Western Digital has finally launched the industry’s first 2TB internal hard drive today in the US. It’s the highest capacity single HDD in the known universe, dubbed the 2TB Caviar Green. It’s available now for $299. The 3.5-inch platform drive includes 32MB of cache and is based on WD’s 500GB per platter technology with 400Gb/in2 areal density.

HotHardware had a sneak peek at the drive and has some benchmark results: The WD managed to hold its own against the Spinpoint F1 and Barracuda 7200.11.

Since everyone is using the Wii these days, I guess it was inevitable that we could get house calls from Dr. Mario. Nintendo Japan has announced a new Wii “Check-Up” channel that is scheduled for an April launch. The system was developed with the help of Hitachi, NEC, and Panasonic, with a health insurance company providing 2-way communication between users and health professionals who will give you “healthy guidance”.

Let’s face it, you could use some of that after playing video games all day. Apparently it will work in conjunction with Wii Fit and the Balance Board. You can also use NEC’s mobile phone health platform.

One of the things I have always liked about Apple is that it bundles much of the software a user needs or wants with the computer. For instance, photo editing applications, web authoring, and DVD making are all included in the iLife suite.

Apple’s latest iLife version is now available for purchase. As of today iLife ’09 is available for Mac owners for a $79 single license upgrade. Users with more than one Mac in the home can get a family pack with five licenses for $99.

Patents are a huge source of income for many companies, whatever the companies plan to do with the patents. Sometimes patents end up being used exclusively by one company and other times the company will license the patents to other firms for a fee.

Apple has been granted a major patent recently that covers multi-touch and gesture controls on computers and computer-like devices. With the massive popularity of touch-capable devices, this patent could prove to be the most lucrative patent Apple owns.

I will admit that I find the majority of electric vehicle that are available now very boring. I am a big car fan and prefer my vehicles to offer performance and looks. Not all of the electric vehicles out there are boring though; the Tesla Roadster springs to mind.

A new all-electric super car from Shelby Super Cars called the Aero EV has now been unveiled that takes all of the Tesla Roadster’s thunder away. The Aero EV claims to reach a top speed of 208 mph and hit 60 mph from a standstill in a mere 2.5 seconds.

There is more than a little truth to the fact that when money is tight and the economy sucks, people want to spend what little money they do have on things that take their mind off how bad the economy sucks. Thanks to that fact entertainment industries tend to weather recessions pretty well.

Netflix is among the companies that are still doing well despite the weak economy. Netflix has announced its Q4 2008 financials for its year ending on December 31, 2008. The mail-order movie rental service finished the quarter with 9,390,000 subscribers for a 26% growth compared to the same quarter of 2007.

Iomega kicked out a couple of new portable hard drives last month, one of which being the rugged 250GB eGo BlackBelt that we’re taking a look at today. The most stand-out feature we found in the BlackBelt was its Drop Guard Xtreme, allowing the portable drive to take a hit to the pavement from as much as 7 feet in the air and keep on ticking.

This ability to take a long drop is largely due to the black rubber “belt” that envelopes the drive (mostly the corners) protecting it from all angles of impact. The rubber belt is not adhered to the drive so it can be removed if you would like, and your left with a smooth, flat-black flask-shaped chasis that’s maybe a little to big for a pants pocket but will easily fit into the pocket of a jacket.

Amplivox Sound Systems has introduced an all digital portable audio system. The SW915 Digital Audio Travel Partner with remote control and 250 watt amplifier. The new system can entertain an audience of around 10,000 and cover an area of 30,000 sq ft with crystal clear sound thanks to two 6.5 inch neodymium woofers.

In the standard package you’ll get a UHF 8-channel diversity internal wireless receiver with your choice of mic and transmitter, a CD/RW/MP3 disc player with pitch control plus SD card slot, and USB input. The SW915 can use either AC or replaceable 12 volt rechargeable batteries that will run 10 hours. It also features 3 Neutrik Combo XLR inputs for microphones or instruments.

So, you’re a kid who’s into Star Wars. I apologize on Lucas’ behalf for a crappy second trilogy. You deserved better. But hey, if you’re into it you obviously don’t ask for much. Might as well enjoy these crappy Clone Trooper Walkie Talkie watches that are just as sub-par as the latest movies. They’re great for communicating with your fellow trooper while on your various Jedi killing missions.

There’s no word on what kind of range you’ll get with these. Probably two feet. You’ll have these on your wrists while you are yelling at each other and giving away your plans. A set of two will cost you $29.99. And look, they match your Clone Trooper laptop.

They must be newlyweds because we haven’t seen them before. Speakers or no, they’re an odd couple from Profit Charm. The pair is available in different colors. Mr. Speaker apparently has no shirt and proudly shows off his name on his chest. Mrs Speaker on the other hand wears a shirt and nothing else. So, I’m guessing they can’t make up their minds about being nudists or not.

Both speakers will work with your iPod or computer, laptop etc and they also play FM Radio. They’re powered by USB and I’m assuming their creepy faces light up.

New York Representative Pete King wants the US to have a law that requires all cameraphones make noise when they take a picture. It’s not unheard of. Japan and South Korea already have similar laws. In his quest for cameraphone sound King has re-introduced the “Camera Phone Predator Alert Act,” , which sounds very urgent and dramatic.

They tried it first in 2007, but it died. The idea behind the bill is to prevent people from taking cameraphone pictures without other people knowing. That’s what the sound is all about. It would sound off and be “audible within a reasonable radius” and you would not be able to disable it.

It had to happen. If a device is as popular as the BlackBerry Curve 8900, it will get the Colorware treatment sooner or later. Usually sooner. Just like the iPhone 3G, and your DS. So, if you want to beat your precious gadget upside the face with an ugly stick, the folks at Colorware will gladly help.

It doesn’t have to be ugly of course, you can put together something striking I’m sure. Just be certain it’s what you want before you commit. A solid color will run you $129, but if you want a different top, bottom, frame or sides, it will be higher. You could just love your device for who it is, which is the cheapest option and it will love you back. Maybe.

Doesn’t it make sense to cook food in the same place you eat it from? The plate? If you could cook your food right on your plate, think of all the dishes you would no longer have to clean. We already can make a plate that keeps our food warm. But just imagine the water you would save from not having to wash extra pots and pans. You would just be washing plates.

Conductive plates are just concepts right now, but the technology needed to make them work in the real world is available. Right now a big drawback is the cord. Cords at the table are likely to spill wine and just plain get in the way. Despite this minor drawback, I think we are nearly ready for this concept to become a reality.

If killing Zombies is your favorite pastime (And who hasn’t enjoyed a good head shot that permanently kills them dead?), you’ll want to pay attention here. Microsoft is coming out with a Red 360 console and matching controller to celebrate Resident Evil 5.

The bundle comes with Resident Evil 5, a Red Xbox 360, matching controller and a Resident Evil NXE (NEw Xbox Experience). No word on official pricing yet or hard drive size. Also no word on whether “red” means “Zombie blood red” or just red.

When you buy used stuff like computers, ipods etc, you can sometimes find surprises inside. Cool games, songs you like, porn… Chris Ogle bought an MP3 player for $14.50 at an Oklahoma second-hand store that had a much bigger surprise inside. 60 files that contained classified info like Iraq and Afghanistan deployed soldiers’ personal info, mission briefing and even a base equipment manifest.

Chris says the MP3 player never worked properly, so when he plugged it in to see why, he found the files. What he got was huge lists of soldier’s SSNs, cellphone numbers and health info. Chris is reportedly returning it to the DOD upon request. Hell, we all lose our flash drives from time to time.