Hasta La Gadget!

A conciliatory end? Looks like we spoke too soon. Yes, Google and China seem to be on a collision course yet again, with the company’s “Mainland China service availability page” showing that web search and ads have once again been fully blocked. Additionally, image and news search have been downgraded from “fully accessible” yesterday to “partially blocked” today. YouTube, Picasa, and other services already blocked remain as such. Looks like the saga continues.

Update: TechCrunch reports hearing back from Google, who now say this is all much ado about nothing — or rather, it’s a false alarm. Apparently there was “relatively small blockage” last night, but it has since returned to normal.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Google search blocked in China, again; other services partially blocked (update: false alarm, says Google) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s hard to say if today’s protest outside of the Computex show floor has anything in particular to do with Taiwan’s president showing up to tour the expo, but there’s zero doubt that it has a lot to do with the recent attention given to questionable labor practices in Foxconn’s Chinese facilities. A good two dozen protesters were out in force today, with loads of police and TV cameras giving the world a look at how these folks feel about Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Wintek’s CEO in particular. As for Jobs, he was being labeled an “OEM profit bloodsucker” and “the man behind irresponsible contractors,” while a slew of others were deemed “production line killers, number one union butchers, representatives of mass layoffs and kings of chemical killing.” We also spotted instances of “tired to death” and “suicide overtime work,” neither of which are particularly rosy. Hit the gallery below for more of the mayhem.

Labor practice protest goes down at Computex, Steve Jobs called an ‘OEM profit bloodsucker’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 02:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like this one’s been sitting around in the shadows for awhile now, and in fact, we can’t even find the bona fide manufacturer of this here device. Boasting a 7-inch LCD (since when were those deemed fit for reading on?), built-in rechargeable battery, multimedia player, image viewer, optional FM radio, USB 2.0 connector and a user interface that almost looks a wee bit like Android at a glance. Regrettably, there’s no pricing or availability details to be found (nor any indication of an inbuilt wireless module), but we’re guessing the mystery owners here wouldn’t try moving this one for too much.

EB710 e-reader rocks an LCD, intriguing user interface originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 May 2010 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All together now: “Already?” KIRFers overseas are getting quicker and quicker with their knockoffs, and at this point, it’s safe to say that you’ll have an easier time wrapping your hands around a commendable Nokia N8 impostor than the real-deal. The outside looks an awful lot like Nokia’s first major Symbian^3-based handset, but the specifications are decidedly lackluster: you’ll get a 400 x 240 resolution display (3.2-inches), an MP4 player, FM radio, Bluetooth, webcam and a battery that’ll last three to five hours. Glaringly absent is a 12 megapixel camera, WiFi module and built-in 3G support, but it’s not like that stuff really matters — after all, what else would you expect for an unsubsidized price of just $105? Head on past the break for a video, rockstar.

[Thanks, Alain]

Continue reading Keepin’ it real fake: Nokia’s N8 beaten to release by lackluster knockoff

Keepin’ it real fake: Nokia’s N8 beaten to release by lackluster knockoff originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 May 2010 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready for the latest international laptop mystery? Good. Lenovo‘s 14-inch Z460, which has yet to be confirmed as real by the company, recently surfaced over in China with a decidedly average set of specifications. A Core i3 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB SATA hard drive and Windows 7 Home Basic were found onboard, though no further details were divulged. Fast forward to today, and this very same machine is seemingly available to order on contract from Singapore’s own SingTel, complete with a Core i5-430M processor (2.26GHz), Windows 7 Home Premium, a 14-inch WXGA display, 500GB hard drive and 2GB of DDR3 memory. Naturally, a free integrated wireless modem is thrown in here, but now we’re stuck wondering if a) this is the last of the configuration options and b) when exactly Lenovo plans to come forward and officially introduce this thing. Any day now, Junior…

[Thanks, Zhang Yi Jiang]

Lenovo’s 14-inch Z460 mentioned again overseas, this time with a Core i5 CPU originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 May 2010 07:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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