Hasta La Gadget!

We just received this shot of what is purportedly the inside of the new MacBook Air. Contrary to popular belief, the machine appears to be another 13.3-incher, with the primary modification being extra room for battery cells and apparently no room for a hard drive. Of course, this is only one SKU, so who knows what else Apple has in store. From what we can tell from the photo, Apple is taking its unibody styling and construction and running with it here, not that the MacBook Air was too far off from the MacBook Pro to begin with. The telltale sign is the black hinge, though it also appears Apple has done away with the drop-down side ports.

Based on our own professional squinting ability, there are USB plugs on the left and right sides, Mini DisplayPort and an SD card reader on the left, and a power plug on the right. Of course, since the screw holes are facing us, we’re probably looking at this from the bottom, so flip all of those around if you want to imagine using this thing (because, of course, the power plug will be on the Apple-standard left side). We also have it on good authority that the rest of the machine has been restyled in modern unibody style, including the large single mouse button, but that the screen is still like the current MacBook Air, instead of the edge-to-edge glass with black edges. Also, it’s apparently running the same Core 2 Duo SL9400 processor of the current generation MacBook Air — possibly further proof that this is a very early prototype (our source says the model dates back to at least April). We’re working on getting more images and information, but for now at least two things seem (relatively) clear: Apple hasn’t forgotten about the MacBook Air, and 13.3-inches isn’t going out of style just yet. Hopefully we’ll know for certain next week!

[Thanks, anonymous]

Is this the new MacBook Air? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Oct 2010 01:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like design heads at Palm and Nokia have more or less swapped roles, as All Things D reports that Nokia’s ex-MeeGo head Ari Jaaksi has just been hired by Palm — a month after Nokia grabbed Palm’s Peter Skillman to head up user experience and services for MeeGo. Fate? Coincidence? As long as both struggling smartphone companies bring us better devices and improved operating systems as a result, we’re not all that concerned. The report also suggests a Samsung VP and several HP executives will be boosting Palm’s team as well.

Nokia’s ex-MeeGo chief lands at Palm? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It seems like we’re getting closer and closer to the arrival of the Palm Pre 2 and webOS 2.0, and it looks like Verizon will be in the mix — we were just sent this image of Big Red’s internal VZLearn portal showing Pre 2 device training. We still don’t know when it’ll actually hit or what pricing will be like, and we don’t know if it’ll hit Sprint and AT&T as well like the OG Pre, but we’re guessing we’ll find out soon enough — keep a sharp eye, we’ll let you know.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Palm Pre 2 coming to Verizon? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It never really occurred to us that Windows Phone 7 buyers wouldn’t be able to use their phones in tandem with Apple computers, but here’s the confirmation all spelled out: Microsoft’s Oded Ran recently tweeted that Zune will let Mac users sync WP7 phones, presumably using an OS X compatible version of the desktop software package. Of course, since the tweet was deleted shortly after it was written, it’s possible this was some sort of mistake, but if buyers find the twain incompatible come launch day, you’d best believe there’s going to be some consumer outrage. Here’s hoping that if the software does exist, it’ll sync good ol’ Zune media players as well.

Zune software headed to Mac, the better to sync your Windows Phone? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 19:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s unclear if the tiny, little shot posted on French carrier SFR’s Club SFR pour Palm blog is in fact the rumored upcoming Pre 2 or just an old Pre shot, but let’s put it this way: considering that we can’t readily tell the difference, it better be an old one. At any rate, the sparse details in the blog post line up with everything we’re expecting so far, namely that the new model will use a 1GHz processor — presumably a TI OMAP3630 — and will sport a full half gig of RAM on board. Between those two spec bumps, we’d fully expect the refreshed webOS 2.0 to scream… but we won’t really know for sure until Palm gives us something to work with. In the meantime, SFR, thanks for the teaser.

Update: Check out another shot from SFR’s site after the break — it looks like they don’t have any intention to pull the news down, otherwise we have to believe they would’ve done so by now.

Continue reading France’s SFR jumps gun, announces Palm Pre 2: 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, webOS 2.0

France’s SFR jumps gun, announces Palm Pre 2: 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, webOS 2.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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