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A free PDA that came with a magazine subscription in 2002? An early Peek prototype? No, this is the humbly named USB Wireless Handheld Keyboard and Touchpad that’s now available from USB Geek, and it just might be the sort of device you never knew you were looking for. As the folks at CrunchGear have noted, while the device is simply being marketed as an all-in-one wireless touchpad and keyboard, it actually has all the makings of an ideal HTPC controller — not to mention an entirely reasonable price of $62. No multitouch, no LCD — just a plain old trackpad, a wireless USB dongle, and a QWERTY keypad that should be adequate enough for tweeting your reaction to the TV show remake du jour. Video after the break.

We don’t know what exactly China Mobile is putting in its manufacturer partners’ tea during contract negotiations, but considering how rapidly China’s largest carrier has grown its OPhone line into the most desirable single-network lineup of Android handsets in the world, we’d strongly recommend they continue to do it. Rumors of an LG entry back in August have now come to fruition in the form of the GW880, a full touch handset launching this month featuring a solid 3.5-inch WVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, and support for a pair of pretty important homegrown standards — TD-SCDMA for 3G and CMMB for mobile TV tuning. For comparison, LG’s only other announced Android phone — the GW620 Eve for global distribution — steps down to a HVGA display, so yeah, if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got a Mandarin lesson in a couple minutes.

Alright, we’re not too happy with the Natural Selection moniker implying that being a celebrity is somehow a marker of evolutionary prowess, but we’ll forgive Toshiba this one time. The Japanese company has recruited a quartet of famous folks to help promote its wares with limited edition laptops painted to their specifications. Aerosmith guitar legend Joe Perry, the no less mythical Rainn Wilson, Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward and his coach Mike… oh wait, that’s Omar Epps, have put their own personal stamps on a selection of Toshiba’s latest 505 laptop models from the A, P, M, and Qosmio X series. These will be auctioned off on eBay starting this Friday, with all proceeds going to charity. Any more questions before you start the bidding? No? Good.

We were as surprised as anyone when the USAF threw down the cash for 300-odd PlayStation 3s back in March of last year, but what’s more shocking is that it’s now back for more — seven times more, in fact. Already employing its PS3 cluster for research into high-def video processing, the Air Force Research Lab wants to expand its capabilities significantly and it seems that Sony’s Cell processor is still its weapon of choice. We would use this opportunity to make a few jibes about lazy engineers upgrading their setups in time for Modern Warfare 2, but we’re better than that. We’ll also totally avoid noting that the US government’s skimping on costs now is leading it to commit to an instruction set tailored specifically to the Cell processor, which contrary to the latest Xeons — pricier though they may be — is not guaranteed to keep updating in pace with the USAF’s needs. Those are things we’ll leave for someone who isn’t afraid of death lasers and autonomous attack drones to say.