I adore articles like this: over at PC Mag, there’s a great roundup of some of the best technology you simply can’t get on the market here in the United States, or that you can’t get anywhere. Notably absent from the list is the mythical white iPhone 4, shown above, which people have been waiting so long for – but it makes sense since the article centers around technology items that you can actually get elsewhere in the world if you go to the right places.

Some of the names on the list you’ll probably know? Spotify, for one – the GrooveShark-ish streaming music service that’s all the rage overseas, a Lenovo smartphone with looks like a feature phone, a number of interesting netbooks like a dual-screen model, and more – head over to PC Mag to see the whole list!

[ PC Mag :: The Best Tech You Can't Get (2010) ]

I found this one – which appears to have been originally posted at Dorkly, thanks to a livejournal post from the author and artist of the hilarious Webcomic, Two Lumps. The text itself pretty much says everything there is to be said: it’s utterly hilarious to read, especially if you’ve played any of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series of games.

Even if you haven’t? All you need to know is that Phoenix is an excellent attorney, and Edgeworth is usually his rival, and usually a prosecutor. Enjoy!

I’m divulging from the traditional tech and gadgetry to share a little fun news from Geek culture – if you’re anywhere near as old as I am (or even older, considering the show’s original run) you’ll remember the SWAT Kats television series: anthropomorphic cats living in a cat-filled society who flew essentially a tricked out F-14 Tomcat with three engines, one of which was positionable for vertical motion, big enough to store an array of amazing weaponry, motorcycles, and just about anything else they needed, and – of course – fought bad guys.

Yeah, this was definitely one of those “watch as soon as you got home from school’ TV shows, and sure enough, even in the opening sequence they manage to disobey enough laws of physics to make a college professor angry. But the show was pretty epic, and was one of my first introductions to the concept of “speed lines,” something I would grow to love.

So you can imagine I jumped at the news that the series would be coming to DVD in a 5-disc set, to be released next month by the IP owners, Warner Brothers, under the banner that it’s always been: Hanna-Barbera. Yeah, you can bet this is going on my wishlist.

[ Topless Robot :: WB Lets the Swat Kats Out of the Bag ]

Remember that Apple-1 that was up for auction, the one that was expected to bring as much as $242,000 thanks to its pristine condition and hand-signed note by Steve Jobs himself?

Well, the skeptics said that similar Apple-1 units only sold for at most $50,000 – and while this one didn’t come in at the $242,000 price point that some people expected, it definitely came in way over the $161,000 starting bid: it eventually sold for $210,000.

That’s an incredible sum of money, no doubt about it. SlashGear reports:

The final bid was made by Italian businessman Marco Bodlione, a man who fancies himself a private collector and his brother (who was at the auction) “The first time I had heard of the idea of a personal computer, it was from Marco,” Macro’s brother Boglione said. He bought it “because he loves computers.”

Also present at the auction was none other than Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer. He was kind enough to add an autographed letter to the lot (though it’s unclear whether his letter went into this box or the greater lot of technology-related goods available at the auction.)

Here’s to you, Bodlione – I’m clearly in the wrong line of work!

[ SlashGear :: Original Apple-1 Computer Sells for $210,000 USD in London ]

I already covered this over at my regular haunt Gearlog earlier today, but I can’t resist spreading the word just a little farther because these two announcements from ThinkGeek are just that incredible.

The TannenBomb is probably the most evil Christmas tree ornament I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and it’s perfect if you have one of those families that likes to play practical jokes on each other or you need some way to liven the mood around the holiday season. This is definitely the kind of thing that’s going to break the silence around the tree when everyone’s sipping eggnog in front of a fire.

The Canned Unicorn Meat is the culmination of a fabulous April Fool’s gag (much like the now available and also awesome My First Bacon – Talking Plush) which people clamored for enough that the company actually decided to go ahead and make them. The Canned Unicorn Meat on the other hand is essentially a stuffed, dismembered unicorn stuffed inside a tin that has an easy-open bottom so you don’t need to ruin the can to get it out.

Absolutely fantastic – here’s hoping they land under my stocking this holiday season!

I know a lot of people who’ll look at this and have the same first reaction to it that I had: “What’s so Steampunk about it?” But even if it’s not really Steampunk, as in it’s not actually powered by steam or doesn’t really do anything mechanical, it looks amazing and definitely true to the idea.

After all, the only modern-looking components left to this iMac is the display: even the mouse has a lovely wood and brass Victorian look to it, and the display is sitting on top of a dual-hinge tilt assembly that looks like an old vanity or mirror. The keyboard looks amazing as well, and probably the only thing that could be better about it is if it were replaced with typewriter-style keys.

Best of all? This beautiful modded iMac can be yours! You can get a cover that slips over top of your existing Mac and just adds a little Victorian flare to it, or you can order one that’s been hacked up like the one above and made to look true to form. Hit the link below to find out whether the price is right for you:

[ Old Time Computer :: Custom Designed Hardware, via LeetLady.com ]

If you have an iPad, or you think you’ll get one this holiday, the first thing you’ll want to know is what you should install on the thing. Don’t get me wrong – the iPad is great for listening to music, watching Web video, checking your e-mail, surfing the Web, and tons of other things right out of the box, but you can really extend its functionality by adding some great (and in many cases free) apps to it.

To help, PC Mag has put together a great list of 50 amazing apps for the iPad that will help you be more productive, squeeze more use from your iPad, or just have more fun with it. Some of my favorites in the list are games like Angry Birds, Geometry Wars, and Dungeon Hunter, but you can also use your iPad to get a little work done with apps like AirDisplay and iWork.

Kick back and relax with a book using the Kindle app, or listen to music using the Pandora app, or watch a movie instantly using the Netflix app. There are tons to choose from, and the list is definitely a must-bookmark if you have an iPad or you’re planning to get one.

[ PC Mag :: The 50 Best iPad Apps ]

If you’ve always wanted to own a little piece of history and you have a ton of cash to burn, this original Apple 1 computer can be yours for the low low price of $242,000 US. The gem is in near mint condition, comes with its original packaging, and even has a signed note from Steve Jobs himself in the box, which has a shipping label on it that points back to the original garage in California where Apple was founded.

Granted, Christie’s is starting the bidding at a paltry $161,000, and similar Apple 1 systems have only auctioned in the past for approximately $50,000 at best, but you never know – this one could be a winner.

[ CNN Tech :: Apple Computer For Sale: Only $160K! ]

Over at The Next Web: Media, Simon Owens had the opportunity to sit down with Remy Stern, Editor in Chief of Gawker Media, to discuss how the company decides whether it will pay for a story and how much they’re willing to pay for the scoop.

Owens dropped me a line to let me know about the interview, and regular Gears and Widgets readers will remember him from his last interview with Denton where Denton said that Gawker made no direct revenue on the lost iPhone story and didn’t make advertising money on the story because they sell advertising in advance.

Gawker is just as major a media powerhouse as it’s ever been, with the Gawker team now larger than many mainstream media news teams; and Gawker has, at least in part, been responsible for breaking a number of new stories lately, including a scoop on a 25-year old “sleeping over” with Christine O’Donnell and Brett Farve snapping and sharing photos of his naughty bits. Even so, how does Denton and his team determine which stories are worth paying for, and then how much those stories that are worth paying for should get?

According to Owens, his interview revealed that Gawker turns down something like 95% of the story offers they get, and even those they accept don’t warrant that much money:

Gawker’s editor-in-chief Remy Stern told me in a phone interview that while he can’t speak for the sister blogs, Gawker is approached at least once a week with some kind of pay-for-play scoop and at least 95 percent of them are deemed not worth paying for. “If it’s someone who has a photo, they’ll say something like, ‘I have these photos,’ and they’ll describe them but won’t actually send the photos. They’ll sort of want to talk about it, or want to discuss an arrangement, and this is something that indicates they’re looking to be paid. It tends to be when someone approaches us; we’re not going out with our hand out to pay for things.”

Owens points out that Gawker paid around $5,000 for the lost iPhone story, under $20,000 for the Brett Farve story, and “low four-digits” for the Christine O’Donnell story, and part of the reason is that the reason these scoops are worth money is not just because of their big-hit-appeal, but also because there’s a real story under the covers that’s applicable to the readers of the site, and may draw in additional readers over time that keep coming back for news and regular stories, not just the big scoops.

[ The Next Web - Media :: How Does Gawker Decide Whether It Will Pay For a Scoop? ]

Firefox turned 6 years old yesterday – it was officially launched on November 9th, 2004 as an alternative to Internet Explorer, after a long period of development where the app changed names from Phoenix to Firebird and finally to the browser we know today as Firefox.

Six years later, Firefox is the dominant alternative browser and the second most-often used one behind Internet Explorer. Firefox was at the time the only option people had aside from Internet Explorer 6 if they wanted a fully-featured Web browser, and I can attest that I was using Firefox at the time, and I haven’t looked back since.

Here’s to you, Firefox – for bringing us out of the browser dark ages, inspiring great competition like Google Chrome, and for inspiring Microsoft to actually start caring about their browser and for forcing them to catch up and get with the times with the releases of Internet Explorer 7, 8, and now the IE 9 Beta.

[ Mashable :: Happy Birthday Firefox ]