Gadget Lab Notes: Yves Behar?s Metallic Watch-Inspired Dumbphone

The +YvesBehar phone shuns the touchscreen trend

Yves Behar-Designed Cellphone Gets Its Design Inspiration From European Watches

If you want to trade in your touchscreen-centric smartphone for a dumphone that’s not short on looks, you can’t go wrong with Yves Behar’s +YvesBehar phone. Swiss and French watchmakers developed the watch band-inspired metalwork, which is available in either stainless steel or gold. Those slick looks come at a price though: It’ll cost 7,000 euros when it debuts this spring.

Yves Behar Desings a Sleek Handset [Gizmodo]

Eminent Planning an Android HD Media Player

The EM7297 hdMEDIA AND, which will run an unspecified version of Android, will let you play HD movies and Android apps on your HDTV. It?ll support USB 3.0, Flash 10, Gigabit LAN, and OpenGL. It?s unclear if regular apps or only specifically built Android applications will be able to run on the set top box, but it could be a nice option for fans of Google?s OS when it debuts.

Eminent to Develop HD Media Player with Android [Eminent via Geeky Gadgets]

HTC Thunderbolt Coming March 17, According to Tweet

A regional sales manager for HTC accidentally tweeted that Verizon?s first 4G LTE smartphone, the HTC Thunderbolt, will arrive March 17th. This date lines up with previous rumors and expectations. The tweet, by Imran Shahid, was quickly deleted.

HTC Rep Confirms Thunderbolt Launch Date [Droid Life]

AT&T Will Begin Capping DSL and U-Verse Internet In May

In a move purported to only affect ?less than 2 percent of [their] Internet customers?, AT&T will begin capping their Internet services May 2nd. Landline DSL subscribers will have a 150GB cap; U-Verse customers will have a 250GB. For every additional 50GB of data used, a $10 overage fee will be charged, following a 2 strikes and you?re out rule?the third month you go over, you?ll get slapped with the fee. An online tool will let you monitor your usage and send out an alert when you reach certain percentages of your monthly allowance. Apparently, the top 2% of their subscribers use 20% of their network?s bandwidth?equal to the usage of ?19 typical households.? AT&T will begin notifying customers of the change this week.

AT&T Will Cap DSL and U-Verse Internet [Engadget]

Recharge Old Alkaline Batteries with the Wattsclever Alkaline Battery Charger

The Wattsclever Alkaline Battery Charger can charge up 4 of your old batteries in 4 hours. A microcontroller checks that they won?t overheat and die. It?s made of recyclable material, and promises to recharge standard alkaline batteries up to 20 times, so if you find yourself constantly throwing those suckers away, a $46 investment in this gadget could pay off.

Alkaline Battery Charger [Wattsclever via Red Ferret]