I know a few people who swear by the Livescribe smartpen. The device stores digital copies of handwritten notes and can record audio notes at the same time. I have never used the pen myself, but the problem for me I think would be that I have horrible handwriting. I would end up with printed notes I can’t read and digital notes I can’t read at the same time.

Livescribe has announced a new feature for its smartpen called Pencasts. The feature allows anyone using the smartpen to share notes digitally along with drawings, and conversations via websites, podcasts and even tweets.

The other day we told you about the rumors about Microsoft’s Wii-killing, motion-sensing Xbox 360 add-on set to debut at E3. Well, now Ars Technica thinks they’ve played with it a full year ago. Ars thinks that the new Xbox 360 motion sensing system is based on the ZCam 3D camera, made by a company that was later purchased by Microsoft.

If true, it sounds good. Ars was impressed with the tech when they got a hands-on with it back in January of 2008. And Microsoft has had a long time to work with it, so chances are it’s even better now. It makes sense to us, but we’ll have to wait and see what’s what when E3 arrives next month.

This is one of the cooler Lego Donkey Kong things we’ve seen in quite some time. Sure, it doesn’t move and actually do stuff like this one, but just look at all that amazing detail.

Hammers, barrels,fire, it has it all. It’s all the more impressive because it doesn’t move. After taking it in for a bit, you feel like it could/should. Sure, Mario and the Princess are just generic Lego people, but that’s maybe it’s only flaw. Look at those ladders and beams. My inner nerd is happy now and so I share it with you.

Yinlips intros yet another portable device with the sad name of Yinlips attached. The TDB G80 MicroPC offers you another MID alternative that’s more affordable. For $189.99 you get a MID with the Yinlips moniker that has the following specs.

How about a Samsung S3C443 533MHz processor?, 4.3″ touchscreen display at 480 x 272 resolution, 64MB internal memory, miniSD memory card slot, Windows CE 5.0 operating system, and Integrated Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity.

Everybody is jumping on board the android wagon. Acer is already hard at work on several different devices using the operating system and software, and they plan to launch a smartphone using the software later this year.

Acer doesn’t want to be left in the dust, what with Samsung recently outing the I7500 and HTC pimping the Magic overseas. Gianfranco Lanci (President and CEO) says that “the entire industry is looking at Android,” and that the company “is testing Android on a lot of different solutions.”

General Electric says it has achieved a breakthrough in digital storage technology that will allow standard-size discs to hold the equivalent of 100 DVDs. I had to read that twice myself. It’s just a laboratory success for now, until it can be made to work in products that can be mass-produced and affordable.

“This could be the next generation of low-cost storage,” said Richard Doherty, an analyst at Envisioneering, a technology research firm.

I was never a fan of the tiny UMPC machines that hit the market place at inflated prices before the massive netbook revolution. The thing I never liked about the little machines was that the keyboards tended to be sized for thumb use only and I just couldn’t see them being useful in the real world.

One of the cool looking UMPCs at CES 2009 was the OQO Model 2+. The little machine promised an Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, OLED touch screen and more. I was rather excited to see it at CES 2009 and while interesting, I didn’t think it stacked up at all against the mass of netbooks around.

The T-Mobile G1, has quietly hit a milestone. It has reached over a million units sold in the US alone, which is really saying something since it’s only been six months. It’s great news for the upcoming G2-HTC Dream Android-powered handset.

Sure, that’s nothing compared to the number of Blackberrys, iPhones, and Windows Mobile devices, but you can bet they have their eye on boostig that marketshare number.

It’s been nearly a year since we last saw a Bluetooth headset from Aliph. But now it’s back with the Jawbone Prime. The Jawbone Prime isn’t much different than its predecessor. On the outside, they’ve improved the look with something more dramatic. Inside there’s the addition of Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR (multipoint connections, easy pairing), plus some algorithm tweaks of NoiseAssassin 2.0 to improve noise reduction.

The Prime will be replacing existing Jawbones for $130, and comes in Blah Blah Black, Coffee Talk and Going Platinum, while an “EARCANDY” edition is available in Frankly SCARLET, ‘YELLO!, Drop Me A LIME and LILAC You Mean It.

If you recently jumped on the Blu-ray bandwagon, chances are you’ve got a bunch of DVDs that are pretty much useless now. Warner Bros. wants to help. The company is now offering a trade-in program called Red2Blu that allows people to trade in 25 Warner Bros. HD DVDs and have them replaced with Blu-ray versions.

The new program isn’t free though. It will cost you $4.95 per disc plus $6.95 for shipping on each DVD. Interestingly, you don’t have to send in the discs to the WB, you just need to send in the cover art for the HD DVD discs you want replaced.

You folks who have been putting off the purchase of a new Blu-ray player can finally lay down your money and get a great deal if you hold off just a little while longer. Say, around Christmas. That’s when the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) will make the technology and licensing available to manufacturers in China, which means the usual. Cheap products. Hopefully you pick one that is quality as well as cheap.

Around that time you should see affordable $99 Blu-ray players hitting the market. What’s the poor PS3 gonna do when it isn’t the cheapest Blu-ray player anymore? Shake a tin cup at you as you enter Gamestop? This also means that prices for Blu-ray discs should lower some.

We are all used to going into a phone store and seeing prices that are subsidized and contingent on the buyer maintaining a contract with the mobile provider for two years. If you don’t want the contract you can opt to pay full price, typically hundreds of dollars more than the subsidized price.

During the 2008 holiday season RadioShack was the first company to offer a subsidized netbook in America based on maintaining mobile internet contract with AT&T. The netbook offered on the subsidized plan was the Acer Aspire One netbook.

Everything else you own Already has GPS navigation. Your car, your phone, even the Sony PSP has a GPS option. Now it’s time for the Nintendo DS to get into the GPS game. You know, in case you want to locate a gamestop.

Designed by China’s Fab Chain, the Ranger is a GPS module for your NDS Lite. Just plug the Ranger into the accessory port on the front of your NDS, and you’ll get turn-by-turn directions with Google Maps integration. It will display maps in both 2D and fake 3D perspective modes, and even has automatic day/night modes. The module even has its own built in rechargeable batteries, so it won’t drain your NDS’ power supply.

Looks like the rumors were pretty close. After months of silence, Nintendo has announced a date for US availability of its MotionPlus Wiimote accessory.

We figured it would be here by now, but maybe they just needed some time to perfect it. On June 8th Nintendo will ship the MotionPlus add-on to the US. The device will cost you $19.99, or after until July 26th you can pick up the Wii Sports Resort for $49.99, which comes bundled with the accessory.

The HTC Touch Diamond just became available on yet another carrier. Verizon. It’s pretty much the same, with just a few differences with the phone on this carrier.

The TouchFLO interface is customized for Verizon and features Visual Voice Mail. You’ll also get the VZ Navigator service, with GPS mapping built-in. Other than that, the phone is pretty much the same.