Hasta La Gadget!

Medion’s new GoPal GPS units have an unusual extra feature intended as a deterrant for thieves: fingerprint scanners. The GoPal X5535, P5235 and P5435 all have a tiny scanner and will only work when they recognize one of five stored prints, making them useless if stolen. They’ve all got 5-inch screens, though the P5235 has voice control, the P5435 has Bluetooth and the X5535 has a gyrometer so it can compensate for brief losses of GPS signal by detecting car movements—all three get live traffic updates with Traffic Message Channel. Pretty neat, though leaving your GPS in your car is likely to tempt some thieves to break in, no matter how secure the device itself is. Out in Europe at the moment, no pricing info is available. [Electronista]

Boeing and the US Air Force keep advancing in their airborne high-energy laser weapon, the modified 747-400F that is designed to shoot down missiles as they fly to their targets. Last week they fired the entire laser system for the first time ever at the Edwards Air Force Base in California.

While the laser has been tested before, this was the first time they actually operated the whole thing as if they were shooting down a real target. This test fired the laser from the back-mounted generator thought the beam control system, exiting the aircraft through the nose-mounted turret and hitting a simulated ballistic missile target.

The next test—to be executed next year—will be firing and shooting down a real airborne ballistic missile.

Boeing Airborne Laser Team Fires High-Energy Laser Through Beam Control System

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Dec. 01, 2008 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency last week fired a high-energy laser through the Airborne Laser’s (ABL) beam control/fire control system, completing the first ground test of the entire weapon system integrated aboard the aircraft.

During the test at Edwards Air Force Base, the laser beam traveled through the beam control/fire control system before exiting the aircraft through the nose-mounted turret. The beam control/fire control system steered and focused the beam onto a simulated ballistic-missile target.

“This test is significant because it demonstrated that the Airborne Laser missile defense program has successfully integrated the entire weapon system aboard the ABL aircraft,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. “With the achievement of the first firing of the laser aboard the aircraft in September, the team has now completed the two major milestones it hoped to accomplish in 2008, keeping ABL on track to conduct the missile shootdown demonstration planned for next year.”

Michael Rinn, Boeing vice president and ABL program director, said the next step for the program is a series of longer-duration laser firings through the beam control/fire control system.

“Once we complete those tests, we will begin demonstrating the entire weapon system in flight,” Rinn said. “The team is meeting its commitment to deliver this transformational directed-energy weapon system in the near term.”

The program has logged many accomplishments over the past several years. In 2005, the high-energy laser demonstrated lethal levels of duration and power in the System Integration Laboratory at Edwards. In 2007, ABL completed numerous flight tests that demonstrated its ability to track an airborne target, measure and compensate for atmospheric conditions, and deliver a surrogate high-energy laser’s simulated lethal beam on the target. In September 2008, the team achieved “first light” by firing the high-energy laser into a calorimeter aboard the aircraft.

Boeing is the prime contractor for ABL, which will provide speed-of-light capability to destroy all classes of ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight.

The ABL aircraft is a modified Boeing 747-400F whose back half holds the high-energy laser, designed and built by Northrop Grumman. The front section of the aircraft contains the beam control/fire control system, developed by Lockheed Martin, and the battle management system, provided by Boeing.

Not that Mio hasn’t pumped out a GPS phone or two before, but the rarely-heard-from handset maker is reportedly on its way to delivering its first 3.5G touchscreen-based GPS phone in Q1 2009. Undisclosed sources singled out at DigiTimes have it that the mobile will be powered by a 3.5G chipset from Qualcomm and will come loaded with Mitac’s self-developed “Spirit” touch interface. Additionally, it’ll pack a 3.2-megapixel camera and should launch ahead of Garmin’s oft-delayed nüvifone. In related news, Mio is also scheduled to launch a GPS-packin’ MID before Q1 2009 ends, though it’s still unclear if it’ll choose a 7- or 8-inch panel to accompany the 3G radio and Windows CE operating system. Riveting stuff, huh?

[Via GPSTracklog]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Mio said to be prepping GPS-enabled 3.5G touchscreen handset for Q1 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I think The Simpsons should’ve been canceled years ago, but I couldn’t help but giggle at last night’s episode mocking Apple fan boys and Steve Jobs. In just six minutes, the show hurls jokes at everything from iPods to iPhones to Apple’s overpriced computers and Steve Jobs’ (Steve "Mobs") God-like charisma. Nothing better to kick off a Monday morning after a holiday weekend. Check out the episode (above), courtesy of Hulu.

Via Engadget

The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 we spied back when it was announced in September has just launched, and though there’s nothing incredibly exciting here, we thought we’d give you a quick rundown, because we’re just cool like that. The U101 boasts completely standard netbook fair — an Atom N270 CPU, Intel 945GSE chipset, 1GB of DDR2 memory, with 80-160GB mechanical drives and 4-16GB SSD options. It’s also got a 16:9 display with a 1024 x 576 resolution (rare for a netbook), a 1.3 megapixel webcam, and three USB 2.0 ports. The sassy little number comes in blue, pink, white and black, and it can be yours for €398 ($503) in Taiwan right now, but we’ve got no word on when it will be available elsewhere. Dip this puppy in gold or something and then maybe, just maybe we’ll bite.

[Via Fudzilla]

Filed under: Laptops

BenQ Joybook U101 launches, gives almost no joy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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