Hasta La Gadget!

Reports out of India this morning claim that RIM has agreed a deal with the local government to permit its security agencies to “monitor” email and messaging done on BlackBerry devices. There’s even a roadmap for this snooperiffic rollout, as all consumer email is expected to be opened up within 15 days and tools are being developed over the next six to eight months to allow chat surveillance as well. A very detailed report indeed, but the IDG News service reports RIM has rubbished the entire thing, stating it’s in a continuing dialog with the Indian government and discussions remain confidential. Then again, we’d expect RIM to keep up the facade as long as possible, considering the likely domino effect a capitulation in India would have in nearby states that have similar security concerns. In the mean time, Nokia has meekly announced it’ll be complying with the Indian government’s rules for push mail and is “installing the required infrastructure.” For more on that and the BlackBerry saga, hit the source links below.

RIM reported to have agreed to snooping deal with India, says ‘no way!’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know that the 16:9 display ratio is here to stay when even NEC’s business monitors — long the bastion of old school sensibilities — start offering it as a standard feature. At least the Japanese company has also had the decency to include a DisplayPort on its latest 23-incher, with a full 1080p resolution and ambient light sensor adding to the feel of modernity. The E231W isn’t moving things along much further than the well-liked EA231W of last year, but it does consume less power (28W) and up-front cash ($299) than its senior sibling. 250 nits of brightness, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 4-way adjustability (height, tilt, swivel, and pivot), and a 3-year warranty round off the energy-efficient package. Availability of this latest MultiSync monitor is scheduled for later this month, and you’ll find the full PR after the break.

Continue reading NEC outs versatile E231W monitor with 1080p resolution and green aspirations

NEC outs versatile E231W monitor with 1080p resolution and green aspirations originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Apple acquired Lala, the obvious use for all that local scanning and internet streaming technology would have been to serve up our hard-drive-based iTunes music libraries from the cloud. Here we are though, eight months later, and the only significant impact from the acquisition was the closure of the Lala music service. And it doesn’t look like that will change anytime soon. According to an investigative piece by CNET, Apple is telling the big-four music execs that it won’t be offering any significant cloud-based music offerings within the next few months. In fact, CNET‘s sources claim that Apple still hasn’t obtained the licenses required to store and distribute music via a cloud-based service. So what’s Apple doing with all that Lala talent then? According to CNET, the team has been working on an “undisclosed video feature” instead of music. Additional sources at the major film studios claim that Apple plans to create “digital shelves” this year letting iTunes users store movies and other media on Apple’s servers. Hmm, does that sound like Keychest to you?

Naturally, all of this makes sense in light of Apple’s plan to open a 500,000 square foot data center (pictured above) in North Carolina later this year at a cost of $1 billion. What better facility to serve up 99 cent streaming TV rentals to a completely overhauled Apple TV in the home, and highly mobile iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone devices on the go. Anecdotally, it’s not like Apple’s showing too much concern with storage limits on its iOS devices — the iPhone 4 just launched in the same 16GB and 32GB offerings as the 3GS instead of the typical doubling of flash storage we’ve come to expect from new iPhone iterations. So really, the question isn’t if, it’s just a matter of when.

Original image courtesy of Cult of Mac

Apple’s Lala music team working on video streaming service for 2010 launch? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 04:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We all know there are many types of otaku (geek) and they don’t all spend their time playing video games or visiting maid cafes.

The densha otaku (train spotter) is a powerful consumer in Japan. Railway companies take a lot of trouble to create mascots and whole industries of merchandise, and there are countless goods for sale in station shops around the country.

But this is one step further. The Washington Hotel in Akihabara has created a “railway room” to attract densha otaku guests.

The train room features an L-shaped train “diorama”, two meters by three meters in size, with a detailed recreation of a railway snaking around a replica Akiba and Tokyo Tower.

Of course the guest can play with model trains along the thirty-meter track (there are apparently two authentic controllers, so friends can drive the trains together) and even the real thing — the Shinkansen line and Akiba station — is visible from the room’s window.

[Pics via Sankei]

Though it is possible to rent from the hotel, the Nikkei Marketing Journal reports that many guests bring their own trains to use on the four-line track. The first to stay over was a 23 year-old company employee, followed by a man in his eighties. But there have also been mothers with their kids, so it’s not just strange guys with train obsessions!

The train room opened in June and costs from 23,000 JPY ($265) per night. If you want to make a reservation you will have to wait up to a month!

Akiba is actually no stranger to train-related spaces. We previously blogged about our visit to the (now sadly closed) N Star train cafe.

Even in the niche world of PC overclocking, liquid-cooled memory never achieved popularity, but don’t tell Kingston that — the vendor’s now selling premium sticks of DDR3 where water is a prerequisite. Unlike OCZ’s fin-tastic Flex series, the new Kingston Hyper H20 modules keep their cool via tube alone, which admittedly means more space in your case as you carefully bump their clocks up from the stock 2,000MHz (or 2,133MHz) and CL9-11-9-27 timings at 1.65 volts. While you can’t (yet) get them in a lovely shade of 2.4GHz blue, the modules do come in both dual-channel (4GB) and triple-channel (6GB) kits starting at $157 and $235 respectively, and we imagine if the above cooling design is marginally successful, you’ll soon see it for sale on its own. PR after the break, memory available to purchase at our source link.

Continue reading Kingston dives headfirst into water-cooling with HyperX H2O memory

Kingston dives headfirst into water-cooling with HyperX H2O memory originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 02:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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