Geohot wins round one against Sony (kinda) -- judge declines to rule on SCEA restraining order (updated)

By Michael Gorman posted Jan 14th 2011 8:49PM By now we all know that Sony filed a lawsuit against Geohot and fail0verflow for their distribution of PS3 jailbreak firmware and asked the court for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop said distribution of the offending code. Well, according to Geohot, the court denied declined to rule on Sony's motion earlier today. Geohot has reposted the code online, so it seems safe to say that the TRO is back for now, and the jailbreak can once again roam the internet unencumbered by any legal decrees. The decision, while favorable to the defendants, has little effect on the outcome of the litigation itself, so Hotz and company aren't out of the woods just yet. We'll keep you posted on the status of the order, and will also watch as the case progresses for the real fireworks to start.

Update: Looks like we jumped the gun and got the story a little wrong, but thanks to our readers we've discovered that the judge declined to rule on the TRO. Instead she tabled the TRO issue because she was not satisfied that the Northern District of California has jurisdiction to rule on the matter because Geohot hacked the PS3 in New Jersey.

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GameBoy Advance Phone caught in the wild (by the guy who built it)

Perhaps if there was some sort of Brundlefly-style gadget mix-up five years ago, the outcome would look like this: an HTC Hermes jammed inside a GameBoy Advance housing. This prototype, presented by Windows Phone Hacker, features some fun changes that make it feel more like your beloved handheld gaming console, and less like your dated Windows Mobile Pocket PC, including a startup GIF animation of the original GameBoy Advance boot screen, custom software that keeps the OS in landscape mode, and custom notifications and ringtones from the Mario games. Also included is PocketGBA emulator for playing GameBoy Advance ROMs on the phone itself. Of course, this is just the beginning of the project: we look forward to seeing a version where the buttons work! In the meantime, check out the thing in action after the break.

[Thanks, Juan]

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Speaking of… Cindy Morgan, from Original TRON [TCTV]

My special guest on this week’s Speaking Of is actress Cindy Morgan. Cindy is known in the film world for two iconic roles: as Lacey Underall in Caddyshack and as Lora/Yori in the original TRON.

I didn’t mention this in my original overview of TRON Legacy, because I didn’t want to spoil much of the movie for everyone, but I was very saddened by the fact that two of my favorite characters (Bit and Yori) from the original TRON didn’t make an appearance in the sequel, when so many other main actors did, including Bruce Boxleitner (shown holding Yori in the original TRON poster).

When I asked about this, Cindy admitted that she’d only seen the sequel two days prior to our interview, and that it was like going to the prom without a date. She made a small cameo in Sam Flynn’s room on his poster and that was about it. Cindy is incredibly gracious though, understanding that movie producers have to make difficult decisions. She hopes she’ll appear in the next sequel – and I’d love to see that happen too.

Prior to acting, Cindy was on a path to become a mechanical engineer when she ended up working in a newsroom, editing film reels and operating sound boards. She made the jump into Hollywood shortly after and had her face on a billboard in less than a year.

In the video below, Cindy shares her favorite gadgets and applications,  and talks about her latest project – a book called, “From Catholic School to Caddyshack” that’s set to be published this spring. The book will contain unseen behind the scenes footage and previously untold stories about the making of Caddyshack.

Cindy closes the interview with some very wise advice for TechCrunch readers; advice I think you will all enjoy. Finally she turns the interview around on me, to my surprise, asking me a few questions about being a woman involved in technology.

I don’t know about you, but I think Cindy needs her own consumer tech show. She’s amazing – I really hope you enjoy our interview as much as I did:

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Modu closing up shop in February

By Thomas Ricker posted Jan 14th 2011 2:02AM Looks like the bad news just got worse for Modu fans. According to reports from Israel, Modu, maker of impossibly small modular handsets, will be forced to close its doors in February as it attempts to payback debt and the salaries owed to its workers. Ironically, the news will likely spark an increase in demand as nerds battle to curate an elusive Modu W for their vintage gadget collections.

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KDJ-One is a gigantic Game Boy with an audio workstation inside

By Trent Wolbe posted Jan 14th 2011 12:34PM Cyberstep's KDJ-One, a portable digital audio workstation currently in prototype mode, is a noisy little wrinkle in time. While we're fairly certain it will never see the light of day in your local Guitar Center, we really do want to wish it the best. It combines the aesthetics of a few of our very favorite things: the D-pad, button layout, and chunkiness instantly reminded us of the original DMG Game Boy. The keypad on bottom looks a lot like a tweaked version of a Roland TB-303. And the software inside -- pure MeeGo -- reminds us of a Tungsten-era Palm device crossed with a laptop from 1999. (But in a really good way!)

A five-inch resistive touchscreen -- complete with stylus -- sits on top of an Atom E640 CPU, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD drive, and a pair of 2000mAh batteries. Oh, and it's got a rumble pack on the backside: Cyberstep assures us the QW Vibration System adds "a whole new element of force feedback to your music production experience." The sampler / looper / sequencer production software itself seems super-basic and pretty fun, although we could probably squeeze a lot more production flexibility out of a $300 netbook. But just look at that dude and tell us you don't want to squeeze its little white cheeks. Yeah, exactly. Video after the jump.

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Sony's NEX-5, now available in gold!

By Michael Gorman posted Jan 14th 2011 6:12AM Do you feel constrained by the drabness of silver and black cameras? Well its time to let your fashionable freak flag fly, because Sony has announced that it'll now offer its NEX-5 camera in gold. The camera remains otherwise unchanged since its debut this past summer, and unfortunately the company hasn't released the other colors seen at Photokina, but hey, a little bling is better than none.

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