The Excite 10 LE: thinner than an iPad

Toshiba’s Excite 10 LE tablet, billed by the company as “the world’s thinnest and lightest 10-inch tablet,” will be available in the U.S. starting March 6. The Wi-Fi-only tablet will cost $529.99 for the 16GB model, and $599.99 for the 32GB version.

Keen observers would notice that the starting price is about $30 higher than the similarly configured 16 GB iPad 2.

Toshiba appears to be betting on its specs: The Excite is 0.30 inches thin, compared to the iPad 2′s 0.34 inches. The Toshiba weighs 1.18 pounds, compared to 1.33 pounds for the iPad 2.

The Excite 10 LE — shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in January as the Excite X10 — received early props from msnbc.com’s Rosa Golijan, who described it then as “an eye-catching 10-inch beauty.”

Like its competition, the tablet’s 10.1-inch diagonal LED backlit widescreen has a tough Corning Gorilla Glass display with IPS technology and multi-touch support.

The bad news for Android fans is that Excite will arrive running Android 3.2 (Honeycomb). Toshiba says it will be upgradable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) “later this spring,” but vague upgrade plans announced by Android’s partners are known to change. …

via Gadgetbox on msnbc.com.

How much data can you fit in a nickel?

Folks, this is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.  I highly recommend  “The MicroNickel,” a hollow US Nickel from Dereu & Sons Mfg. Co. at spy-coins.com.

There are other coins too, but I like the feel of the nickel and it is only $30. For an additional $5 to $10 more you can get a 2GB micro SD card to fit inside the nickel.  If you need more space, there are also 32GB cards (same physical size) for about $50 at the time I’m writing this. By the time some of you read this, there may be much larger micro SD card capacities.  I wouldn’t mind a 32 TB micro SD card. That would be super cool.  But even 2 GB is a lot.  (2GB holds about 360 songs @ 192kbps, or about 560 songs @ 128kbps. )

I also recommend using TrueCrypt to encrypt whatever you store if you want to keep it private. Encryption is good for storing your taxes, legal documents and medical records in your nickel vault.   Then put your secret nickel in a big jar with hundreds of ordinary nickels. When it is time, use the weight difference or some other trick to find your hidden data.

I’ve added a new “Recommended Products” category on the top left menu tonight with a permanent link to spy-coins.com.  Buy a few for friends, and tell them Xeno sent you!