The Optimus Mini 3 may provide you with little widgets on your desk in a pretty form factor, but if you’re a real geek, you laugh at that kind of stuff. You don’t need it to be pretty. Or have a color screen. You don’t even need something that looks remotely attractive. No, you need the Pertelian External LCD display. Just look at the picture, that will go well (not that you care) with your desk.

I’m going to admit it, this thing has some sweet specs. Take the backlit, yes backlit, grayscale LCD that can handle a whopping 4 lines of 5×7 dot text. And did I mention the velcro strap? w00t! I may be making fun of this ugly device, but it’s actually pretty cool. There’s even an active homebrew community surrounding it. Some of the actual capabilities of the device are:

• eBay auction monitoring
• Read POP E-mail headers
• Read RSS headlines
• Stock ticker
• Current computer information (CPU, memory, heat etc.)
• Control iTunes, Winamp, WMP, AIM, ICQ, and more
• Customized hot keys to control the display

That isn’t even the complete list, this thing has tons more functionality packed into . And if you’re not satisfied with that list, you can create (as in program) your own widgets using the help of the community. Unfortunately this is Windows only application but who knows, the community might put out a Linux/Mac port.

Only a real geek will buy the Pertelian External LCD Display for their computer, mainly because it’s $50. (And no, I’m no geeky enough to buy this.)

Product Page