Motorola is rolling out three new handsets that’ll be available in the next few months. While the concepts are relatively up-to-date (eco-friendliness, military ruggedness, touchscreens), why did Motorola choose designs from 2002?

The Renew W233, a bright yellow candybar, is allegedly the first phone made from recycled water bottles.

Later today we’ll see new Apple gear. Cultists know that Apple announces news then. But most don’t realize why. So I poked around and found out the answer:

Apple news turns out to be just another practical left brain decision built entirely around the news cycle.

Travel: Journalists won’t travel on Sundays, a non working day, for an event or presentation on Monday.
Weeklies: While a blog or website only needs moments to distribute the news, the longest lead time of any publication that can still be considered timely is the weekly.

LaCie’s newest Hard Disk MAX storage system doesn’t depart from the company’s history of sleek-looking computer peripherals. It delivers up to 2TB of storage in an ebony-glazed cuboid designed by Neil Poulton.

The Hard Disk MAX includes two 1TB disk drives that can be set in either a RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration.

News of HP’s Firebird 803 may have leaked out over the holidays, but now that its been officially announced, we have a batch of photos, including the freakishly tidy insides, as well as pricing details.

As you can see, HP put some work in getting the internal layout of the Firebird to be as simple and clean as possible.

The Gadget: The HP Mini 2140 is the update to the education and business oriented Mini 2133 netbook. HP says they bumped the 2140’s specs to cater more to the road warriors.

The Skinny: The most notable changes in the 2140 is the 10-inch, LED-backlit, 16:9 screen (1366×768!) and the 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor.

All of HP’s 12-inch (and under) laptops have either been tablets, netbooks, or products aimed at the business crowd—until now. The Pavilion DV2 is HP’s new 12-inch consumer laptop that is under an inch thick.

The DV2 is powered by a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 processor, supports up to 4GB RAM (only one slot, however), offers up to 500 GB storage, and comes with HDMI-out.

Sling Media revealed that HD streaming will be coming to Mac users via Sling.com, and they plan to submit the Sling iPhone app for approval in Q1 of this year.

As opposed to a standalone desktop client, Sling has opted to introduce SlingPlayer for Mac HD as a web-based app that runs through Sling.com.

To further the advancement of fusion energy, national security, and a leadership in basic science and technology, the National Ignition Facility is attempting to create thermonuclear reactions by producing their own man-made star.

Located in Livermore, California, the ten story facility—which is also the size of about 3 football fields strung together—houses the world’s largest laser, consisting of 192 laser beams made of hydrogen fuel, the same kind of energy that makes stars shine.

After traveling through almost a mile of lenses, mirrors and amplifiers, the lasers will converge in the center of the chamber, creating a beam that is 10 billion times stronger than an average household light bulb.

This solar-charged monkey toy that uses solar energy to climb the rope, hand over hand, is probably the first of its kind that we’ve seen.

Unfortunately, there is some assembly required, but it’ll teach the young’ns about how monkeys need to often be under direct sunlight.

Samsung’s HMX-H106 camcorder’s claim to fame is that it’s the first camcorder with a built-in 64GB SSD. But its smoother-than-usual lines make it look like a Thermos I could pour thirst-quenching fruit punch in.

It, along with its 32GB and 16GB brothers, the H105 and H104, respectively, have a 10x zoom lens with optical stabilization and storage expansion via SDHC card slot.