Hasta La Gadget!

It’s pretty obvious what it takes to play in the current generation of PMPs: enough juice to process HD videos, and an HDMI port to get it off the player and onto the big screen. Unfortunately, the new i-Station T9 from Digital Cube sort of stops there. It has great codec support, and even WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity (to be enjoyed by what OS is unclear), but unlike its big brother S3’s WVGA display, the mere 4.3-inch, 480 x 272 screen on the T9 will have us looking for an HDMI port a bit early. No word on price or availability.

Digital Cube works WiFi, HD playback into i-Station T9, forgets the HD screen originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good news, earthlings! Apparently Google’s taken all the complaints about Nexus One upgrade pricing to heart, because it’s giving $100 rebates to current T-Mobile subscribers who paid $379 for the HTC-built handset — and it says it’ll be widening the net and offering upgrades to even more current T-Mo subs, although we still don’t know how that’s determined. That means the new Nexus One pricing tiers break down like this: $529 unlocked, $279 upgrade for (some) current T-Mo subs, and $179 on a new 2-year contract. Handshakes all around. Now, let’s fix up family plan activations and that crazy double ETF, shall we?

Update: Just in case you needed the reassurance, Google’s confirmed all this to be true.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Google lowers Nexus One upgrade price to $279, issues $100 refund to early upgraders originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Doomsday Clock turned back one minute to 11:54. Let’s not mess this up.

The Sixpack is a minimal wire rack with a singular purpose: carrying bottles. It is also worryingly close in form to the terrible, home-made twisted-coat-hanger candle-holders you get every year for Christmas from your cheapskate, hippy cousin.

The blurb:”It’s perfect for those BYO dinner outings where a normal 6 pack gets destroyed after you rip out one beer.”

That might be so, although I’d suggest that once you have brought the beer to the party, you won’t be going anywhere else until the beer is finished. Also, check the design. Tilt that sucker a little too much to either side and you lose half your stash immediately as three bottles slide out and smash.

We could forgive these foibles if only extra utility had been added. Surely, with everything from surf shorts to bike wrenches
to the bases of other beer bottles having built-in bottle openers, then an actual beer-carrier should have a cap-removing notch on it somewhere. But no, the design hasn’t been thought through. It’s almost as if somebody actually drank all the beer while they were working on it.

The Sixpack, from Dutch designer Oooms, is thankfully still just a flawed concept, and not yet a flawed product.

Sixpack bottle rack [Oooms via Noquedanblogs]

Verizon’s not known for simplicity when it comes to plan selection (actually, most carriers aren’t) — currently, individuals can choose from Basic, Select, Connect, and Premium plans in a variety of voice bucket sizes, each featuring different text message and data allowances. It looks like that’s about to change, though, on leaked slides showing that the current postpaid individual plan structure will be completely wiped out and replaced with just six options on the 18th of this month, down from 16 prior. Overall, the move is a trade-off — unlimited voice pricing will come down a whopping 30 percent, while data packages will now be required on all but the most basic handsets. Comparing all-you-can-eat packages from all the major carriers, this slots Verizon $10 below AT&T but still well above Sprint and T-Mobile, same as always. Prepaid is getting tweaked, too, with all postpaid plans magically turning into prepaid for $5 more per month minus Friends & Family numbers. It’s a thorough restructuring from a company that doesn’t move very fast or very often, and it’ll be interesting to see if (and how) the other guys respond.

Verizon simplifying plans, cutting voice costs, requiring data packages this month? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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