Nook lineup sells millions, Barnes & Noble's best-selling product of all-time
You didn't think Barnes & Noble was just going to let Amazon rest on its "
vague sales milestones" laurels, did you? The veteran bookseller just announced that the Nook lineup -- 3G, WiFi, and the new
Nook Color combined -- has become "the company's biggest bestseller ever in its nearly 40-year history." That's bigger than Barnes & Noble's sales (note: not global sales) of
DaVinci Code or any of the
Harry Potter novels. Unfortunately, we can't say exactly just how many that is, as the press release only announces "millions" being sold. A B&N rep we spoke with told us they likely wouldn't specify any further, nor would there likely be a breakdown of sales by individual model.
Other notable factoids include Nook Color's reign as the company's "number one selling gift of the holiday season" and nearly one million "Nook books" downloaded on Christmas Day. In fact, the company now sells more digital books than it does physical books over BN.com (i.e. not including books sold in brick-and-mortar stores). Wish we had some hard figures, but hey, if any company is going to mince words in a sales announcement, it might as well be a book company, right? Press release after the break.
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Amazon enables Kindle e-book lending
This is great news for the mom of at least one Engadget editor (who has been despairing at her inability to share e-books with Aunt Kathy). That's right: Amazon has enabled
Kindle book loaning on select titles. Of course, there are caveats: books can be loaned only once, for a period of fourteen days. As you'd suspect, the loaned books can be read using the e-reader itself or the free Kindle app for any of your various devices (including iOS, BlackBerry, Android, PC, and Mac). While a book is being borrowed you can't read it yourself, and the publisher has the final word on which titles are eligible for lending. Exciting, right? At least as exciting as the opportunity to
finally discover what
The Secret Life of Bees might be.
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Sprint's 3G / 4G MiFi 4082 revealed?
Wasn't long ago that we found hard evidence of a
WiMAX-capable
MiFi from Novatel
in the FCC -- and now, we might have the first press shot of it. Of course, press shots are always prettier than the actual devices, but even if you beat this image with the ugly stick for a minute or two, we're pretty sure it'd still be a good deal more handsome than the first-gen 3G MiFi that Sprint, Verizon, and others are using currently. No word on when this might launch, but with FCC certification under its belt, it's plausible that we'll see it next week at
CES -- probably without the tipster's own professionally-Photoshopped status light below the battery indicator, we'd bet.
[Thanks, r0fl]
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HTC Media Link DLNA streamer review
Apple's
AirPlay might be getting all the attention lately but it's hardly the first solution for wirelessly streaming media to the television. Far from it. In 2003, the Digital Living Network Alliance (
DLNA) formed with its first set of interoperable products hitting the market in 2004. Since then, the alliance has certified thousands of products supported by more than 245 member companies, 29 of whom are listed as "promoter members" including such heavyweights as Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Toshiba, Verizon, AT&T Lab, LG, Qualcomm, Cisco, Microsoft, Panasonic, Intel, HP, and Motorola. Pretty much everyone
but Apple. Recently, HTC joined the DLNA ranks with the introduction of two smartphones -- the Desire Z and Desire HD -- and a tiny media streamer known as the HTC
Media Link, HTC's first attempt to gain a foothold in the living room. Over the last week we've been testing the
Desire Z (a Eurofied
T-Mobile G2) with the Media Link, lazily streaming video, music, and images around the house using a myriad of sources and controllers from Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, and Western Digital. How did it perform? Click through to find out.
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HTC Scribe turns up in US trademark filings, could be a tablet
It's an
open secret at this point that HTC is almost certainly working on one or more tablets for introduction in 2011 -- and with heavyweights like
Samsung,
Motorola, and
LG all playing the game (or
about to play the game), really, how could they not?
PocketNow has unearthed a very fresh trademark filing with the US PTO -- filed this past Sunday -- for "HTC Scribe," described as a "handheld wireless device, namely, a tablet computer." Doesn't get much more definitive than that. Of course, companies file for marks that they don't ultimately end up using all the time -- from their perspective, it's better to shoot first and ask questions later -- so it's not a slam dunk, but when you think about it, Scribe could actually be an awesome name for a little
Honeycomb tablet. Only question is, are we going to see this stuff next week at
CES or in February at
MWC?
Permalink PocketNow |
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ASUS EP121, EP102, EP101, and EP71 tablets get diagramed in latest teaser
Haven't had enough
CES titillation yet? Good. ASUS has apparently been up to some mischief overnight in uploading and then pulling a new version of its
teaser video from a week ago, though this time it also included explicit product names attached to some quite informative diagrams. It looks to be the full family of upcoming CES tablets, with the EP121 touting stylus input and a wireless keyboard, the EP102 showing that there will indeed be a
slider in ASUS' Pad family, and the EP101 looking like, well, a laptop. There's also a media-centric EP71, whose proportions make it seem likely to be a sort of oversized PMP. Skip past the break for a closer look at them all and don't forget to grace our comments with your theory as to why ASUS feels compelled to have such a segmented product offering.
Continue reading ASUS EP121, EP102, EP101, and EP71 tablets get diagramed in latest teaser
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Santech can't wait for CES, lists a bunch of Sandy Bridge CPUs on new N67 laptop
Man, who needs to go to
CES anymore? Intel's frailly maintained secrecy around Sandy Bridge processor identities has been blown to smithereens today by Italian systems integrator
Santech. The company lists a now familiar
Core i7-2630QM (quad-core, 2GHz) alongside an i7-2720QM (2.2GHz), an i7-2820QM (2.3GHz), and an i7-2920XM (2.5GHz), confirming once and for all that Intel has completely lost its mind when it comes to naming chips. Other specs include up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM, up to 750GB of magnetic storage or 160GB of the solid state stuff, a pair of USB 3.0 ports, and a 15.6-inch display that can be either glossy or matte, with a resolution of either 1366 x 768 or 1920 x 1080, depending on your preference and budget. Deliveries are said to start on January 27th and prices range between €1,200 ($1,577) and €3,000 ($3,943).
Permalink Notebook Italia |
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LucidLogix virtualization tech enables AMD and NVIDIA GPUs to play together with Sandy Bridge
It's
baaack. We've gone
well over half a year without hearing a peep from black magic makers
LucidLogix, but here on the doorstep of CES 2011, the company has resurfaced just in time to ride on the coattails of Intel's forthcoming
Sandy Bridge platform. Sandy is expected to take over CES when companies start to introduce new PCs in just a few days, and thanks to Lucid's virtualization software, we wouldn't be surprised if a few are served with NVIDIA and AMD GPUs. This here technology enables the two to play nice, making the outlandish fantasy of using a multi-GPU, multi-vendor setup a reality. DirectX 11 is also supported, with the only real requirement being to "connect the display screen directly to the motherboard's Sandy Bridge display output." We'll be taking a closer look at the peacemaker once we land in Vegas, but for now, go ahead and prepare yourself for a beta version of 'Virtu' -- it'll hit at some point next month.
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Why did Pluto lose its planet status? Because it never mattered enough
It's kind of hard to accept, Pluto has always been our favorite underdog, but the truth is that the
Solar System's ninth planet was never really significant enough to earn that designation. Such is the coldly logical reason given for its removal from the planetary annals by a man who had a lot to do with its demise. Caltech astronomer Mike Brown discovered Eris, what he'd hoped was the tenth planet, back in 2005, but its extreme
distance from the Sun and diminutive (by planetary standards) dimensions disqualified it from consideration. Unfortunately, its discovery is what doomed Pluto to be downgraded to a "dwarf planet," though Mike's not shedding too many tears over it. In fact, he's gone and written a book about the whole thing, the smug planet destroyer that he is. You don't have to buy it to learn more, however, as the source link has an interview with Mike all ready and waiting.
Permalink Technabob |
Wired |
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Ford MyKey adds radio censorship to further control teen driving habits
Daddy doesn't have to take the T-Bird away, he can just take all the fun out of driving it. That is, if the T-Bird is actually a Taurus.
Ford's MyKey system has been engendering teen resentment since the release of the 2010 Focus, allowing parents to limit max speeds and cap radio volume, but parental control doesn't stop there -- the 2011 MyKey can selectively block radio stations. Starting next year, parents will have the option to block 16 Sirius radio channels from the car's dial, among them Howard Stern, Playboy, and Hip-Hop Nation. Optional radio censorship isn't the only new feature for MyKey, which allows owners to program a key to fit their specific level of paranoia -- the new version allows parents to set top speeds between 65 and 80mph, instead of the previous fixed cap of 80mph. Other controls carrying over from the original system include a chime that sounds at 10mph intervals, starting at 45mph, and an advanced notice when fuel levels are low. The new features will come standard issue on the 2011 Ford Taurus and Ford Explorer, and will eventually reach across both the Ford and Lincoln brands.
Continue reading Ford MyKey adds radio censorship to further control teen driving habits
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UK and French carriers working on cellular coverage for Channel Tunnel, aim to finish by 2012 Olympics
If you live in a technophile city like Taipei, you'll have been enjoying underground
4G for a long time now, but in London the rule is that you have to bid adieu to your mobile connectivity when diving into a tunnel. The city's
Mayor has been active in
encouraging (forcing?) the major British carriers to install the necessary equipment to provide coverage on the Tube, and now we're hearing that ambition has stretched beyond the nation's borders as well. The
Daily Telegraph reports that Vodafone, O2, Everything Everywhere, and Three from the UK along with Orange, SFR and Bouygues from France have agreed to share the cost of putting together a £20 million ($30.8m) project for making cellular coverage possible while traveling through the 31.4-mile Channel Tunnel between the two countries. The goal is to get things up and running by the Olympics in 2012, though we've no indication as to what speeds those wireless data transfers will reach. Still, having some bars is better than none, right?
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Grace Digital adds color displays on new Solo Touch, Bravado X, and Mondo WiFi radios
Can't say we had the best of times with Grace Digital's
Allegro, but the dawning of a new year means the dawning of a new effort. Three efforts, in this case. Poised for an official unveiling next week at CES, the outfit's new trio of internet radios have all been upgraded with color displays. Up first is the Solo Touch, a $249.99 device with an expansive 4.3-inch touchpanel, bundled remote, Ethernet connection, RCA outputs and a headphone jack. Stepping down a notch, there's the Bravado X ($179.99), which offers a 2.7-inch color display, RCA in / out and a USB connector. Finally, the $169.99 Mondo packs a 3.5-inch color display, a full-on alarm clock (with snooze!) and a USB port of its own. The whole lot can be controlled via a free iPhone app, and they're each capable of tuning into iheartradio, Pandora, Sirius XM, WeatherBug, CBS Radio, MP3Tunes and more. Now, off to Vegas to see if those user interface quirks have been cleared up...
Continue reading Grace Digital adds color displays on new Solo Touch, Bravado X, and Mondo WiFi radios
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Sharp Galapagos media tablets will bring 3G and EPUB content to US e-reader market in 2011
We like a bit of ambition around these parts and Sharp's plans for entering the US e-reader battlefield reek of the stuff. The
Galapagos tablets that recently enjoyed their
Japanese debut are going to be retooled, according to the
Mainichi Daily News, to include new 3G radios for the internet-addicted US consumer, while the primary content format will also be switched from the proprietary
XMDF in Japan to the almost universally compatible EPUB. Content partnerships are said to be brewing as we type, because, quite naturally, Sharp intends to have its own e-bookstore for Americans as well. After the Yanks, the company's said to be looking into bringing its 5.5- and 10.8-inch tablets to China, India, and Brazil. Highly ambitious indeed.
Permalink Netbook News |
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RIM: BlackBerry PlayBook battery life is still being optimized, won't cause delays
If you've been keeping an ear to the techie ground, you'll probably have heard some analyst chatter suggesting RIM's
BlackBerry PlayBook may be delayed due to issues relating to its supposedly poor battery life. That scuttlebutt has now turned out to be mostly unfounded, with RIM clarifying the situation through a communiqué sent to
Erictric:
"Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented. RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook's battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life."
To be sure, it's not an outright denial that there may be PlayBooks floating about with disappointing battery performance, but the immaturity of the software on them is clearly such as to invalidate any conclusions drawn. Perhaps more important than the imprecise discussion of battery longevity (what does "comparable" even mean in this context?) is the note that the company is still on track to complete its software optimizations and deliver its first tablet
on schedule. Guess we can all quit worrying now.
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Creative Zen Touch 2 passes FCC, adds yet another new button arrangement to Android world
Oh Android, is there any device you won't grace for the cheap thrill of adding to your army of followers? Creative's Zen Touch 2 served up
most of its specs a couple of months back, including a resistive touchscreen and the use of Android 2.1 as its OS, but today it's formalized its US intentions with a bit of FCC certification action. The 3.2-inch PMP's 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 wireless transceivers all checked out okay, though the exhaustive teardown also revealed a "vibrator" module and an 1150mAh battery contained within its plasticky walls. Another note of import was that two variants, one equipped with GPS and one without, were offered to the FCC, in line with the company segmenting the Zen Touch 2 into "standard" and "enhanced" editions. If you're in the UK, you can have one of these music players shipped to you tomorrow, but the US online store only lists it by name and doesn't yet have a full page for it. Shouldn't be long now.
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LG ST600 Smart TV Upgrader brings DLNA, apps, and a web browser to formerly dumb displays
If you buy any of LG's
latest HDTVs, you're pretty much assured it'll have a big sticker saying "Smart TV" somewhere along its fascia assuring you of its internet connectivity and compatibility. But, if you're still rocking some old school piece of visual tech that isn't yet past its "watch by" date, you'll be needing a
set-top box of some kind to get on the web without leaving your couch. Naturally, LG would like to be the one to Smarten up your viewing habits there too, and so it's just unveiled its new ST600 sidekick for older television sets. It adds DLNA connectivity for some wireless media transfer fun, grants access to a "vast range" of premium content as well as local programming, throws in a web browser, and finishes things off with LG's TV Apps selection. Of course, this is the week of the
pre-CES announcement, hence we've no pricing to share yet, but the way the company's talking about it, the ST600 sounds like it might make an aggressive MSRP its standout feature. Sadly, that's a bit of a distant hope for now as this Upgrader isn't expected in shops until Q2 2011. Who knows if we'll even be watching TV by that time?
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Gigabyte slips out Atom N550-based M1005, Q2005 netbooks
We're guessing we'll see a more official announcement about these soon enough, but for now we'll have to make do with some product pages that have quietly turned up on Gigabyte's website for two new Atom N550-based netbooks: the M1005 and Q2005. As
Netbook News notes, the latter of those (pictured above) looks to be remarkably similar to the
Jolicloud Jolibook, also based on the same dual-core N550 processor, while the M1005 appears to be a relatively minor update to the company's
M1022 model, right down to the same docking station (check it out after the break). Still no indication of pricing or availability for either of them, but you can find the complete specs for each at the links below.
Continue reading Gigabyte slips out Atom N550-based M1005, Q2005 netbooks
Permalink Netbook News |
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China tightens hold on rare earth exports, markets soar
If you own a flat screen TV, a hybrid, a PC, or any number of cell phones, chances are you own a small but very sought after piece of China. The country accounts for 97 percent of the world's rare earth production, which is used in all manner of gadgets, and it recently announced plans to scale back exports by 10 percent in 2011. The move probably won't have a big impact on the average consumer, but it's certainly gained a lot of attention on the world market: the US threatened action in the World Trade Organization, stocks for rare earth mining companies spiked significantly, and Sony Corp. vowed to decrease its dependence on the minerals. It's actually not like the rest of the world is lacking for rare earth resources -- American's are actually sitting on 13 million metric tons of the stuff, which companies in the US and Canada are making a mad dash to mine. Trouble is, just getting the stuff out of the ground isn't enough -- China still has a
monopoly on rare earth processing, and US companies are reluctant to spend the eight years and minimum $500 million necessary to construct a chemical separation plant. So what does all this mean for you? Well, not a whole lot, unless you happen to be China's Minister of Commerce, in which case you should probably stop surfing the web and get back to work.
Permalink Yahoo! |
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Skype video calling for iPhone is official, available now (update: hands-on)
All signs have been pointing to this release
for a few days now, but we'll admit: we expected
Skype to wait until
CES next week to pull the covers off what could become its crown jewel service over the coming months. Skype's official iOS client has finally sprouted the ability to make video calls, allowing iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and fourth-generation iPod touch users to share real-time video amongst each other and users of Skype's Windows, Mac, and Linux clients along with the
ASUS Videophone (obviously, 3GS users won't have the convenience of a front-facing camera, but they'll still be able to broadcast video from the rear-facing one). Additionally, you'll be able to receive video from others if you're using an iPad or a third-generation iPod touch. The service is free and works over both WiFi and 3G -- and considering Skype's existing PC footprint, we'd argue this stands a very real chance of putting the hurt on
FaceTime usage. No word on when Skype will be making video-capable clients available for Android or other mobile platforms, but Skype says that there'll be "plenty more" announcements in Vegas next week, so we wouldn't be surprised.
Update: So we just gave 3.0 a spin, calling iPhone-to-iPhone (both WiFi), iPhone-to-desktop (both WiFi), and again iPhone-to-iPhone (both 3G). The first two worked great, although the desktop camera produced better quality. As for the worst-case scenario, 3G-to-3G video calling, well... we wouldn't recommend it unless absolutely necessary. Video after the break, and be sure to note the battery life -- after about 10 minutes of use, we dropped from 66 percent to 61.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Continue reading Skype video calling for iPhone is official, available now (update: hands-on)
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Ford launches SYNC Destinations, the free app for people who go places in cars
Smartphone user? Regardless of platform you have no shortage of navigation options, and now
Ford has added another way to get where you're going -- if you're also an owner of a
SYNC TDI-compatible car, anyway. Using the new SYNC Destinations app (available today for
iOS and
Android, with
BlackBerry coming soon) you can more efficiently pre-plan your route. The app lets you pick a destination, view real-time traffic updates, even check out congestion predictions based on weather, time of day, and holidays. It's a feature that would have been pretty handy last week when we were simultaneously dealing with a heck of a blizzard and a whole lot of people trying to flee their in-laws.
The app will even suggest what time you should leave to avoid the most headaches, a potential boon for those desperately seeking any excuse to hit the road a little early. It is, however, just for planning, sending your route to the car and then disabling the phone's display when you cross the magic 5mph threshold. It's safer that way, after all. Full details are in the PR below and if you're on the lucky two supported platforms with a suitably compatible car you can download today for free.
Continue reading Ford launches SYNC Destinations, the free app for people who go places in cars
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The Canon DSLR / MP3 player / speaker is both more and less than it seems (but mostly less)
A DSLR / MP3 player / speaker for a mere $83? Well, two out of three ain't bad.
Permalink OhGizmo! |
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Sony files ITC complaint about LG, adds another patent infringement lawsuit to the stack
Did the world's tech giants just discover they have lawyers on retainer? That's certainly how it seems, as
company after company has decided 'tis the season to target the competition with patent infringement allegations. Sony, the latest, is aiming squarely at LG, claiming that the Korean manufacturer's violating eight patents with its mobile devices -- including the LG
Fathom,
Xenon,
Neon,
Remarq,
Rumor 2,
Lotus Elite and
VL600 LTE modem -- claiming that these devices transmit variable-bandwidth audio streams, live-preview camera snapshots, hand off cellular calls and more in ways that infringe Sony's intellectual property. Sony's now filed both an ITC complaint in an attempt to ban new product shipments from the US, and a lawsuit in federal court that will no doubt seek monetary damages. Now, if recent history is any indication, LG will turn around and smack Sony with a patent stack of its own, and we'll all go back to dreaming about LG devices we'd
actually care to purchase.
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3D printed concert flute rapidly prototypes sound (video)
The
world's first store for 3D printed goods just opened in Brussels, and while we imagine they've already got a fair selection of prototyped merchandise to choose, might we suggest they invest in a few production runs of this fabulous new flute? Amit Zoran of the MIT Media Lab -- yes, the same soul who helped dream up a
3D food printer early this year -- has now printed a fully-functional concert flute with a minimum of human intervention. Directing an
Objet Connex500 3D printer (which can handle multiple materials at the same time) to spit out his CAD design, dollop by tiny dollop, in a single 15-hour run, he merely had to wash off support material, add springs, and assemble four printed pieces to finish the instrument up. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, of course, so how does it sound? Find out for yourself in the video below.
Continue reading 3D printed concert flute rapidly prototypes sound (video)
Permalink Fabbaloo |
amitzoran (YouTube) |
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Olympus XZ-1 and other pre-CES camera rumors from Sony and Panasonic
It's no secret that CES is the stage from which camera companies unleash more compact shooters than you can shake a tripod at -- and preceding those come a glut of rumors, naturally.
4/3 Rumors has heard Olympus will unveil the XZ-1 (pictured), which boasts the
LX5's 10 megapixel sensor and a none-too-shabby 28-112mm f/1.8-2.5 lens. The site also heard that a few Panasonic model numbers that at this point really don't tell too grand a story: DMC-S1 and S3, DMC-TS3, FH2, and FH5. Meanwhile at
Sony Alpha Rumors, the eponymous company will reportedly launch a number of compact cameras (go figure) including a
Cybershot DSC-HX1 successor, some new
Bloggies, and new 2D and 3D video recorders... and though no Alpha and no NEX models will be on the show floor, the site is also suggesting the future NEX-7 and
Alpha A77 models have 1080p60 AVCHD and a 0.1-second autofocus. Latter tidbit notwithstanding, we'd wager by mid-January everything else here will be either confirmed or forgotten.
Permalink SlashGear |
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Hackers obtain PS3 private cryptography key due to epic programming fail? (video)
The 27th annual Chaos Communication Conference already
hacked encrypted GSM calls with a $15 cellphone, but there was a second surprise in store this morn -- the souls who unlocked the Nintendo Wii's
homebrew potential (and defended it
time and
again) claim to have broken into the PlayStation 3 as well. Last we left the black monolith, Sony had won a round, forcing the community to
downgrade their firmware for any hope at hacking into the console. Well, the newly formed fail0verflow hacking squad says that won't be a problem any longer, because they've found a way to get the PS3 to reveal its own private cryptography key -- the magic password that could let the community sign its very own code.
So far, the team hasn't provided any proof that the deed's been done, but they have provided quite an extensive explanation of how they managed the feat: apparently, Sony didn't bother
generating any random numbers to secure the blasted thing. (We don't really know how it works, but we have it on good authority that dead cryptography professors are rapidly spinning in their graves.) The group intends to generate a proof-of-concept video tomorrow, and release the tools sometime next month, which they claim should eventually enable the installation of Linux on every PS3 ever sold. Catch the whole presentation after the break in video form, or skip to 33:00 for the good stuff.
Continue reading Hackers obtain PS3 private cryptography key due to epic programming fail? (video)
Permalink Joystiq |
PSX-Scene, @fail0verflow (Twitter) |
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Wicked Audio's 3D headphones aren't what you think, border on unsightly
Okay, so maybe "border" is being generous. Wicked Audio is well known for its -- shall we say,
vivacious -- line of earbuds and
headphones, but none compare to the outfit's new 3D series of cans. Set to officially debut at CES next week, this line actually has embossed logos on each ear cup, enabling you to "feel" the graphics on the side. Hard to say who exactly this benefits, but for those who love raised artwork upside their noggins, we suppose it's perfect. As for specs? Keep dreaming -- all we know is that you'll be choosing the least offensive design from the three above next month when they go on sale for $29.99 at FYE.
Continue reading Wicked Audio's 3D headphones aren't what you think, border on unsightly
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Gresso classies up the iPad with 18k gold logo and ancient wood case
We'll openly admit we never knew what
African Blackwood was until Gresso started applying the stuff to its line of extremely luxurious
cellphone mods, but now we can't imagine a new product from the Russian company without the 200-year old timber making an appearance. And sure enough, the Gresso iPad's rear is composed almost entirely of
Dalbergia melanoxylon, broken up only by the insertion of an 18-karat gold Apple logo. Strangely, in spite of its extravagant constituent materials, this design is a very restrained, dare we say,
classy, affair. It goes on sale on New Year's Eve at an unannounced price, but you know what they say: if you have to ask or you have to work for a living, you probably can't afford it.
Permalink Phone Arena |
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Archos 28, 32, and 70 now available, do not combine to form mythical Archos 130
Archos' line of inexpensive (dare we say "cheap," at times) Android tablets aren't necessarily on your wishlist, but for the budget-conscious, they're hard to beat. And now three new models are on sale, including the 2.8-inch
Archos 28, the 3.2-inch
Archos 32, and the 7-inch (of course)
Archos 70. The first two will put you back $99.99 and $149.99, respectively, while the biggun' comes in both 8GB ($274.99) and 250GB ($349.99) options. What are you waiting for?
Honeycomb? You're adorable.
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Wii Laptop mod ditches the disc, gets ultra portable (video)
The famed
Ben Heckendorn concocted the first
Wii Laptop of note way
back in 2007, but ever since, the modding community at large has been toiling away on ways to improve it. ShockSlayer, a member over at
Mod Retro, has accomplished just that, with his predictably titled Wii Laptop relying on a 7-inch LCD, an integrated sensor bar, a couple of polycases and inbuilt speakers. There's hardly anything here that couldn't be found at your local Radio Shack, save for the SunDriver -- that particular product has enabled him to ditch the DVD drive and install a SATA HDD within. From there, he burned his Wii game discs and loaded 'em all inside, making the whole thing
extra mobile. Oh, and did we mention that it's powered by rechargeable batteries? Because it is. Marvel at the completed device in the video after the break.
Continue reading Wii Laptop mod ditches the disc, gets ultra portable (video)
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Toshiba NB550D netbook spills specs, including 1GHz AMD Ontario APU and Harman Kardon sound
Looks like the AMD Fusion netbook strategy may be to supplant Intel's Atom wholesale in the leadup to CES, as Toshiba has just become
the second manufacturer to swap out an Atom chip for a 1GHz AMD C-50 Ontario APU while leaving
the rest of the design practically untouched.
Notebook Italia just spotted this 10-inch Toshiba NB550D having a grand old time on the company's German website, leisurely flexing its
Harman Kardon speakers and newfound HDMI port, all the while dreaming about ways to upgrade its scant 1GB of DDR3 memory and 250GB of magnetic storage. Interestingly, Toshiba's actually forecasting only 9.5 hours of battery life for the AMD version (compared to 10 hours with Intel's 1.5GHz Atom N550 CPU), but we suppose that's the price you pay to have Radeon HD 6250M graphics on board. We'll try to get pricing and availability when we inevitably spot it at CES next week.
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Just got a Palm phone? The best apps, accessories, and tips
So you nabbed a webOS device over the holidays? Maybe you got yourself a
Pixi or
Pre Plus, or if you were really lucky, someone dropped a
Pre 2 in your stocking. We know that Palm isn't exactly ruling the roost when it comes to smartphones, but that doesn't mean that your new device isn't plenty powerful given the right apps and proper tweaks. In fact, webOS can stand toe-to-toe with the iOS and Android devices of the world, even if the selection of apps and hardware leaves something to be desired. So how do you turn your holiday cheer into a year-round workhorse? Read on after the break for the must-have apps, accessories, and more!
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Barnes & Noble Nook trademark applications offer speculation fodder aplenty
So you're Barnes & Noble and you have a successful product like the
Nook -- what do you do? Trademark the heck out of the name, of course. As
PocketNow has noted, the company's filed a number of Nook-related trademark applications over the past few months, which may offer some hints of future Nook hardware, software, or both. That unsurprisingly includes an application for "Nook2," which was first filed back in June, as well one for the name "Nook Smart" (possibly related to the existing
Nook Study education platform?), and one for the impossibly catchy "Nook Cook." Unfortunately, it's not clear which (if any) of those might actually be the name of a new Nook device -- there's also a trademark application for "Nook Kids" with a description similar to "Nook2," for instance, but it may well just be for the company's
Nook Kids store and iPad app. The most recent of all the filings is one for "Nooksellers," which appears to be for a combination in-store kiosk and online service that would offer personalized recommendations and various social networking tie-ins. Of course, there's nothing more than the trademark applications to go on at the moment, but it does certainly seem clear that the Nook name is here to stay.
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Mayor of Newark, New Jersey starts Twitter blizzard cleanup snowpocalypse revolution
Newark, New Jersey's popular Mayor, Cory Booker, has had a novel reaction to the problems the blizzard is causing for his people: he's listening to them, and trying to help. Shocking, we know. Even more interesting, of course, is the fact that he's using
Twitter to do so. While phone lines all over the tri-state area remain a joke (try calling an airline or public hotline), Twitter has presented Newark's Mayor with a unique, and incredibly direct way of interacting with people who need help with everything from getting their streets plowed to delivering diapers -- personally in many situations. While it's not exactly enough to make us consider a move to Newark, it's certainly impressive.
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Intel 310 mSATA SSD knows that size matters, fits 80GB into less space than a credit card
Watch out, Toshiba, your
tiny SSD modules aren't the
only game in town for ludicrously small flash storage anymore. Intel's just announced a new SSD 310 line that offers spectacularly minimal 51mm by 30mm by 5mm dimensions, while retaining
X25-class performance (up to 200MBps read and 80MBps write speeds). To give you an idea of what those measurements mean, the industry-standard
2.5-inch form factor, an already diminutive footprint, is
eight times larger than these newfangled storage chips. 40GB and 80GB variants of the SSD 310 are shipping out to OEMs already and Lenovo has confirmed it plans to roll these into its next refresh of the venerable ThinkPad laptop line. Prices are set at $99 and $179 (depending on size) when bought in batches of 1,000, though direct sales to end users are predictably off the table for now. Better start saving up for that next ultrathin laptop if you want one.
Continue reading Intel 310 mSATA SSD knows that size matters, fits 80GB into less space than a credit card
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Verizon to demo Home Monitoring and Control system at CES, launch pilot in Jersey next month
Looks like
home automation may finally be taking baby steps towards the mainstream -- Verizon's just announced that it'll be demoing that
long-rumored Home Monitoring and Control system at CES 2011, with a planned beta rollout in New Jersey to follow. The system will allow users to remotely view security cameras, lock doors, and control lights, thermostats, and appliances through their smartphones or FiOS TV boxes -- the same capabilities most other automation systems offer, but with the added benefit of being integrated and installed by Verizon. The pilot homes in Jersey will receive an energy reader, smart appliance switches and thermostats, door and window locks, a power strip, motion sensors, an indoor pan-and-tilt camera, and a fixed indoor / outdoor camera when the system launches next month, but Verizon says that's just the beginning. We're told the system will use Z-Wave wireless control units and WiFi security cameras, so we're guessing there'll be a central box that integrates everything -- and we've got a feeling this whole thing is based on 4Home (pictured above), which was just acquired by Motorola Mobility. We'll find out more at CES -- stay tuned.
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Netflix: 'we're going to continue our international expansion next year'
Three months after Netflix invaded Canada with a bizarre combination of
paid actors and
$8 instant streaming plans,
CEO Reed Hastings the company has declared the move a success and says it will expand its service to other countries in 2011. "Based on the early success of Netflix.ca we're going to continue our international expansion next year and we're going to allocate significant dollars to it," spokesman Steve Swasey told
The Canadian Press, without specifying which territories or how many might be blanketed with
Albanian soldiers next. However, Canadians and others hoping to get an experience completely on par with the original US service shouldn't hold their breath, as Swasey says there are no plans to establish a movie queue for the streaming-only service, calling it a "strategic decision."
Update: The above quotes were attributed to Netflix's Steve Swasey, not CEO Reed Hastings. Our bad.
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Paul Allen files amended complaint, points out exactly where patent infringement is hiding
Left with just two weeks to explain exactly how seven of the web's biggest properties (and three office supply chains)
violated his company Interval's patents, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen figured out a plan -- Intervals' lawyers are drawing big, colored boxes around large swaths of the allegedly infringing websites' real estate. In all seriousness, a lot of companies may owe Allen a lot of money if Interval truly has a case, because Interval claims to have patented no less than the ability for a website to take a user-selected piece of content and suggest other related pieces of content that might be of interest. Oh, and it's also apparently patented pop-ups and widgets, as most anything that displays information "in an unobtrusive manner that occupies the peripheral attention of the user" is getting the same treatment. Hilariously, it appears that the co-founder of Microsoft didn't provide his lawyers with basic scanning technology, because the PDF of the exhibits they uploaded to the court's web site is just epically bad -- check out everything they say infringes in the gallery below.
Disclaimer: We should note that AOL is among the companies being sued by Allen and Interval, and that Engadget is owned by AOL. So you know, just think about that a bunch, or something.
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Wheego Whip LiFe grabs up EPA certification
Yes! Another reason to write about the darling and awesomely-named
Wheego Whip LiFe! This time, it's good news indeed, as the all
electric micro-car has received
EPA certification. The cars, which are priced at a reasonably affordable $32,995 (or $25,495 after the Federal tax credit), are now simply waiting for final approval from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration before they can roll into dealerships. It looks like the cars will ship at the beginning of the year now, with production well underway for the past few months. We'll take two, please.
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MSI teases Killer NIC integration in Big Bang motherboards
You won't be coloring us surprised here -- when we spoke with Bigfoot Networks CEO Michael Howse
back at Computex, he didn't hesitate to disclose his interest in embedding Bigfoot's networking technology into motherboards and GPUs of the future. And now, it seems that
the future has arrived. Based on a sneaky, nondescript release posted after the break, it looks as if Bigfoot and MSI will be hooking up at CES next week to introduce a newfangled version of the
Big Bang motherboard. The announcement doesn't come right out and say it, but considering that at least one MSI motherboard will be "blazing with Killer 2100 performance," we'd say it's fair to read between the lines. Howse is also quoted as saying that he's "pleased to be working with MSI," and up until now, there's been no public partnership between the two firms. According to him, the Killer 2100 gaming network card "is a perfect complement to the MSI Big Bang family of mainboard solutions," and you can bet we'll be on the hunt for a model name, price and release date just as soon as we hit Vegas.
Continue reading MSI teases Killer NIC integration in Big Bang motherboards
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Samsung's phone division now also in charge of PMPs, Galaxy Player coming in Q2 2011
Yes, CES 2011 will be graced by the presence of Samsung's new
4-inch Galaxy Player, but our pockets, it would seem, might have to wait for it quite a bit longer. The
Wall Street Journal today reports that, while Samsung intends to roll out the new Android PMP in its home market of Korea shortly after CES next week, the rest of the world is unlikely to be able to buy it until "the April to June period." Aside from its lack of phone functionality and a
Super AMOLED panel, the new Galaxy Player is an almost identical replica of the company's
wildly successful Galaxy S smartphone, which apparently has been no accident. The
WSJ also lets us in on the knowledge that Samsung's phone division has taken over responsibility for building and selling its portable media player range, hence why we're now seeing such major overlaps between the two categories -- something that might very well continue into the future.
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