Not into high-end smartphones? Do you need the Android experience but not the high-priced package? Well then here’s… yeah, that sounded like a cheesy sell, but that’s basically what HTC’s just-announced Explorer offers. The phone falls right under the Wildfire S in HTC’s smartphone lineup, featuring a 600MHz processor, 512MB of RAM, and a compact 3.2-inch screen.
Last month, a placeholder for something called the Samsung Stratosphere popped up on Verizon’s website, followed by a leaked photo showing an Android-based slider that was rumored to be Verizon’s version of the Samsung Galaxy S II. Well, it’s not. According to the full specs posted at Droid-Life, it looks like a mid-range LTE-capable smartphone that should compare better with Sprint’s Epic 4G.
Here’s something that you might not have thought of as something you need, but once you think about it, maybe you do. LaCie has introduced the LaPlug, a network-attached box that gives you wireless access to your USB devices. Or just think of it as a wireless USB hub. A really handy one that lets you wirelessly stream multimedia from a USB drive to your Wi-fi devices, give you wireless access to an attached printer, or turn your simple USB drive into your personal cloud-based storage bin.
Before you go charging into the new Kindles’ pre-order page with your credit card, here’s a little more info: If you thought the prices for the $79 Kindle and the $99 Kindle Touch was a little too good to be true, it is. Kind of. See, there’s a catch: they’ll come with ads, similar to their previous Kindles that were sold with special offers. Not too big of a downside since, ultimately, you’re shelling out less cash for a new e-reader. But if case advertising is a deal-breaker for you, and if you’re willing to fork over a significant amount more for the same device without the ads, Amazon will be serving up ad-free versions of the new Kindles as well. The ad-free Kindle will cost $109, while the $99 Kindle Touch sells for $139 without the ads.
An anonymous source gave out a few 
