Feb 26

Bluepeaker weds GPS, speakerphone and Bluetooth into one ugly puck

Posted in: audio, gps, speaker, Today's Chili, Wireless

Right, we know — it’s probably the hideous FCC photograph that’s turning us off on the design, but there’s still something here that just screams 1997. Nitpicking aside, the so-called Bluepeaker is a multifaceted device that provides GPS data to Bluetooth-equipped phones, PDAs and laptops, all while doubling as a BT speaker (audio streaming is obviously supported) or a BT speakerphone (handsfree is a lock). The unit itself can get juice via any powered USB port or AC wall charger, and we’re told it should last for around 200 hours in standby mode. Sadly, the FCC isn’t really much for handing out pricing details, but we’ll be sure to keep an ear to the ground.

[Via Slashgear]

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Bluepeaker weds GPS, speakerphone and Bluetooth into one ugly puck originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 26

Unify4Life AV Shadow app to soon turn BlackBerry Storm into remote

Posted in: BlackBerry, remote, remote control, RemoteControl, RIM, Today's Chili, video

Apple’s iPhone probably has too many remote apps for its own good, but Unify4Life is looking to provide RIM’s BlackBerry Storm with just one — the best one, in fact. The company’s admittedly impressive AV Shadow software, which we happened to experience ourselves at CES, is reportedly coming soon to RIM’s first ever touchscreen ‘Berry. How soon? Try “later this week.” If you’re interested to know precisely what you’re waiting for, give that play button above a push.

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Unify4Life AV Shadow app to soon turn BlackBerry Storm into remote originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 26

Dell’s Inspiron Mini 10 finally up for order, starts at $399

Posted in: netbook, Today's Chili

It’s been a rocky road, paved with hardship and confusion, but Dell’s finally ready to let us at its colorful collection of Inspiron Mini 10 netbooks — at least the order page. You can (slightly) configure them to your hearts content, but any color outside of black comes with a $30 price premium. We upped a Mini 10 to “Jade Green” and threw in a 1.6GHz Z530 Atom processor (1.33GHz is standard) and ended up at $479, but there’s no expanding beyond the 1GB of RAM or the 160GB HDD, as per the international netbook treaty. The order page is quoting a “preliminary ship date” of April 2nd, up from the March 31st we saw two days ago, so we hope that’s just a rough estimate.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Gallery: Inspiron Mini 10 finally shows up at Dell’s website

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Dell’s Inspiron Mini 10 finally up for order, starts at $399 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 26

HP quietly updates Pavilion dv7t gaming laptop

Posted in: HP, laptop, Today's Chili, update, upgrade

While HP’s dv7t provides a much more subtle way to game on-the-go compared to say, the HDX crew, we don’t see the necessity in keeping these updates all hush-hush. For whatever reason, it seems that said laptop has been updated overnight from 17- to 17.3-inches (we’re talking LCD size, by the way), and the NVIDIA graphics option has been replaced with a pair of ATI selections: the 512MB Mobility Radeon HD 4530 and 1GB HD 4650. The newfangled 17.3-inch panel sports a somewhat deflating 1,600 x 900 native resolution, though there is good news to be shared. The previous $1,229 starting point has dropped to a decidedly more manageable $799.99, though it’ll cost you extra to equip this beast with the 2GHz Core 2 Quad CPU that it really deserves.

[Thanks, Johnny and Coal]

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HP quietly updates Pavilion dv7t gaming laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 26

It’s sorta like the nerd version of dating twins

Posted in: Today's Chili
This Duo is dynamic.

This Duo is dynamic. What, you don't expect this kind of thing by now?

(Credit: ThinkGeek.com)

When you’re old like me (creak, creak), you tend to accumulate a metric crap-ton of stuff that you don’t really need but don’t want to get rid of. …

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Feb 26

Dear George Lucas: You’re allowed to say no sometimes

Posted in: Today's Chili
So does this mean Ursula from 'The Little Mermaid' would be Jabba the Hutt?

So does this mean Ursula from "The Little Mermaid" would be Jabba the Hutt?

(Credit: StarWars.com)

Synergy. It’s not just a square on the buzzword bingo cards you take with you to big meetings. George Lucas and Disney have been pals for quite a while. They …

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Feb 26

Research says WiMAX and LTE will live different lives, coexist

Posted in: 4G, lte, mobile broadband, mobile internet, MobileBroadband, MobileInternet, research, Today's Chili, WiMAX

Thinking that there’s only room in this town world for either WiMAX or LTE? Research firm In-Stat would love to disagree, as a new report from it asserts that both will actually live on for at least the next little while. Unsurprisingly, it’s expected that mobile WiMAX will “outpace LTE over the next few years due to its head start on deployments,” and potentially more importantly, the company believes that WiMAX and LTE will take “very different paths.” In fact, it’s stated that most WiMAX support will come from fixed network carriers looking to spruce up their existing offerings, while LTE expansion will likely be pushed solely (or mostly, anyway) by mobile operators. To us, it all boils down to support, and it only takes a quick survey of the field to see that LTE has the most of that. For better or worse, it seems the next-gen data war is but beginning, even though we already thought we were nearing the end.

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Research says WiMAX and LTE will live different lives, coexist originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 26

Photos: Slim New Acer Aspire One Leaked

Posted in: netbooks, Today's Chili

Aspire1_slim

What’s the next step for the netbook? If these sneaked pictures are to be believed, the tiny machines are going slimline, making them even more purse-friendly.

This is the new Acer Aspire One, spotted by a reader of the German news site Netbook News. Thankfully, the anonymous tipster broke the cardinal rule for leaked product shots — he actually managed to keep the camera still and take sharp pictures.

The specs are all netbook-standard, from the N270 1.6 GHz Atom chip to the 160GB hard drive. But the difference is the thickness, at 2.4cm (0.94”). That’s not exactly MacBook Air thin, but it’s pretty decent for a netbook. Looks-wise, we’re reminded of nothing so much as the pre-metal PowerBooks, a delightfully retro touch.

Being a leak, there are no launch dates but curiously the anonymous tipster has furnished us with a full set of specifications, which you’ll find machine translated below along with some more snaps of the skinny new shell.

Acer Aspire One ‘Slimline’ BA01 – Technical data, photos & first impressions [NetBook News via Slashgear]

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Housing: 2.4 cm thick, 25.5 cm wide, 18.5 cm deep
CPU: Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
HDD: 160 GB
WLAN: 802.11a/b/g Atheros (goes with ath5k in the kernel 2.6.29er)
LAN: Attansic Gigabit (goes with atl1e in 2.6.29er kernel)
SATA: Intel ICH7 controller
Display: 25.9 cm / 10.2 "diagonal with Glare  (but by the extreme luminosity falls in the operation will not adversely affect)
Resolution: 1024 × 600
Sound: Intel HDA (einwandrei goes under linux)
VGA: Intel 945GME
Int.Cardreader: JMicron (goes with sdhci module after the command modprobe pciehp pciehp_force = 1)
Bluetooth: integrated (Broadcom chipset)
UMTS: "apparently" yes
Killswitch: for Wlan + Bluetooth
Touchpad: Synaptics (scroll down to the edge possible)
Battery: 3-cells (approximately 3 hours duration)
Power: "well below 10 watts – at least according to powertop"

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Feb 26

Sony expands Walkman line with NW-S738FK and NW-S736FK

Posted in: Japan, PMP, sony, Today's Chili

Though not nearly as buzz-worthy as Sony’s OLED-equipped NWZ-X1000, these two DAPs are still worth a look if you’re both in Japan and really into pastels. The NW-S736FK and NW-S738FK only differ with respect to internal capacity, as the former carries 4GB worth of tunes while the latter hosts 8GB. Both will soon be available in the wonderful nation of Japan in gold, black, pink and red hues, and each will support MP3, WMA, ATRAC, WMV, MPEG-4, JPEG and AAC formats. You’ll also find a 2-inch LCD, USB 2.0 connectivity, a 5 band equalizer, FM tuner and a battery good for 40 hours of audio playback (or 10 hours on the video side). The new duo is set to ship on March 14th, and yes, those perfectly matching speaker docks seem to be included for your convenience.

[Via Impress]

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Sony expands Walkman line with NW-S738FK and NW-S736FK originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 26

P2P Key Finder Almost Lets You Google Your Keys

Posted in: Today's Chili

Fofacopy

You may be able to guess the function of the Find It All Key Finder, but it’s the way it works that makes it better than the solutions we’ve seen before.

Think of it as a kind of P2P key locator. You hang the (frankly rather ugly) tags onto your keys, the TV remote or your wallet and they can be located from afar (although if you have lost the remote, we suggest looking down the back of the sofa first).

The trick is that there is no master unit. Any tag can be used to locate any other tag, so you could use your keys to find your wallet, for example. Best of all, though, is the manner of location. Hit the switch and the proximity detector starts to flash. As you get closer, so the flashes become more frequent, just like Anton Sigur’s tracker in Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men.

The Find It All Key Finder comes in at around $40 and consists two keyfobs and one thin card. Further tags can be added up to a maximum of 36. Captive bolt pistol not included.

Product page [Latest Buy via Red Ferret]

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