Hasta La Gadget!

At $800 and $900 for the 8GB and 16GB models respectively, these iPhones aren’t cheap. But the official Thai iPhone is, along with the Hong Kong version, the only way you’ll be able to get your hands on an unlocked 3G.

While freeing the original iPhone from its carrier is a simple one or two click process, the 3G still hasn’t seen a baseband unlock (you can jailbreak, or hack them to run unofficial software but you’re still tied to the contract you bought it with). And with Euro telcos asking for some ridiculously high monthly charges, the lure of a non-tied handset is strong.

We’ll see if these things make it onto the gray market, but our suspicion is that demand will be strong, especially in those countries which don’t even have an iPhone yet. But remember, those prices are what you pay direct to Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) for the phone. Any Ebayer offering them up will certainly be putting a hefty percentage on top.

Taiwan iPhone 3Gs are SIM unlocked out-of-the-box [Digitimes]
Photo: Stillframe/Flickr

See Also:

• Unlocked iPhone 3G Available in Hong Kong
• ZiPhone Is Easiest iPhone Jailbreak Yet

Rumors were rampant that Motorola’s touchscreen-based Atila would be launching somewhere in the wide world next quarter, and said whispers are shaping up to be right on target. The typically reliable iDNES has it that the A3000 (same device, people) has been certified for use by China’s telecommunications authority, which pretty much signals that it’ll be on sale in the not-too-distant future. Specs wise, we’re told to expect a 528MHz processor, Windows Mobile running the show, Bluetooth, a microSDHC card slot and a QVGA display. It’s not certain the cost nor the exact release date, but we’d say that should all be much clearer at CES. Hear that Moto? Much clearer at CES.

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola A3000 (Atila) gets official-ish… for China originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As you would imagine, here at Gadget Lab we get a lot of crap gumming up our inboxes, which we then mine for the precious nuggets of gold that we bring to you, our faithful readers. This morning, I found these laptop pillows waiting for me.

At first sight, I rubbed my hands and cackled in anticipation of the hatchet job I would perform on these soft, plush laptop trays. "Look!" I would scream, "See how your computers will melt, MELT I say, sitting atop a fabric cushion!" I would have then attempted a rather pained pun on the words insulate and insult, which – after a few cigarettes and a little consideration – I would have mercifully dropped from the copy.

However, these lap-cosies are not all bad. They may be soft, but the buttons on the "Button Pillow" (left) and the open construction of the "Log Pillow" allow some air flow, possibly more than a harder surface that remains closer to the computer’s hot underside.

Constructed variously from hemp, buckwheat (for the stuffing) and other organic fabrics, they also offer some bonus points for the hippy-minded, and the Log even deconstructs and can be built into an uncomfortable-looking triangular pillow.

The prices, though, are high. At $80 each, you might want to try out my alternative, free method. An aluminum baking sheet and a couch cushion. Comfort and cooling in one.

Product page [Intelligent Forms. Thanks, Krystle!]

A report from a consumer analyst group this week is saying that 52.3 million households, or 44% of all homes with a television, will have a DVR within five years.

The findings are significant because they show how quickly people have become accustomed to customizable viewing options since the advent of the TiVo and how these options should grow with customer demand. They also predict the continued erosion of ‘appointment television’ for prime time network programs, with a kind assist from the millions of content available on the web.

This means we might finally be free of lame prime-time show gimmicks, like having all shows set in a single urban East Coast city lose electricity on a single night and leading to characters awkwardly guesting in ham-fisted plotlines. Or at least we hope so.

The on-demand industry analysts from Magna reported slight gains across the board for all DVR sellers, and found that (of course!) young people are the biggest influencers in the transition to 24/7 access to content, which oftentimes doesn’t even include a set-top DVR. I, for one, watch TV content almost exclusively through the net without spending a dime on cable or TiVo, and I know I’m not alone on this one.

Magna senior VP, director of industry analysis Brian Wieser predicts the following DVR-relevant nuggets:

• The number of homes with video-on-demand by 2014: 68.8 million (up from 40.4 million by the end of Q3 2008.)
• The number of homes with broadband access by 2014: 86.2 million (up from 68.3 million this year.)
• The companies with the most homes that (as of December 2008) subscribe to DVR services run in the following order: EchoStar (with 6.4 million households with DVR subscriptions), DirectTV (6.2 million households with DVRs and 36% of total subscribers), Comcast (4.4 million), and Time Warner Cable (about 4 million).

These stats also reveal the tough competition that manufacturers of
stand alone set-top boxes will face in the upcoming years. Improved
cable company UIs and box offerings, and faster Internet connections
(providing increasingly sophisticated free content from sites like
Hulu, YouTube, and tens of others, including, hmm, Wired) will pressure them into adapting their boxes for useful efficiency, with
dynamic interfaces, and full wireless convergence with it all.

And the biggest user difference, as has been noted many times before, is
the ability of the viewer to find content specifically suited to her,
presumably leading to more judicious TV choices.

Of course, DVR tech comes with plenty of potential baggage:
greater company access to user profiles and private preferences, equally
sophisticated and annoying ads (see: most streaming ad packages in
Hulu), and higher rates for closed premium content.

We’ve been acquainted with all sorts of strange exercise / gaming apparatuses, and while the Gamerox is far from being the strangest, it’s pretty high up there. Rather than just letting your kid grab any nearby stool and have a seat while melting their brain on games for hours on end, why not force their nates into this contraption? Put simply, it forces kids to continually balance and adjust in order to stay seated. Will it really tone muscles and improve posture? Doubtful, but it’s practically guaranteed to frustrate and / or enrage your offspring.

[Via Slashgear]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Gamerox gamer chair keeps you on your toes, so to speak originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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