Sonoro's Eklipse iPod / CD sound system has been available in Europe for a few months now, but it hasn't exactly made much of a ripple 'round these parts. That looks like it could well be changing, however, as the device has just recently landed in the hands of the folks at the FCC, who unsurprisingly seem to be particularly interested in the system's remote control. As for the rest of the system, you can expect to get an always welcome OLED display, along with 7.5W of power output, a headset jack, a standard 3.5mm input to accomodate your non-iPod devices, and support for MP3 and WMA-loaded CDs in addition to plain old audio CDs. Of course, an FCC appearance doesn't always assure a US release, but if there is one, you can probably expect to pay about the same €499 (or $690) that it currently demands in Europe.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Sonoro Eklipse iPod / CD sound system hits the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jaybird's just unleashed their products for 2009, with updates for their athlete-targeted A2DP Bluetooth Stereo Claws. The new ones (which look exactly the same as their
previous models) feature apt-X audio compression, giving these puppies a high sound quality "rivaling wired" ones, plus new tips for sound isolation and a modified design to fit a wider range of ears. The company's also rolling out new metal-cased Tiger Eyes earbuds and over ear Acoustic Dens. We don't have any word on pricing for this stuff, but we'll get an up-close gander at them at
CES and they should be available in April... when our Go-Go's-infused work outs should get a little more high def.
Continue reading Jaybird releases 2009 Bluetooth Stereo Claws, earbuds, and more
Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless
Jaybird releases 2009 Bluetooth Stereo Claws, earbuds, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nintendo has gone to
some lengths to keep one step ahead of the
modding community, but to little avail. We've recently seen a product that
enables DVD playback on the Wii, and now we've been hepped to FLATMII, a device that plugs into the Wii's drive ribbon, letting you stream ISO backups of your games (or the Gecko OS, Mplayer, emulators and more) from your Windows XP or Vista PC -- which your console now takes for its DVD drive. If you're the sort of sane and sober Wii owner who figures that it is wise and prudent to backup games that you own legally -- the kind who would never ever ever think of stealing software -- hit that read link. And be sure to catch the video after the break.
[Via
Max Console]
Continue reading FLATMII streams games to your Wii, via USB
Filed under: Gaming
FLATMII streams games to your Wii, via USB originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Listen, you know the drill by now: Macworld is less than a month away, and that causes a Cupertino-sized rumor mill to fill up with hints of new / refreshed hardware of all shapes and sizes. The crew at
TUAW claim they've heard from sources that a new Mac mini will be unveiled with an aluminum finish, a Time Capsule-esque "lip," and a SATA optical drive that can be customized as a second HDD instead. Additionally,
TechCrunch says it has three independent sources that confirm there's a large iPod touch is coming next Fall with a 7 or 9-inch screen. There's no indication if they expect a Macworld announcement here, but if true, we expect the cargo pants industry to react accordingly. Finally, and possibly related to the
TechCrunch rumor, a Taiwan news site claims Quanta Computers is expecting to add Apple and Sony (is that you,
Vaio P?) as clients for manufacturing netbooks in 2009. For those playing along at home, at some point next year we should expect a bigger iPod touch, a netbook, a
smaller iPhone, a
revised iMac, a revised Mac mini, and absolutely no love at all for the Mac Pro.
Read - Large form iPod touch to launch Fall '09
Read - Rumor watch: new Mac mini go for launch
Read - Quanta expects zero YoY NB shipment growth in Q4, 2008
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Apple rumor roundup: aluminum Mac minis and supersized iPod touches originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Despite a decent selection, we get the feeling Android developers have really been holding back until they can make a little money for their hard labor. Google exec Eric Chu is telling registered Android Market members via email that the rollout of paid apps is still coming first quarter of next year. He said it will occur in stages, starting with the US and UK first, followed by Germany, Austria, and Netherlands for phase two and France, Italy, and Spain after that, with more countries to be announced by the end of Q1 2009. Chu also said to expect an update to the Market website in mid-January that'll allow developers to target specific countries for their apps. Android devs, we hope you're ready -- we can't wait to see what toys you'll give us once you're able to make some coins from it.
Filed under: Cellphones
Paid apps still coming to Android Market in Q1 '09, US and UK rollout first originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
That
360 Chatpad hack we saw back in November was certainly an impressive enough proof of concept, but if you want to get a bit more typing done with a bit less cluttter, you'll no doubt be quite a bit more impressed with this latest mod by the very same Ralf Ackermann. This setup uses a Robotech Bluetooth module that's placed in a modified battery sleeve and connected to an unlocked iPhone (or iPod Touch) which, in turn, communicates with the keyboard using the Bluetooth SPP profile (a VNC server and a few other tricks also come into the picture). Of course, that's still a long ways from an officially supported solution, but if you're looking to give it a go, Ralf is promising to dish out the necessary schematics and source code soon.
Filed under: Peripherals
DIY external iPhone keyboards get a tad more practical originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We'll be straight with you: trusting something like this to keep you awake in serious situations seems like a bad idea. Iconic's "Wake Up" is apparently a plastic "thingie" that you wear behind your ear somewhat in the style of a hearing aid, which then vibrates if you slouch over -- the assumption being that you've passed out in the midst of doing something important. We're pretty sure that a lot of people can totally fall asleep anytime, anywhere, without even closing their eyes, let alone slumping over dramatically enough for this
iPosture clone to catch wind of it. Regardless, we doubt the "Wake Up" functions as advertised, but it's worth a shot if Krueger's breathing down your neck, and probably worth the $17.65 asking price.
Filed under: Wearables
Iconic's Wake Up Call wants to help you stay awake, alone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Ever wondered if that 93 octane you're paying two arms and a leg for is really 93 octane? Pondered the legitimacy of that "homogenized and pasteurized" claim on your most recent milk purchase? If so, congratulations. You're the target market for the D+caf
caffeine test strip. Reportedly, these strips keep the paranoid abreast of the truth whenever they venture out for a decaf drink; java sippers simply insert a tester into their beverage, wait for it to grow intolerably cold (or 30 seconds, whichever comes first) and then view the findings. The creator proclaims that they're 98% accurate for detecting greater than 20-milligrams of caffeine per 6-ounce serving, but we're not willing to pay $9.95 for a 20-pack in order to find out.
[Via
medGadget]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
D+caf caffeine test strips makes sure your decaf is decaf originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Here's an odd one for you. Tobias Engel of the Chaos Communication Congress has discovered a rather nasty exploit that'll cause any
Nokia S60 devices running versions 2.6, 2.8, 3.0 or 3.1 to stop receiving SMS and MMS messages. The "Curse of Silence," which has been independently verified by F-Secure, is triggered by sending an SMS that begins with an email address that's at least 32 characters long. The attacker must also change the protocol identifier to internet electronic mail before sending. Devices with versions 2.8 and 3.1 lock up after 11 such messages and still have some limited receiving capabilities, while 2.6 and 3.0 devices will go completely mum after just one attack. In both cases a factory reset is required to fix it, and he says there is no other known workaround for the user. We don't imagine this being a pervasive issue, but if you've got any tech-savvy enemies or malevolent pranksters in your life, you've been warned. Video demonstration is after the break, or hit up the read link to see if your device is among those listed at risk.
[Via
Hack a Day]
Read - Vulnerability Advisory
Read - F-Secure Verification
Continue reading 'Curse of Silence' exploit squelches inbound SMS/MMS to Nokia S60 devices
Filed under: Cellphones
'Curse of Silence' exploit squelches inbound SMS/MMS to Nokia S60 devices originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments First International Computer -- which is a majority owner in
Everex and the manufacturer of the first
OpenMoko handset -- has delivered an intriguing little machine to us courtesy of the oh-so-revealing FCC. The FIC CW001 Mini-note will arrive on US soil packing a 10.4-inch 1,024 x 600 resolution display, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, 2.5-inch SATA II hard drive, dual USB 2.0 ports, a single ExpressCard slot, Intel's 945 GSE graphics, a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, an optical drive and a Windows-based (XP, presumably) OS. You'll also find an inbuilt microphone, headphone jack, VGA output, Ethernet socket, a 4-in-1 multicard reader and a 4-cell Li-ion good for around 4.5 hours of battery life. No telling if this will surface as yet another
Cloudbook, but everything here hinges on the price. Then again, doesn't it always?
Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops
FIC's 10.4-inch CW001 Mini-note splashes down in FCC database originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Do you have a
Zune 30? If so, does the thing look something like the above? That is to say, stuck at a loading bar and completely non-functional? If so, you are not alone. We've been flooded with tips about users whose 30GB players started locking up at midnight last night, essentially bricking
themselves without any help from their owners. The failures are coming 24-hours ahead of the big '09 changeover, but that hasn't stopped Zune aficionados from dubbing this unfortunate flaw "Z2K." No official word yet from Microsoft, but we're guessing a made-for-TV doomsday movie staring Louis Gossett Jr. can't be too far off. Trailer after the break.
Update: Jim wrote in to let us know that someone at Microsoft has apparently finally woken up and checked their e-mail (yikes, imagine that inbox). The
official Zune site now has a message stating that Redmond's best are aware of the problem and "are working to correct it." We'll keep you posted.
Update 2: Major Nelson just
tweeted that anyone with an issue "should be good to go." Exactly what that means, however, remains to be seen, as there's still no word of an official fix on the Zune site.
Update 3: Oops, sorry for getting your hopes up. Seems the Major
was wrong and is now indicating the team of Zune developers is working like mad to figure it out. Somebody had better order in lunch for those guys -- it's going to be a
long day.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Continue reading 30GB Zunes mysteriously begin to fail at 12AM, December 31st -- day of reckoning to follow
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
30GB Zunes mysteriously begin to fail at 12AM, December 31st -- day of reckoning to follow originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments If Eazo's ultra-dark
X70 was just too rich for your blood, we have all ideas the Z70 will really be out of reach. This luxurious tower -- coated in some sort of exotic rosewood and presumably sourced from the same jungle as Odeon's Sex Panther cologne -- includes a Core 2 Extreme QX9775 processor and lots of other components that we simply aren't privy too. The good news is that the internal water cooling system should prevent said CPU from lighting the wood on fire; the bad news is that a spill could eventually cause severe decomposition. You can't win for losin', can ya?
[Via
BornRich]
Filed under: Desktops
Eazo's Z70 wooden PC looks uncommonly natural, expensive originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 08:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments At least overseas, Endless Ideas'
BeBook is competing most directly with Sony's succulent Reader, and reviewers over at
Trusted Reviews immediately noticed the step back in style. If you can get over that, the device was said to be delightfully light, though the user interface reverted their brief smiles back to frowns. This up and down (or love and hate, if you will) affair continued on throughout the review, with critics finding a nitpick for every glimmer of awesomeness. The real bummer came when they attempted to use USB 1.1 for mass transfers -- it's practically 2009 people, and USB 2.0 is a must. All in all, the crew couldn't bring themselves to calling the BeBook a bad device, with the broad format support, satisfactory screen and longevous battery all earning high marks; that said, the clunky interface and sluggish overall performance really put a damper on things, particularly when you consider a Sony
PRS-505 can be had for around £30 less.
Filed under: Displays, Handhelds
BeBook eBook reader gets reviewed: a library rental, at best originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Clearly, Mike Lazaridis
has the chops when it comes to running a business. What he clearly lacks, however, is a firm definition of the term "netbook." To his credit, we still feel the exact boundaries for netbooks have yet to be determined (fret not, Psion Teklogix is
hammering out those details), but calling a BlackBerry Storm one is -- how do you say? -- a bit of a stretch. During a recent sit down with RIM's president,
CNET Asia heard the bigwig answer like so when questioned about viewing netbooks as competitors: "No, I think I can put netbooks in here [referring to the BlackBerry Storm]. These are netbooks. They are just smaller." Wait, Mike -- don't you think smartphones are more like MIDs or UMPCs? Or do we just have you all wrong here?
[Via
phoneArena]
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops
RIM's president calls BlackBerry Storm a small netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Oh, brother -- yet another
high resolution audio format to worry over. Just when you thought you could pick up Denon's forthcoming
universal Blu-ray player and be done with it comes HRx. The format, which is hyped up by Reference Recordings and is literally high-res WAV files toasted onto DVD media, cannot be played back in traditional DVD / DVD-Audio decks. Instead, you'll need PS Audio's PerfectWave Transport Memory Player. Until now, folks (all three of them) have simply been ripping the files onto PCs or music servers for playback, but the item you see above will indeed handle CDs and HRx DVDs, the latter of which delivers 24-bit, 176kHz sound. There's no mention of a price or eventual release date, but something this specialized just can't be cheap. We mean, it just
can't be.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
PS Audio debuting world's first HRx disc player at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments We'd pegged
early January for the release of a pink Samsung Instinct on Sprint's airwaves, and Best Buy's doing everything it can to help us hold the line on that with a new "Coming Soon" page advertising just such a product. Unfortunately, they're asking a whopping $599.99 for the pleasure of being the first kid on your block with this thing, but the off-contract pricing in Best Buy's system is usually way out of whack -- we wouldn't worry about paying anything close to $200 on contract by the time you actually step into the store.
[Thanks, Emilio]
Filed under: Cellphones
Sprint's pink Instinct shows up on Best Buy's site for outrageous price originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
Nokia's 6208c (or 6208 classic, if you prefer) isn't arriving as a surprise, though it is quite nice to see it being made completely official. The rather unique handset was designed with the Chinese market in mind, as it boasts an integrated, removable stylus modeled after bamboo slips for inputting Chinese characters via pen. You'll also notice a stainless steel back cover, 3.2-megapixel camera (with twin LED flash), a 4x digital zoom and a microSD slot for expanding storage. Mum's the word on pricing, but it should be loosed in "select markets" during the first half of 2009.
Filed under: Cellphones
Nokia's 6208c now official, officially in love with stylus input originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Though a few lucky souls have already wrapped their paws around Lenovo's completely unorthodox
W700ds, the dual-screened machine has yet to undergo a proper review... until now.
Laptop Mag found the rig to be expectedly dominant in all the right areas, with a ridiculous graphics performance and a stunning display. Yeah,
display. As in, singular. The main 17-inch panel was nothing short of stupendous, though the pull-out 10.6-inch LCD was said to be "significantly duller and dimmer." Additionally, the vertical orientation wasn't well suited for much of anything outside of sidebar applications (chat boxes, Photoshop toolbars, etc.), but you probably knew that already, didn't you? All told, the W700ds wasn't deemed the best value in the world with an anticipated price point of around $5,000, but those with highly specialized needs might just pay the premium to make their dreams come true.
Filed under: Laptops
Lenovo's ThinkPad W700ds photographed and reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments We
get the feeling that
Symwave won't be the only outfit at CES 2009 showing off the flashiest revision of the USB protocol, but it will reportedly be the first to showcase USB 3.0 transfers to and from an external storage device. 'Course, we've already seen that SuperSpeed USB works (and
works quickly), so we'll be most interested in seeing what external HDDs it relies on to make the magic happen. After all, the protocol can't gain traction without a small swarm of supportive devices on the market, right?
Filed under: Storage
Symwave to demo USB 3.0 external storage solution at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
The latest piece of tech in the war on grandmas has gotta be Brother's Quattro 6000D sewing machine, a beastly machine with specs that will help even the most diligent granny patch up those quilts or ripped teddies more efficiently. Once you get past the huge 50 square inch workspace, you'll notice the 4.5 x 7-inch Sharp HD LCD display and embedded runway lighting. Brother's "InnovEye" and "Up-Close Viewer" technology places a camera right next to the needle to give the user a birds-eye view on the LCD to allow perfect placement before stitching. Advanced embroidery features and built-in tutorials should certainly mitigate any mishaps, and should you get the urge to plug every flash drive you own into it, there are 3 USB ports. From our perspective, it looks like the hardest part will be getting this monster home from the store and finding a place to store it -- and what to attack with embroidered flowers first. No word on price or release date yet, but there are a few more glamor shots after the break.
Continue reading The Quattro 6000D: this ain't your grandmomma's sewing machine
Filed under: Household
The Quattro 6000D: this ain't your grandmomma's sewing machine originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments We've already seen it go down
unofficially, but we've received word from HTC today that Android's coveted
"Cupcake" branch of updates and fixes -- or at least a majority of it -- will likely be making it to the
G1 in the future as a legitimate over-the-air push. HTC isn't involved in deciding what updates get pushed to the G1 or when, but given the update cadence so far and the G1's support for Cupcake's capabilities, the company believes that it's just a matter of time before T-Mobile makes it happen. The timing is still a big question -- HTC's more or less out of the loop on the schedule, and it's up to Google and T-Mobile to figure out how it's going to play out. We'll keep you updated as we find out more!
Update: We pressed HTC spokespeople to give us a little more to go on, but got the standard "we can't comment on rumors or speculation" line. T-Mobile, Google, your move -- you've got plenty of folks waiting. A belated Festivus gift, perhaps?
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
HTC believes Cupcake will come to the T-Mobile G1 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments While we feel that
some objects shouldn't be solar powered for the sake of being solar powered, we can't help but dig Nextar's approach here. The NXBT-001 / NXBT-002 seem to primarily differ only in the amount of charge they can hold, with the former offering 250 hours of standby time / 10 hours of talk time and the latter boasting 150 hours of standby time and 6 hours of yappin'. As for functionality, both devices are designed to enable handsfree calling in the car with any Bluetooth-enabled mobile, and of course, they each soak up the sun while you're out cruising about. The best part? The fact that you no longer have to run yet another power cable to that 8-port cigarette adapter hub sitting in your center console. The pair will ship this Spring for $59.99 / $69.99 (thanks to a bundled caller ID display), respectively. Full release is after the break.
Continue reading Nextar cuts the cord with solar-powered in-car handsfree kits
Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Transportation
Nextar cuts the cord with solar-powered in-car handsfree kits originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments iLuv has been on quite the roll of late with these
radio clocks and
whatnot, though we're a touch more excited than usual about the iHD171. For starters, this one tunes into HD Radio stations (you know, given how FM is
so 2006), and it also plays nice with dock-connecting iPods and iPhones. You'll find twin alarms for keeping couples happy, a front-panel display, iTunes tagging support, jAura speaker technology, an auxiliary line input (3.5-millimeter jack) and twin 4-watt drivers. If all that's enough for you to exchange $199.99 for, you can do just that next month. Full release is after the jump.
Continue reading iLuv rolls out iHD171 HD radio with iPhone / iPod dock, iTunes tagging
Filed under: Home Entertainment
iLuv rolls out iHD171 HD radio with iPhone / iPod dock, iTunes tagging originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
Between the
juvenile delinquent hordes of PlayStation Home and some
lackluster holiday figures, the PlayStation has been sort of a bummer lately, for reasons that have nothing to do with its
raison d'etre -- gaming. That doesn't mean that the machine is anything less than a powerhouse -- as was made clear today when a group of hackers announced that they'd beaten SSL, using a cluster of 200 PS3s. By exploiting a flaw in the MD5 cryptographic algorithm (used in certain digital signatures and certificates), the group managed to create a rogue Certification Authority (CA) which allows them to create their own SSL certificates -- meaning those authenticated web sites you're visiting could be counterfeit, and you'd have no way of knowing. Sure, this is all pretty obscure stuff, and the kids who managed the hack said it would take others at least six months to replicate the procedure, but eventually vendors are going to have to upgrade all their CAs to use a more robust algorithm. It is assumed that the Wii could perform the operation just as well, if the hackers had enough room to spread out all their Balance Boards.
[Via
ZD Net]
Filed under: Networking
PlayStation 3 used to hack SSL, Xbox used to play Boogie Bunnies originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments While EMTEC
clearly knows how to have a good time, it's getting back to business with the Gdium. If you'll recall, we
heard about this here netbook eons ago, but since then, we've been too overwhelmed by countless
Eee models and various changes in
Wind direction to even give this fellow a second thought. Now, however, we're told that the firm will be debuting the 10-inch netbook at CES in preparation for a US release. The Linux-based machine will come loaded with loads of open source software as well as a G-Key, which is described as "a bootable USB key on which the Linux operating system, applications, and personal data are stored." Expect it to ship in white, black and pink sometime between January and the end of time for $400.
Filed under: Laptops
EMTEC bringing 10-inch Gdium netbook to America for $400 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
ZigBee and other home automation technologies may be all well and good if you want to keep things practical and whatnot, but if you're the more adventuresome type, you may want to take after Instructables member leevonk, who's pieced together this slightly unwieldy contraption. At the heart of the system is a webcam, a flashlight, and some photoresistors that detect changes in brightness on the screen they're so elegantly affixed to. To change that brightness, you simply shine the flashlight at the area the webcam is pointed to, which relays the image back to the aforementioned PC via Yahoo Messenger which, in turn, activates a series of motors that can be used to perform a variety of tasks. Practical? Not exactly. But it is inexpensive, and it sure is more fun than a couple of mouse clicks. Head on past the break to check it out in action.
[Via
Hacked Gadgets]
Continue reading DIY home automation system brings back the lost art of flashlight control
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
DIY home automation system brings back the lost art of flashlight control originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments If it feels like forever to you since OQO's
Model 02 hit the market, your instincts are pretty darn good. But if you were overly optimistic that the
Atom-powered prototype it showed off back in August (pictured) would eventually become a reality, you -- sir or madam -- take today's golden crown. In a recent Digital Experience! email blasted out to media members worldwide (full blurb is after the break), we're very clearly told that OQO will be on hand to demonstrate its new Model 2+. Said UMPC will pack a 1.86GHz Intel Atom CPU, a touchscreen OLED display, 2GB of RAM and global 3G connectivity. OQO even goes so far as to say that it will offer performance "up to twice as fast as its predecessor." Did our heart just skip a beat over a
UMPC? Why, yes it did!
[Via
GottaBeMobile]
Continue reading OQO bringing Atom-powered Model 2+ UMPC to CES
Filed under: Handhelds
OQO bringing Atom-powered Model 2+ UMPC to CES originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
Brando's new USB Wireless Keypad is probably just what you're looking for, if you're looking for a wireless keypad, of course. It's got the standard keypad keys, 13 hotkeys, and a totally sweet built-in trackball. It's no
Optimus Aux, or anything, but we imagine this pad will be best put to use whilst counting huge piles of coins (or any hard currency) in a public library or adding up intense columns of figures on the subway. 3,700 coppers and it's yours.
Filed under: Peripherals
USB Wireless Keypad is perfect for number-crunching on-the-go originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
It's apparently been taking a wait and see approach until now, but Netherlands-based manufacturer Point of View has finally jumped into the netbook waters and, as you can see, it's blended right in. That sameness, as you might have guessed, extends right down to the specs as well, including a 10.2-inch display, a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Windows XP or LInpus Linux for an OS and, somewhat more uniquely, an ExpressCard slot, which will hopefully become an increasingly standard option in the year ahead. No word on a release 'round here, expectedly, but folks in Europe can apparently pick one up now for a reasonable €280, or just under $400.
[Via
Fudzilla]
Filed under: Laptops
Point of View debuts ExpressCard-accommodating Mobii PC netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
It's not been a good month for Sony.
Layoffs,
poor holiday sales for the PS3 and a wee bit of
hacking over at PlayStation Home surely have the electronics giant hungry for some good press, which has made the newest PR kerfuffle over at the nascent online service quite unfortunate. According to
Ars Technica, Home has become something akin to the nightmare futurescape of
The Warriors, a service "incredibly unwelcoming to women, with female players quickly mobbed as players dance around them or type sexual come-ons... a disturbing look at the worst part of human nature." This is heady stuff, but as the company is quick to point out, the thing is still in Beta, and it's still evolving -- hopefully, as it becomes more popular the free service will move itself out of the adolescent ghetto. In the mean time, they've been rocking a bit of good old fashioned censorship, banning words like "gay," "Jew," and "Hell" -- perfectly understandishable if you've ever spent a minute on any online gaming service, but highly uncool if you're trying to build any sort of inclusive social network. In the meantime, what's a homosexual Jewish Satanist to do? There's always Second Life...
Filed under: Gaming
PlayStation Home full of immature jokers, unlike other virtual communities originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Never satisfied with offering only a Blu-ray disc player (see 2007's
BH100 Blu-ray + HD DVD combo and 2008's Netflix-streaming
BD300), LG is upping the ante for '09, promising support for
YouTube and CinemaNow videos on its next gen decks. Along with the now-standard Netflix, owners can browse
CinemaNow pay-per-view offerings (or other stores
powered by the service) abd thumb through
YouTube's catalog directly from the device. Unmentioned in the PR fluff is additional info like price and more detailed specs, but expect all to become (hopefully) clear January 7 in Las Vegas.
Filed under: CES, HDTV, Home Entertainment
LG plugs YouTube, CinemaNow into next year's Blu-ray players originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
We've seen
self-parking automobiles before, but Ford's system -- part of the company's new power steering technology -- not only works on hills (unlike the Lexus), but employs sensors that are also used on the road to monitor blind spots and notify the driver of approaching traffic. The auto-parking technology is set to debut on the 2010 Lincoln MKS sedan and Lincoln MKT luxury crossover vehicle, while the new-school power steering -- which uses the vehicle's battery rather than its hydraulic system, improving fuel economy and reducing carbon emissions in the process -- should be popping up in nearly ninety percent of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles by 2012. Pretty soonish, by auto industry standards, but not soon enough for the nation's tenth graders, who will need to perfect their three point turns if they want to get their licenses before the Spring Fling.
Filed under: Transportation
Ford announces self-parking cars, future 16 year olds totally psyched originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
We've seen some goofy looking PS3 accessories -- including Sony's recent
Wireless Keypad for the PS3 -- but this one looks like a little bit of crazy mixed with a dab of mediocrity. A product of unknown make, the creatively dubbed "PS3 3-in-1 Wireless keyboard controller remote" certainly
looks like it could function in a mind-blowingly awesome fashion -- though we haven't yet gotten our hands on an actual unit yet, so we can't say for sure. It's available now for an inviting
$28.52.
[Thanks, Craig]
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
Wireless keyboard / controller / remote control for PS3 could make your day / week / month originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Yes, Virginia, there's a leaked copy of
Windows 7 beta floating around, and if you aren't the type to "break the law" and check it out yourself, the folks at
Tech Cast News have made for you a picture-laden walkthrough of the installation process and some of the OS's new features, including Alt+Tab doppelganger Aero Peek, the icon-only Taskbar interface, and the Smart Folder-esque Libraries. Overall, they found the beta a major improvement over Vista and predict the final release will put Microsoft in consumers' good graces again. Here's hoping that apparent
January beta release comes to fruition so we can sweep that
other OS under the rug a little bit faster.
Update: Looks like
Tech Cast News is down, standby for innovative Ballmer-based conspiracy theories.
Update 2: ... and it's back!
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Windows 7 beta tested, photo'd, deemed 'massive improvement' over Vista originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments It'd be a gross understatement to say that we weren't remarkably excited about the
HP Firebird 803 when we caught wind of it last week, but now you can safely say that our emotions have settled down after hearing the price. Granted, the $1,799 starting figure for the Firebird 802 isn't totally unexpected -- after all, the Blackbird 002 went for
upwards of three large -- but we still see the sticker as a touch high given the weaker innards and the lack of upgrade options. Those of you who vehemently disagree can certainly hand over your wallet starting on January 9th, or you can wait for the boxes to hit unnamed retail outlets in February.
Filed under: Desktops
HP Firebird gaming towers with VoodooDNA to start at $1,799 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Looking to mix in some illegal ROM downloading action with your standard PMP activities? Oppo's got your number with the Muse G11,
confirmed back in September and just now getting a few more details. The swiveling 3.2-inch, 432 x 240 touchscreen device offers a scant 4GB of storage, low for its $161 asking price, but support for extensive audio and video formats, text to speech capabilities, and integrated FM tuning make it a bit more functional than your average media player. Of course its biggest draw will be among the gaming community thanks to its d-pad and dedicated buttons, but we still don't have any confirmation of what sort of games it'll support out of the box -- nor any idea of when we might be able to get our hands on one.
[Via
PMP Today]
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video
Oppo's Muse G11 is more portable than an SNES, cheaper than an iPod Touch originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Apparently impressed by the stunning success (and $157 winning bid) of his earlier
Wii64, the modder who goes by the name n8bog is back with another brute-force console hybrid, this time shoving an entire Xbox 360 into a disused PS3 case. We wouldn't say it's a perfect fit, as there's been a rather large hole cut into the front to allow access to the tray, and that HDD just laying on top of the DVD-ROM looks a bit precarious, but if you have a hankerin' for something Microsoft but prefer the look of something Sony (or just really like gratuitous neon) all this can be yours at a starting bid of just $100. Any takers?
Filed under: Gaming
Xbox 360 + PS3 case + many Dremel bits = PS360 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Think you're having a rough day? Did you get a placard with instructions to the exit rather than a bonus check this week? We know, life's a little rough right now, but how on Earth can you look at the bunch pictured above and not crack at least a smidgen of a grin? Based on the insanely popular Kooky Klickers brand, the Kooky USB Drives are modeled after the widely recognized character pens and are being pushed by EMTEC. Curiously, there's no mention at all of a price, and odder still, not a peep on capacity choices; in other words, you should be fully prepared to pay too much for too little when your kid starts to wailing.
Filed under: Storage
EMTEC's Kooky Klickers-based USB drives bring a smile to anyone's face originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Not that we haven't seen patently absurd
lens attachments for mobiles before, but we've yet to come across any that were this universal (and be to honest, this useful). Sure, one could argue that a detachable wide-angle, fisheye or 2x telephoto lens made for a cellphone camera is more likely to do nothing than something, but we prefer to look on the sunny side of things. In other words, it's totally worth $16.99 just to be able to make your subjects pause as you whip out the correct lens for the occasion... which you're photographing on your
C905.
[Via
OhGizmo]
Filed under: Cellphones
Magnetic / detachable lenses suddenly make cellphone cameras fun originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments We hope you've forgiven us for being somewhat less than enthused when we got word of BenQ's
Joybook Lite U101 being
launched, as at the time we didn't quite see the need for another "me too" netbook. After reading
Laptop Magazine's first impressions we're still not quite getting the point. While this little lappy
is something of a looker, with a lid festooned with cute emoticons, on the other side of that lid is a glossy, 10.2-inch LCD that sheds 24 vertical pixels just for the sake of being 16:9 -- your average 1024 x 600 netbook doesn't exactly have any to spare. The keyboard, too, is said to be a bit cramped, but, for those who just can't leave anything stock, the U101 does have the rare distinction of being a "modder's paradise," offering easy access to RAM, storage, and an unoccupied mini PCIe slot that's just waiting for a 3G modem. Of course, HP's Mini 1000 comes with one
out of the box, so again please forgive us for the lack of interest.
Filed under: Laptops
BenQ's Joybook Lite U101 delivers smileys on the lid, frownies on the keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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