Wait just a second there, vaquero. We know you're invigorated, but you should probably attempt to digest the price tag here before blowing a gasket in excitement. Bel Canto -- not known for trickling out low-end gear -- has just introduced the $495 USB Link 24/96, which presumably does an impeccable job at converting high quality USB audio (up to 24-bits and 96kHz) to S/PDIF via a single 75-ohm BNC cable. The unit works natively in both Windows and OS X, comes bundled with a Stereovox XV2 BNC / BNC S/PDIF cable (with RCA adapter) and gets all the juice it needs from your powered USB socket. Now, if only five unclaimed bills weren't so difficult to obtain...Filed under: Home Entertainment, P ...

Once again Drita from Engadget Spanish has swooped in a caught some fantastic video of Nokia's new N97 in action. There's no point in beating around the bush -- just check out the device doing its thing after the break!Continue reading Nokia N97 video hands-on!Filed under: CellphonesNokia N97 video hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

Remember when we used to write about Palm in order to talk about its devices and / or operating system(s)? Man, those were the days. Now, it just seems like one sadness-filled report after another, and just days after hearing that it would be cutting an undisclosed amount of employees in order to trim operating expenses, in comes even more doom and gloom courtesy of its preliminary Q2 (fiscal year 2009) results. The company is expecting to record revenues ranging between $190 million to $195 million, far short of the $331 million Wall Street had been counting on. The shortfall was blamed on "a difficult economic environment [which had] greatly intensified the negative impact on product sale ...

The news is flowing hot and heavy from Barcelona, and the latest succulent tidbits to land in our laps are these. First up, a fresh version of Nokia Maps is on tap, which includes "a number of new features such as high-resolution aerial images, 3D landmarks for 216 cities and terrain maps, as well as a new route overview during routing and during Drive, the purchasable turn-by-turn car navigation guidance." Furthermore, users will find new options such as access to real time information (camera alerts, safety spots, traffic information, etc.) and Wcities event guides that give real time information for events and movies in over 450 destinations. Next is Nokia Messaging -- which is bringing ...

While we were led to believe that Nanovision's MIMO line of diminutive LCDs would be stuck in South Korea for the foreseeable future, it appears that a trio of 'em are now shipping to North America. While not christened with any SideShow labeling, this 7-inch UM-710 mini monitor was designed to operate alongside your laptop and / or desktop monitor in order to give you more space for those little-but-necessary applications. Critics at Technabob were quite fond of the 800 x 480 display, noting that it was perfectly clear, incredibly useful and darn near impossible to live without after a solid hour of usage. Setup was relatively painless with Windows Vista, and OS X drivers (for Intel-based ...

Yep, it's a done deal. On the same day Nokia chose to unveil its new flagship N97, the outfit also announced that it had "completed its offer to acquire software company Symbian Limited." As of now, "all conditions to Nokia's offer to acquire Symbian Limited have been satisfied and it has received valid acceptance of greater than 99.9% of the total Symbian shares that Nokia did not already own." Nokia's not saying much else about the changeover just yet, but we are told that every last Symbian employee is expected to wear a Nokia badge come February 1, 2009.Filed under: CellphonesNokia seals acquisition of Symbian Limited originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:48:00 EST. Pl ...

When Pioneer first introduced its unicorn-like 16-layer 400GB Blu-ray Disc, we weren't sure if the thing would make it beyond the drawing board, let alone be compatible with existing BD decks. Over at the IT Month Fair in Taipei, Pioneer showed up to showcase the capacious disc, and better still, a DigiTimes report asserts that these are indeed compatible with Blu-ray readers already on the market. Currently, the 400GB disc is slated to hit mass production sometime between now and 2010, while rewritable versions won't hit until 2010 to 2012. Not like it really matters though -- a 1TB disc is on track for 2013, and you know you'll be waiting for the latest and greatest.Filed under: HDTV, Hom ...

A fortnight after going on sale, Apple's shiny new 24-inch LED Cinema Display has been acquired, unboxed and photographed for your drooling pleasure. Not much to say here outside of what's told in terrific detail by the pixels above, but just like the new MacBook family, there's lots of gloss to go around. Check the read link for a few more looks.Filed under: DisplaysApple's 24-inch LED Cinema Display gets unboxed, is sure glossy originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

Just got this lovely email, pretending to be from Blizzard: Subject: Warning : World of Warcraft Account Notice From: donotreply@blizzard.com To: arfenhousetoo@gmail.com An investigation of your World of Warcraft account has found strong evidence that the account in question is being sold or traded. As you may not be aware of, this conflicts with Blizzard’s EULA under section 4 Paragraph B which can be found here: WoW -> Legal -> End User License Agreement and Section 8 of the Terms of Use found here: WoW -> Legal -> Terms of Use The investigation will be continued by Blizzard administration to determine the action to be taken against your account. If your account is foun ...

Now this is a fight worth waiting for.[Photo courtesy of Robert Scoble]Filed under: CellphonesNokia N97 vs iPhone... Fight! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

Details are coming in but it's official. The N97 features a large touchscreen phone with a retail price at around 550 euros ($693.4) excluding subsidies and taxes, phone to ship in H1 2009.developing...Nokia unveils flagship N97 phone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

In a move that will undoubtedly increase its street cred among technophiles and tinkerers alike, Atheros announced that it's releasing the specs to allow open source drivers for its ATH5K and ATH9K chip families. The move comes after Atheros first released some open source drivers for newer 802.11n chipsets and now the company is finally opening up its HAL (hardware abstraction layer) to developers, even using Linux as the reference public code base. No word on when any of this stuff will be released, but rest assured, we'll be on the lookout for more info -- we're sure the hackers out there are champing at the bit.Filed under: Wireless, NetworkingAtheros lets open source devs in on the WiFi ...

We've seen plenty of cute flash drives in our day, but this one that looks like spare change -- you know, cold, hard, days of yore currency -- well, let's just say this USB 2.0 drive is like heaven on earth. You can get it in an 8GB silver "dime" size, or the 4GB copper "penny" variation for a starting price of $19.99. Come to think of it, you might want to stock up just in case our economy utterly fails and we actually start using these as you know, money.[Via Chip Chick]Filed under: StorageLaCie CurrenKey flash drive is like funny money, minus the laughs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink&nbs ...

The amount of power consumed from appliances and such left in standby mode is certainly up for debate, but what's not is the fact that they'd all be better off, um, off. That's according to Spanish inventors who have developed a technology to automatically detect when gadgets fall into standby mode and then shut 'em off completely; the best (read: differentiating) part, however, is that devices won't have to go through their boot-up sequence again after rising from the grave. Of course, this technology is worthless with devices such as security systems and DVRs, which obviously require at least some power at all times in order to effectively answer the call of duty. Still, the elaborately n ...

While this isn't the first device we've seen of its kind, new images of a wireless-capable, ruggedized la Fonera router have surfaced on the FON head honcho's personal blog. CEO Martin Varsavsky clearly states that "this is not a product announcement," and that the pictured devices are part of an R&D project, so pricing and availability info are certainly out of the question. Still, it's promising to see FON working to extend the reach of its network beyond the current Fonera / Fontenna combos. Just let us know when this one hits the market, okay Mr. V?[Thanks, Joas]Filed under: Wireless, NetworkingFON CEO teases ruggedized outdoor Foneras originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Dec ...

Sure, it won't stabilize itself, it doesn't sport a cute wicker basket, and it has a five figure price tag, but the 2009 Optibike OB1 is on sale now -- and if you're a typical Engadget reader, you're probably considering four or five of them for you and your family. Designed by award winning bike designer Jim Turner, this lithium-ion battery-powered hybrid features a GPS, fully integrated PDA (to keep track of the vehicle's performance), two hours of battery life, and -- for those of you who like to kick it old school -- pedals. You know, for pedaling. Be sure to order yours now -- only twenty-four OB1s will be manufactured this year.[Via Style Crave] Filed under: TransportationOptibike's O ...

We're still not over Sony's trickeration -- which led us to believe the version 2.53 firmware update was hitting prior to the US Thanksgiving holiday -- but we're not ones to turn down a free update under any circumstances. As of now (as in, right now), Sony's PlayStation 3 can support full screen embedded Flash videos courtesy of the latest firmware, so there's really no excuse for you not firing up the System Update and sucking it down. Get to it![Via PS3 Fanboy, thanks to everyone who sent this in]Filed under: GamingFull screen Flash-enabling v2.53 PS3 firmware available now originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read  ...

Apple has just announced that -- in addition to shipping all new computers with the Mini DisplayPort -- they're offering no-fee licenses to companies that develop products utilizing the connection, hoping to create a de facto standard. Of course, the VESA-approved DisplayPort hasn't been widely adopted, so it remains to be seen whether its miniature sibling will ever take off. At any rate, it looks like the company might have learned a thing or two back in the day, when FireWire's steep licensing fees slowed its progress as a serious contender to USB. You hear that, hardware developers? You can be part of Apple's latest obscure connector revolution -- for absolutely nothing.[Via Ars Technic ...

Sure, some studies have shown that excessive gaming can lead to less interest in things like studying and doing homework, but it turns out that, pretty unsurprisingly, playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band might actually lead children to want to learn... to rock out on real instruments, anyway. That's right, according to a truly shocking report in The Times of London, roughly half of the 3 to 18 year-olds in the UK have played a music game, and one fifth of them have been motivated by their playing to give a real instrument a try, which has led to 2.5 million new budding Ted Nugents (or Jared Letos) springing up. So it's true, the kids aren't exactly studying, but at least they're doing somethi ...

Well, it looks like those that found TrekStor's MovieStation maxi t.u. hard drive a bit too bulky for their taste now have a new option to consider in the form of the company's new MovieStation pocket c.uc, which packs many of the same media-friendly features, plus a memory card slot (SD, MMC, and xD) for some added convience. As you can see above, you'll also get a remote to control the device when it's hooked up to a TV (via composite or component), and you'll get support for most of the audio and video formats you'll likely want -- yes, including DivX and Xvid. No word on a release 'round here just yet, but folks in the UK can apparently grab a 250GB version now for £99.99 (about $ ...