this WEEK in GADGETS!

Microsoft already informed its most moneyed partners that no more systems could leave their labs after October 22nd with Windows XP, but given that the proverbial boy has cried wolf before, we were inclined to think that we'd eventually face yet another push back. We guess there's still a few ticks of the clock left between now and that fateful day, but there seems to be little hope for XP to live on in any significant form beyond the aforesaid date. Dell has just published a report noting that they will stop offering XP on new machines later this month in preparation for October's cutoff, though they're quick to point out that Microsoft will continue Windows XP driver support until December 2012. For the average consumer, that means you've got just over a month to get whatever XP-equipped systems you want from Dell; for select "qualified customers," they will still be able to snag XP machines post-October 22nd through the company's Custom Factory Integration service. Hit the source link for all the details, and feel free to pour one out for a waning OS. We can shed a few more tears next month.

Dell lays down the law: no more Windows XP shipments after October 22nd originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Inquirer  |  Dell  | Email this | Comments

#brain CRASH! A deafening roar and the cinema screen explodes with light. The scene is certainly startling, but is this movie stirring up the right emotional reactions deep down? Rather than ask your opinion, it's now possible to cut out the middleman and go straight to your brain for the verdict. More »

#iphoneapps Apple's iMovie iPhone app has received an update in honor of iOS 4.1 being released. It's now compatible with the new iPod Touch, allows you to split video clips, and more: More »

Now this is an HTPC worth gawking at. Zotac has just revised its long-standing Zbox line with a new duo, and we have to say -- we're digging the new look. Beyond the exterior improvements, the outfit has bolstered the internals by providing the HD-ID33 and HD-ID34 with Intel's new 1.8GHz Atom D525 CPU, 2GB of DDR2-800 memory, NVIDIA's next-gen Ion graphics platform, an HDMI output, 6-in-1 card reader, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a couple of USB 2.0 ports and an unexpected pair of USB 3.0 sockets. The only notable difference between the two is the inclusion of a 250GB hard drive in the ID34, while the 2.5-inch HDD slot is left open for DIYers in the ID33. Windows 7 is onboard, naturally, as is a slot-loading Blu-ray drive that the company is (rightfully) proud of. It's not talking prices just yet, but we're willing to overlook a modest premium to finally get BD support within a delightfully small package. Hit the gallery below for more eye candy.

Gallery: Zotac's Zbox ID33 and ID34 with Blu-ray

Continue reading Zotac introduces ID33 and ID34 Zbox mini PCs, complete with Atom D525 and Blu-ray

Zotac introduces ID33 and ID34 Zbox mini PCs, complete with Atom D525 and Blu-ray originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hot Hardware  |   | Email this | Comments

#apple Everyone tends to get excited whenever Apple wins a patent, but this latest one has folks scratching their heads because it's rather slim on details. What we do know is that Apple managed to improve on a composite laminate. More »

#privacy Airport security scanners that literally see through your clothes are contentious. Because ... well, think about shadowy TSA guys peeping at your bits. Hence some firms are now tweaking them to anonymize your "x-rays" to protect your decency. More »

#games The iOS 4.1 update added the Game Center to our iPhone and iPod Touch devices, but we've been struggling to find games which let us take advantage of this feature. Here are the ones we've discovered so far. Updating. More »

#hilarity We've seen plenty of app-promoting clips, but none has ever made us laugh and laugh and laugh like this one for the upcoming game Steve Young Football. Whether you know the original or not, all this does is win. [SteveYoungFootball] More »

#apple We'd heard that the newest iPod Touch comes with a built-in vibrator for FaceTime notifications, but there was no such thing to be found when the gadget was torn down. And even worse? There was only 256 MB of RAM. More »

#science This is the Concavenator corcovatus, a new species of dinosaur discovered in Cuenca, Spain. This weird 20-feet-long predator could be the predecessor of the meat-eating titans that dominated the Cretaceous. But what's that hump? It could be his battery. More »

#google Today we got Google Instant, a fairly radical overhaul of Big G's homepage that delivers predictive search results as you type. That's crazy! But do you think it's crazy cool or crazy stupid? More »

Pardon us as we coin the term "apportunity" to describe the upcoming developer program Eye-Fi has just announced. Developers will able to tie their apps / applications / sites into Eye-Fi features and services through the web, including accessing an Eye-Fi card for photos and video, changing settings on the card, and uploading to online sharing sites through Eye-Fi channels instead of directly connecting to each site. It all sounds very promising in a niche, people-who-use-WiFi-SD-cards sort of way, and we look forward to the results as Eye-Fi starts giving out API keys in phases, beginning this fall.

Eye-Fi starting up a developer program, will have some APIs open for business this fall originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Eye-Fi  | Email this | Comments

#scary We've heard the promise: in the future, everything's connected. But when Cleveland rolls out its new RFID-enabled recycling bins next year, ones that know if you're using them and report you if you're not, you might long to disconnect. More »

#iphone Now you can put your iPhone into field test mode, which will allow to easily and precisely test your cell signal reception quality. You just need to follow these two easy steps: More »

No, we're not talking about robotic charging stations that roam the highways and recharge your car without even stopping (sadly), but a new system proposed Zafer Sahinoglu and his colleagues at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in Cambridge, Massachusetts may just help to fill in some of the gaps on the road. While exact specifics are a bit light, the basic idea is to have a series of "roaming" chargers that would be charged up at night and moved around based on demand -- demand that would be determined by sensors in electric vehicles, which would report their findings back to a central operations center. According to Sahinoglu, you'd only need five charging stations to cover 100 electric cars on a 100-kilometer stretch of highway, so it would seemingly be a quick and relatively inexpensive way to cover a large area -- assuming you can find an efficient way to actually move the chargers around. Look for more details to be announced at the Vehicular Technology Conference in Ottawa next week.

Researchers propose 'roaming' charging stations to keep electric cars powered originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  New Scientist  | Email this | Comments

#kinect The awesome Kinect object scanning is missing from all incoming titles, as well as of any hardware controller support. But fear not, because Kinect's big honcho Kudo Tsunoda has some answers about this and more. More »

Hosts: Dick DeBartolo with Leo Laporte

Shoot high-resolution 3D photos and movies effortlessly with the Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W3.

Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/dgw.

We invite you to read, add to, and amend the show notes.

For more details and a chance to win the Mad Magazine "What The Heck Is It?" contest, visit GizWiz.Biz.

Audio bandwidth for the Daily Giz Wiz is provided by Winamp. Subscribe to the Daily Giz Wiz and all your favorite podcasts with the ultimate media player, available for free at Winamp.com.

Running time: 16:59

We still maintain that you've got better options than TomTom when it comes to iPhone GPS software, but if you pulled the trigger before giving yourself a moment to consider what you were actually doing, this here news may just interest you. In an effort to maintain compatibility with Apple's latest and greatest iPhone, TomTom is now including a simple adapter for all Car Kit orders going out on September 1st or later. If you ordered one prior to that, you can apply down in the source link for a freebie to be sent your way. Or just hack something up in the garage that looks like the insert above. Your call, vaquero.

[Thanks, Dan]

Continue reading TomTom offers free iPhone 4 adapter for Car Kit

TomTom offers free iPhone 4 adapter for Car Kit originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  TomTom  | Email this | Comments

#leds Marc DeVidts went from Miami to Atlanta to attend Dragon*Con 2010 and show off his party-in-a-suit custom, which is loaded with LEDs that are controlled from his iPhone. That's at least +259 courage points right there. [Makezine] More »

Oh, Ben -- how far you've come. But now that you're about to star in your very own web show, don't ever forget that we had you first. Pleasantries aside, we couldn't be more thrilled to hear that the man responsible for pushing the art of modding into the mainstream is set to host a bi-weekly web TV show on the subject. The Ben Heck Show will see its first episode published on September 13th, where Ben showcases a mod of a controller for an avid gamer with a serious disability. Future episodes will highlight "projects inspired by the modder community, ranging from mods for a particular need to gadgets that help electronic enthusiasts work and play faster," which means that you and yours can send in ideas that may end up on the show. Head on past the break for a trailer, and be sure to pencil this one in right beside our own Engadget Show when it comes time for viewing pleasure.

P.S. - Congrats, Ben!

Continue reading The Ben Heck Show launching next week, right into your regular viewing rotation

The Ben Heck Show launching next week, right into your regular viewing rotation originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Element 14, Ben Heck  | Email this | Comments

#blockquote Today, Google's founder Sergey Brin said that they want to be your third "brain half". Yesterday, Eric Schmidt said Google knows where you are, what you like, and will suggest what you should do next. And that wasn't all. More »

It may not be anything more than a bit of excess or leftover code, but it looks like there's at least a hint of some possible video playback capabilities lying deep in the code for the new iPod nano (the internal settings property list, to be specific). As discovered by Erica Sadun over at TUAW, that includes options for things like TV subtitles, captions and alternate audio, and even a fit-to-screen option -- for the perfectly square aspect ratio of the nano's screen, perhaps? Of course, there doesn't seem to be an option to actually make video watchable on a 1.5-inch screen.

iPod nano code hints at possible video playback originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  TUAW  | Email this | Comments

#shows Our friends over at Splitsider have compiled a comprehensive guide to where on the internet you can (legally) watch every last comedy on this fall's teevee schedule—as well as some regrettably bygone favorites. More »

You hear a lot lately about bringing high-end DSLR functionality to the consumer, mostly thanks to the wild new world of Micro Four Thirds, but Vivitar is really breaking the price barrier with its new $10 point and shoot. The camera shoots to full frame 35mm film (there's even a 24 shot roll included, roughly equivalent to 512MB), and yet its single button operation and automatic motorized advance should make the high-end shooter accessible to the novice photogs among us. Of course, a built-in flash and auto focus will appeal to the feature hungry enthusiasts as well. The best news? If you buy one of these today, you can actually get a second camera and second roll of film for free!

[Thanks, Michelle]

Vivitar's new full frame 35mm film camera originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Vivitar  | Email this | Comments

#awesome Have you ever lazily wished you could just use a tractor beam to grab that out-of-reach object? Apparently, you can. Using only light, Australian researchers say they are able to move small particles almost five feet through the air. More »