this WEEK in GADGETS!

Sammual James McLoughlin Sammual James McLoughlin - Posted via my iPhone 4 .

[From Stephen Trew] Tim Cook's letter to employees on its approach to the NYT article. "“We will continue to dig deeper, and we will undoubtedly find more issues. What we will not do — and never have done — is... Sammual James McLoughlin Sammual James - McLoughlin - Editor in Chief / Publisher

#watchthis I've always wondered what the world looks like from a dog's point of view. After watching this video, now I know. Kelsey Wynn outfitted his Great Dane, Bishop, with a GoPro and took him to the dog park to play. You get to see everything Bishop's see and it looks so freaking fun. More »

[From Stephen Trew] Interesting interview with onetime Palm head Jon Rubinstein "On the heels of the news of his departure from HP Friday, Apple veteran and onetime Palm head Jon Rubinstein spoke with AllThingsD about the move and the fate... Sammual James McLoughlin Sammual James - McLoughlin - Editor in Chief / Publisher

I'm living on a remote island this week with no broadband, just GPRS on my iPhone. Sometimes it's nice to get away from technology but at the same time not being with broadband Internet can be a struggle. I'll report... Sammual James McLoughlin Sammy posting via my iPhone 4S

#usermanual February 1 is change your password day. But don't make it a one-time thing. Password changing should be a routine you practice regularly. Like hand-washing, or trolling Facebook. Especially ones you've shared. More »

#wtfriday This glob of dried glue kind of looks like Homer Simpson. Kind of. The thing is that this insignificant blip in the scheme of humanity is about to sell on eBay UK for a metric crap ton. It's at £151,000 with two days to go. More »

Just wake up from a very restful week-long slumber? First of all, we're envious of your good fortune. Second, Research in Motion made a few changes to its leadership chart. Third, you must be really hungry right about now. So grab a sandwich, come back in an hour and join Myriam, Brad, Sean Cooper and our very special guest Kevin Michaluk (yes, Mr. CrackBerry Kevin himself) as we discuss the northern news, as well as anything else that happened this week.

Be sure to send questions or comments you have for us or Kevin via Twitter (we're @engadgetmobile), or make your voice heard in our Ustream chat room during the show!

January 27, 2012 5:00 PM EST

Continue reading Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast with guest CrackBerry Kevin, live at 5PM ET!

Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast with guest CrackBerry Kevin, live at 5PM ET! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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#dealzmodo I know that my alarm clock is the devil. It doesn't matter which physical clock I'm using. There's a spirit that moves from clock radio to cellphone to travel clock and channels evil at my motionless body. My subconscious is so sure of this that it wakes me a few minutes before the alarm goes off whenever possible. More »

#android If the Droid Razr Maxx is anything to go by, idiotically terrible battery life on LTE phones might be a thing of the past. Laptop Mag ran battery tests on all of Verizon's LTE models and the Maxx crushed everything by a crazy margin. More »

He was appointed with a fair bit of fanfare as the United States' first Chief Technology Officer back in May of 2009, but it looks like Aneesh Chopra has decided that it's now time to make room for the nation's second CTO. The White House confirmed today that Chopra is stepping down from his position, noting that he has amassed a "dizzying array of accomplishments." Among those are his contributions to the Obama administration's national wireless strategy, a set of internet policy making principals, and a number of efforts related to the President's open government strategy, including the Data.gov platform. No word on his successor just yet, nor is there any official word on what Chopra plans to do next -- although The Washington Post reports that he's expected to run for lieutenant governor of Virginia.

First White House Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, steps down originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What's that? An HTC PI86100 Windows Phone with AT&T-specific LTE (bands 4 and 17) showing up in the hallowed halls of the FCC? Why, this must be the Titan II, announced a tad over a fortnight ago. Docs show that a production unit of the device, sporting the aforementioned LTE bands as well as 850 / 1900 3G (also AT&T compatible), is ready to take on its new Windows Phone competition sometime soon. Is it a guarantee that the phone is nigh at hand? Not quite, but at least it signifies that the 16 megapixel beast is one step closer to showing up in our hands.

Gallery: HTC Titan II in the FCC

HTC Titan II works its charm on the FCC with AT&T LTE included originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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#rumors The Wall Street Journal's golden box of anonymous sources has rattled once more, this time with news that Facebook is finally going public. Now that's cooler than a million dollars. More »

#watchthis On January 22, an M8.7 class flare helped cause the biggest solar storm since 2005. Airplanes had to change routes, and the power grid and satellites were affected. It also caused some of the best auroras ever seen. More »

As I mentioned having my iPhone camera comes in handy including this wonderful sunset I was fortunate enough to experience tonight. Sammual James McLoughlin Sammy posting via my iPhone 4S

#privacy The highest court of the land scored a victory for your privacy versus the cops this week, but the worst threats of digital surveillance remain standing. The good news? These justices aren't backing down anytime soon. More »

It's MacWorld, which means those providers of Apple gear are busting out wares for aftermarket insertion into your objects of desire. Other World Computing's latest offering is a slender solid-state drive ready to be crow-barred into last year's MacBook Airs. The bombastically named OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSD is a SATA Rev. 3.0 drive with a promised 6Gb/s data speed at sizes of up to a staggering 480GB. Since the stock drives are limited to the 3Gb/s SATA Rev. 2.0 (but the controllers run 3.0), you should find a significant performance bump when swapping in the new unit. The toggle-synchronous NAND drives come in a variety of sizes, starting at 120GB ($260), but it's the brand new and quite beastly 480GB model that has us excited. Sure, $1,150 is a lot to ask for less than half a terrabyte of storage, but you'll get a three-year warranty for all that cash. We may never give you our money, nor our funny pages, but you can have the press release that's after the break.

Continue reading OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity

OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It wasn't long ago that we first crossed paths with the ZTE V66 tablet, though at the time we were unfortunate to only meet its dull black-and-white renders. Those of you unfamiliar with the tab won't have your jaws dropped by its innards, which are expected to be missing out on the Ice Cream Sandwich treatment. Aside from the OS letdown (still, it's not as bad as shipping with Gingerbread), the V66 is pretty standard fare for a modern tablet. It'll be running on Verizon's speedy LTE network, sporting a 7-inch (1,280 x 800) display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and a 4,000mAh battery will help keep it chugging along. We've yet to hear an official word from the Big Red about price and availability, so we'll let you know how deep into your wallet you'll have to dig as soon as we find out.

Verizon-bound ZTE V66 slate gets photographed, looks just like you imagined originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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#science Scientists have made the shocking discovery that it's your ankle, not your back, that feels the most awesome to scratch when you are itchy. More »

In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line.
We're pretty fond of new ways to integrate smartphones with car stereos here at Engadget, which is why we're particularly intrigued by a new Kickstarter project called Dash. Unlike MirrorLink, which reflects a phone's interface onto a larger touchscreen, this nifty creation puts the smartphone front and center in the stereo itself. While the Dash will initially support only the iPhone 4 / 4S and iPod Touch -- which connects via the dock connector -- the company seems ambitious to target other platforms in the future.

The Dash comes in two parts, the double-DIN stereo itself, along with a detachable aluminum faceplate that's held to the main unit with neodymium magnets. The only interface element is a volume knob, as every other interaction is performed on the iPhone's 3.5-inch display -- just promise to keep your eyes on the road when you sort through your tunes. The stereo contains four 50W channels and two 2V preamps. The Dash is currently projected to ship in July for $300, but a $250 donation serves as a discounted preorder right now. It'll be available in a variety of colors, which you can peep in the gallery below, and be sure to check out the project's video after the break.

Gallery: Insert Coin: Dash car stereo

Continue reading Insert Coin: Dash car stereo gives your iPhone a new home, away from the cupholder (video)

Insert Coin: Dash car stereo gives your iPhone a new home, away from the cupholder (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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#watchthis If you look intensely at these black bars, you will just see black bars. But if you shake your head, you will see an image. See? No. Shake it again. Yes? OK. Have fun until you get a headache. More »

There's something romantic about hacking the iPhone, especially when it means finding ways to personalize the massively popular handset. Apps like Instagram may help you realize artistic talent, but software just doesn't get those creative juices flowing like an old-fashioned piece of hardware can. Despite its taboo-sounding name, The Love Box isn't an adult toy in the traditional sense, instead serving as an analog video (and stills) mixer for your iPhone 4 or 4S. Consisting of a wooden box and an angled sliding mirror, the homegrown contraption lets you simultaneously capture the action in front of and behind you in a single image. It was originally designed in Barcelona to capture two people conversing for a documentary called "The Love Box Conversations," hence the name. The "lowest-tech accessory for the highest-tech phone" is available now as part of a very limited initial run of 100 units, and can be yours for €57.63 (about $77.50) if you hit up the source link below.

Continue reading The Love Box is an analog video mixer, house of mirrors for your iPhone (video)

The Love Box is an analog video mixer, house of mirrors for your iPhone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google's bringing a number of changes to its Earth service courtesy of version 6.2, including Google+ integration and improvements to search. Most notable here, however, is a new method of rendering that stitches aerial photos together in a manner less patchy than before, making for "the most beautiful Google Earth yet," according to the company. The new version is available now for download -- more info in the source link below.

Google upgrades Earth with better rendering, teaches it to sing in perfect harmony originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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#battlemodo Usually, when winter is not being a cowardly little bitch, you need a warm jacket to keep from freezing to death. But if you live in a city, like more than half the world's population, you need something something more versatile—and stylish—than just a sealskin or a pillow with sleeves. More »

#hp Jon Rubinstein, the former Apple exec, godfather of webOS and ex-CEO of Palm, has left HP, reports AllThingsD. The move isn't too surprising as the writing has been on the wall since he left HP's Palm unit last summer to move to a lesser role at HP's Personal Systems Group. More »