Hasta La Gadget!

Snow tires and technology aren’t an obvious pairing since there are no microprocessors embedded in the tire. (In the wheel, yes, to monitor tire pressure.) The technology goes into R&D computer simulations of how rubber compounds and tread patterns work in deep snow, in a dusting of snow, and on dry pavement. A recent weekend trip in a powerful sports car with rear drive and not much weight in back proved uneventful in an eight-inch snowstorm because the car was fitted with snow tires all around. The combination of snow tires, traction control, and stability control allowed me to go confidently with rear-drive where others were slipping in all-wheel-drive vehicles with summer tires.

We’ve finally found ourselves a solid, confirmed shot of a micro SIM in the wild, thanks to an FCC filing from Lok8u — the company that just inked a deal with T-Mobile — that shows the innards of its GPS watch torn asunder. Over on the right there is one of the micro SIMs in question, and as you can clearly make out, the contact pad is identical to the one you’d find on a traditional SIM (that shot of an AT&T unit that we’d posted earlier was actually a mockup by our own Sean Cooper, you see). In other words, if you were really hard up to get that iPad up and running on a network that isn’t providing micros, you could probably shoehorn a traditional SIM in there with a little elbow grease and handiwork, which happily matches up with information we’ve been hearing from several contacts of ours. Who knew Lok8u would be so important in this investigative process?

Update: The ETSI has also confirmed to CNET UK that micro SIMs are electrically identical to their older counterparts, so that’s a promising sign, and Boy Genius tells us that he used to shave down SIMs to micro SIM size back in the day for dual SIM adapters — in other words, you’re probably not going to damage the chip by trimming (and even if you do, it’s a simple replacement from your carrier). Thanks, Matthias!

Micro SIMs can probably be fashioned from shaved down traditional SIMs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  FCC  | Email this | Comments

Fujisoft‘s recently taken the wraps off its latest companion bot, and they call this one PALRO. PALRO’s 39 centimeters tall (just over a foot), and boasts a 1.6GHz CPU Intel Atom CPU, 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB of flash memory, a 3 MP camera, Wi-Fi, 802.11 b/g/n, and a lithium ion battery to top it all off. He’s also equipped with a 3 megapixel webcam, but don’t worry — his specs don’t make him unapproachable. As you’ll see in the video which is after the break, PALRO’s probably the kind of guy that you could spend a lot of time with… but see for yourself. Fujisoft plans to start shipping units in March for 300,000 yen (that’s about $3,300 ). Hit up the source link for a lot more video.

Continue reading Fujisoft’s PALRO humanoid robot in the running to be our new best bud

Fujisoft’s PALRO humanoid robot in the running to be our new best bud originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Plastic Pals  | Email this | Comments

Alienware’s hot (literally) new gaming laptop,the M11X, is finally on Dell’s site for your personal configuration pleasure. When Dell announced the tiny, power-packed gaming rig last month at CES, the machine was promised to sell for “under $,1000″. Dell kept its promise, and then some: The base model can be had for just $800.

The M11X uses a low-power processor (1.3GHz Pentium SU4100) coupled with a 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT335M graphics card, 2GB RAM and a 160GB hard drive. You can also pick which color the glowing, internal lights will be when you first switch it on (changeable at any time) and have a name-plate custom engraved (Dell tries to get hip by allowing you to pick your “full name, nickname or handle“).

If you want to spend a little more, you can pimp the rig with an Intel Core2 Duo SU7300 running at 1.3GHz ($100), 8GB RAM ($350) and a 256GB SSD ($570). You can also opt for a 3G data slot and antenna for $125. We like that upgrading the CPU still keeps it under a grand. Also, please excuse the hair in the video above: I’m no Danny Dumas.

Alienware M11X [Dell]

This week, we debate the pros and cons of Apple’s iPad touchscreen tablet, as well as Intel’s new Wireless Display technology; plus, there’s some good news for fans of DRM-free

…

Originally posted at Digital City Podcast