From left to right: the Gorillapod "SLR," "Original," and the new Gorillatorch.
(Credit: Joby)
For this week’s installment of the weekly Crave giveaway, we’re offering up our first assortment of gifts courtesy of Joby, which makes the popular line of flexible tripod accessories for …
Remember those amazingly cheap doovde players Walmart was so proud of a couple years back? Well, they ain’t so amazing anymore, unless that’s what you’d call a device capable of spontaneously bursting into flames. Sold between January 2006 and July 2009 exclusively at Walmart stores in the US and ASDA supermarkets in the UK, the explosive Durabrand units are being called back due to 12 reported instances of overheating, including five that caused fires. You have to love the irony of skimping on a doovde player purchase, only to pay for it later with “enhanced” insurance premiums. We reached out to Walmart for comment, but they didn’t know what a doovde was. Nevertheless, we captured the conversation after the break.
Update: While we haven’t yet got clear confirmation that ASDA is following suit, we’d be very surprised to not see the product pulled and returns honored in the UK in the same fashion as in the US.
[Via CNN Money; Thanks, Keith]
Continue reading Walmart recalls 1.5 million flammable Durabrand DVD players
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video
Walmart recalls 1.5 million flammable Durabrand DVD players originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In its brief three-model run so far, HTC’s already built a storied history of odd color options for its Android phones: brown on the G1, “merlot” on the myTouch 3G, and now, a sublime pink for the Hero that we’re finally seeing in the wild. Love it or hate it, Android fans, be real with yourselves: if it was somehow the only Hero you had access to, you’d take it in a heartbeat.
[Via MobileTechWorld, thanks WHOIS]
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
HTC beats Microsoft to the punch, rolls out a different kind of ‘project pink’ to the Hero originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Going camping? Like to eat something a little better than a can of cold baked beans? You could take along the MSR Flex 4, a set of utensils which packs up into a single saucepan and weighs just 3 lbs 10.8 oz. The picture shows the kit in its before and after states, and consists of plastic plates and storage containers and a couple of pots, in 5.3 and 3.2 liter sizes. Those storage cans can also work as dividers letting you cook several things together in the same pan.
The saucepans are both aluminum and have a non-stick coating for easy campsite cleaning, and the big one has a clip to keep the lid on. I could have done with this at the first and last music festival I ever went to. I tried to travel light, but you can probably guess at how much kit I was carrying just by the fact that I took two kinds of salt with me (a jar of Malden sea-salt and a pack of regular). The most useful thing I took? Two bottles of overproof rum. $160.
Product page [REI via Uncrate]
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)Sony’s announcement of the PlayStation 3 Slim on Tuesday was no surprise for most gamers and industry experts. Parts that once cost a small fortune, such as hard drives, processors, and special disc-reading lenses, continue to fall in price and take up less space. It’s only natural the machines that use them would shrink as well.
The PlayStation 3 was physically the largest of the three current-generation home consoles, followed by Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii. With never-ending lust by consumers for smaller gadgets, the current configuration was just not cutting it.
What’s surprising about the Slim though, is that Sony was the second-most recent of the three companies to have released its console, yet it’s the first to offer a completely new form factor. Microsoft was the first out of the gate with a North America release of the Xbox 360 in late November 2005. Sony and Nintendo followed suit with the PlayStation 3 and Wii, which were released a week apart from each other in mid-November 2006.
The closest either Nintendo or Microsoft has come to a redesign since is Microsoft, which began including an HDMI port and increasing the included storage, alongside a major revision to the system software which allowed games to be played off the hard drive.
In the case of the PS3 Slim it’s actually the fourth generation of the device. During that three-year period, things like the included storage space jumped from 20GB to 120GB. And a recently unearthed patent at the FCC filing shows that a 250GB model is just around the corner.
So is it normal to release a heavily revised version of a gaming system within three years of the initial release? It depends on who you are. Let’s take a look at some notable shrinkage from the last three generations of consoles. I think you’ll notice a trend.
…
Originally posted at Web Crawler
Hannspree’s efforts in the netbook market are finally coming to the US with today’s launch of the 10-inch HannsNote, and frankly, we’re still pining for something a little less vanilla from the company. Sure, it’s the same 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and assorted specs we’ve come to know and sort of like, but this is the company known for devising some of the most ridiculous televisions we’ve ever seen, including a whole series of plush animals with monitors in their bellies. A $380 price tag isn’t gonna win a lot of people over without a little flair, so please, do us all a favor and stick the components inside of a teddy bear, make his stomach the screen and his feet each one half of the keyboard. We’d buy that.
[Via Electronista]
Filed under: Laptops
HANNSpree’s HANNSnote netbook now available in US, stuffed animal version hopefully in the pipeline originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Looks like Vietnam is the new place to be for early device leaks. A place where gadget-nerds are rapidly evolving extra digits to master their surplus of hi-tech gear — lucky bastages. As followup to its GSM-flavored Palm Pre scoop, site Tinh Te is once again showing off the HTC Click only this time, it’s a full-on video. The device sports some interesting graphics (likely customized by the owner) on the back, a microSD slot, 1100mAh battery, standard 3.5-mm headphone jack up top, camera (no flash), and of course, Android, “Donut” build 1.50.999.0 according to the device’s about page. Clearly, it lacks that swank SenseUI and the LCD is much smaller than the HTC Magic — indicators that the Click is very much HTC’s cheapo Android phone as previously rumored. See it in action just past the break.
Update: A few high-res pics of the Click posted at Tinh Te. Sample after the break.
Continue reading Video: HTC Click gets a 6-finger ‘Donut’ salute
Filed under: Cellphones
Video: HTC Click gets a 6-finger ‘Donut’ salute originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Snow Leopard, the next iteration of Apple’s OS X operating system, is due in September. Usually when Apple specifies a month, it means the very last day of that month, but the folks on the Snow Leopard team may be taking some time off: It looks like OS X 10.6 is done.
The UK Apple store briefly listed a ship date of August 28th, or next Friday. When we combine this with the strong possibility that build 10A432 was designated a “gold master” (feature locked and ready to start pressing install DVDs), and the early ship date looks likely. Can’t wait that long? The final build is already available on torrent sites, although given that previously pirated Apple software was riddled with malware, you’ll probably get just what you deserve.
Apple’s UK Online Store Lists August 28th Ship Date for Snow Leopard Up-to-Date Program [MacRumors]
Mac OS X Snow Leopard Build 10A432 Designated ‘Golden Master’? [MacRumors]
If Lord Byron had been hip to this newfangled computer thing way back in his day, this might just have been the sort of peripheral he’d have been sporting. Made from a real sheep’s skull — and real brass, though that’s somehow less interesting — this mouse has everything a megalomaniacal world conqueror needs to feel at home: fine ornamental detailing, the soothing texture of real bone, and the enticing mental image of crushing skulls every time you click. There’s not much wiggle room here, you’ll either love it or loathe it, but don’t fret about the sheep, it died of natural causes. More pics after the break.
[Via Technabob]
Continue reading Steampunk mouse, now with 100 percent more skull
Filed under: Peripherals
Steampunk mouse, now with 100 percent more skull originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Screw Key is an old concept brought up to date. County Comm, supplier of tech toys to the law-enforcement market, has put back into production something your grandfather may have used: a pair of small screwdrivers which hook onto a key-fob. The flat-blade and Phillips-head drivers have a small handle for turning between finger and thumb, and they’re fashioned from hardened steel, so they should last a little longer than the junk you buy from the dime store.
That’s not to say they’re expensive. The keys cost just $5 a set, and look to be very handy indeed.
Product page [County Comm]
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