Hasta La Gadget!

According to the Financial Times, Apple is racing to launch the Apple tablet—along with new iPods—as early as September. It seems Apple is working with record labels and book publishers on new iTunes features created for the device:

The talks come as Apple is separately racing to offer a portable, full-featured, tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season, in what the entertainment industry hopes will be a new revolution. The device could be launched alongside the new content deals, including those aimed at stimulating sales of CD-length music, according to people briefed on the project.

Apple is working with EMI, SonyMusic, Warner Music and Universal Music Group, on a project the company has codenamed “Cocktail”, according to four people familiar with the situation.

The Financial Times’ sources point out that the device will have a 10-inch touchscreen and run iPhone OS. The tablet will be able to connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi like the iPod touch, and—according to publishers—it will also have a book marketplace. Yes, that’s Jeff Bezos’ worst nightmare.

Like always, remember our rule about rumors: Don’t trust them—although secretly I hope they are right. Or else:

[Financial Times via 9to5]

At 5:00 PM on the dot, an ominous voice booms, “Thank you for attending Comic Con 2009. We’ll see you next year.” It’s time to clear out. That’s all she wrote. Of course we’ve still got plenty of writing to do. In the meantime, please enjoy this video shot a few minutes after the floor closed, which I think sufficiently sums up the feelings amongst vendors after one of the longest weekend in recent memory.

In response to an Engadget Japan post entitled “Cruel Star Wars USB drives,” one incredibly talented reader went ahead and one-upped the entire collection with a custom made Empire Strikes Back Luke Skywalker drive. All you need to know is that the USB input is accessed by severing his hand. Search your feelings, you know this to be awesome.

[Via Engadget Japan]

Filed under: Storage

Custom-made Luke Skywalker USB drive is impressive. Most impressive. originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s bakery-themed codename scheme for Android is a source of endless amusement (and hunger pangs) for bloggers, readers, and users alike, but with just a few builds actually blessed as gold, retail versions at this point, it’s not entirely clear how those codenames — Donut, Eclair, Flan, and so on — will ultimately map to version numbers. An Android team member, Romain Guy, has jumped in on the official Android Developers Google Group to say that Donut is not 2.0 — though he hasn’t specified what it actually is. Technically, Cupcake wasn’t 1.5, though 1.5 ended up being composed largely of improvements made in the Cupcake code branch, so if we had to guess, Google is simply making a similar distinction here — Donut is nothing but a line of code that’s being actively developed, and when it comes time for Android 2.0 to drop, it’ll pull much of its changelog from that line. Also interesting is Guy’s revelation that Donut doesn’t include multitouch support, despite hints from the latest repository that it’s in there. Ultimately, we won’t know what’s happening here until 1.6, 1.7, 2.0, or whatever it’s called ends up hitting devices — but for now, it looks like developers probably shouldn’t be getting their hopes up for an open and supported multitouch API just yet.

[Thanks, shootingblue]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Android team member says Donut isn’t 2.0, doesn’t have multitouch originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interesting — just a couple days after Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told a conference that “it’s too early to tell” if the Pre’s a hit while talking about Android, the latest Best Buy ad shows Palm’s baby on sale for just $99 on a two-year contract. That ought to spike some sales, but we’ll see if its just a one-week special or a permanent drop before we start trying to read any tea leaves here — anyone running out to grab one?

Update: Best Buy marketing manager John Bernier has chimed in via his Twitter account to say that the Pre is $199 and that the “error is being corrected.” It’ll be interesting to see if any lucky customers managed to nab the device for less than a Benjamin.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read – Hesse’s comments
Read – $99 Pre at Best Buy

Filed under: Cellphones

Palm Pre drops to $99 at Best Buy (update: “error is being corrected,” says Best Buy) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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