Hasta La Gadget!

Sure, it’s not unusual for gadgets to miss their shipping targets, suffering months-long delays as they jump through the varies hoops necessary before a release. Fortunately, ASUS can now check FCC approval off the Eee Pad Slider’s to do list, with the Honeycomb QWERTY tablet receiving a green light from the feds late last week. ASUS has already confirmed August availability in the UK (after previously promising a May ship date), so we can only hope that the same timeframe applies stateside as well. We’re also curious to see whether or not ASUS was able to use this unexpected delay to beef up supplies, so the Slide doesn’t suffer a hangup similar to that of its Transformer cousin. The company has yet to confirm Slider pricing in the U.S., though we imagine those details will be revealed along with a shipping date within the next few weeks.

ASUS Eee Pad SL101 slides through the FCC, still misses promised May release originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is Nintendo Video launching in the US, or is it just coming soon? Someone over at the house that Mario built needs to make up their mind — Reggie knuckle sandwich, anyone? The application was quietly announced this morning via Nintendo Download, then listed as a non-downloadable item on the eShop and featured on the company’s official site with a release dated today. So, where is it then? Your guess is as good as ours. When it finally hits your parallax display, expect this 3DS only app to update weekly with fresh content, promising limited-time only 2D and 3D comedy, action and adventure shorts. Head to the eShop right now, and you’ll be treated to a music-backed, text-only tease of the service and a College Humour video, apparently. If a curated experience from the makers of the Wii U fits your bill, then go right ahead and set that Spotpass to download.

Nintendo Video’s 3DS app plays coy, is / is not launching in the US today originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not like Congress has anything more pressing on its plate right now, but the suits on Capitol Hill have somehow found time to poke their noses in yet another minute aspect of our personal lives — lighting. All jesting aside, it was starting to look like those old, power-hungry incandescent bulbs wouldn’t have a second chance at life. If you’ll recall, a bill was passed way back in 2007 to kill ’em off by 2012, but Republicans were attempting to reverse things in order to give Americans a bargain option in the years ahead. Despite a 233 to 193 vote in favor of the repeal earlier this week, the necessary super majority wasn’t reached. Not willing to be left in the dark, those adamant about getting it turned around shoved it into something else as an amendment late Friday, which did indeed get the oh-so-coveted stamp of approval. Translation? GE has a production line to reactivate, STAT.

Light bulb efficiency passes through US House, incandescent bulbs flicker in celebration originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microbial fuel cells aren’t exactly new, but microbial fuel cells scouring the ocean floor? Now that’s an initiative we can get behind. The Naval Research Laboratory is currently toying around with a so-called Zero Power Ballast Control off the coast of Thailand, presumably looking for treasures dropped from the speedboat of one “Alan Garner.” Purportedly, the newfangled hydrogen fuel cell relies on bacteria to provide variable buoyancy, which allows an autonomous ocean sensor to move up and down water columns with little to no effort. Furthermore, it’s able to get its energy from microbial metabolism (yeah, we’re talking about hot air), and while it’s mostly being used to measure things like temperature and pressure, it could be repurposed for more seirous tasks — like mine detection. There’s no clear word yet on when America’s Navy will have access to this stuff, but if we had to guess, they’ve probably be using it behind our backs for the better part of a score.

[Image courtesy of U.S. Navy Reserve / Tom Boyd]

Navy tests bacteria-powered hydrogen fuel cell, could start monitoring your underwater fight club originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 20:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s happening. The music streaming service that has won over the collective heart of Europe is finally making the puddle jump that we’ve been waiting for. Spotify just threw up a US landing spot, inviting eager Americans to jump in line for a table at the party. Meanwhile, we just received confirmation on our own end that things are finalizing for testing here in the States, and we’ll be sure to report back just as soon as our credentials clear. We should note, however, that there’s still no definitive time table to report, but it’s fairly obvious that those final record deals are close enough to done to call this thing a victory. Now, the real question: are you signing up in the source link below, or are any of those other guys still tugging at your heartstrings?

Spotify is coming to the US, invites are open now originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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