Hasta La Gadget!

If you have an original Storm purchased through Verizon then first, our condolences. At the risk of rubbing it in (since you’re still on contract) we have to tell you that the second generation Storm2 — the full-screen BlackBerry you should have waited for — just got an official $179.99 (after $100 mail-in rebate and 2-year contract) October 28th release date as expected. Storm owners can, however, take solace in the BlackBerry OS 5.0 update now available for download that boasts several improvements including those keyboard and general usability enhancements we already knew were coming.

Filed under: Cellphones

Verizon Storm2 on October 28th, BlackBerry OS 5.0 for original Storm out now originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like Motorola aren’t the only people to get a taste of that yummy Eclair – otherwise known as Android 2.0. The Android 2.0 software launch is going very oddly. Google hasn’t announced the OS or SDK, but Verizon says the Motorola Droid will be running the OS. The Android 2.0 Droid will be officially announced on Oct. 28 by all accounts.

My suspicions were raised because Samsung’s Moment, which came out this week, runs Android 1.5. Unlike on Motorola’s CLIQ, Android on the Moment isn’t highly customized. So it’s a little perplexing that while Verizon and Motorola are talking Android 2.0, Sprint and Samsung still appear to be on version 1.5. Was Motorola getting preferential access to version 2?

I asked Samsung and HTC, the two other Android phone manufacturers in the US, whether they were working on Android 2.0 phones. Samsung wouldn’t say, but HTC confirmed that they’ve had Android 2.0 in-house for a while and are working with it for future phones.

Traveling with a bicycle is always a scary proposition. You can either do your best to pack your bike safely in a cardboard box or a bike bag and pay over-the-top surcharges for sports equipment, or you can pack the bike safely in a hard case, paying the same rip-off handling charges. Either way, you’ll have to cross your fingers and hope you don’t get to the destination with a bent fork or buckled wheel.

The best alternative I have seen so far is the S and S Coupling, which involves slicing your bike across the top and down tubes and having this specially designed coupling installed. It means the bike will break down and fit into a 26 x 26 x 10-inch box, which is under most airlines’ maximum size for checked baggage and – best of all – you can lie at check in and pretend it isn’t a bike.

However, not all of us want to, or can afford to, chop our rides. This is where the Aerotech Evolution comes in. The 25-pound case is made from ABS and has straps and clamps inside to stop the bike parts form rattling around. Sadly, it is also big, although that’s more the fault of your bike than of the case. Add to this the picture of a bike molded into the side and you start to see that it mightn’t be the stealthiest way to transport your ride.

Worse, it costs €720, or $1080, which is roughly the same an an S and S conversion plus a flight case (and the advantage of no more airline fees). Still, if you are transporting an expensive carbon fiber bike, you might jut appreciate the extra protection.

Product page [Aerotech via Core77]

Depending on your needs, and your tolerance for dorky belt-mounted accessories, the Spider Holster is either the handiest camera-carrier we’ve yet seen, or a sure-fire way to scare the girls away.

As I have found out from riding a bike with a lock holster around my waist, hip-mounting heavy gear is a comfortable and fatigue-beating way to carry it. It also keeps things close at hand. The Spider Holster consists a belt, a hook for that belt and a plate for the base of the camera. The baseplate (which screws into the tripod mount) has a small ball-like nodule sticking out, and the belt-mounted section has a slot into which the ball can slide. Think of a hip-mounted trailer-hitch and you’ll get the idea.

With this setup, your camera hangs at your side, ready to use, and when you need it you just grab it. No straps to get in the way, and no dead, crushed shoulders at the end of the shoot. On set, it looks fantastic.

Out in the street, however, it may not be such a good idea. The ease of access extends to the pickpockets around you, and wearing a camera like this is, as we have mentioned, a lady-magnet. If, of course, those magnets are placed in their repellent pole to pole positions.

The security aspect is mitigated by the second and lower of two camera positions which engages a catch, but this is more to stop things falling as you clamber around the set than to discourage light fingers.

The stainless steel and aluminum Spider Holster is set to debut on November 1st, with the price yet to be revealed.

Product page [Spider Holster via Photography Bay]

Bear with us as we bring you the latest rumors related to the most important product that never was: the Apple tablet. Today we have a pair of rumors bubbling to the surface of a delicious tattle brew. First, the SIM card tray pictured above said to be procured from Foxconn (the rumored Apple tablet manufacturer) and available for $14.05 starting October 23rd for the 4th generation iPhone / iTablet… whatever the mythical host device might ultimately be named. It’s certainly different than the tray found in previous gen iPhones and its chunkier appearance would be suitable for a larger GSM device. Plausible yes, though really, such a SIM tray could be used anywhere.

There’s also a pretty big fuss being made this morning over remarks made by Bill Keller, executive editor at the New York Times responsible for the NYT‘s web presence. Speaking at an all-hands meeting with the Times’ digital staff, the supposedly off-the-record speech somehow made its way to Vimeo. Here’s the quote that has Apple fanatics and old-media revivalists in a tizzy:

“I’m hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that.”

Now, it’s hard to tell if Keller is speaking from insider information or if he’s just another member of the media convinced that Apple’s tablet will be launched in the New Year. Then again, as Keller himself points out, Apple has always had a special relationship with his paper as routinely demonstrated in Apple’s ads that use the New York Times landing page as proof of the “real internet” browsing capabilities of the iPod touch and iPhone. And with Apple supposedly in content delivery talks with the nation’s newspaper of record, well, the remarks that begin at about 8:15 are certainly suspicious. Listen for yourself after the break.

[Via Gawker, thanks Robert S.]

Read — SIM Tray
Read — NYT ‘impending Apple slate’

Continue reading Apple Tablet rumor roundup: NYT speaks of ‘impending Apple slate,’ new SIM tray leaks (video)

Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

Apple Tablet rumor roundup: NYT speaks of ‘impending Apple slate,’ new SIM tray leaks (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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