We've seen plenty of tablets go under the spudger at the iFixit teardown labs, but seldom has a DSLR been gently gutted and photographed for all to see. Today's victim is the $900 Nikon D5100, which just hit stores last week. After popping out the battery (the D5100's only user-serviceable component), the engineers removed the motherboard, 16.2 megapixel CMOS sensor, and everything else they could get their hands on, even going so far as to desolder some wires. The verdict? The camera is very difficult to disassemble -- perhaps because "approximately 4 billion screws hold the device together." Teardowns are arguably more fun than unboxings (trust us, we know), so hit the link below for more camera-in-the-buff shots.

It's looking like things are just as bad as we feared and that "external intrusion" got a little deeper than we might have liked. In an update on its PlayStation.Blog, Sony just confirmed that the ongoing PSN outage was caused by "malicious actions," which we already knew, but continues by indicating that there has also been "a compromise of personal information." Exactly what that means Sony isn't saying, and it stops short of saying that credit card data for PSN and Qriocity users has been exposed, but the company does say "your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained." Yes, it may have been obtained -- even Sony isn't sure. There's no further ETA for when PSN may be back up online or when you might be able to finally sample Portal 2's delicious online co-op mode, but at least you can still watch Netflix.

Update: Our friends at Joystiq are reporting that Connecticut Senator Blumenthal is rip roarin' mad about the situation, "demanding answers" from SCEA president Jack Tretton. Right now, we're more curious what Kevin Butler has to say about things.

Update 2: Sony UK is shedding more light on just what data has been exposed, and frankly we were happier when it was dark. By the sound of things, everything Sony had about you has been accessed. There's a full list after the break, so only click on through if you dare.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

When last we saw the Airpiano way back in 2008 (ah, the halcyon days when people still cared about Spore) it was just a proof of concept, hacked together by interface design student Omer Yosha. Now you can finally order your own online for €1,099 (about $1,607) if you're in Europe, or €1,149 (about $1,680) if you dwell anywhere else on this little, blue marble we call Earth. The theremin-like Airpiano doesn't actually produce any sounds itself, instead it uses proximity sensors to feed MIDI and OSC (open sound control) signals to a computer over USB, allowing musicians and non-musicians alike to command soft synths with only the majestic wave of a hand. It may land you some confused stares from people who still play instruments with strings and keys (you know, Luddites), but it's certainly more dignified than planting yourself in front of a Beamz laser harp. A trio of videos awaits after the break.

Last month, the Motorola Xoom was the only officially sanctioned Android 3.0 tablet available in the United States. Now there are four -- the T-Mobile G-Slate arrived last week, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 this week, and the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is on sale today, assuming you can find one. All have the same basic silicon inside, but oh-so-slightly different approaches to shape, such that price might honestly be the deciding factor these days. That's where we thought this WiFi-only Acer Iconia Tab had an edge, launching at $450, but now that ASUS has shaken the money tree with a $400 figure for the Eee Pad Transformer, we doubt other price tags will stick. It could be the tiniest of differentiators that shifts your opinion in favor of a particular slate. What's a prospective tablet buyer to do? Join us on a tour of the Acer Iconia Tab A500's particular perks and quibbles after the break, and we'll tell you.

You won't need to compromise much with Origin's EON17-S gaming notebook, though a $3,000 dent in your wallet could severely compromise your purchasing power for the next few months. That's the starting price for this gaming laptop, with a 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-2920XM Quad-Core processor factory overclocked to 4.5GHz, and maxing the system out with 32GB of RAM, dual 480GB SSD's, and a 2GB NVidia GeForce GTX 485M GPU will send the price tag north of $10,000. Small price to pay for months of geek cred at your neighborhood LAN party, right? We'd rather use the money as a down payment on a Tesla Roadster, but if helping to rebuild the economy with the best, brightest and heaviest (at 8.6 pounds) computing monster sitting on your lap is just what you need, then look for yours in the mail come May 17th.

We first heard of the Shredder back in September, a crazy, treaded contraption that looked fit to appear in the next Starship Troopers film -- or maybe a TMNT reboot at least. It's the product of the overactive mind of Ben Gulak, the guy behind the Uno transforming and self-balancing motorcycle that we saw at CES. When Ben showed us some videos of the DTV Shredder at the show we knew we had to ride it, and so we did, hitting the sand in New Mexico and managing to come away from the experience unharmed and only a little dehydrated. Come on in to check out our experience on both the consumer-friendly Sport and rather brawnier Military edition, both of which could be in production by the end of the year.

We already knew HP had a home run on its hands with the Pavilion dm1z, the first notebook to hit the market with AMD's long-awaited Fusion platform. Well, it looks like consumers agreed, and the company's chomping at the bit to duplicate that winning formula for the business crowd. HP's quietly taken the veil off the 3105m, another 11.6-inch laptop packing AMD's dual-core 1.6GHz E-350 Zacate CPU and Radeon HD 6310 graphics. The difference is, this little guy runs Windows 7 Professional and offers support for Computrace LoJack for laptops. Otherwise, the $449 starting price is identical, as are the specs, including a standard 320GB 7,200RPM hard drive, 2GB of RAM, and a six-cell battery that promises to last up to nine and a half hours on a charge. Hit the source link to peruse a complete list of specs and, if you're so inclined, snap one up.

We knew it was coming, and now it's official: Casio's macho G'zOne Commando is coming to Verizon on April 28th for a price of $200 on-contract. The Commando strays from a long line of durable dumbphones, and is the first ruggedized Android handset on Verizon's network. In addition to meeting 810G military specifications for water, dust, shock, vibration, salt fog, solar radiation, and temperature extremes, it runs Android 2.2 (Froyo) and has a 3.6-inch (480 x 800) display, 5 megapixel autofocus camera, microSD slot, WiFi, stereo Bluetooth, and a hotspot feature allowing it to share its 3G connection with up to five devices. And, being built like a tank, it also bundles a handful of apps for outdoorsy types, including a compass, pedometer, star gazer, and thermometer. If you've never handled a rugged smartphone, you'll get your chance Thursday when it hits Verizon retail stores. Until then, check out the PR after the break for more details.

We're not exactly sure why anyone would ever want a designer calculator, but for those who do, Kokuyo's got you covered. The Japanese company has just announced the X-VIZ -- a super slim, matte-finished device that can help you balance your checkbook with one hand. Crafted by robot designer Tatsuya Matsui, the X-VIZ probably isn't something you'd use to carry out heavy duty operations and, at just 12mm thick, it certainly won't double as a mouse, either. But at least Kokuyo refrained from tacking on another superfluous laser or detachable holster, as it's been known to do. Both black and white models of the X-VIZ will hit the Japanese market on May 11 for ¥5,250 ($64), so hit up your favorite importer if you're interested in grabbing one.

There are many, many tests of automotive performance throughout the average calendar year, yet the Pikes Peak Hill Climb stands out as one of America's most historic and most brutal. Oh, and most pucker-inducing, what with the general lack of guardrails and corner edges bounded by nothing but thousands of feet of free-fall -- then rocks. This is the challenge that an unmodified Nissan Leaf will face this summer, all 110 horsepower dedicated to hitting the summit in a time that hopefully won't be too embarrassing but surely won't challenge the current EV record of 13 minutes and 17 seconds. Driver Chad Hord will sit behind the wheel when the event gets underway on June 26th, burning nary a drop of gas on the way up and putting on something less of a show than Ari Vatanen did in his (traditionally-powered) Peugeot back in 1990. That rather invigorating performance is embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

It was pretty clear that a launch was imminent, and Verizon has now finally officialy announced that the HTC Droid Incredible 2 will be available on Thursday, April 28th. It will run you the usual $200 on a two-year contract, which will buy you a 4-inch super LCD screen, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, an 8 megapixel camera with a dual LED flash, a brand new 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and WiFi mobile hotspot support. As expected, it's also a world phone, but it'll be left in the dust by the Thunderbolt when it comes to sheer speeds due to its lack of LTE support. Full press release is after the break.

[Thanks, Shane]

Remember all that happy fuss over Samsung's Super AMOLED display, and its more recent Super AMOLED Plus? Well now Toshiba Mobile Display has jealously stepped into the ring with its own answer to the world's demand for thinner, lighter and less reflective LCDs. Its as-yet-unnamed technology seeks improvement in a roughly similar way to Super AMOLED, by fusing the capacitive touch layer and LCD. In so doing, Toshiba claims it can produce an integrated panel just 1mm thick, which it says is less than half the thickness of a conventional LCD touchscreen. Weight is also halved and surface reflection is reduced by 10 percent. Alas, Toshiba's press release does not provide the stats we really want -- a head-to-head comparison with Samsung's best efforts or, say, the Synaptics ClearPad 3250 which also melds touch layer and LCD. And perhaps to avoid confrontation in the mobile arena, Toshiba emphasizes the use of its technology in "vehicle-mounted" and "industrial" applications. Seems we will have to wait until the screen is exhibited in LA next month before we know whether it is really up for a fight.

You've been able to pre-order the Sprint-ified version of the Nexus S for a good while now, but it's always good to add a concrete date for the end of the anticipation and the beginning of the Android 2.3 fun. That date has now been officially marked as May 8th. That's when your Pure Google device will be ready for use and abuse, though you'll have to accept the usual two-year commitment with Sprint and pay up the typical $200 entry fee. Intriguingly, the Nexus S 4G's release date matches up with a roadmap leak we saw recently, which also featured the Motorola Xoom launching on Sprint in "early May." Can't be long before that goes official as well now. Jump past the break for Sprint's PR regarding today's news.

Seems like we just can't get ARM's next-generation Cortex-A15 system-on-chip out of our minds. Having figured as a headline item in LG's ARM licensing deal this morning, it's now shown up on a leaked Qualcomm roadmap, landing itself a lynchpin role in that company's Snapdragon future. Alas, Qualcomm had been promising for the earliest of its MSM8930 / 60 and APQ8064 Snapdragons to be sampling in Q2 of this year, but this latest schedule shows them as sampling at the end of 2011 (see update). This isn't hugely surprising in light of ARM's recent forecast of Cortex-A15 devices in "late 2012," but it'll be disappointing to users keen to be exploiting quad-GPU and quad-CPU mobile rigs as soon as humanly possible. Guess that just leaves us waiting for the NGP or NVIDIA's quad-core SOC in August. Hit the source link for more on Qualcomm's plans for the near and distant future.

[Thanks, Mike]

Update: Qualcomm got in touch to correct the timing here. The company's 3G/LTE MSM8960 chipset remains on track to sample in this quarter, as promised in the company's latest earnings report. The other two parts were already expected to come later, so there's no delay to speak of. Just juicy specs.

Look, we all kinda, sorta know that Apple will finally admit it's springtime tomorrow and let the white iPhone 4 fly the nest. But in order to sell white iPhone 4s, you've got to ship them first, and one small Belgian retailer has just received its first batch of the mythical pale device and lined them up for some loving photography. Not only that, but they're even offering to sell you either the 16GB or 32GB over on their site (which, mind you, we can't vouch for!), though they can only ship within the Benelux region. One more pic after the break.

Jim O'Donnell, CEO and chairman of BMW North America, recently sat down with the Detroit News to discuss the ActiveE -- an electric version of BMW's 1 Series coupe, available for lease in the US this fall. Most CEOs would've probably used the opportunity to wax PR poetic about their company's bold, forward-looking ethos, because that's what CEOs do. O'Donnell, however, used the occasion to let us in on a dirty little secret: EVs don't actually work. According to O'Donnell's undoubtedly robust calculations, EVs won't work for "at least 90-percent" of the human population, at current battery ranges. The situation is so dire, in fact, that the US government shouldn't even bother wasting its $7,500 tax credits on frivolous things like innovation, national security and clean air.

"I believe in a free economy. I think we should abolish all tax credits. What they are doing is putting a bet on technology, which is not appropriate. As a taxpayer, I am not sure this is the right way to go."

O'Donnell went on to say he's "far more optimistic" about diesel's chances of increasing BMW's US market share -- because, you know, it's not like the oil industry gets any tax breaks, or anything. And it's not like diverting some money away from oil subsidies and putting it toward EV technology would create the "level playing field" that O'Donnell and his company so desperately need. No siree, the US energy market is just as pure and fair as it's always been -- and it certainly doesn't deserve to be corrupted by an EV tax credit pestilence. That said, O'Donnell would still really appreciate it if we buy the battery-powered i3 when it launches in 2013. Who knows? He may even throw in a free bridge, too.

Until now, one field has been safe from robotic interference: collecting money on the street. Not for long. A space already overcrowded with guitar playing hippies, dogs in bandanas, and children carrying bright orange UNICEF boxes has a new force to reckon with. It's Don-8r (pronounced "donator," for those who don't speak robot), programmed expressly to collect change and be adorable. University of Dundee student Tim Pryde created the coin-fueled robot to help raise money for charity. It's taken a few spins around the school's campus and has already mastered the three Ps of money collection: politeness, persistence, and performance -- the latter accomplished via color changing lights in its orb-like head. Video of Don-8r doing its thing after the break.