Hasta La Gadget!

The internet is supposed to be the place for niches. No matter how odd your interests, you’ll almost always find something pertinent on the web. Paper books, on the other hand, need to aim at the mass audience and are therefore more mainstream, right?

Then what the hell is Streamlined Irons? The book details the most extraordinarily wonderful steam-iron designs from the 1930s and 1940s, irons with curves so swooping and voluptuous that they make the Chrysler Building look like a prefab garden shed.

Of course, the book comes from somebody eccentric enough to know all about the history of steam irons. The author, Jay Raymond, is a collector, and along with the close-up pop-shots of the irons there is a history of the electric steam iron running as a narrative.

But we don’t care about that. It’s all about the pictures. And possible the names, too. Try some of these monikers for size: The Never-Lift, the Lady Dover and the Steam-O-Matic A.

The book is available to order now for $70. The publisher? Who else but the Streamline Press?

Product page [Streamlined Irons via Core77]

Apple’s being pretty cagey with the hard specs of the iPhone 3G S, but apparently T-Mobile Netherlands didn’t get the message — it’s just posted up a specs page listing 256MB of RAM and a 600MHz CPU. That’s up from 128MB and 412MHz in the first-gen and the 3G, and it’s basically exactly what was rumored. Of course, the 3G S also has that new PowerVR SGX graphics chip that supports OpenGL ES 2.0, so the total speed boost is probably more than just pure clock speed, but we’ll find out for sure when we get our hands on one.

[Via iLounge]

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone 3G S processor specs: 600MHz CPU, 256MB of RAM originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Long rumored as the C721, Casio’s pivoting EXILIM clamshell is now available to all comers on Verizon. Though the camera goes way up to 5.1 megapixels with autofocus, image stabilization, and a 3x optical zoom, the phone doesn’t stray too far from its G’zOne roots — it’s mil-spec 810F compliant for dust, shock, temperature, and water resistance. It also features expandability up to 8GB (something you’ll likely need if you’re taking advantage of that cam) and compatibility with Verizon’s VZ Navigator service. If you really need to be taking pictures in the shower, the pleasure’s going to cost you: expect to pay $279.99 on contract after rebate.

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

Casio EXILIM now available on Verizon, water resistance no extra charge originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The new iPhone 3G S is coming out on July 19th. Because it’s a mobile phone, the pricing is really difficult to understand. Here’s the full deal.

All prices below are for the 16 GB model. For the 32 GB model, add $100. For the old 8 GB iPhone, subtract $100.

If you are an existing AT&T customer who has been in your current contract for at least somewhere between 18 and 22 months (it varies by individual), you pay $199.

If you are a new AT&T customer willing to sign a two-year contract, you will pay $199 plus a $36 activation fee, for a total of $235.

If you are an existing AT&T customer who hasn’t been in your current contract for 22 months, and you’re willing to extend your contract, you pay $399.

If you want no commitment and no contract, you pay $599 – plus the $36 if you’re activating it on a fresh line.

You will want to get AppleCare, which gives you decent service beyond the iPhone’s 90-day support period, for up to two years. That’s an extra $69.

Now, this means that most folks who signed new contracts for iPhone 3G models a year ago are not eligible for the lowest possible price. That was in your contract. Your two-year contract only gets you a discounted phone every 22 months. You agreed to that.

iPhone service plans are similarly complicated. Here’s how they break down.

What would you call this? A “fleet” of MacBook Pros? A “catch?” A “murder,” perhaps? In any case, Apple just dropped off the entire line — including the newly-status-bumped 13-inch MacBook Pro — at Engadget HQ, and while we’ll have some in-depth impressions and benchmarks soon, we thought we’d throw up the unboxings and family photos for you right away. We’re sort of struck by how amazingly similar these are in person, but we’re eager to see how the internals stack up — and whether that integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400M in the 13-inch can handle a professional workload. Anything else you want to know?

Update: We just noticed that the 13-inch has lost its dedicated audio input jack, we’re guessing because of space constraints with the addition of SD and FireWire 800 — but we’re told the new single jack supports both input and output. We’re testing it out, we’ll let you know.

Filed under: Laptops

Apple’s new MacBook Pro family unboxing and hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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