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Today, Cannondale unveiled a “Secret Scalpel” version of their popular light cross country racer for the Olympics.  Three riders, Roel Paulissen, Jakob Fuglsang and Kashi Leuchs will be putting the new rig through its paces in ten days in China.  The bike features the culmination of black box skunk works from a lot of different companies.  The bike weights an impressive 8.8kg or 19.4lbs.

According to Cannondale, that weight was achieved by:
• the Scalpel’s Zero Pivot optimized chainstay
•high modulous carbon layers
• raw carbon finish (no paint) and lightweight personalized national decal kits
• HeadShok Lefty, ride tuned and race optimized by 88+
• Cannondale’s Si SL 2x9 mountain crankset with ceramic bearings
• Vredestein prototype Black Panther tubular tires
• Mavic’s prototype tubular wheelset

The highest-end Scalpel Team weighted in at 22.4lbs and cost a stuffy $6900 retail.  3lbs of weight is impressive and likely a lot of it was taken out of the wheels and tires, making it seem a light lighter (rotating mass).  It will be interesting to see what these athletes are able to do aboard this exclusive ride.

Personally, I can vouch for the Scalpel.  I owned a team version when the bike was introduced and it was one of the best cross country rigs I’ve ridden.  From the single sided Lefty fork up front to the clever bending chainstays, it was an impressive ride.

Read [Cannondale] via [bikeradar]

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Samsung has unveiled their latest specialty handset, the gold plated edition SGH-D780 DuoS, which is a follow up to the standard (non limited edition) model that was released in May. The SGH-D780 is a dual GSM SIM capable handset that offers the ability to have and use both SIM cards at the same time. The SGH-D780 has triband GSM 900/1800/1900 GPRS/EDGE connectivity and features a 2.1-inch QVGA TFT display, 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, FM radio and a microSD card slot. The handset also comes with a 1200 mAh battery. The gold plated SGH-D780 DuoS has also become the official handset of the Russian Olympic team.

Via [unwired view]

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Most companies have, at some point, released some sort of themed device, with the theme of the last two years being this summer’s Beijing Olympics. Lenovo, put out their so-styled laptop, a very long time ago. Now Kodak is keeping true to customs with their Olympic-themed M2008 digital camera.

The device features the Olympics logo, along with text that reads “Beijing 2008.“  From a more technological standpoint, the M2008 offers a 10-megapixel camera and 3x optical zoom. The standard Kodak menu system can be viewed via the 3-inch LCD on the device.  You can even record events, sporting or otherwise, in 720p with the video functionality, a nice touch.

Those of you living in China can pick one up for around $270, but no word about a Stateside release. Keep reading for a few more pictures.

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On Friday, the IOC - International Olympics Committee, gave their official approval for athletes to be able to blog at this year’s summer Olympics in Beijing. However, these athletics cannot publish any media of the event or any material that is Olympic property. The IOC thinks of blogging as a way to expression, which is not like journalism, therefore they don’t have a real reason to ban blogging.

Also, any blog postings by these athletes have to be in the Olympic spirit and be “dignified and in good taste.“ I’m not sure how they will find out if someone posts something not in good taste, and then how they would punish them. Furthermore, athletes that were in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 Turin Olympics and had blogs, they were not officially recognized by the IOC, and so this raised some debate. It will be interesting to see which athletes blog and what they blog.

Via [Electronista]

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Lenovo sure likes the Olympics, not just to watch some great sporting events, but to sell Olympic themed devices. Previously, they had announced some new Olympic themed laptops. Now, they have decided to manufacture and market another device, a USB jump drive. If you have seen a picture of the laptops that Lenovo has created with the Olympic design and you liked that, then you’ll be happy to know that these new jump drives sport a similar design.

Unfortunately, there is no word on storage, pricing, or availability at this time. However, expect these to be on sale sometime before the Olympics get started this summer.

Via [Engadget]

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