Hasta La Gadget!

Motorola has unveiled the H17, a Bluetooth headset with an extended mic boom that folds up and turns the unit off in the process. This is nothing new for Motorola–the idea dates back at least to the Motorola HS850, if not earlier. But it’s interesting to see it make a return in a new product.

In addition, the H17 features Motorola’s CrystalTalk technology for better audio quality, along with RapidConnect, which lets H17 owners power-up the unit and answer a ringing call just by unfolding the boom. The H17 also includes voice prompts for pairing instructions and battery status. It lacks the bone conduction found in the company’s high-end Endeavor HX1 headset, though.

Motorola claims the H17 offers five hours of talk time on a single charge; a quick 15-minute charge will bring back two hours of talk time. It also connects simultaneously with two devices (like many recent Plantronics models). No word yet on a price or release date.

Acer hasn’t spoken all that much about its upcoming smartphone since first announcing the device back in March. Now, with the device’s release nearing, the company announced that the F1 will be available in time for Windows Mobile 6.5’s October 6th release.

The company has yet to officially release specs for the device, but it did confirm the accuracy of those that appeared on the site for British retailer, Clove. According to that site, the F1 will feature a Qualcomm 8250 1GHz processor, an MicroSD memory slot, 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.1, quad-band GSM connectivity, an accelerometer, and a 5MP camera.

The smartphone will run $550 in the UK.

Speaking at a conference earlier this week, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg signaled that he has seemingly accepted the inevitable demise of landlines in favor of cellphones. Asked when the company might stop shedding customers in the more traditional technology, Seidenberg compared the prediction process to “the dog chasing the bus.”

Verizon, instead, is apparently looking toward video as the next step in the evolution of landlines. “Video is going to be the core product in the fixed-line business,” he told the crowd. It’s a evolution that will apparently take a massive conversion to Fios. Adds The New York Times,

By converting most of its landline operation to FiOS, Mr. Seidenberg said Verizon had a new opportunity to cut costs sharply. FiOS uses the decentralized structure of the Internet rather than the traditional design of phone systems, which route all traffic through a tree of regional, then local offices.