Focal's latest waterproof speaker cases play nice with newest iPod nanos

Focal's latest wares look a lot like similar units that we've seen from Atlantic, but we guess there are only so many ways you can design a waterproof iPod sound system. The battery-powered AquaTune nano 4G (shown after the jump) plays nice with Apple's freshest iPod nano and packs a pair of 1-watt speakers that can withstand all but the deepest puddles. The AquaTune v2 is compatible with a wider range of iPods, and the 3-watt x 2 power rating is sure to stir up a few waves whilst submerged. Both are ready to be placed under Japanese trees for ¥10,800 ($119) / ¥15,800 ($174), respectively.

Energizer's Rechargeable Solar Charger gets detailed, pictured

You don't usually equate CES with big time Energizer introductions, but this year is going to be different. While our fingers are still crossed that a 50-foot drum-toting bunny is seen storming around in the Vegas heat, we do know that said outfit will be bringing along its minty fresh Zinc Air Prismatic batteries, not to mention the newly unveiled Rechargeable Solar Charger. The above pictured device will boast a USB port to power an assortment of devices, and it can also be charged from an AC outlet if you just can't seem to locate the sun. Better still, its weatherproof nature should make it suitable for argonauts, and it'll only run $49.99 with a pair of rechargeable cells when it lands next summer.

AMD Phenom II processor bought, benchmarked, coveted

AMD, a company not exactly known for meeting its own deadlines, seemed to be trying to avoid news of painful delays for the Phenom II by simply not letting anyone say when the thing would be available. Now the chip is apparently in the hands of one lucky gamer at the HardOCP forums, Table21, who was kind enough to run it through its paces. The Phenom II 940 running at 3GHz scored a 4,091 on 3DMark06 and, once OC'd up to 3.85GHz, delivered a score of 5,086. It's rather too early to draw any conclusions from these numbers, and we don't know what he paid for the thing, but that performance does fall well behind Intel's Core i7 Extreme that was similarly benchmarked last month, scoring 6,608 at the same clock speed. That's quite a gap -- but nothing a little liquid nitrogen won't fix.

TSA-approved Solo CheckFast messenger bag caters to netbooks

So, you're tired of removing and replacing your netbook each and every time you waltz through an airport (or a different terminal at Sky Harbor International -- great planning there, Phoenix), but the current crop of TSA-friendly bags are simply too large for your tastes. Clearly, Solo has felt your pain, as the CheckFast Netbook messenger bag is only big enough to handle netbooks 11-inchers or smaller. Our good pals over at Gadling were able to take it for a spin, and even being avid travelers, they were mighty impressed. The build quality was top-shelf, there was plenty of extra storage room and the $35 price tag was found to be downright delectable. Still in need of a last-minute gift? You may have just found it.

LaCie 1U rack-mountable Ethernet Disk works with Time Machine

LaCie's newest Ethernet Disk isn't for the faint of heart... nor for those with just a few files to backup. Oh no -- this one's for the storage professional. Housed in a 1U rack-mountable enclosure, the NAS device can hold up to 6TB of data and can support up to 100 users on Mac, Windows or Linux platforms. Also of note, it functions just fine with Apple's Time Machine, which is more than Cupertino's own AirPort Disk can say (maybe). It's available this very moment in 2TB, 4TB and 6TB capacities starting at $749.99.

HP TouchSmart tx2z reviewed: multitouch could use some work

HP was pretty jazzed about delivering the first multitouch "consumer" convertible tablet, but in Laptop Mag's point of view, that highly touted feature could use a bit of TLC. In fact, critics were pretty hard on the machine overall due to the multitouch not being "fast or responsive enough," but considering the $300 premium, we can't say such criticism is unjustified. Performance wise, everything was on par, and battery life was found to be respectable enough; at the end of the day, though, it only managed to score three out of five stars and couldn't elicit the type of praise that makes you want to run out and pick one up on the double. However, if HP manages to improve the touch experience, we could be looking at a winner in the tablet world.

Dell Malaysia nabs a Studio 14 laptop before the rest of us

Here's a fun game that you can play at home: what comes between "Studio XPS 13" and "Studio 15"? If you guessed "Studio 14," you can count just about as well as those Dell marketing types. Granted, granularity has always been sort of a thing with Dell, so we can't really harsh on them too much for giving us more options -- though this laptop has only popped up at Dell Malaysia so far, so perhaps we'll be spared the distinction (unlikely). For 3,599 RM (that's "Malaysian ringgits," about $1,038 of our boringly "US dollars") you can score a Core 2 Duo T8100 2.10GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, X3100 integrated graphics, 250GB HDD and a 14.1-inch LED-backlit 1280 x 800 display. Those magical media playback controls to the right of the keyboard? Those come free.