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Nokia had a little product placement going on in the latest Star Trek movie, you know that already. But did you also know that those crazy Finns made a few never-released prototypes for a most bodacious tie-in handset? That “Starfleet Communicator” above is said to be one of only 14 units built by Nokia, intended to simulate the iconic voice comms devices of the original TV series. Hardware-wise, it’s based on the somewhat less exciting N76 and comes with an external LCD and a trifecta of lights on its front, both protected by a big and heavy brass grill. It’s a fully functioning phone, too, replete with preinstalled chirps when flipping it open. Check it out on video after the break!

[Thanks, Randall]

Continue reading Nokia Star Trek Communicator is simply awesome, sadly just a prototype (video)

Nokia Star Trek Communicator is simply awesome, sadly just a prototype (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 10:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you knew anything about The Rachel Zoe Project, you’d know that dear Rachel never, ever leaves home without her BlackBerry. Apparently, her comforting hubby — known affectionately as Rodger Berman — isn’t going far without his unbranded Windows Phone 7 device (and a little help from Bing, naturally). Curiously enough, the date on the screen shows July, so there’s a halfway decent chance the software they’re playing with is of the pre-production variety… particularly since he’s wielding a Samsung Omnia i9810-based prototype. Oh, and as you can see above, we’re guessing he’s relying on WiFi or some off-camera magic to actually pull anything up. Hard to get 3G in Los Angeles, especially when your phone is missing its SIM card. At any rate, the spot in full is embedded just past the break, and just between us, we get the feeling this is just the first of many more to come.

[Thanks, Michael]

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 slides into TV spot, Rachel Zoe’s life

Windows Phone 7 slides into TV spot, Rachel Zoe’s life originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there’s one thing we hate waiting for, it’s getting to space. Those 18 hour jaunts from Newark to Singapore just seem so brisk compared to getting from ground zero to the stratosphere, you know? All jesting aside, a team of engineers at NASA are pursuing a revolutionary new launcher that would rely solely on existing technologies. The catch? Said technologies need to be pushed forward a good bit, but if it all pans out, the result could lead to more efficient commuter rail systems, better batteries for motorcars and roller coasters that force a waiver upon you prior to riding. The proposal details a “wedge-shaped aircraft with scramjets to be launched horizontally on an electrified track or gas-powered sled,” and once launched, the craft would soar at Mach 10 in order to breach the atmosphere and allow a rocket’s second stage to fire. It’s pretty riveting stuff — we’d recommend giving that source link a look for the full skinny, but not if you’re hoping to see this materialize in the next decade score.

Continue reading NASA’s revolutionary launcher dreams could improve mass transit systems, boost astronaut applications

NASA’s revolutionary launcher dreams could improve mass transit systems, boost astronaut applications originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 05:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel’s Light Peak isn’t setting any new speed records at IDF 2010 — it’s still rated at 10Gbps for now — but the optical data transfer system is finally looking like it might appear in some actual products. As you can see immediately above, a Light Peak to HDMI converter has shrunk considerably since May, and a number of optically-infused sample products were on display at Intel’s Light Peak booth. Compal’s got a laptop with the optical interconnect built in, while Western Digital showed an external hard drive, from which the Compal could pull and edit multimedia in real-time using a Light Peak-enabled Avid rackmount. Meanwhile, LaCie showed off what appeared to be a 4big Quadra RAID array with two Light Peak ports catapulting high-definition video content at 770MB/s to a nearby Samsung TV, though we should warn you that the TV itself was a bit of a hack job, and not a collaboration with Samsung — note the big, honking EVGA video card sticking out of the back. Though obviously a good bit of work went into these prototypes, Intel reps told us none would necessarily become a reality. Either way, don’t expect to see Light Peak products until sometime next year.

Intel’s Light Peak optical interconnect shrinks slightly, LaCie, WD, Compal and Avid begin prototyping originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 07:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that mysterious Windows Phone 7-powered ASUS from early August? Turns out it showed up at Gnomedex this year, and there’s video floating around to prove it. The phone stars in a nearly 12-minute epic detailing the various parts of the platform — all of which we’ve seen before — but obviously, our attention is focused squarely on this hardware that we haven’t really seen before (and looks very different from the ASUS device that Microsoft was using to demo WP7 in the early days). It’s hard to say if the talk of an AMOLED display is true — or whether this is a retail or near-retail piece of hardware — so we’d hold off on saving up for this one just yet. Since Garmin-Asus came into existence, ASUS’ phone efforts have been squarely focused on the joint venture — and seeing how this steady supply of prototype hardware proves that they’ll be making commercial WP7 devices, it’ll be interesting to see whether Garmin’s involved. Follow the break for the full video.

[Thanks, Jack]

Continue reading ASUS Windows Phone 7 proto shows up on video

ASUS Windows Phone 7 proto shows up on video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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