There was a time, before Avatar, when 3D meant crummy virtual gaming. A recent patent granted to Apple shows they are (or were) considering a 3D virtual Apple Store—a more welcoming way to shop for Apple products.

It doesn't sound very "Apple," when they normally favor start minimalism over cheesy big-headed virtual characters, but as you can see from the diagram above, they are obviously considering the idea of a store you can walk through and browse the products in, with the outside elements portrayed by falling rain/sunshine etc.

The patent was first filed in 2006 by Apple, so I'm hoping they just got swept up in the Second Life craze and have forgotten all about some naff virtual world where you can exchange 17 green and red apples for the latest Miley Cyrus song. [Patently Apple]

Texas Instruments says that their WiLink 7.0 is the first chip with four wireless radios in one: FM transmission and reception, GPS, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. What does this mean for you, gadget lovers? In theory, a wholalot goodness.

Texas Instruments claims that mobile gadgets using this chip would be able to do all those four functions for less money—30 percent less—in less space—50 percent—and consuming less energy than the current alternatives. [PR Newswire]

There's nothing fancy about this idea for a home theater, but it's a very clever way to save space in a small house, using the dead space under the stairs to store a ton of tech gear.

The setup was built by Jason Swell, who thought that this was the best way to place his 50-inch Samsung HLR5078W DLP projection television, along with a Dual-Core Mac Mini, Series 2 Tivo, and Comcast HD STB. And rightly so, because it not only saves space, but places the screen at a good distance to watch from the sofas.

The stair hides even more high tech stuff behind that screen: A 1-terabyte hard drive array, an audio amplifier, the 30Mb/s FIOS connection, an EyeTV 500 HD tuner, and a UPS unit. In fact, he uses five tuners and he is able to record three shows concurrently while watching a fourth. [Flickr via Unplggd]

Google has finally stepped up to the plate to offer a support phone line for Nexus One owners. It's a necessary move, given the volume of customer complaints, but it's also turned out to be a lackluster one.

Nexus One owners can call (888) 48NEXUS between 4am and 7pm PST to speak with a real live person. Unfortunately, though, they'll only be able to get information on the status/shipping information on your existing order. For technical support or repairs and returns, you'll still need to contact HTC customer care (1-888-216-4736). For billing/service support, you'll still need to contact T-Mobile (1-877-453-1304).

Google doesn't have to be its partners' keeper, and if I were a Nexus One owner I'd rather have Google support than not. But it's still got to be terribly frustrating to have three distinct places to turn when you've got a Nexus One issue. [Google via CNET]

At CES, we determined that if you insist on buying a 3DTV this year, Panasonic should be on the very short list. Now, the company has priced a 3DTV for the first time—$5,900 when converted from yen.

Though Panasonic announced that they'd be selling 3D plasmas in the US starting this year, they'd never spoken of price until a recent press conference in Japan where they stated that their 54-inch, 3D-capable Viera TH-P54VT will run the equivalent of $5,900.

That's a lot of money. However, the TH-P54VT won't be the cheapest model available from Panasonic this year, as Panasonic promised 3D models as small as 50-inches.

CrunchGear notes that Panasonic seems to be pricing 3D as an $800 upsell over their premium 2D plasmas, though from piecing together prices, even that estimate may have been a bit conservative.

In truth, there's no way 99% of the population will drop $5k on any TV when you can finally score a decent quality, 46-inch LCD or plasma for well under a grand. If Panasonic wants glasses-based 3D to take off, they need to price the tech to sell. [Panasonic via CrunchGear]

Gadget lust can get in the way of romance—like when your dinner date checks her email over dessert or live-tweets the entire encounter. We've got our share of these stories, but we really want to hear yours.

Maybe your spouse's reaction to your 18 TB video collection of bendy redheads wasn't all that positive. Maybe you drunk dialed your ex on Skype. Maybe you learned that power cords aren't the best idea when it comes to kinky restraints. Maybe your date rudely checked her email in the middle of dessert and proceeded to pull out a second phone to continue reading after you teasingly confiscated her first. (I'm sorry! Won't do it again. Call me?)

Whatever the details, I want to hear about how gadgets or technology interfered with your love life. So send your stories to me with the subject of "Bad Valentine Tales" and we can share the horror.

Picture by sunshinecity

Say you've got an aging laptop that would be perfect for playing WoW or Star Trek Online on your television...if only it had HDMI out—that's where the Atlona AT-HDVieW comes into play.

Running off mere USB power, the Atlona AT-HDVieW takes VGA and 3.5mm audio, combines the signal and outputs it all at 1080P through HDMI. Plus, the scaler/converter communicates with your TV, ensuring the proper output resolution in case 1080P isn't just right.

The Atlona AT-HDVieW will be available later this month for $120. In the meantime, those Klingons will need pay for what they've done on a 13-inch screen. [Atlona via SlashGear]

This is not a rainbow. It's a moonbow, an extremely rare atmospheric phenomenon caused by the near-full moon that it's extremely hard to catch. So hard, in fact, that you can only see its colors thanks to long-exposure photography.

It was captured by Wally Pacholka last January 20, at the Haleakala Crater on the Island of Maui, Hawaii. The moonbow—or lunar rainbow—is caused when the near-full moon at less than 42 degrees in a dark sky. The colors are so faint that the human eye color receptors can't be excited enough for the brain to identify them. Therefore, they appear as white arcs to the naked eye. Only by using long-exposure photography you can reveal the diffraction of the moonlight through the microscopic water droplets suspended in the air.

By the way, that red thing shining on the sky? It's Mars rising. Check out the rest of Wally's amazing images at [Astropics]

This is not a rainbow. It's a moonbow, an extremely rare atmospheric phenomenon caused by the near-full moon that it's extremely hard to catch. So hard, in fact, that you can only see its colors thanks to long-exposure photography.

It was captured by Wally Pacholka last January 20, at the Haleakala Crater on the Island of Maui, Hawaii. The moonbow—or lunar rainbow—is caused when the near-full moon at less than 42 degrees in a dark sky. The colors are so faint that the human eye color receptors can't be excited enough for the brain to identify them. Therefore, they appear as white arcs to the naked eye. Only by using long-exposure photography you can reveal the diffraction of the moonlight through the microscopic water droplets suspended in the air.

By the way, that red thing shining on the sky? It's Mars rising. Check out the rest of Wally's amazing images at [Astropics]

This is not a rainbow. It's a moonbow, an extremely rare atmospheric phenomenon caused by the near-full moon that it's extremely hard to catch. So hard, in fact, that you can only see its colors thanks to long-exposure photography.

It was captured by Wally Pacholka last January 20, at the Haleakala Crater on the Island of Maui, Hawaii. The moonbow—or lunar rainbow—is caused when the near-full moon at less than 42 degrees in a dark sky. The colors are so faint that the human eye color receptors can't be excited enough for the brain to identify them. Therefore, they appear as white arcs to the naked eye. Only by using long-exposure photography you can reveal the diffraction of the moonlight through the microscopic water droplets suspended in the air.

By the way, that red thing shining on the sky? It's Mars rising. Check out the rest of Wally's amazing images at [Astropics]