"There are a few things to do, and it will be a while before that happens," Plextek's technical director Ian Murphy said to gaming site Eurogamer, "but yes, the product has been recovered from the liquidators and we are bringing it back to market."

Furthermore, Murphy said that he believes that the damned handheld will succeed this time because "the only reason Gizmondo was not a success last time round was because it was not fully brought into the market." He could have said that "the only reason Gizmondo was not a success last time round was because it wasn't painted in bright pink and decorated with lolcats" and it would have had the same effect on us. Absolute puzzlement.

We are still asking ourselves the same questions: How can anyone expect that a previously-failed, ultra-hyped product is going succeed in a second introduction against all probability? Specially, how is that going to happen when mighty and actually credible companies—like Nokia, Sega or Atari—have tried and failed miserably?

And what's worse: how can any company get associated with a man that was convicted for fraud in his teens; fined more than a quarter million dollars in 2005 for issuing rubber checks as a car dealer during the 90s; and arrested for illegal guns possession and impersonating a law enforcement agent this year in the US? What is going to make things different from the first time?

It all will remain a mystery for the time being. However, we stand corrected: that company exists and they are going ahead with a plan to revive a handheld console that exploded in a puff of smelly smoke. [Plextek via Eurogamer]

The original article appeared in Realtid.se, a gossip online mag that according to our sources in Sweden lacks any kind of credibility and "should be avoided at all costs." In the article, Carl Freer talks about launching a new Gizmondo with a wider screen and a possible co-op with an unnamed telco where customers will be offered a Gizmondo for free, just for signing up for a data transfer subscription.

Freer, long-time friend and associate of famed Ferrari-crasher, fraudster and fellow ex-convict Stefan Eriksson, was recently arrested in the US for impersonating an "anti-terrorist agent" and illegal possession of guns. He was also previously convicted in Sweden for fraud and fined $265,000 in Germany in 2006 for writing bouncing checks as a car dealer during the '90s.

The Realtid report spread then to two other, more serious newspapers: Veckans Affärer and the Dina Pengar. The latter quoted both Realtid and Veckans Affärer, tying up all the speculation with the last piece of the puzzle, a flash animation hosted at Gizmondolive.com. According to one source, the Dina Pengar article "is not good. They are just quoting other sources and try to put two and two together and end up with three."

Whois shows Gizmondolive.com was registered by Domains by Proxy, Inc., an anonymous web domain registration system designed to hide the identity of the real owner of the site. At this time, the owner of Gizmondolive.com remains unknown. Meanwhile, Gizmondo.com, the actual domain in which any of this would have actually happened, remains parked and in the property of Gizmondo Europe Ltd. (which presumably is owned by the company's debt liquidators.)

So yes, the November 2007 quote by Freer is allegedly real. As another source, Swedish IT journalist Joacim Melin, puts it: "in plain English, he [Freer] is probably bullshitting to attract any kind of venture capitalist" just like they did with the original Gizmondo. The rest, however, is just castles in the air and speculation at this point.

Our guess, looking at the evidence, is that the site was made by some joker following up the November 2007 quote. But who knows, maybe the next Vapormondo will have "psychic powers," as they say. In either case, with the history above, don't count on this happening. And good riddance, is all I can say.

UPDATE: In addition to all this, reader Sean sent us this flash template, which apparently was used in the the Gizmondolive.com animation and further shows that it's probably the job of a prankster.

[Realtid.se, Dina Pengar and ekonominyheterna - In Swedish. Additional sources: MoneyWeek]

• It's the new Digg.com! Mommy! Mommy! It reads more than tech news! [Digg]
• Cartoon Steve Ballmer sounds only slightly more abrasive than Real Steve Ballmer. And this version of the Microsoft CEO (made for anti-offshoring group TechsUnite) shouts a funnier "developers developers developers" chant. [TechsUnite.org]
• The heads of failed game console maker Gizmondo — a crowd already linked to grand theft auto (not the game, the crime), impersonation of police, and business corruption — may have done some wonky fundraising for their L.A. telecoms group, Xero Mobile. That's what the SEC investigators say, anyway. [London Times]

He is charged with three counts of embezzlement, three counts of grand theft and illegal gun possession, all felonies, plus two misdemeanor counts of drunken driving.

— one couldn't be blamed for suspecting Eriksson's across-the-board "not guilty" plea is a wee bit optimistic.

Ferrari Driver Pleads Not Guilty to Crash Charges [LA Times]
Earlier: Stefan Eriksson arrested, still a big Ferrari-crashing loser [Valleywag]

• Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in the San Francisco Chronicle: "I'm going to want to have intelligence in my pocket." Or he's just happy to see you. [SF Chron]
• Word is that Ballmer's gonna get fired. Guess those "big, bold bets" fucked the deck. [Ars Technica]
• Are javascript reflections the new blink tag? [Neondragon.net]
• Google's business founder, Omid Kordestani in 2004, advised an audience of businesswomen: "Measure everything." At a record-breaking 2005 compensation of $289 million, is Omid overcompensating for something? [Mercury News]
• What was Dave Winer doing in Amsterdam's red light district? [Scripting.com]
• The London Times dives deep into the life of arrested Gizmondo ex-exec Carl Freer — yes, he's so much more than the dude hanging with Ferrari-crasher Stefan Eriksson. [London Times]
• Pictured: Google Smile. [Office Pirates]

Oh, Gizmondo. We won't miss you, but we'll miss you subsidizing Stefan Eriksson's expensive hobby, "Wrap a Ferrari around a telephone pole."

This time, it's not the Ferrari-crashing Stefan Eriksson in trouble (oh, he's still screwed too). It's his buddy from the FUBAR gadget company, Carl Freer, who whipped out a badge on the scene of the crash. Carl's accused of flashing his San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority badge (keep it in your pants, Carl!) to buy a gun without a background check. Such a deal wouldn't be kosher, what with him being a foreign national who can't buy guns in the U.S. His office denies the whole deal, but L.A. sheriffs found 12 rifles and four handguns at his home and on his yacht. No worries, he was probably just doing some hunting.

2nd Arrest Made in Ferrari Case [LAT]

• The Guardian confirms: Bloggers are loudmouths, and Glenn Reynolds has an opinion. [Guardian]
• Blog platform Automattic bypasses the usual startup interview question: "But how will you make any money?" [Business 2.0]
• Sick of dumb corporate names? Salon is old-school sick of dumb corporate names. [Salon, 90s]
• Slate performs a mental autopsy of Stefan Eriksson's crashed Ferrari (half-pictured). [Slate]
• Use Firefox, get banned from LiveJournal: The site's new terms of service give them the right to kill your account if you use a pop-up an ad blocker. UPDATE: The lawyers snuck that in, and LiveJournal's gonna fix it. [Slashdot and LiveJournal Support]

(The good bits are too small to read, so click it for the full version.)

Developments since the chart: Stefan taped the crash, pretended he was a cop, and this week pled not guilty to charges of grand theft (for stealing the not-paid-off Ferrari and a Benz).

Gizmondo flow chart [Game Revolution]
After flying in Ferrari, felon tells a tangled tale [Chicago Tribune]
Earlier: Stefan Eriksson arrested, still a big Ferrari-crashing loser [Valleywag]

• Lousy OS
• No phone
• No Wi-Fi
• No TV-out
• Poor business model

Causes not listed:

• Hiring a Ferrari crasher

Reflections: Gizmondo today is no more [MS Mobile]

First off, there's the crash itself. Valleywag's chain-smoking brother Jalopnik caught pics of the carnage — the torn-off passenger compartment, the streak of debris — left after Stefan's Ferrari ploughed into a telephone pole and split apart.

Then there's the supposed video of the crash — someone said Stefan had a camcorder on the whole time.

And there's the mysterious second passenger — or, as Stefan claimed, the driver. Stefan said a German man was driving him — but did he just need to get out of a drunk driving charge?

That's another thing — Stefan was confirmed as drunk on the scene, and his alibi — the supposed driver — wasn't on the scene at all.

Meanwhile, Stefan flashed a card that identified him as a cop — kind of. A while back, he'd installed security cameras on public buses. In return, he was made a deputy anti-terrorist police commissioner, complete with business cards.

That didn't stop two men from Homeland Security from interrogating Stefan at the crash site. But Stefan was let go —

— uninjured, according to early reports. Now CNET mentions that he was bleeding from the mouth when the cops first found him.

In any case, his arrest this weekend wasn't for drunk driving. It's a grand theft case, because Stefan doesn't own the car. He was leasing it and had recently stopped paying for it. Looks like he illegally shipped it over from the UK. Same with his wife's Benz, which was impounded in March.

Thus goes the story of the tech executive fired after his mob-connection convictions were outed in the Swedish press. He's being held without bail, and who knows if he'll end up being deported, but wherever he goes, can someone keep an eye on the boy? With one good paparazzi on his ass, Stefan (bonus notes: gun clip found near the crash site! Gizmondo maker of really stupid gaming device!) could earn himself his own Gawker Media blog.

Photo: Associated Press
Earlier: More dirt on the Gizmondo Ferrari wreck [Valleywag]
Former game exec arrested in Ferrari crash [CNET]
An arrest for theft in Malibu mystery [SF Chron]
Ferrari Case Continues to Widen [LAT]
From the Wag's big brothers: Gizmondo Executive Goes to Jail, Does Not Pass Go, Does Not Collect $200 [Gizmodo]
And: Woohoo! High School Poop on the Brokeback Enzo Man! [Jalopnik]
And: Dumb Gizmondo Exec Loses Another Exotic Car [Kotaku]

Video May Hold Clues to PCH Wreck [LAT]
Earlier: Gizmondo ex-exec was a cop. Kinda. Not really. [Valleywag]

His title on the card: "Deputy police commissioner of the San Gabriel Transit Authority Police's anti-terrorism division."

How he got it: As a favor in return for installing security cams and facial-recognition software on San Gabriel Valley buses.

At this point, even Stefan's mom has got to be going, "Yeah, he's kind of a jerk."

Another Turn in Ferrari Saga [LAT via BB]
Earlier: More dirt on the Gizmondo Ferrari wreck [Valleywag]

A plot thick as a Pynchon novel is congealing around former Gizmondo exec Stefan Eriksson's 162 mph Ferrari crash (covered here earlier). (Note: That's sucky handheld game maker Gizmondo, not Gawker blog Gizmodo.)

First off, a gun clip was found near the crash scene. L.A. cops suspect a connection. Monday, it was announced that the car hadn't been legalized for U.S. use.

Turns out his alleged driver hasn't been found. It's already firmly established that Eriksson was drunk, but as the cops believed his "I was the passenger" story, they let him walk away and still haven't charged him with anything. What's not to trust, right? The man's only been convicted of counterfeiting and suspected of mob connections.

Gun clip found near ex-Gizmondo exec's crashed Ferrari [Register]
Earlier: Pic of Gizmondo exec's totaled Ferrari [Valleywag]
Photo: More on the Enzo Incident on PCH, With Photos! [Jalopnik]

The Register scored a photo of Gizmondo Europe ex-exec Stefan Eriksson's wrecked Ferrari. The former member of the world's lamest handheld maker "walked away with cuts and bruises." The car, not so lucky.

Just realized that our greaser brother Jalopnik beat the Register by two days. A Jalopnik reader sent in shots of the trashed Enzo. Major carnage, dude.

Which gives me an excuse to ask — there's another car-wreck story developing in Los Angeles. Anyone near South Alameda Street can e-mail tips@valleywag.com to volunteer for a little photography assignment.

Ex-Gizmondo exec walks from wreckage - of $1m Ferrari [Register]
More on the Enzo Incident on PCH, With Photos! [Jalopnik]