Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

Blue's Eyeball webcam and Mikey iPod mic are made for digital crooners originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Diebold just can't seem to keep its nose clean these days. The nation's largest manufacturer of ATMs admitted not too long ago what everybody already knew: that their e-voting machines were totally bunk. Apparently in the course of that investigation it emerged that the company also thought it would be a laugh to load the open source Ghostscript Postscript interpreter software into those faulty machines without releasing its changes or paying the proprietary usage license fee -- leading Aritex, its developer, to file a lawsuit. It doesn't really instill confidence any further to hear that our nation's terrible electronic voting machines are running on stolen software, guys -- and to be honest, we're kinda starting to wish you'd get out of the ATM business, too.

Diebold's e-voting machines violate GPL, good taste originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones

If you had any lingering doubt that HTC's US, GSM version of the Touch Pro (AKA the Fuze) was headed to AT&T in the near future, you can probably take a deep breath. Thanks to an eagle-eyed tipster, we're now able to view HTC's official page for the device, although it looks like they may not be done with all the coding, as an image of the Tilt is still being used as a placeholder. There's no mention of release date, though we do learn that the device will sport AT&T's Cellular Video and Mobile Music services, and a "unique AT&T defined 5 row slide out / slide away QWERTY keyboard," which definitely means nothing at all. Hit the read link if you don't believe us, but for goodness' sake -- you should see someone about that paranoia.

[Thanks, Wie]

HTC's official Fuze page shows up... kinda originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Gaming, HDTV, Laptops

Want to get a jump on your holiday shopping or find a couple of insane bargains to keep for yourself? A few retailers are offering what they've dubbed "Black Friday-style" price cuts for tomorrow -- Saturday, November 8th. Walmart's got a sweet 15.4-inch Compaq CQ-139WM (with 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive) laptop for $298, in addition to a PlayStation 2 bundled with a $30 WalMart gift card for $129, and a PlayStation 3 with a $100 gift card for $399. Over at Kmart they're offering up a rad 32-inch Sylvania LCD HDTV for $439.99 (they usually go for for $550). They also have several deals for Sunday, November 9th, including the Wii Fit for $89.99. Is it safe to assume that every Friday (not to mention Saturday and Sunday) until Christmas will be "black"? For the full, mind-blowing rundown, hit the read links.

[Via CNET, I4U News]

Read - Kmart
Read - Walmart Backs Main Street

Walmart, Kmart announce Black Friday-esque deals for days other than Black Friday originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Laptops

While low-cost laptops are all the rage right now, there's still a solid chunk of folks out there willing to pay a premium for potent ultraportables. The Voodoo Envy 133 is undeniably one of the sexier small machines we've seen of late, and the internals are rather impressive given the size of the enclosure. Still, this here rig costs a pretty penny, and we've all ideas those who splurged have a thing or two to say about it with nearly two months of usage under their belt. Has the Envy 133 lived up to your surely lofty expectations? Are there aspects there you wish were different? How could Voodoo go about tweaking things whenever it finally decides to actually launch another product at all its successor?

How would you change the Voodoo Envy 133? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handhelds

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Last week's Switched On delved into Celio's REDFLY, an austere smartphone accessory designed for enterprise users who manage their digital lives on their smartphones. REDFLY has faced scrutiny from the geek elite who have noted that, for about the same price as a REDFLY, one can get an independently functioning netbook that does so much more. A similar argument has also been levied at Peek, a wireless e-mail appliance that delivers only a part of what most smartphones can do.

But the two products could hardly be more different. Whereas REDFLY is a smartphone companion, Peek is a smartphone alternative featuring a slim design and a commitment to simplicity that borders on obsession. For example, Peek, like many modern smartphones, will attempt to guess your mail server information by your e-mail address. But if your e-mail address stumps it, there is no way to enter a server name or IP address manually. This omission is intentional, according to Peek, which didn't want consumers to have to find out technical settings. Instead, customers are directed to contact the company's support line where a customer service representative will set up the account for them.

The approach is in lockstep with the device's target market -- busy and less technical consumers, particularly young mothers, who find themselves increasingly dependent on e-mail and don't want the complexity of a smartphone or the high cost of running one on a 3G network. Peek provides an alternative to a growing movement within the cellular industry to force minimal data plans on advanced phones. And for consumers who find carrier stores less than inviting, Peek is sold at Target, and it works.

Continue reading Switched On: The Peek of popularity

Switched On: The Peek of popularity originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Far from being the first (or second, or third) partnership aimed at getting 3D in the home, JVC and Sensio have jointly chosen EHX Fall 2008 to announce their loving new union. By joining forces, they're purporting to introduce the "very first high-end 3D solution available on the consumer market." Granted, this so-called solution won't be cheap nor simple, as it will require a pair of JVC's costly D-ILA projectors and a media server integrating Sensio's 3D decoding technology. At the show, the pair demonstrated the forthcoming system by utilizing two $9,000 (yes, each) DLA-RS2 beamers (pictured), though it's never stated whether or not any gaudy goggles are required for visualizing the third-dimension. At any rate, the kit won't be available until sometime in 2009, but it's quite possible we'll get a sneak peek at CES in January.

[Via Electronic House]

JVC, Sensio team up on high-end consumer 3D projection system originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Laptops

While there still doesn't seem to have been any developments in the lawsuit Rambus filed against NVIDIA earlier this year, that doesn't seem to be stopping the company from opening up another front against its would-be arch rival, and it's now taken its case to the International Trade Commission. As before, Rambus is alleging that NVIDIA and its partner companies are infringing on a whole slew of its memory-related patents, and it's asking for a ban on all imports and sales of NVIDIA products that include DDR, DDR2, DDR3, LPDDR, GDDR, GDDR2, and GDDR3 memory controllers -- or anything with an NVIDIA logo on it, basically. For its part, NVIDIA doesn't seem to be commenting on the matter just yet, but Rambus said in a statement that it believes the action was "necessary given NVIDIA's continued willful infringement of our patents." Look for the ITC to make a decision on whether to start an investigation into the matter or not within the next 30 days, and you can keep tabs on any future Rambus litigation on the Litigation Update section of its website which, yes, actually exists.

Read - Rambus Press Release, "Rambus Files Complaint Against International Trade Commission"
Read - Rambus Litigation Update

[Via The Inquirer]

Rambus takes aim at NVIDIA over alleged patent infringement, again originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation

You're a good person with noble motivations -- you ride a bicycle instead of driving because it's healthy and it doesn't have a disastrously negative impact on the environment. We salute you, but not all of society appreciates your virtue like we do. In a sinister and systematic oppression of cyclists (we're absolutely certain it's intentional), many traffic lights are governed by sensors in the pavement that give a green light only after they've detected the change in inductance when a large metal car pulls up. Before you take up arms, though, take a look at this recently-patented device that sends out a signal that fools the sensors so cyclists don't have to wait for a car to unwittingly play good Samaritan -- we suppose we'll try this out just in case before we incite a violent revolution.

[Via Core77]

Intersection sensor activator puts an end to cyclist discrimination originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Laptops

Yesterday ASUS stunned and pleased our eyeballs with the announcement of the 12-inch N20A laptop, and today two more get added to the crew: the 14.1-inch N80V and the 15.4-inch N50V. Both have the option of T9400 / P8600 / P7350 Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, up to 4GB of RAM, and each pack NVIDIA's GeForce 9300M GPU with 512MB of VRAM. The N80V has an up to 320GB hard drive capacity while the N50V goes up to 500GB. The N80V boasts a WXGA display and the NV50 offers WXGA / WXGA+ / WSXGA+ options. There's also a stunning selection of ports, including eSATA and HDMI on both of these bad boys. For unequaled spec-reading pleasure, hit the read links.

[Via PC Launches, PC Launches]

Read - ASUS N80V
Read - ASUS N50V

ASUS adds N80V and N50V to its ever-expanding family of laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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