Hasta La Gadget!

If you know that your personal happiness lies somewhere in the Verizon / Android abyss but neither the Droid nor the Droid Eris are hitting the spot, you might consider trying something completely out of left field. How “left field” are we talking here? Well, for starters, odds are good that you’ve never heard of a company called Saygus, and its shiny new QWERTY slider, the VPhone, won’t be offered directly from Verizon — it’s a product of the carrier’s Open Development initiative. Sure enough, that handset we spied a few days back is real, and the specs are all panning out: 624MHz PXA310 XScale core, 512MB of Flash on board coupled with 256MB of RAM, 3.5-inch capacitive WVGA touchscreen, WiFi, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, front-facing VGA camera and — of course — EV-DO Rev. A support. The current incarnation is running Android 1.6, but it should be running 2.0 by the time of its launch next year, along with getting some Google-certification to let it run the Google apps. Saygus’ real thrust here is apparently two-way video calling (good thing they picked Verizon, huh?), though they aren’t showing it off just yet. Otherwise it’s pretty much stock Android, and when asked if they swiped something from HTC Sense UI, Saygus said those buttons and the extra home screens are actually a standard part of Android’s open source repository. The hardware itself is rather chubby, but it leaves room for an oversized QWERTY keyboard that could very well solve your Droid woes. No word on price or a firm release date.

Saygus VPhone to bring video calls and a bit of chub to Android and Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If simply playing the hotly anticipated shooter Modern Warfare 2 isn’t enough, you might be tempted to shell out extra for the $149 Prestige Edition of the game (over the typical $59 standalone game disc).

For a busted video game accessory, the trash can is not the only place. In the hands of a creative DIY-er, a broken Dance Dance Revolution game pad got a makeover that is likely to have many women gamers drooling.

When Liz McLean Knight’s DDR dance pad stopped being good enough to jump on, she cut it up to see what was inside. And the first layer turned out to be a piece of fabric so pretty, she decided to turn it into a purse.

With a standard purse pattern, some lining, foam and zipper, McLean Knight created a colorful tote that could be a fun DIY project for anyone to try. It’s simple, easy and there’s documentation with photos for those who may want to replicate it.  Too bad, though, McLean Knight didn’t use the internal circuitry of the dance pad in her purse. That would have made this the ultimate go-to bag for DDR fans.

Photo: DDR Purse (Liz McLean Knight)

Microsoft’s releasing a Wireless N Networking Adapter for the Xbox 360? Get out of town! … Oh, wait, we’ve seen it. Constantly. For the last two months. Ah well, let’s just all be happy to see it finally appear on US store shelves, putting an end to this sordid saga and supporting 802.11a/b/g/n for a copper Lincoln under $100. As Joystiq reports, the old 802.11b/g model is slowly being shown the curb, with the current stock being discounted at $80 while supplies last.

[Via Joystiq]

Update: Check it — GameStop has it listed right now in stock. Huzzah!

Filed under: Gaming

Xbox 360 Wireless N adapter is really real, out this week in US for $100 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Talk about a fail whale. Withings today announced that its recently introduced WiFi Body Scale now works with Twitter. Users can step on a scale and have their weight displayed nearly instantly, all over the World Wide Web. Why would a company create such a thing? Because it can, apparently. Says the company’s general manager, Cedric Hutchings:

This social media feature was the next logical step in the evolution of the WiFi scale for our customers. Here at Withings we are committed to roll out new features and services on the field thanks to automatic updates. Adding this social functionality makes the WiFi scale by Withings the first true flagship of the Internet of Objects.

As the company is quick to point, results won’t be automatically posted to Twitter; you’ll have to enable that feature. Once enabled, the feature tweets your current weight and how much you’ve lost or gained. Ah, technology.

Quick, someone get Oprah on the phone.