The Playstation 3 ended 2007 with a strong December selling just under 800,000 units during the month and looks to trying to keep on with momentum this year by releasing the white PS3 that we saw launch last October in Japan. It came with a 40GB hard drive, white DualShock controllers and like the other 40GB models it lacked the memory card reader, backwards compatibility and had only two USB ports. This white model headed for the US appears to be the same. The information along with photos was released by the FCC and shows it was originally submitted last October with a request to keep it under wraps for a while.

If you’re a cell phone manufacturer and you want to appeal to billions of Chinese smokers, the answer seems fairly obvious. Design a cell phone that resembles a pack of cigarettes, complete with authentic warning label. The real kicker is that the battery case slides open to reveal a compartment that holds seven real cigarettes.

The phone runs on dualband GSM, takes microSD cards, plays MP3, has a color screen and a VGA camera on the side. If you’re willing to pay $175 you will get a VIP kit that contains the phone, a pack of Chonghwa branded cigarettes and a lighter. As if cigarettes weren’t bad enough, now they will have the added benefit of cell phone radiation brewing in their little compartment.

This Cassette looks like it could have come straight out of the 80′s, but it’s also an MP3 Player. It can be used as a stand alone MP3 player with headphones, or inserted into any cassette deck and played that way. It plays the music directly from the SD card that you put in it, so you can’t reverse/skip/etc. when the tape is playing. Pointless, but neat.

Of course if you want different tunes, just load another SD card in it. It will cost you $22 from Chinavasion, and some valuable dignity as you go back to using an old cassette deck. With this kind of backwards thinking, Chinavasion will have an iPod in an old 8-Track tape in no time.

Here is an odd knock off product that defies reason. A fake iPhone that’s really a scale. I guess it would be perfect for the “iDealer” in your neighborhood to weigh his wares on this scale, while having it look like the latest high-tech gadget when the police storm the door.

Upon closer inspection, it’s easy to see that somebody did a rework of the interface in MS Paint. Look for this to show up in new episodes of COPS, sitting by the dope. The other dope will be handcuffed and incoherent wearing the standard grimy white undershirt.

Starting Tuesday Time Warner’s HBO will begin HBO On Broadband, a trial of a new online video download service bringing HBO content to subscribers’ computers much like HBO On Demand does but with much more content. The new service will offer 400 hours of video content including 130 movie titles that can all be downloaded and viewed through a computer.

Before you get too excited about getting the Sapranos downloaded you’ll want to note that this is starting out as a limited area trial and has some requirements. The HBO On Broadband service will initial launch only in the Wisconsin areas of Green Bay and Milwaukee with plans of expanding to other areas at a later time. Those residing in the eligible areas must also be subscribers to HBO’s pay-cable network and must use their cable company as their internet provider, making the bundled services from the cable providers a more attractive prospect. The service is also limited to Windows systems.

Apple seems intent on bringing the iPhone to Asia yet this year and Advanced Info Service (AIS) in Thailand is the latest to announce that they are in negotiations to bring the popular mobile handset in their direction. Apple has recently been in negotiations with NTT Docomo in Japan with revenue sharing being a pivotal point in negotiations. China Mobile had also been in talks about carrying the iPhone until recently when the issue of revenue sharing with Apple brought the discussions to a halt.

According to AIS chief marketing officer Sanchai Thiewprasertkul, Apple is likely to find difficulty in negotiating a revenue sharing deal in Thailand as well. AIS charges only a Thai baht (about 3 cents) per minute for airtime on their plans, and around 90% of the plans are prepaid. Apple would have trouble making revenue by trying to split 3 cents per minute and is looking to do so with post-paid plans.

Etch-a-Sketch is finally coming into the 21st century. The Wired Etch-a-Sketch is the digital version of the classic toy that has entertained children as well as bored adults for the past several decades. The TV Etch-a-Sketch takes the toy to the next level.

It has a wide variety of new modes, like Cool Drawing Tools, Trace A Pic, Super Sketch and Connecting the Dots. The controller has the two classic Etch-a-Sketch knobs to keep the nostalgic feel of the original. What about shaking it and clearing what you’ve drawn? That’s the most classic part, after all. Yes, it has that feature too. Just shake the controller and the screen will clear.

Would be Jedis of the Wii variety now have another weapon at their disposal. Camy’s Pro Gear Wii Light Swords are similar to this lightsaber attachment we told you about in November, but with a strange off center saber.

They are colored plastic Wiimote holders available in three “ultra bright” colors. If you wish to instill not fear but laughter, you can flip a switch and light up the night sky with your dorky laser blade. The swords are slated for a May/June release, with no word on price just yet. You can always just settle for having a light saber lamp nearby too.

Here’s a great watch for DJ’s or record enthusiasts that want to proclaim their undying love for vinyl. Designed by FludWatches, the TableTurns watch sports a face that looks like a miniature Technics 1200 turntable. The visual details are all there in retro glory, but it won’t play tiny records, much to my sadness.

The clock hands rotate, so in a way it may look as if the record is spinning…very slowly. Each watch ships in it’s own miniature flight case for added coolness. The watch comes with either a black leather or stainless steel band, and is available from TurntableLab for only $59.This is definitely one of the cooler watches out there right now. If it actually played tiny records, I’d be sold, but for now I’ll stick with hoping someone comes out with an actual mini iPod watch.

You probably need these speakers like you need a hole in the head. Now that I think of it, these skull speakers actually have holes in their heads from when they met their unfortunate end. Anyway, their loss of life can be your gain.

They will definitely give guests a chill and goth up your stereo system. They come with a headphone jack which you can hook up to your computer or media player. So whether you have a liking for old bones, or an Indiana Jones motif, or even a Bat cave, these will complete the look.

Inventec just released images of two new UMPCs. The UMPC 7-A and the UMPC 5-D won iF Design Awards honors, and you can see why looking at the above picture. The curved design of the UMPC 7-A is not just for looks, though it does look pretty neat. It is supposed to improve the viewing angle and make the slider QWERTY keyboard more ergonomic than a flat design.

The UMPC 5-D is more typical and focuses on a modular design. It comes with a docking station and a set of appliances of some type. No info on Inventec MID/UMPC specs so far, but the folks over at Unwired View took a guess at some. They are thinking an Intel Menlow platform, 1.33 with 45-nm 800 MHz-1.33 GHz Silverthone CPU, Poulsbo US15 chipset, 1-2 GB of RAM and 30-60 GB HDD. They might be right.

We’re used to seeing our share of iPod docks, but this borders on the ridiculous. Okay, it crosses the border screaming and begging not to be deported. I think it goes without saying that this device is designed to charge your iPod while you discharge your own product, commonly known as an iLog.

It does more then charge your iPod in an inappropriate location, though. It features two USB ports and not only dispenses precious paper, but while doing so, will soothe you with music through four high-performance, moisture-resistant speakers. “Easy-to-use controls allow for one-handed navigation.” One word…Ewww!

Let’s face it, Guitar Hero is not nearly enough for some would be Rock stars out there. To them, everything needs to have the ability to be plucked, strummed and otherwise abused musically. And the air guitar only gets you so far before people start avoiding you like the plague. This is for those people.

The PocketGuitar is a virtual guitar for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It was developed as a Google Code project by Shinya Kasatani. You can also use the songs on your iPod for those long guitar sessions. Apparently, it’s very easy to install. Now you’ll have a whole new way to annoy those around you, while getting your guitar action on.

This new cell phone concept by designer Tao Ma looks pretty sexy. It not only cuts cost and weight, but it also boosts battery life by getting rid of the display or touch screen completely. Instead, all functions and displays use LEDs below the translucent surface.

For instance, while in phone mode, the keypad would be displayed. Other arrangements of lights and shapes are displayed during gaming, SMS and other modes, depending on what you are doing. It accomplishes this thanks to a net of touch sensors behind the keys. The concept relies on two AAA batteries recharged via USB.

Data Drive Thru, the makers of the Tornado USB peer-to-peer connection device for PC’s, have given it an upgrade this year and are launching the iTornado sometime in March of this year. The iTornado works much like its predecessor making a direct connection between computers via USB. The upgrade for this model allows users to not only connect two PC’s, but also allows them to connect a PC to an Intel based Mac to transfer files back and forth.

The device consists of two retractable USB cables and built-in software so there is nothing to install. Simply plug-in both computers and a list of files available on both computers will display, and it will display on both computers. From there users can simply drag and drop files between the two and transfer them via USB 2.0 at up to 25Mb/second. The iTornado can make upgrading or switching from a PC to a Mac a lot easier than trying to find the other computer via a common network or copying back and forth with a thumb drive.