Archive for December 15th, 2009

LaCie introduces Rikiki portable hard drive, monkey originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Pocket-lint  |  LaCie  | Email this | Comments

Can’t wait for another Engadget Show to roll around? Well you’re in luck, friend. We’re going to be hitting the stage again come December 20th, and this one is set to be a killer.

The last show of the decade will be dedicated to just that: the decade. We’re going to be talking about the most important gadgets of the past 10 years — both good and bad — and we’ll be joined by the perfect guest. Peter Rojas, the founder of both Gizmodo and Engadget (and now gdgt!) will take the stage with Josh, Paul, and Nilay to discuss what has been arguably the most important 10 years in gadgetry.

We’ll also have a few surprises, as well as some giveaways, so don’t miss it — you’ll be sorry if you do!

The show takes place at the Tishman Auditorium at Parsons The New School for Design. As you may already know, we film live in front of an audience once a month — but if you can’t make it, don’t worry. We’re bringing the video back home to Engadget (and as a free download here, in the iTunes Store, or the Zune Marketplace) for your viewing pleasure.

The beautiful venue (which you can see in a photo after the break) is located at 66 W. 12th Street between 5th and 6th Aves. Seating is limited and tickets will be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis — which means if you want to join us in the audience for the show, you’ll have to arrive early and be prepared for a little wait.

Here are the facts you need to know about the show:

• The show is graciously sponsored by Sprint, and hosted by Parsons The New School for Design
  
• The total show length will be around an hour

Here is what you need to know if you want to be part of the audience:

• There is no admission fee — tickets are completely free
• The event is all ages
• The venue seats just over 450 people
• Parsons students are welcomed, and we encourage them to come!
• Tickets will be available for pickup at the Tishman Auditorium at 2PM on the 20th, and we’re strongly encouraging people to get their tickets and not stand in line — if you have a ticket, you’ll have a seat!
• You’ll need to hold onto your ticket stub to be eligible for the giveaways
• You cannot pick up tickets for other people — if you want your friend to get a ticket, bring your friend!
• The show begins at 5PM, and doors will open at 4:30PM

If you’re a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget.com, and we’ll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget.com.

Continue reading The Engadget Show returns Sunday, December 20th!

The Engadget Show returns Sunday, December 20th! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Since it’ll be eons until we enjoy the kind of 4G coverage that we’ve grown used to on 2G (and to a lesser extent, 3G), manufacturers and carriers are hard at work making sure that we’ve got a reliable way to interoperate for the foreseeable future — TeliaSonera, for instance, wants to swap out its customers’ modems for LTE / HSPA dual-mode versions once they’re available next year. To that end, Ericsson and ST-Ericsson are trumpeting that they’ve become the first to establish “LTE and HSPA mobility” in accordance with 3GPP’s Release 8 specification, which dictates this sort of stuff in a way everyone can agree on (that’s a good thing). Verizon’s naturally more interested in the CDMA handoffs that have already gone down, but for AT&T and most of the rest of the world, this is exciting news indeed.

Ericsson trials HSPA-LTE interoperability, we count 7 Gs in total originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  ST-Ericsson  | Email this | Comments

Continue reading CherryPal debuts $99 netbook, names it Africa

CherryPal debuts $99 netbook, names it Africa originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  CherryPal  | Email this | Comments

If you were waiting for ViewSonic to finally put out a netbook, the wait is over. If you weren’t, we don’t blame you — we weren’t either. At any rate, the VNB102 ViewBook that we saw manhandled way back in September has finally got a street date: December 18, to be exact. Things are pretty much as you were expecting: 10-inch display, Windows 7, Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB memory, 160GB hard drive, a six cell battery, and 802.11b/g WiFi. This bad boy can be yours for the MSRP of $399. Intrigued? Hit up the gallery below of fly past the break for some stunning PR.

Continue reading ViewSonic VNB102 netbook gets price, release date, a handful of pretty renders

ViewSonic VNB102 netbook gets price, release date, a handful of pretty renders originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Advancements in silicon-germanium have been going on for years now, but a team at UCLA is convinced that their discovery really is “the next big thing.” For scores now, microchip makers have struggled with miniaturizing transistors as the public at large demands that things get smaller and smaller. Thanks to researchers at the aforesaid university, it’s looking like silicon-germanium nanowires could be the key to making the process a whole lot easier. According to study co-author Suneel Kodambaka, the new nanowires could “help speed the development of smaller, faster and more powerful electronics,” also noting that they’re so small that they can be “placed in virtually anything.” Which is great, because the Adamo XPS is just entirely too pudgy.

UCLA nanowire discovery could lead to faster, stronger, smaller electronics originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhysOrg  |  UCLA  | Email this | Comments

Young American woman flies over to Jerusalem to meet some friends, see the sights, live the life. Overzealous airport security officers ask her a bunch of questions, take issue with her answers, and a few well-placed bullets later she is allowed entry into the country with a somewhat altered MacBook in tow. So what can we all learn from this incident? Firstly, back up all the data you consider important; B, Israeli policemen don’t mess about; and 3, distressed laptops look gorgeous no matter how they got there — just look at the way the glass trackpad has wrinkled up from the force of the bullet penetrating near it, it’s a borderline work of art. The young lady in question has been promised compensation, but we’re hearing she’s not the only one to experience the wrath of Israel’s finest. Flickr link below will lead you to fallout pictures from a separate incident, and we’ve got a couple more close-ups of the ravaged MacBook after the break.

[Thanks, Itai N.]

Continue reading Airport security guards kill — literally kill — a MacBook

Airport security guards kill — literally kill — a MacBook originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Lily Sussman, Flickr  | Email this | Comments

We don’t know about you, but every time we hear of a Walkman, we think of the old school cassette players, and are left strangely disappointed by the slinky modern variants and their tons of storage. The 16GB S745, which has absolutely nothing to do with Mickey Mouse we assure you, has entered North American retail channels, only it seems to have skipped the US for its more peace-loving neighbor up north. Eagle-eyed Canadian shoppers have spotted the more advanced version of the S740 on sale in Sony Style stores (for 200 CAD or 188 in real American currency), replete with a 2-inch screen, noise-canceling earphones, and an unhealthily thin case. Still, suspicions abound that Sony is merely waiting for CES to roll around to make its big US unveiling, but if you really can’t wait it’s not like driving up to Canadia would be that terrible anyway.

Sony NWZ-S745 on sale in Canada, US given cold shoulder originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Sony Insider  |  Sony Style Canada  | Email this | Comments

Sony Ericsson giveth, and Sony Ericsson taketh away. Just as the Xperia Pureness — that wildly mainstream device with absolutely universal appeal (and concierge service) — makes its way to commercial availability, we’re hearing that the Xperia X2 will not be finding store shelves for at least another month. Made official way back in September, the Windows Mobile 6.5 QWERTY slider had already used up most of its Q4 release window, and this latest setback will do its chances of success little good. In the time since its announcement, SE itself has shown off the X10, HTC has leaked an entire roadmap all over itself, the Google phone has emerged from secrecy and, of course, the Droid has come out to a deafening roar of approval. Sony Ericsson explains that it is still optimizing the software and battery life, but all that could be irrelevant to a January 2010 world looking forward to Maemo this and Android that.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 delayed until January 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Brighthand  | Email this | Comments

Look, we’re not going to spend any more time on this than absolutely necessary. But we will point you to Steorn‘s live free energy demonstration so that you can ponder for yourselves how Orbo “uses magnets to gain energy” on a trio of live cams. If you look closely, you might even see a leprechaun dancing after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Steorn Orbo livestream begins: Look, fairies!

Steorn Orbo livestream begins: Look, fairies! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Steorn  | Email this | Comments