Hasta La Gadget!

Been to the gym lately? If not, then let this be your new motivation. What we’re looking at here is a purportedly forthcoming Xbox 360 motherboard redesign that takes aim at slimming down the portly figure of Microsoft‘s console. Sure, there’s a small chance that this diet could be the work of a scarily talented console modder, but it’d still be a near-impossible task to work in what appears to be a CPU / GPU combo chip (pictured after the break) under that greatly reduced heatsink. Note that there’s also an extra SATA port at the top left corner. Perhaps this is the “Valhalla” revision that we’ve all been waiting for? On a related note, Microsoft is currently hiring a Motherboard Design Engineer for the Xbox 360 Console Development team, with such saucy tasks as “specifying, designing, implementing and verifying the mother-board and other various sub-system boards that make up the XBOX 360 product line.” Feel free to sign up if you think you can hack out a better motherboard.

Continue reading Xbox 360 ‘Valhalla’ motherboard leaked on Chinese forum?

Xbox 360 ‘Valhalla’ motherboard leaked on Chinese forum? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IFrogz sent through yet another pair of headphones to test and this time, finally, they’re good enough to buy. The Comfort Series CS40 cans are an over-the-head, over-the-ear design and, while they don’t offer the big, detailed sound of even slightly more expensive headphones, they’re competent, tough and, yes, comfortable.

The design is simple and good looking (with one horrible blemish). The ‘phones have a steel band covered with a hard rubber strip up top and two tough plastic sliding sections from which the cups hang. The cups can gimbal inside their rings, which themselves fold up and inside the band. This means that the full-sized headphones fold small for throwing in a bag.

The “comfort” part comes from the deep and very soft cushions which also appear to be sealed pretty well against at least a light shower. These cushions are almost erotic to the touch, and combined with the gentle spring of the steel band and the non-slip rubber grip, the headphones sit very firmly but softly on your melon.

But what about the sound? Not bad. I tested them against a pair of Panasonic RP-HTX7s, the shell-eared, candy-colored retro-cans you see everywhere (and which I bought myself), and also against Apple’s stock earbuds. The iFrogz beat the Apple ‘buds immediately. They have a good bass, very deep and resonant but still well controlled. With lossless-encoded chip-tunes (A Kind of Bloop, if you must know), they came close to the depth of the Panasonics.

But the balance of the music is somehow off. Where the Panasonics give a sense of the music existing around you (the “stereo image”) and the bass, higher tones and voices are both balanced and separated, the iFrogz kind of crams things together. Jack White’s voice on Catch Hell Blues, for example, doesn’t actually sound tinny, but you think it does.

If you just put them on and listen without comparison, though, the iFrogz do a good job, and the build-quality is more than up to the $40 price tag (the Panasonics are $60). They really feel solid, but still lightweight, and the foldability makes them doubly attractive: I have always chosen the earbuds over the Panasonics when traveling because they are so bulky.

And the horrible blemish? The stupid radiation logo on the side. These might be in the “Ear-Pollution” range, but that symbol over your ears mars an otherwise clean and almost classic design.

iFrogz Comfort Series [iFrogz. Thanks, Ashley!]

Photos: Charlie Sorrel

When you’ve got an entire desktop PC inches from your eardrums, it helps if the machine is dead silent… or as close to that dream as possible. That’s why we’re pleased that Shuttle’s new XPC X50V2 — last spotted wearing a toga — is now on sale with a completely fanless design for silent cooling. Since CES, the all-in-one has also gained legacy parallel and serial ports (you know, for your Zip drive) and room for up to 4GB of memory, but hasn’t lost any of its dual-core Atom D510 1.66GHz goodness or its school lunchbox charm. Though we haven’t heard official word about US availability, Shuttle’s domestic website places the MSRP at $400, and online retailers including Newegg already show the tethered touchscreen tablet in stock.

Shuttle’s X50V2 all-in-one barebones PC gets passively cooled, passively hits online retail originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Even as the rise of free navigation apps gives most paid competitors pause (if not killing them outright), Navigon has managed to stay well ahead of the pack with a robust, oft-updated smartphone solution, despite charging over $80 for the privilege. But now, even that last bit can change. For $30, Navigon’s MyRegion gives you its premium MobileNavigator software at around one-third the price, with the simple caveat that you only get maps for one-third of the US (East, West or Central) to go with it. Should you drive out of your designated zone, Navigon will generously allow you to buy another chunk a la carte for $15; and all of Navigon’s other add-ons, including the new MyRoutes feature (customized route recommendations and alternate routes) are similarly available. It’s not quite as delectable as gratis, but we have to admit a certain admiration for Navigon turning software investment into impulse buy. Oh, and speaking of impulsive: Navigon’s offering MyRegion for the low, low price of $25 through April 12th.

Navigon chops MobileNavigator into three regions, pick any one for $30 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s another thing the Desire has that the Nexus One doesn’t: a second color option. We’re told our Dutch buddies will soon be able to skip the default gunmetal paintjob that’s shared by HTC’s twin brothers and opt into the silvery casing you see above. The pictures are captioned with a note saying the silver Desire will be exclusive to BelCompany in the Netherlands, but we’ve found a few other retailers claiming their own exclusief. Either way, we still don’t know how things will shake out elsewhere, but at least there won’t be too long to wait. We’ve got video of the very slightly altered handset after the break.

[Thanks, Miguel]

Continue reading HTC Desire shows up in slinky silver (video)

HTC Desire shows up in slinky silver (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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