Archive for June 6th, 2009

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Is_this_the_new_iphone_2′; Sure, it’s Palm’s big day, but that doesn’t mean the Apple rumor mill is taking a break — check out this pic of what might be the new iPhone set to drop on Monday. Yep, that’s a matte black casing with no chrome border, a what looks to be a front-facing camera, and iPhone OS 3.0, so it certainly lines up with what we’ve heard — but it wouldn’t exactly take a Photoshop master to do this one up either. One more pic at the read link — anyone believing this?

Update: Nowhere Else seems to be down at the moment, so we’ve stuck the other shots after the break.

Continue reading Is this the new iPhone?

Filed under: Cellphones

Is this the new iPhone? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are you just now coming to the stark realization that you’ve nothing whatsoever to do this weekend? Calm down, there’s no need to freak out. Thanks to Jeff Keyzer over at mightyOhm, you can now get to work on your very own DIY WiFi radio. In one of the most elaborate how-to guides we’ve ever had the pleasure of gawking at, Jeff has detailed exactly how to turn an ASUS WL-520gU router, a few spare pieces of wood and a couple of unwanted knobs into an open source internet radio streamer. Sure, there’s always Pandora for those who aren’t inclined to get their elbows dirty, but seriously, what fun is that? Roll up those sleeves, grab whatever tools your pop gave you when you left for college and hit the read link. Pronto.

[Via Hacked Gadgets]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Networking

DIY WiFi radio built with ASUS WL-520gU router, sweat and tears originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We appreciate Apple’s efforts to make the iPod shuffle into something that no one’s ever done before, but seriously, the no-buttons approach is sort of, um, annoying. Thankfully, the good guys and gals over at Scosche are totally in agreement, and thus, they’ve taken the time to develop the remarkable tapSTICK. Put simply, this 3rd-gen iPod shuffle case protects one’s player from the elements while adding hard buttons that simulate the commands on Apple’s own VoiceOver-friendly earbuds. The result? An MP3 player that’s not partial to lackluster white ‘buds, not to mention one that you can actually control with relative ease. Too bad it’ll cost you $29.99, but we suppose that’s the going rate these days to extinguish frustration. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading Scosche tapSTICK adds hard buttons, purpose to new iPod shuffle

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

Scosche tapSTICK adds hard buttons, purpose to new iPod shuffle originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lengda isn’t exactly one of the best known netbook manufactures around, but it looks to have made a decent enough showing for itself at Computex, where it had its new stainless steel X10K netbook on display (pictured above), along with its new 11.1-inch CULV-based M11A laptop. The former of those is basically your average 10.2-inch netbook, but with a bit of added weight from that stainless steel enclosure (and interchangeable cover), although the company is apparently also looking at producing an aluminum version. The M11A, on the other hand, looks to be among the first CULV laptops with an 11.1-inch screen, and sports a more traditional glossy plastic exterior, along with a few bonuses like an extendable TV / 3G antenna depending on the model. No word on pricing or availability just yet, but you can get a closer look at both of ‘em after the break courtesy of the folks at Netbooknews.com.

Read – Netbooknews.com, “Lengda X10K stainless steel netbook”
Read – Netbooknews.com, “Lengda M11A 11.1-inch CULV notebook”

Continue reading Lengda shows off stainless steel X10K netbook, 11.1-inch CULV model

Filed under: Laptops

Lengda shows off stainless steel X10K netbook, 11.1-inch CULV model originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/Palm_Pre_already_torn_to_shreds_estimated_to_cost_170′; Zero-day teardowns are now a staple of major new product launches, and Rapid Repair is eager to do the deed on the Pre just a few hours after going on sale. Word like “pry,” “razor,” “spudge,” and “difficult” all make appearances in this one, so the long and the short of it is that you don’t want to try doing this yourself unless you’re a microsurgeon, an electrical engineer, or you have a total commitment and willingness to destroy your brand new Pre in the name of science. Overall, Rapid Repair estimates $170.02 in components — but as always, this figure doesn’t mean a lot since you can’t quantify the blood, sweat, tears, and poached engineers from competitors that went into this product over the last several years.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Palm Pre already torn to shreds, estimated to cost $170 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Drooling over boxee on other platforms but haven’t been able to nab an invite to the Windows alpha? De-stress, CEO Avner Ronen announced the plan is to open things up starting June 23. Other things touched upon at the Connections digital entertainment conference Wednesday included his belief that TV is going the way of the internet and that tech giants need to just let it happen, and the company’s potential to make money from its media streaming platform, possibly from content providers for pushing their shows, collecting a fee from for-pay add-ons in an application store, or licensing boxee to hardware makers. Don’t worry too much about a money grab on the way anytime soon, with a zero-dollar revenue goal for the year. In the meantime, chill and check out a preview of the Windows version and an example of how it can work as a simple Windows Media Center plugin.

[Via Download Squad]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Windows version of boxee open to all June 23rd originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/Palm_Pre_goes_on_sale_nationwide_line_forms_on_the_right’; Oh, hey, look at that: you can buy a Pre now! As of 8:00AM on the East Coast, the phone went on sale at Sprint stores, with Best Buy, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart also retailing the phone today as Saturday dawns across the country. After Sprint’s invite only pre-Pre launch event last night, we still saw plenty of folks lined up outside Sprint’s “flagship” New York store in the Flatiron Building before the doors opened. Apparently people started queuing around 5:00AM, with Chris Lee and Randy Williams the first through the door — replacing a Treo Pro and a HTC Mogul, respectively. Like last night, the process took about 40 minutes, but a lot of that is spent waiting for a small pit crew of Sprint employees to swap over your address book, so if you forgo that we’d say you can be in and out in 30, which should still be plenty of time to savor the moment. Word is that the Flatiron store has about 100 units, but it’s clear that inventory varies widely between locations and retailers — Touchstones seem to be a much rarer commodity.

We’ll be checking out some other launches across the country, so stay tuned, and be sure to send in your own pictures and impressions!

Some word from the wilds:
Tipster Brad says that his Best Buy store in Orlando has only 9 Pres available, and they’re giving them out one by one on an appointment basis — he was fourth in line, so he’ll be going back at 12:15PM to pick his up. Unfortunately, their Touchstone stock is zero.

Kevin C. Tofel was fourth in line at his local Sprint store, which purportedly had 30 phones in stock, but he picked up the last of the Touchstones.

We just checked in at the Bryant Park Sprint store in New York City, and while Pre inventory is cool, they are all out of Touchstones. We’re starting to think the supply of those is quite limited. We also hear that at least one tenacious gentleman got in line at 6:00PM yesterday, and spent the night outside the store in order to get his first.

Continue reading Palm Pre goes on sale nationwide, line forms on the right

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Palm Pre goes on sale nationwide, line forms on the right originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While just about any SSD will make your average computing experience a fair bit more awesome, it takes a really unique device to make said experience Animal-Style-Triple-From-In-N-Out special. Up until now, the general consensus was that Intel’s X-25M was the crème de la crème, but it seems that Corsair’s recently launched P256 may just be giving that very drive a real run for its money. After seeing a pre-production unit deliver some respectable early results, we figured it prudent to pass along bit-tech‘s full-on review. In most cases, the 256GB P256 either topped or fell just behind Intel’s 80GB unit, though the drive did seem to suffer a bit in the random read / write tests. Still, critics felt comfortable recommending the drive, and while pricey, noted that it offered better value per gigabyte in comparison to similar 256GB units on the market.

Filed under: Storage

Corsair’s blistering P256 SSD reviewed: look out, X25-M originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 08:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Robots won’t be able to wrest control of the planet from us silly humans until they learn how to collaborate. Sure, they can mow the lawn or mix a drink, but only when you give ‘em explicit instructions. Luckily for our future robot overlords, The EU’s JAST project is studying the ways that humans work together, in the hope that it can someday teach robots to anticipate the actions and intentions of a human partner. “In our experiments the robot is not observing to learn a task,” explains Wolfram Erlhagen from the University of Minho. “The JAST robots already know the task, but they observe behavior, map it against the task, and quickly learn to anticipate [partner actions] or spot errors when the partner does not follow the correct or expected procedure.” This bad boy has a neural architecture that mimics what happens when two people interact, and the video below shows the rather melancholy automaton trying to convince his human partner to pick up the right pieces to complete a simple task. Watch it in action after the break.

Continue reading Researchers develop a robot that reads your intentions, says you’re ‘thick’

Filed under: Robots

Researchers develop a robot that reads your intentions, says you’re ‘thick’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 07:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Computex may finally be winding down, but with most of the big product announcements now out of the way, that only means there’s a better chance for some of the hidden treasures of the show to shine, like this collection of Chinese-styled gadgets discovered by our pals at Engadget Chinese. That includes a stylish “Nah” box made of real china that actually contains a 1.5TB hard drive, a bamboo sheet that supposedly acts as a laptop cooling pad, a pair of vase-shaped speakers, various mice decorated with Chinese opera masks and, of course, no shortage of eye-catching USB drives. All of which are better demonstrated in pictures than words, so we recommend hitting up the gallery below.

Gallery: Computex offers Chinese gadget kitsch aplenty

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Peripherals

Computex offers Chinese gadget kitsch aplenty originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 05:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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