they send brain signals to move their limbs. HAL may be used for good but it won't be used for awesome; Sankai has turned down military-types who've expressed interest.

[Thanks, Evan]

We certainly hope that Joongoo Lee has a royalty check in the mail, because to the untrained eye, it looks like Samsung has taken the Costume concept we peeked back in July and made it a reality. The fashionable S1 and S2 hard drives include 1.8- and 2.5-inch HDDs (respectively), with the former arriving in 80/120/160GB capacities and the latter in 160/250/320/500GB sizes. The compact drives are entirely USB-powered and include a handful of expected backup / data protection features. As for colors, you can expect these in piano black, snow white, red wine and chocolate brown this month in Europe, while South Koreans will be asked to wait until November. As for the rest of ya? Hope you know a good importer.

[Via I4U News, thanks Luigi]

You've already seen just how sexy ASUS' Eee PC S101 is in person (save for that heinous brown motif), but now you can take a peek at just how luscious this slim slab of computing prowess looks in the eyes of a press photographer. And if you're worried about real-world use, an early review puts those fears completely to bed. Critics found the machine to be absolutely stunning (a real shock, we know), and on the performance end, they were generally pleased. Of note, it did long for integrated WWAN and a tinier price tag, but we suppose you can't have everything. Speaking of which, we're seeing a probable €599 ($816) price tag for the European model, which clearly includes a premium for the aforementioned overall hotness.

Read - Press shots
Read - Review

Unfortunately for you budding energy stars out there, the Pentagon's latest contest is over, so you've no choice here but to grit your teeth and applaud both DuPont and Germany's Smart Fuel Cell. Out of the 170 teams vying for the $1 million prize, these two managed to impress the most; the winning gizmo was the M-25 portable power system, which is already being sold to the US Army for "limited use in the field." Contestants were tasked with creating a new wearable power solution to juice up energy-hungry military gear (GPS units, night-vision goggles, head-mounted PMPs, etc.) without weighing soldiers down, and the winning device combined "DuPont's direct-methanol fuel cell technology with SFC's fuel cell and battery system." Yeah, we're totally expecting a PSP / DS compatible version of this before the holidays.

[Via FuelCellWorks, thanks Adam]

Sleek Audio's SA6 canalphones generated quite a bit of buzz due to those adjustable acoustics, and if you've been wishing on your lucky stars for a wireless interpretation of said headphones, something is clearly going right for you. The outfit has just revealed that a new partnership with KLEER (yes, KLEER) has led to a wireless application for the SA6 and Sleek Customs, which, according to Sleek, is the first wireless technology that could do these drivers justice. The new adornment attaches right to the SA6 earphones to provide "CD quality sound from a wireless platform," and better still, the SA6's detachable cable ensures that you can keep on listening with a tether should your battery die in the midst of cordless jamming. The KLEER accessory should be up for pre-order shortly at $120, while a KLEER / SA6 bundle will sell for $299.99. Full release after the break.