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Microsoft Adding Its Own Instant-On Feature To Windows?
Posted by John Mahoney at 11:45 PM on October 15, 2008
This survey, sent to a random sampling of Windows users, seems to indicated that MS is at least thinking of integrating an instant-on mode to Windows. Existing quick-start features like Splashtop, found on the Voodoo Envy, Eee Box and a number of other machines, are usually Linux-based systems that stick their finger into the BIOS. A Windows-native solution would be a similar setup--giving you access to a limited feature and application set after a few seconds boot. That is, unless the respondents to this survey overwhelmingly select "1-2 minutes" as their definition of "instant." [Engadget]
According some Phandroid readers, T-Mobile is now shipping the G1 via UPS 3-day delivery. In case you just came from that five-year trip to Tierra del Fuego, the G1 is the first 
An iTunes customer survey suggests that Apple is looking at selling iTunes gift cards for specific music, shows and movies. A nice branding idea, but I could definitely see some tragedies coming out of this—your mum buys you a card for the this entire season of Heroes, but halfway through it, you give up because you just can't take Hiro and Ando's ineptitude anymore. Or, your girlfriend gets one for Sex in the City even though she'll never watch it on iTunes, and then you can't use it for something better, like watching George Lucas rape Indiana Jones on South Park. Like I said, tragedies. - Thanks Alaska!
As you may have heard, economically speaking, things have been better both here and abroad. But, as you should always whistle in times of trouble, "always look on the brooight side of life." But as the 
Mophie's wraparound battery extenders
SanDisk's grand plan to revolutionise the music industry: selling individual albums preloaded onto SD cards, made by them, to be played on SD card players, made by them. 
Some people are sick of waiting for the RFID implant controversy to play out, and at least one of those people is taking action. YouTube user Quethe has 
The new MacBook and MacBook Pro don't just want to impress you with their fancy new fabrication techniques, unibody designs and bolstered performance: they want to make you more honest, at least when it comes to reporting water damage. According to the service manuals, the new line of MacBooks include submersion sensors, designed to indicate if the laptops have been exposed to excessive levels of moisture and/or dropped in your toilet.
Early last week a Qantas Airlines Airbus A330 surprised (and injured) its passengers with an inexplicable 300ft climb, followed by an even larger drop. 
Gadget blogs are a far reach from being oppressive totalitarian states. But the propaganda they all push, if not carefully filtered by editors, on behalf of the CE industry, can be disgusting. BBG's ran a fantastic three day run of fictional blog posts, written as the mouthpiece of the ministry of comms of a "massive super-conglomerate", 
Microsoft is at least considering releasing a consumer-priced version of its Surface computer, if a marketing research survey is to believed. The survey is centered around a device called "Oahu," which, from its description, sounds a lot like the table we've all come to know and love: a multitouch flat screen that sits like a table top and allows for multiple users to interact with it at once.
This news isn't official yet (and we all know what to make of rumours), but we've received word (in the form of a leaked memo to Telstra dealers) that Telstra will be phasing out the HipTop Slide around the end of November in anticipation for a late 2008/January 2009 launch of the Hiptop LX.
If you're in the market for a new television and a Blu-Ray player, Sharp will help you kill two birds with one of its new Aquos DXs. The company has released a line of LCD TVs that have built-in Blu-Ray disc recorders, which they tout as an all-in-one solution for recording television onto BDs... in case there's television that's actually worth the trouble. The 16 sets in the Aquos DX line range from 26-inch to 52-inch models and cost between $US1,600 and $US4,900.
If you've been in Norway this past year or so, you may have happened upon The Strømer, an interactive LED wall that turns shadows into light. Based on architect Stig Skjelvik's 
So, I get the feeling that Nikon's about to announce something in February of 2009 and it's going to be... not small. This anti-petite happening will be taking place at the decidedly non-humble MGM Grand Arena during the WPPI photography convention in Las Vegas. The event might be an official announcement of the 
Elephants are text messaging themselves out of trouble, thanks to an SMS system implemented in a Kenyan nature reserve. The gentle-ish giants are outfitted with SIM cards in their collars, which automatically alert wildlife rangers if they get too close to nearby farms. Rangers can then shoo them away before they do damage to interspecies relations by, say, eating the season's harvest.
AT&T users can now snap up the AT&T USBConnect Quicksilver, one of the smallest 3G HSPA-capable devices out there. The tiny little hub weighs 34 grams and uses the new Icera Livanto chipset, which handles GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G data. That'll give you 70 to 135kpbs downloads on an EDGE network, and 700kbps to 1.7 Mbps downloads on HSPA. Best of all, it's free (if you get it with a two year contract and mail in the $US100 rebate). [
Were you tantalised by our taste of 
In a victory that ought to lower your daily intake of unsolicited emails by 0.7%, U.S. authorities have shut down one of the largest spam rings in the world. The group was known amongst spam fighters as HerbalKing, and, at one point, delivered up to one-third of all spam on the Internet. The global reach of its networks gives you a taste of just how hard it is to find and persecute these guys.
Ready to finally watch internet television on your PS3? Are you ever! Head over to the console's Network, where 
EMC bought Iomega so that it could start easing its business-grade storage gear into homes and small offices, and the StorCenter ix2 is the first official combo of Iomega brand and EMC juice. Before I get into its LifeLine Linux environment, I wanted to point out that this thing is priced to move: A full two-disk 1TB NAS costs $US300—and you can double it to 2TB for $US480. I know HDD prices are dropping but that's a pretty good deal to me. Here's what you get with the storage: 
While we're feverishly reviewing the new MacBooks, here's a quick video rundown of the new MacBook Pro (along with the new MacBook, in a way, since the two designs are so similar). We weren't sure about the two-tone design at first, but we admit that the black border around the screen really helps the colours pop.
In case you just woke from some kind of a coma (or you are a certain older gentleman running for a particularly prominent public office), today Apple revealed new additions to the MacBook family: The totally redesigned aluminium 15" MacBook Pro and 13" MacBook, plus a slightly revamped MacBook Air and white plastic MacBook, "value" priced at $US1000. Jobs and Co also showed off the long-awaited iSight-endowed Cinema Display monitors. Here's a rundown of the keynote and the announcements: