With all the Apple tablet talk these days, it’d be OK to lose sight of the fact that the company’s been there before (sort of) with the Newton. Seen here is a rare “Batmobile” prototype of that now defunct PDA. From Flickr user and Batmobile owner splorp, we learn that the Batmobile was a pre-release model of the Apple MessagePad (related to the Newton platform). Sadly, this particular unit does not work, and may have never worked, having been a “technical sample only.” [ Flickr ]

The Samsung IceTouch seems odd with its AMOLED touchscreen and rubbery-looking bottom half, but it’s fun to use and designed to keep your fingers from getting stiff while handling it. Ok, and the transparent display is just plain awesome. Basically, the IceTouch is a pretty standard PMP except it has a nifty AMOLED screen with one-way transparency. That odd bottom half comes in either blue or pink, and it has two purposes. One is to hide the the components which keep the screen running—in non-transparent displays, those are behind the screen itself—and the other is to make the player ergonomic. Using only the top half of a player for controls forces you to hold the device in a manner which is easier on your hands.

ViewSonic has released a bevy of new gear including monitors, media players, HDTVs and, of course, computers, including this adorable VOT125 Mini PC. On the TV front, ViewSonic is debuting four ViewLED HDTVs from 42″ to 18.5″ with prices ranging from $1,199 to $299. The big boy will be launching in Q2 but the rest will be available in the coming weeks. In computer monitors, an entire new line of EcoView screens will be available with energy efficient options at all the expected sizes.

“Did you really need that fourth bourbon? And why did you go with the super burrito? Is the cheese and sour cream really necessary?” it seems to ask. “Maybe you should go for a run.” Well, fuck you, Activa, I don’t need your judgment, and yes, I did need that fourth bourbon. If you must know, the Philips Activa is the next in what’s becoming a trend : The fitness-based PMP. It makes sense—smartphones are replacing PMPs at a rapid rate, and one of the only niches that they can’t (or shouldn’t) cover is workouts

I don’t know what’s going on over at Samsung, but as PMPs die , you’ve got to come up with some way to differentiate your product—and I guess a see-through screen is as good a way as any. Samsung’s PMPs are among the best out there— I love the P3 —but their design has been only slightly quirky in the past. All the crumbly gingerbread cookie widgets in the world wouldn’t compare to the utter Korean weirdness going on in the IceTouch (which recalls the SE Pureness ) and the MyFit . The IceTouch is a 16GB player with a 2-inch AMOLED touchscreen, but what a freaking weird touchscreen it is.

The MyFit is a pretty good idea taken unexpectedly to the extreme. A workout player, sure, that’s a good idea. But wait, this doesn’t just count calories, it measures your fat and forcibly tells you to drink water. The MyFit is an 8GB workout player, and while it likely won’t be cheap or durable enough to displace the Sansa Clip+ as my workout player of choice, it’s definitely more feature-packed. It has fat and stress sensors, a customizable exercise management program that selects music based on workout, calorie counter and jogging control—all great.

Importers take note: This budget priced PMP doesn’t look like much, but she has it where it counts. It being price (about $60-$90) and output (1080i via HDMI). The 4.3-inch screen supports a 1360×768 resolution, the internal storage checks in a 4GB, and there’s room for more memory thanks to memory card slot on the side. Other goodies include 720p output for a monitor via HDMI out, and an FM radio. Ed.

Unless you’ve been sucked into the iBubble, you’ll probably know by now that Cowon makes some pretty terrific PMPs, like the S9 . Its latest model, the V5 HD, has just been outed and promises 720p viewing on its 4.8-inch screen. It’s not just video playback which gets a look-in with the V5, as Cowon’s also included an RSS reader, Flash games and a T-DMB TV tuner if you want to spring extra moolah for it. It runs Windows CE 6.0, and has up to 32GB of storage (albeit via the SD card slot, internal flash memory is just 8GB.) The touchscreen TFT LCD has 800 x 480 pixels, with the overall measurements listed as 128 x 82 x 15.7mm.

Lisse quietly updated its MyRace line this week with a conventional 5-in. 720p PMP called the Lisse H10. Let’s take a look: The tiny player sports a 1280×720 TFT LCD screen with a resolution that’s comparable to some 13-inch netbooks, notes PMP Today. There’s also an HDMI out, FM radio transmitter and voice recording. The video format support list goes thusly: RM.RMVB, AVI (Xvid, DivX), WMV, ASF, DAT, MPG, MP4, VOB, SMI. Audio?

As promised , you can now pick up a shiny, angular Zune HD in royal purple and magenta hues. They’re still $220 (16GB) and $290 (32GB). See our in-depth Zune HD review for the nitty gritty. [ Zune Store ]