Hasta La Gadget!

While they’re not the first name that comes to mind when thinking of Netbooks, PC maker MSI earned a lot of ink last year for its MSI Wind U100, one of the first 10-inch Netbooks to hit the market.

The follow-up, called the Wind U123, has Intel’s latest Atom, the N280, as well as a TV tuner and optional 3G antenna. It’ll also come in red and blue, in addition to the standard white and grey versions we saw with the U100.

MSI has also announced two new 13-inch models from the X-Slim line. Both have 1366×768 displays and run Windows Vista Premium, but the $700 X320 uses an Intel Atom Z530, while the more expensive X340 (starting around $1,000), uses Intel’s new CULV platform — basically a much more efficient mobile processor. At 0.7-inches thick and 2.8 pounds, we could see these being a low-cost alternative to slick, thin 13-inchers such as the MacBook Air or Dell Adamo.

Both the new Wind U123 models and the X-Slim Series notebooks will be available in the US this May, and full specs are after the break.

…

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn’t want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back — so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We’ll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we’ve got a Microsoft PC gaming pack, which includes a SideWinder X8 mouse, a SideWinder X6 keyboard, a LifeChat LX-3000 headset, a custom mouse pad, plus PC versions of Fallout 3 and James Bond: Quantum of Solace. Read the rules below (no skimming — we’re omniscient and can tell when you’ve skimmed) and get commenting! Check after the break for some photos of the prize!

Special thanks to Microsoft for providing the gear!

The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for “fixing” the world economy, that’d be sweet too.
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you’ll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you’ll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one Microsoft gaming pack.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Wednesday, April 1st, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

Filed under: Announcements

Engadget’s recession antidote: Win a Microsoft PC Gaming Pack! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Ah, so the rumors were true. As BlackBerry App World descends upon the masses today, a particularly unique service is launching alongside of it: QuickPlay Media’s PrimeTime2Go. Unlike options from Sprint and AT&T, this alternative delivers video only over WiFi, though this arrangement does enable it to work on all carriers. The app will bring full-length television shows to certain BlackBerry smartphones, and with deals inked with NBC, CBS and MTV, we’d say the selection should be pretty good. As for details, it’ll run users $7.99 per month, though it will only operate (initially, at least) on the BlackBerry Bold and Curve 8900, sold by AT&T and T-Mobile, respectively. So, is this the break that mobile TV has been waiting for? Or is this yet another option that better get used to being shunned?

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video

PrimeTime2Go brings full-length TV episodes to BlackBerry Bold, Curve 8900 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

TomTom decided to bust out a pair of announcements this morning, so we won’t waste any time getting right to the crux of it. That splendiferous GO 740 LIVE, which was introduced at CES this January, is finally shipping in the US of A. If you’ll recall, this is TomTom’s first connected navigation system, which can download real-time traffic information, fuel prices, weather reports, etc. If you’re intrigued, you can snag one now with three months of LIVE Services for $399.95. Moving on, we’ve got four new systems entirely: the ONE 140 / ONE 140s (3.5-inch display; 140S announces spoken street and place names) and the XL 340 / XL 340s (4.3-inch display; 340S includes speech functions). Each of these include the company’s IQ Routes technology and Advanced Lane Guidance, features that were previously reserved for higher-end PNDs; furthermore, the new crew also includes maps of Mexico. Catch ’em all this month for $179.95, $199.95, $229.95 and $249.95 in order of mention.

[Via GPSReview]

Read – GO 740 LIVE now shipping in US
Read – ONE 140 Series and XL 340 Series

Filed under: GPS

TomTom intros ONE 140 and XL 340 series, ships GO 740 LIVE originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

We had a few minutes with Sprint’s Samsung Instinct S30 at CTIA this evening and while we couldn’t dive in to find its deepest darkest secrets, we did get in a quick tour. This handset is well balanced in hand, perhaps even a tad on the light and “plasticky” side for our taste, but hey, we only had scant minutes to tour before the mob descended. The touch screen seems up to Samsung’s “Please Touch” theme for this year’s CTIA, the haptic feedback adding nice, ah, feedback when in use by reassuring the lab mice in us that our input was doing something. Follow on for a gallery and a quick video tour of the UI and a 360 view of the set proper.

Continue reading Sprint’s Samsung Instinct S30 hands-on with video

Filed under: Cellphones

Sprint’s Samsung Instinct S30 hands-on with video originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments