Sure, it might not be the largest Mona Lisa ever made, but who needs size when you’re made of the geekiest material ever devised, computer hardware.

The Motherboard Mona Lisa is made entirely of discarded hardware and currently sits in the lobby of the Asus headquarters in Taiwan.

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For $147.72, audiophiles have another excuse to spend an exuberant amount of money on a “cryogenically-treated, gold-plated” doodad. And the vendor is 100% serious about their “audio grade” label, even going as far as trademarking the term.

But hey, it’s sooo worth it for the perfect sonic experience. Or so the product commenters will have you believe. Apparently “behind acoustic treatment, AC power is the second most under-invested aspect of home theater.” Well, I’ll be. You people will spend money on anything won’t you?

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If you’ve come across Apple’s homepage today you might notice several new gadgets strewn across the site, including the maxi pad-inspired Magic Mouse, a brand new multi-touch mouse device which will now ship with all iMacs.

Apple also unveiled a new line of iMacs with massive 21.5 or 27 in. displays and a wireless keyboard and new MacBooks with a brand-new unibody look, only 1.08 inches thick, a built-in battery and an expanded trackpad. I’m actually pretty surprised all of this new gadgetry was released without so much as a minor scheduled event. Check out Apple.com for all the details.

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Sources are reporting that Apple has sent a memo out to their retail stores across the U.S. stating that “further orders for many of its existing desktop SKUs would go unhonored and that stores should not expect those models to be restocked.”

In other words, we definitely should be seeing some new Apple desktop computers in the coming weeks, potentially days. The same memo states the Amazon has run out of all configurations of the current iMac and Mac Mini models. We’ll keep you updated as we hear more. In preparation for the upgrades, Apple has released this photo of Steve Jobs preparing to thrust your skull as you furiously give his company head.

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I’m Mixmaster GEARhead and I’m here to say, I use the microSAMPLER ev-ery-day. Not really, but I would if I could afford it! Specifically designed for taking your show on the road, the microSampler is a compact and portable sampling keyboard. And it’s made by Korg, so it’s gotta be good.

Grab samples from an in-line, the built-in gooseneck mic or even through the included iPhone / iPod dock. Samples can be attached to every key on the keyboard with helpful LEDs illuminating to show the sample’s status. But compact goodness doesn’t come cheap. 500 buckaroos and this bad boy can accompany you to your nephew’s bar mitzvah or at whatever event you’re planning to perform.

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If Leonardo da Vinci had taken a page out of Steve Jobs’s book and decided to design computer hardware for a living, his designs would have probably looked something like this.

We’ve already seen what the iPhone would have looked like through da Vinci’s eyes, and even his rendition of Super Mario Bros., but the iSteam Mac design reveals da Vinci’s vision of the original Mac 128. A shirt featuring this design will set you back $20, while a poster will cost you $15.You know I need me one of each.

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Somehow, someway, iFixIt has manged to get their hands on a iPod Nano 5th Generation (yeah, that’s the new one with the video camera announced at the “It’s Only Rock and Roll” event). And what did they do once their grasp was tight on the device? What else? They took the thing apart and photographed its innards.

Check out these excellent hardware porn photos of the guts of the new 5th Gen Nano. Warning: This is NSFW if you work in the company of robots.

Link (Thanks Kyle!)

Seagate, in partnership with MusicSkin, has released 161 fitted skins for their FreeAgent Go external hard drives. Seagate is on a mission. Launching the project “Pimp My Drive,” users can now add a dose of personality to their oh-so-impersonal hard drives, which already happen to be all colorful-like anyway.

$20 earns you your very own skin selection. Does John Lennon sum up your data experience? More of a Paramore type of gal? If so, be prepared to spend some cash.

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For a gadget that only measures 7mm thick, iMono’s 81-in-1 Card Reader packs in a whole lot of hardware power. With an average read speed of 32.5MB/s and a write speed of 25MB/s when tested with a Sandisk Extreme IV, this card reader is almost guaranteed to work with any popular card format you require, including the MSHG memory card.

This plug and play device is compatible with Windows versions from 2003 and up. And for $17, it’s pretty much a steal for data card users. It sure beats the hell out of the old 31-in-one readers.

Support Card Types:
- SD / EXTREME SD / EXTREME III SD / ULTRA SD / ULTRA II SD / ULTRA II SD PLUS / SD-ULTRA-X / ULTRA SPEED SD / SD PRO / SDHC / SD ELITE PRO / HS SD / MMC / MMC 4.0 / HS MMC / MMC 4.2 / HS RS MMC / RS MMC / RS MMC 4.0 / MMC Mobile / MMC Plus (adapter required: MINI SD / HS MINI SD)
- MSHG / MS / MS PRO / MS DUO / MS PRO DUO / MS MG PRO / MS MG / MS MG DUO / MS MG PRO DUO / EXTREME MS PRO / MS SELECT / EXTREME III MS PRO / ULTRA II MS PRO / HS MS MG PRO / HS MS MG PRO DUO / HS MS PRO / MS MS PRO DUO / MS ROM
- CF I / CF II / CF 3.0 / EXTREME III CF / EXTREME CF / ULTRA II CF / HS CF / XS-XS CF / CF ELITE PRO / CF PRO / CF PRO II / CF 4.0
- Micro SDHC / Micro SD (T-Flash)
- M2 / Micro MS

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The Personal Pocket Safe USB Drive protects all of your data by vaulting the drive with a numeral combination lock. The keypad requires that you type in a PIN before screwing around with the data inside.

No more worrying about your mom “accidentally” taking a peek at your special porn drive. Hiding it under your socks just isn’t gonna cut it.

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