Hasta La Gadget!

There was once a time when people drank their booze out of jugs with Xs on them. We’ve since evolved to a classier drinking society with bottles of all shapes and sizes, and now, for the first time ever, bottles with programmable LEDs. MEDEA Spirits announced today the launch of the world’s first customizable moving LED reader on a bottle of vodka. Imagine the surprise when a waiter brings over a bottle of vodka with a scrolling LED display that says “Will You Marry Me?” on a blue, pink, or white LED. How romantic.

The bottle can be programmed to hold more than just the standard 140-character Tweet. You can use up to 255 characters, and program up to six messages. The messages will scroll for 3 minutes and will then turn off automatically. The battery is said to last for over a year, or for forty continuous hours. You can turn the ticker on over 500 times, assuming the vodka sticks around for that long.

Not surprisingly, MEDEA vodka is not cheap; it costs between $39.99 to $49.99 for a 750ml bottle. To find out where you can buy the futuristic vodka, visit MedeaSpirts.com.

Check out an instructional video after the jump to see how to program the bottle.

It may sound fairly bland on paper, but the potential implications here are notable. Tony Bates, who was seen as a major player within Cisco reporting directly to CEO John Chambers, has just left to take over the CEO role at Skype. Cisco’s own blog affirmed that Bates was leaving “to pursue another opportunity,” and The New York Times has it that Joshua Silverman is stepping aside to make room for Mr. Bates. He’ll arrive just in time to make a serious push for an IPO, grab more profit from its blossoming user base (which largely doesn’t pay anything to make Skype-to-Skype calls) and possibly “make a deeper push into carrier and enterprise markets,” as GigaOM puts it. Frankly, we’d be interested in seeing if any leftover synergies (yeah, we said it) could lead to a Skype-enabled Flip Video camcorder. Bates would obviously have great contacts with Cisco in order to make it happen, and honestly, it’d be a win-win for both parties. Crazier things have happened, right?

Continue reading Skype lands Cisco’s Tony Bates as new CEO

Skype lands Cisco’s Tony Bates as new CEO originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Really, Verizon? Play up the global roaming features of your new-but-not-unexpected Wireless Fivespot, only to strangle it with GlobalAccess plans that top out with 200MB of international data? Thanks, but no thanks. For those still interested in the new WWAN modem for domestic use (psst… the MiFi 2200 is a better deal), this ZTE-built device is the first in VZW’s stable to offer global data access. That’s due to having both a SIM card slot (for GSM roaming) and a CDMA radio inside, and as with the aforesaid MiFi, it’ll handle up to five simultaneous WiFi connections. The unit itself will run $99.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year agreement, and Verizon’s providing both postpaid and prepaid domestic data plan options: $39.99 per month gets you 250MB with a $0.10 overage, while $59.99 nets you 5GB and a $0.05/MB overage (the prepaid details reside after the break). Where it really gets ludicrous is GlobalAccess — customers traveling abroad have the choice of two plans, a $129.99/month option with 5GB in the US / Canada and 100MB elsewhere, or a $219.99/month alternative that simply adds an extra 100MB on the international end. That’s $90 for an extra 100MB. We’ll spare you the chore of stressing over all of this and point you to Xcom Global — trust us, if you’re touching down in a foreign land for over an hour, you’ll need close to 100MB just to digest the inbox explosion from being in the air 14 hours.

Continue reading Verizon gets official with Wireless Fivespot mobile hotspot, touts awful global roaming plans

Verizon gets official with Wireless Fivespot mobile hotspot, touts awful global roaming plans originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we reported that the Mirasol low-power color displays were pushed back to early 2011, that wasn’t technically correct — Qualcomm just informed us that the company’s cranking out panels even as we speak, and will ship them to OEMs this fall. So what’s actually going to happen in Q1 2011? The formal release of Mirasol devices, of course. Representatives told us that the 5.7-inch, 220ppi XGA color display will appear in multiple products with multiple partners next year, and that they “will be in devices that are converged and look a lot more like a tablet PC than an e-reader.” Following that, they said, the company will turn its attention to developing Mirasol for smartphones. We couldn’t get Qualcomm to comment on a rumored $2b Mirasol plant, unfortunately, and there’s no word on that color Kindle, but we imagine all will be revealed at or shortly after CES next year.

Mirasol displays slated for ‘converged devices’ in Q1 2011, followed by low-power smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some 3D HDTVs actually kinda suck. The 3D effect can break down during fast movement and the active shutter glasses sometimes create a constant flickering effect. If you want decent 3D, check out these great sets recommended by Televisioninfo.com. More »