Hasta La Gadget!

BleckBarry raises the bar for KIRFs, casually crawls under it originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple this week announced that the Wi-Fi version of its popular iPad is set to hit Chinese store shelves this Friday, September 17th. The tablet will go on sale an 10 AM, so form an orderly queue at your local Apple Store.

The company will also be offering a free personal setup to everyone who buys an iPad in one of its stores. The service includes things like e-mail setup and App loading.

The tablet is currently available in around 20 countries. Chinese consumers may be surprised to find that the tablet has yet to hit their country. After all, bootlegs have been available in that country since at least early April.

And there’s the P88. Back in Janurary, that tablet’s manufacturer, Shenzhen Great Long Brother Industrial Co., claimed that Apple stole its design for the iPad. At the time, the company’s president, Wu Xiaolong, told the press, “We are considering legal action, but we can not do much in the United States. But if Apple brings the iPad to China, we will be forced to denounce them, because it will certainly affect our sales.”

Look out Jobs–you may have a big denouncement headed your way. Good thing you’ve apparently been stocking up on weaponry as of late.

It’s September so that can mean only one thing in Intel land: IDF. The second of this year’s Intel Developer Forums is this year preceded by speculation that the big blue giant’s next motherboard reference design — codenamed Cougar Point — will include USB 3.0 support. Intel’s relationship with the 3.0 interconnect standard can at best be described as strained, but motherboard and laptop makers haven’t shied from integrating it into their wares and as the number of devices supporting SuperSpeed increases, it’s becoming somewhat inevitable that Intel would have to play ball as well. At least until Light Peak shines its “instant obsolescence” ray onto USB cables next year. Then again, bear in mind China’s Commercial Times has been wrong before, so let’s not credit this as fact until someone with a blue name badge tells us so.

Intel may finally be ready to embrace USB 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Missing your oldie Xbox 360’s bright and airy white finish? Well, Microsoft’s still not willing to sell you a slimmified 360 in any color other than black (excepting the limited edition Halo gear), but at least you can gaze upon the singular example of what a white one may look like above. This seemingly repainted Xbox 360 250GB (to give it its official, and ridiculous, name) has been lovingly put together over in China and really makes us wonder why Microsoft is depriving us of such snowy good looks. Perhaps it wanted to draw a clear between the old and the new? Either way, hit the source for the cheapest way to peek an all-white slim 360 without giving the Colorware crew a call.

[Thanks, Anthony]

Xbox 360 slimster made over in white, just for the hell of it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green.

This week, California saw a tremendous boost for solar power as the nation’s first solar thermal plant in two decades was approved for Kern County. We also saw several incredible new approaches to generating alternative energy as researchers took crucial steps towards tapping the skies for lightning power and scientists unveiled a fuel cell battery that can be powered by soda. And if you can barely contain yourself at the prospect of pop-powered batteries, relax — a team of scientists is also working on using urine to create low-cost fuel cells.

This week we also watched green transportation take a plunge beneath the sea as French engineers unveiled an awesome pedal-powered submarine. Our neighbors to the north also broke news as students at the University of British Columbia embarked upon a record-setting trip across Canada in an electrified VW Beetle and three Canadian schools announced plans to create a car out of cannabis – hopefully it doesn’t go up in smoke. Finally, we took a (sobering) look at the havoc that poor public transportation planning can wreak: a massive traffic jam in China that extended for more than 60 miles and 9 days.

Speaking of students, here are a few projects to get you energized for the coming school year: a German tank armory was recently transformed into an ultra-modern solar-powered school, and we showcased some of the world’s most incredible student-built structures. In other news, we brought you two dispatches from the realm of wearable tech – a new energy-harvesting film that could wire your wardrobe and a line of clothing that lets you send and receive phone calls. Can you hear me now?

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: of pedal-powered submarines and soda-powered fuel cells originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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