Nikon's D3000 launched under the long, dark shadow of the D300S, but for entry-level DSLR buyers, it has certainly remained a viable option. For those who passed on the D5000 and tossed their six bills towards this, we're curious to see just how great / terrible it is at Nikon's bottom rung. Are you still enjoying your cam? Do you wish you would've selected a higher-end model? Is the kit lens worth a darn? Feel free to spill your rant in comments below, and make it good -- you never know when the D3000S or D4000 will hit the market.
Palm Pre now available on O2 UK The cheapest 18-month tariff on which the Pre can be had for free is £44.05 per month, which throws in 1,200 free minutes and "unlimited" data and WiFi.
Ah, Large Hadron Collider, our old frienemy, how close is thy doomsday clock now? Closer than it was last week, naturally, especially now that the temperature in each of its eight sectors has been dropped to 1.9 Kelvin, or -271 degrees Celsius / -456 Fahrenheit, depending on your equivalent measurement of choice. While pretty much lethal for humans, that's still twice as warm as the Boomerang Nebula some 5,000 light years away from our fair planet, making it a veritable vacation spot for those carnivorous inhabitants of the Centaurus constellation (not that they'd really want to make that big of a trek without some sort of pre-planned hotel accommodations, but we digress). The chill is all a part of the massive science experiment's ramp up to its second half of November relaunch -- assuming the personification of Higgs boson doesn't pop in via its proverbial TARDIS equivalent wearing a cape and carrying an anti-LHC particle gun, that is.
Hitachi's face-recognizing, power-saving plasma may have been the outfit's show-stopper at CEATEC, but this little bugger here showed some pretty fantastic potential as well. The 10-inch 3D display, more formally known as the Full Parallax 3D TV, one-upped most every other 3D display at the show thanks to its ability to showcase dimensions sans any glasses. Unfortunately, the native resolution is just 640 x 480, and yes, it really is just 10-inches in size. In due time, the outfit hopes to scale up to screen sizes that may actually be appealing to end users by utilizing multiple projectors (each of which with a 800 x 600 resolution), though a 4K x 2K 3D display (of the glasses-free variety) is still probably a couple of trade shows out. At least.
Didn't think Microsoft exec Aaron Greenberg could top himself after saying that Hulu on 360 was like "asking out a really hot chick on a date?" Well, think again, 'cause Greenberg recently sat down with GameInformer for a fairly wide ranging interview, and he took the opportunity to toss a few bombs in Sony's direction. The biggest of those is that he's "confident" that the Xbox 360 will "not only outsell PS3 for the full calendar year, but for this entire generation" -- adding that it's "similar to a game of baseball, it is not about just winning one inning, but instead being able to win the game by consistently delivering across all nine innings." Greenberg also went on to say that Sony's expected good showing in the September sales numbers is merely a "short term bump," and that "it is not a real concern to us." Hit up the link below for the complete interview, which also includes talk of the Zune HD, Xbox Live, and Microsoft's plans for the holiday season.
Well freaking finally. The Advanced Television System Committee just approved the Mobile DTV standard, meaning we're finally about to see for-real mobile television in the US. LG and Samsung have already made gear for the new standard, and the tech will be demoed later today before a rollout... sometime. Still, it's heartening news to hear that it's finally ready -- over 800 stations are signed up to broadcast the new signal, which makes use of existing 6MHz airwaves to do everything from straight TV to video-on-demand and targeted advertising. Cool, so now we're what, just a billion years behind DVB adoption?
Hey there, happy Friday! We here at Engadget love giving things away, as you probably already know... and today we have something very special for our dear, beloved readers. Nyko's graciously provided us with 10 very special pink Kama wireless nunchuks for the Wii (which should go very nicely with those just-unveiled Wii Wands). These Kamas aren't available to purchase -- so if you win, you'll be one of a very select few to own them, which is always nice to hear, right? Read the full rules after the break, and get commenting to win! Good luck.
Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema.
On our last visit, we examined the computer hacking fantasies of 1980's adolescents in Weird Science. Skipping on from software-engineered babes to a bio-engineered society, this week we investigate the gadgets in the human-clone-saturated cities of Code 46. Though most of the futuristic technology in this 2003 film is in the form of mind-altering viruses, the everyday devices used by Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton slightly stretch today's technical specs in true sci-fi form.
Memory Videobook
Preventing scrapbooks from being left behind as primitive forms of experience archiving, this gadget combines the cheap plastic form of photo-books with a relatively thin interactive screen. The device captures first-person memories from a user in the form of lossy video (alas, the specs behind memory capturing have yet to be released, much to our irritation). Playback and fast-forward/rewind are enabled through basic scrolling gestures on either the corner of the video or the opposing soft-acrylic, touch-sensitive finger pad. Similar to Americhip's video-in-print technology, the memory videobook appears to use a TFT LCD, but with a far more outstanding resolution. While this memory scrapbook device is far from chic, we kind of respect that it stays true to its historical laminated, cutesy form despite the high tech modifications. More after the break.
Bad news, good news, and potentially great news time, folks. First with the bad: Sony Ericsson posted another loss for its fiscal third quarter, to the tune of 164 million euro (about $244 million US), blaming a large chunk of that on a drop in sales. Sales dropped year-over-year 40 percent to 1.6 billion euro, and unit shipments comparably down 45 percent. That's the bad, now what's good for SE is that its secured more financial backing to reshape its future into something more profitable. External financing totals a reported 455 million euro ($676 million US), 255 million of which is already in the company's position and 200 million as a two-year backup. SE also managed to beat analyst estimates, losing less than anticipated, and that's gotta induce some bittersweet smiles in the corporate boardrooms... oh, the potentially great news? Well, SEMC blog has boldly announced that the Android-imbued Rachael (a.k.a. XPERIA X3) is due out this November, same specs as we heard before and two color options, Sensuous Black and Luster White. Unfortunately, we're not seeing exactly where this news is coming for, so until SE speaks the magic words, we're considering it a rumor for now -- but we're hopeful.
Fujitsu has just announced two "stylish" P Series LifeBooks, and we have our hands on the PR drivel to prove it. This affable pair of machines come in "charming" colors that "endow both notebooks with a premium yet snazzy feel, for standing out effortlessly in a corporate jungle or a social playground setting." To be honest, we're more interested in things like the 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display, battery life (6.7 hours under normal use, 7.2 hours in power saving mode -- which can be selected by hitting the ECO button), multitouch, the DVD Sharing application for glomming onto optical drives over your LAN, and the fact that they're both a mere 3.5 pounds light and just over an inch thin. The Fujitsu P LifeBook P3110 features a Pentium SU4100 (1.30GHz / 800MHz / 2MB L2 Cache) and is available in Glossy Black, Glossy Silver, and Glossy Ruby Red. The Fujitsu P LifeBook P3010, however, sports an AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 (1.6GHz / 512KB / L2 cache) and is available in Glossy Black and Glossy Ruby Red. No word on a release date, or on a price -- but, to paraphrase Godard, whenever someone mentions "style," we reach for our checkbooks. PR after the break.
Everyone all strapped in? Okay, take a deep breath. Now exhale....slowly. It's the Engadget Podcast. Just what you need after a tense week of work, school, and being extremely worried about a boy who was not actually trapped in a killer spaceship balloon. Instead join Josh, Paul and Nilay as they break down the week in news, starting with the Sidekick situation and cruising past the Motorola CLIQ, the BlackBerry Storm 2, Walt Mossberg's disregard for anything not the iPhone, and wrapping up with the rumored Barnes and Noble ebook reader and the runup to Windows 7. There -- don't you feel better?
Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Producer: Trent Wolbe Song: Raulever - Chips Don't Lie
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace
We've already seen at least one (sort of) functional quantum processor, and one breakthrough after the other in quantum computing, but it looks like some researchers at Ohio State University have now made a breakthrough of their own that could possibly speed things up considerably. The big news there is that they've apparently found a way to fabricate a quantum device called a resonant interband tunneling diode (or RITD) using a chip-making technique called "vapor desposition," which is commonly used today for traditional chips. While there's still quite a bit of perfecting to be done on the device itself, lead researcher Paul Berger says the RTIDs could be used for ultra-low-power computer chips that operate with small voltages and produce less excess heat, and may even allow for ultra high-resolution imaging devices that can "operate at wavelengths beyond the human eye" -- opening up possibilities for everything from advanced medical imaging to the ability to see through rain, snow, fog and dust storms.
Well, it unfortunately doesn't include any elaborate test setups or a thorough dissection of the device, but it looks like the Motorola Sholes (a.k.a. Droid) has indeed finally made at showing at the FCC, although it's unfortunately (for some of us, anyway) the non-CDMA, European version of the phone. Interestingly, it appears that this may have been a small slip-up on Motorola's part, as all references to the phone other than the one above seem to have been omitted from the documents. Then again, the Sholes seems to be making a habit of showing up plenty of places Motorola may not want it to.
There's nothing quite like a dismal quarterly report to shake things up, and that's exactly what Nokia's doing after losing over $800 million in its most recent three-month period. CFO Rick Simonson is being whisked over to a new post as head of the Mobile Phones group -- concentrating on Series 30 and Series 40 handsets -- within the Devices division, while Timo Ihamuotila, who currently leads up global sales, will take over for the CFO position being vacated by Simonson. For what it's worth, the move doesn't seem like a demotion for Simonson; he'll be in charge of "strategic sourcing" for the entire Devices division and still sit on the executive board, so we're sure he'll be doing alright for himself. All things considered, there's no way of knowing whether this would've all gone down without the quarterly performance, but it makes you wonder, doesn't it?
CNET have taken the 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Snow Leopard for a spin around a 2008 MacBook Pro, and produced a decent first peek at comparative performance. Of course, there are significant provisos to get through first -- it's only one machine, running on Apple's drivers, testing mostly Apple applications, and the two systems default to different versions of QuickTime -- but we can still glean some indication of where the two heavyweights are relative to one another. Snow Leopard appeared consistently quicker in time-based tests, with faster bootups, shutdowns and MP3 encoding, but Windows 7 showed its muscle in producing better frame rates in games and a significant advantage in Cinebench rendering. Battery life was found to be distinctly better under Snow Leopard, but we'd put that down to the underlying hardware being optmized for OS X. Hit the read link for the full testing procedures and more of those old school bar charts -- it should get you well prepped for the forthcoming flood of similar head-to-heads once WIndows 7 officially ships next week.
We still think those crazy Mad Catz Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 controllers are the coolest around at the moment, but if you're committed to staying first-party this new GameStop-exclusive Play and Charge bundle is right up there -- black carbon fiber with red inserts never did anyone wrong, you know? Pre-orders are up now in all kinds of countries for $70.
Many Android-powered devices around the globe haven't even been granted an official Donut update yet, but 2.0 (Eclair, if you like) is already well on its way to completion, and Boy Genius Report has a rather extensive gallery of shots of the latest and greatest code in action. The biggest disappointment might be that the browser seems to be little more than a minor bump from the one that's shipping in 1.6 -- though it's a boatload faster, which is a start -- and the good news is that pretty much everything throughout the platform appears to have been rethought and refined. The skin looks more modern, new UI elements like graphical balloon-shaped submenus are a welcome touch, and features like integrated Facebook synchronization risk putting MOTOBLUR back on its heels. Look, T-Mobile, we appreciate the quick 1.6 rollout, but can we go ahead and get this pushed out stat while you're at it?
Ah, the REDFLY Mobile Companion. We've had some laughs at its expense, sure, but never doubted that someone out there would find a use for the thing. And what do we have here? It looks like our favorite Foleo doppelgänger is among a number of portable gadgets providing the backbone of the U.S. Army's "Go Mobile" system. Based around a WinMo phone that soldiers can use to connect to the Army Knowledge Online (AKO) service for all their mission critical e-mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, and documents, the kit includes includes a wireless smart card reader for authenticating onto Army networks, a printer, a charging kit (including various solar options), a pico projector, VR goggles simulating a 50-inch display, and an unspecified "dumb terminal" which -- as the picture above suggest -- could only be our old friend from Celio. Which is fine, sure -- but what ever happened to those bad-ass exoskeletons we were promised all those years ago?
Advances in autonomous helicopters have been many over the years, but as far as we can tell, there's essentially no limit to how awesome they can get. MIT's recently developed an autonomous, robotic helicopter which is also able to navigate itself intelligently through a changing environment. The helicopter, which is equipped with a dual-camera array and a laser scanner, maps its terrain in real time, identifying changes along the way. An integrated autonomous exploration module allows the heli to interact with the changing, unknown environment it is mapping. The helicopter was shown off at the AUVSI 2009 International Aerial Robotics Competition, completing five missions -- a feat not before seen in the 19-year history of the show. Check out the very educational video after the break.
You're not how much money you have in the bank, you're not the car you drive, you're not the contents of your wallet, you are not your freaking khakis - oh, who are we kidding, if you're reading a site such as this, you're all about your khakis. To sate that "look good, feel good" need in all of us, LG has brought out the ultimate in techie chic: a watchphone. This is not just any watchphone though, this is a £500 ($808) droplet of Orange-tinted exclusivity that straddles your wrist and demands onlookers' attention. Do the consumer in you a favor and come along past the break where we have the full scoop on the GD910.
Acer's been on quite the rampage of late, pumping out more machines during this week before the Windows 7 launch than in the past few months combined. The latest rig to get the a-okay from the shipping department is the refreshed AspireRevo R3610-U9012, a machine which was originally outed back at IFA. This one ups the ante over the former with a 1.66GHz dual-core Atom 330 (as opposed to an Atom 230), Windows 7 Home Premium, NVIDIA Ion graphics, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB hard drive, six USB 2.0 sockets, an HDMI port, eSATA connector, VGA, multicard reader and gigabit Ethernet. There's also WiFi, audio in / out and a bundled wireless keyboard and mouse, though all that oomph in such a small package will cost you $329.99 to bring home.
In the mood for a thin-and-light, got $1,300 burning a hole in your pocket? Have we got a lappie for you! The kids at T3 have put the new Sony Vaio X through its ever-lovin' paces recently and have been kind enough (and gracious enough) to give us the scoop. In short, there's a lot to love about the thing: thinner than even the MacBook Air (yet packed with an ethernet connection, VGA, and two USB ports) and "super light," this guy offers an "impressive" 11.1-inch display with "excellent color reproduction." On the other hand, while the carbon fiber keeps weight down, it isn't too terribly sturdy -- the entire body "flexing alarmingly under light pressure." And sure, you're paying quite a premium for an Atom CPU, but hey -- maybe you're into that sort of a thing. If so, hit the read link for the rest of the story.
Remember the Eigenharp Alpha and Pico that we broke news of last week? Sure you do, but we bet you still haven't a clue how those long, elegant sticks work. The forty employees at Eigenlabs probably heard us simultaneously scratching our heads so they kindly invited us to their London studio for a quick demo, and boy, those musical wands look great up close, not to mention their remarkable flexibility for user configuration as well. John Lambert, Founder and Chairman of Eigenlabs, managed to sneak out of his busy schedule to give us the lowdown on the Eigenharps. It all started in his Devon barn about eight years ago and over time the Alpha was groomed into a 132-key beast, followed by the recently-developed, self-explanatory Pico. The defining character of both Eigenharps lies in their "completely new sensor technology" consisting of pressure sensitive keys, that can do dual-axis vibrato (not dissimilar to string instruments), accompanied by strip controllers for applying filters or pitch bend, or anything at all depending on how you configure them on their Mac software suite (Windows-support due in January). Likewise with the breath pipe: once you've loaded your library and presets you can switch from a Kenny G to a Daft Punk at the simple click of a key. Heck, you can even configure the air pressure sensitivity as well if you're tickling for a soft mood, or just feeling lazy. And those funky LED lights, you ask? Well, they're actually indicators for the different modes you're in rather than just being pretty. Watch the walkthrough videos after the break and you'll get a better idea.
That, friends, is a darn good representation of what a Heckler and Koch MP5 sub-machine gun looks like. And contrary to popular belief, there's no real ammunition in there -- unless you consider the kind required to shoot digital clay pigeons "real munitions." Spotted at a nondescript trade show over in Hong Kong, this here Wii controller actually comes with Wiimote, nunchuck and MotionPlus functionality built right in (wild, right?), so there's no need to slip your own Wii controller in before greasing up your face, jumping in the fatigues and mashing that diminutive power button on your console. Who knows if this thing will actually ship Stateside, but man, can you imagine the line at your local GameStop if it does?
There's a saying that originated in the wild, wild west, and if our memory serves us correctly, it goes a little something like this: "If you can't convince the cops to do their jobs, just install as many speed bumps as humanly possible." Oddly enough, that very mantra has mirrored reality down in Mexico, with some 18,000 speed bumps established in central Mexico City alone. In an effort to cut down on pollutants emitted from legions of motorcars slowing and accelerating rapidly, Decano Industries is developing a "smart" version that collapses if your vehicle taps it gently enough. Granted, an actual speed sensor would be slightly more efficient, but we're told that it reacts to the impact so quickly that it would seem as if you never even ran over the bump. As for speedsters? The bump would remain erect, increasing their road rage level ever higher. Still, the best advice on all of this comes from one Marielena Ramírez: "They should just get rid of speed bumps, not try to make them smarter." ¡Viva la Revolucion!
Another season, another Texas Instruments coprocessor for us to wonder about. For what feels like ages now, TI has been pumping out silicon that promises to bring high-def recording capabilities to cellphones, but by and large, most everything has been stuck at VGA or below. Oh sure, we've seen our first batch of 12 megapixel cameraphones, but it's not like those things are replacing DSLRs en masse. Bitterness aside, the OMAP-DM525 coprocessor is supposedly capable of bringing 20 megapixel imaging to handsets along with 720p video recording, while the OMAP-DM515 hits the ceiling at 12 megapixels. Of course, the DM525 won't actually be ready for volume production until sometime next year, but here's hoping a sample or two slips out at CES.
Police men and women of Blighty are about to step into the 21st century, albeit a decade late, with a new weapon in the fight against boredom on the beat. The BBC reports that smartphones will become standard issue throughout the Queen's realm by March 2010, as a result of successful trials carried out in 30 constabularies through this year. Improved "operational efficiency" and reduced bureaucracy are argued as the key benefits, with a solid 30 minutes less time being spent in police stations each day. And we're absolutely positive that extra half hour will go toward increased "visibility in the community" and not checking out friends' Facebook status updates. No, really!
Read -- BBC report Read -- Bedfordshire case study
Police men and women of Blighty are about to step into the 21st century, albeit a decade late, with a new weapon in the fight against boredom on the beat. The BBC reports that smartphones will become standard issue throughout the Queen's realm by March 2010, as a result of successful trials carried out in 30 constabularies through this year. Improved "operational efficiency" and reduced bureaucracy are argued as the key benefits, with a solid 30 minutes less time being spent in police stations each day. And we're absolutely positive that extra half hour will go toward increased "visibility in the community" and not checking out friends' Facebook status updates. No, really!
Read -- BBC report Read -- Bedfordshire case study
The world needs another VGA pico projector about like it needs another ton of plastic goop swirling in the Pacific, but thanks to FPS, that's exactly what we're getting. (The former, just so we're clear.) The LCoS-based beamer puts out an image between 5- and 66-inches and packs a native resolution of 640 x 360; there's a composite input, stereo output, USB socket and a microSD expansion slot. You'll also find a one-watt internal speaker and a 2,500mAh battery for projecting on the go, while most every file format you can think of is supported. If, for whatever reason, you've found yourself overcome with want (and you can't hold off for Microvision's laser-based SHOW WX), it's available to purchase right now for $219.
Surely by now you've seen pictures or videos of flexible OLEDs -- many from Samsung. Did you ever wonder just how durable the things are? The video after the break should answer that question. In it, one of the Hammer Bros. from the Super Mario games, apparently frustrated about Polyphony Digital's endless delays, is attempting to destroy a screen looping a Gran Turismo 5 clip. A traditional LCD shatters like so much porcelain, while the 2.8-inch, 20 micrometer thick OLED display is completely unaffected, even when folded. Impressive, and apparently just the thing to wear when exploring the Mushroom Kingdom.
We're not quite to the point where everybody has a 3D printer sitting on their desktop, spewing out conceptual widgets and free energy devices, but by golly if we aren't getting close. The ZPrinter 350 from Z Corporation is the latest, a (relatively) compact machine that uses easy snap-in cartridges of material and automatically recycles any waste created during production. It sports a 300 x 450 dpi resolution, can create objects that are up to 8 x 10 x 8-inches, and while its printing speed doesn't exactly seem blazing (just .8-inch per hour vertically), that's apparently the fastest on the market. All that for only $25,900! We can't wait to see what Steorn will create with theirs.
Remember that lone Pine Trail nettop that was spotted yesterday morning? That wasn't the only next-gen Atom product that KND had up its sleeve -- not by a long shot. The company has an array of netbooks, nettops, and one hybrid combination of the two displayed on its website, all captured in tiny little pictures like the one you see to the right. On the low end there's the K116, an 11.6-inch netbook with an N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard disk. Two nettops are planned, including the K185 we saw yesterday as well as the K19W with its 19-inch, 1440 x 900 screen, dual-core Atom D510 processor, 2GB of RAM, and again a 250GB hard disk. Finally there's the middle-man, the K133 netbook that shares its specs with the K19W, but is included in a 13.3-inch laptop form. All are spec'd out at the read link below, but none with prices or ship dates. The latest word on the Pine Trail platform release is that the N450 chips will be let loose on January 3, and that several devices will be shipping on that very same day. You can probably connect the dots as well as we can.
Just as Nintendo finally decides to bring some of that noir goodness over to the US, Nyko pops up with no less than four new colorways for its Wand Wii remote. We're no anthropologists here, but we reckon one of these new options will do a lot better in sales than the other three. All the same, with Nintendo furnishing Japan with blue and pink Wiimotes, Nyko has played it safe and followed suit. These should be hitting Walmart right about now with an MSRP of $29.99, so look out for them at your next government-sponsored Wii bowl-a-thon.
Imagine for a second that you're Microsoft. Unimaginably rich, a bit bloated after years on the Office hog, and worried about a few bigprojects you've been meaning to finish if only you could find the time. So what day would you choose to launch your brick-and-mortar stores back into retail if you were Microsoft's David Porter, vice president of retail stores and former Wal-Mart exec? If it was us, we'd choose October 22nd, the official Windows 7 launch. That's exactly what a number of tipsters are telling us courtesy of an in-person briefing by Kevin Turner, Microsoft's COO. Specifically, the Scottsdale store will swing the doors wide on the 22nd, we're not sure about the Mission Viejo location. According the Wall Street Journal, the stores will sell Windows-based laptops and cellphones and allow consumers to play Xbox 360 games on a 94-inch in-store screen. It'll even have a Genius Bar "counter" where people can bring their Microsoft gear for help. In fact, the WSJ claims that the Scottsdale store interior is a "nearly exact replica" of the store created on Redmond's campus -- something we covered back in January (pics in the gallery below). Who knows, this could be the beginning of www.peopleofmicrosftstore.com as Internet trends go.
The Zero S our own Tim Stevens rode fearlessly through the streets of New York apparently isn't effected, but it looks like Zero's off-road electric motorcycles (the Zero X and Zero MX) have been hit with a recall after it was discovered that they might crash when it's not entirely the driver's fault. Turns out the throttle can get stuck in the open position or become disconnected, and that the "Easy" or "0-25" modes can "unexpectedly" lead to full power when the bike is turned on -- both what you might call "bad things." Of course, this is a fairly small recall (some 200 vehicles), but if that includes you, you'll want to get in touch with Zero to arrange for a free repair. Hit up the link below for all the necessary details.
Charbax of ArchosFans.com reports that the majority of issues encountered by early adopters of the Android-equipped Archos 5 Internet Tablet (not to be confused with the older Internet Media Tablet, ugh) have been remedied by the caped crusader that is firmware revision 1.1.01. Forum members do seem to corroborate that the previously habitual lockups are no more, but the complex update procedure has already (probably temporarily) bricked one user's device, while another still has random disconnects when transferring files from his PC under the new firmware. Still, if you've been among the unfortunate victims of the sloppy original software, this is a ray of light for you, and the read link -- featuring input from a source within Archos -- should be considered required reading.
Zii hopefuls will be pleased to hear that ZiiLABS is releasing the Android installer "next week." The tweeted update means that developers with the Zii EGG will have the chance to get friendly with Google's droid as Creative's project attempts to walk our for retail on something other than it's homegrown Plaszma OS. While this would have made stellar headlines in early 2009, at this point, with Microsoft and Apple both offering a stunning pair of dedicated, full-screen media devices, and a shedload of media-capable Android-based phones now hitting the market, well, it all seems to be too little and much too late for Creative. But if its only intention is to serve as the foundation for China's KIRF market then why should we care anyway?
And the Telefonica rollout of the GSM Pre continues. Starting today, those gorgeous people populating the sinking, but still glorious, isle of the United Kingdom can get their hands on a Palm Pre by hitting up their nearest O2 store. And by hitting up we mean becoming customers, not robbing the place. Anyway, the cheapest (or least expensive) 18-month tariff on which the Pre can be had for free is £44.05 ($71) per month, which throws in 1,200 free minutes and "unlimited" data and WiFi. That monthly price drops to £34.26 ($55) if you go for a two-year contract, but the bundled minutes are also fewer at 600. There's also an option to pay £96.89 ($157) for the handset upfront, which cuts the cost of the subsequent price plans, full details of which can be found at the read link.
Generic form factor? Check. Default Android skin? Check. Sure, that's nothing exciting, but the real draw of Acer Liquid's gonna be its large, 800 x 480 resolution screen (the exact size of which we still don't know) and its 1GHz Snapdragon chipset. Unfortunately for the guys at Pocket-Lint, they didn't get to play with the Donut-powered handset long enough to really push those two selling points, but on the bright side they did discover a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and some ISO adjustment options, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and what appears to be a 3.5mm headphone jack. Perhaps more importantly, they nabbed some pictures of the thing powered on and in action. Jealous? Yes, yes we are.
Not content with letting a good numeric opportunity pass it by, Microsoft Netherlands has announced that it'll be handing out up to 777 copies of Windows 7 to residents of the small town of Zevenhuizen, the name of which translates to "seven houses." The installation requirements are a bit peculiar, however, as Microsoft won't actually give you a disc, instead opting to either make you ship it to them or actually bring a technician to your house to do the dirty work. The offer isn't valid to Windows employees, those younger than 18 years, or people who use Macs or Linux machines as their primary computer -- however they prove that. Zevenhuizen residents who read Engadget (hallo!) can point their browsers to the read link for all the relevant details -- signups end tomorrow, and installations will occur from October 17th through October 23rd.
Motorola CLIQ review It's a gamble of the highest order, but it's also a gamble Motorola's painfully aware that it needs to take. So does the CLIQ pave the way to a New Motorola, or did the RAZR's checkered legacy ultimately dig a hole too deep to escape?
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