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Friday, January 15, 2010

NPD: Wii leads video game industry to 'biggest sales month ever'

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/15/npd-wii-leads-video-game-industry-to-biggest-sales-month-ever/

Well, what a difference a couple of months and a holiday season can make. Just after finding that the video game console market shrunk by a fifth in October, NPD is now back with a new report that finds that December was the video game industry's "biggest sales month ever." Specifically, the group found that console sales jumped 4% compared to last December, with the Nintendo Wii unsurprisingly leading the way with 3.81 million units moved (up from 2.15 million the previous year). That's followed by the collective DS offerings at 3.31 million and, somewhat surprisingly, the PlayStation 3, which racked up sales of 1.36 million (its first time cracking the one million mark) compared to the Xbox 360's 1.31 million. Of course, no one's expecting sales to stay at quite that lofty level, but NPD says that the spike in December sales might well indicate that 2010 could be a recovery year.

Filed under: Gaming

NPD: Wii leads video game industry to 'biggest sales month ever' originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba Mini NB305 review

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/15/toshiba-mini-nb305-review/

If there's been a Renaissance man in the world of first-gen netbooks it'd be the Toshiba Mini NB205. Its long battery life, comfortable keyboard and attractive and sturdy build distinguished it from the others, even when it made a late entrance to the little laptop market last year. Like most manufacturers, Tosh has gone and refreshed its knockout netbook with Intel's Atom Pine Trail platform and slightly altered the design. But has the competition caught up to the $399 Mini NB305? Or does the Mini NB305 still hold a place in our hearts as the most versatile netbook out there? Find out after the break in our full review.

Gallery: Toshiba Mini NB305 review gallery

Continue reading Toshiba Mini NB305 review

Filed under: Laptops

Toshiba Mini NB305 review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Avatar vs Modern Warfare 2: Billionaire Earnings Fight! [Movies]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/DWoI_ceFFTo/avatar-vs-modern-warfare-2-billionaire-earnings-fight

Avatar, the soon king of movies, vs Modern Warfare 2, the king of videogames. Here's a look at how their earnings stack up by the numbers. The biggest surprise? Modern Warfare had a significantly larger ad budget. [Business Management]

Google Hacked the Chinese Hackers Right Back [Google]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/yLyo8ZgiGoE/google-hacked-the-chinese-hackers-right-back

One of the cooler stories out the whole Google-China debacle is that Google hacked the hackers. It "began a secret counteroffensive," breaking into a computer in Taiwan, gathering evidence the attacks originated from mainland China, possibly orchestrated by the government.

Google's delta force found evidence that the hackers had attacked 33 other companies, like Adobe, and that the onslaught actually came from China, not Taiwan. More to the point, "much of the evidence, including the sophistication of the attacks, strongly suggested an operation run by Chinese government agencies, or at least approved by them." Unfortunately, Google can't prove the Chinese government's involvement 100 percent, which is why the Obama administration is pussy-footing around the issue.

Still, it's pretty awesome: If you hack Google, they will hack your ass right back. [NYT]

Kingston SSDNow V 30GB Flash Drive for $80 [Storage]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/OL-n_mDmjg0/kingston-ssdnow-v-30gb-flash-drive-for-80

Lost in the CES maelstrom, we missed the Kingston SSDNow V 30GB, a solid state hard drive designed to run your operating system, faster faster, kill kill, pussycat. The best thing is the price: Only $80 after rebates.

• Sequential Speed**: up to 180MB/sec. read, 50MB/sec. write
• Performance: enhances productivity; makes users more efficient
• Innovative: 2.5" form factor; uses NAND Flash memory components
• Silent: runs silent and cool with no moving parts
• Reliable: less likely to fail than a standard hard drive
• Shock Resistant: no moving parts; handles rougher conditions than a hard drive
• Supports S.M.A.R.T.: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology
• Guaranteed: three-year Kingston warranty, 24/7 tech support
• Capacity1: 30GB
• Storage temperatures: -40° C to 85° C
• Operating temperatures: 0° C to 70° C
• Vibration operating: 20G Peak, 10-2000Hz, (20min/Axis)x3 Axis
• Vibration non-operating: 20G Peak, 10-2000Hz, (12 Cycle/Axis) x 3 Axis, x 20min.
• Power specs: Read: 1.4W (TYP), 2.5W (MAX)
• Write: 1.7W (TYP), 4.2W (MAX)
• Idle, Standby, Sleep: 55mw (TYP)
• Life expectancy: 500,000 hours MTBF

** Test system: Intel® DG945ID Desktop Motherboard; Intel® Quad Core Q9550; 4GB DDR2 800MHz system memory; on-board SATA 3Gbps with ACHI enabled in BIOS; OS: Windows® 7 Professional x64 or Windows XP Pro x86 SP3 (Intel® IMSM installed in both operating systems).
** Based on internal testing. Performance may vary based on system settings.

It's coming in February for $110 without the promotional rebates. ! [Kingston]

Apple Wants to Do the Same Thing for Mobile Ads It Did for Digital Music [Unconfirmed]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/8go7MtSoQrQ/apple-wants-to-do-the-same-thing-for-mobile-ads-it-did-for-digital-music

Apple's interest in mobile advertising clearly goes beyond flicking Google in the nads, since they spent $275 million on mobile ad company Quattro after losing AdMob to Google. In fact, according to BusinessWeek, Apple's mobile ad plans are downright ambitious.

"Mobile ads suck" is a sentiment BusinessWeek vaguely ascribes to Steve Jobs through a "source familiar with his thinking." So Jobs, along with "his lieutenants," have been talking about "ways to overhaul mobile advertising in the same way they had revolutionized music players and phones," two sources told BusinessWeek.

Why care so deeply about mobile ads? Besides the ongoing Google rivalry, which stands to get even testier in the mobile space—just check out figures like ones out of this 424-page Morgan Stanley report, which talk about how the mobile internet will be twice as big as it is on the desktop. (Also, this.) The first guy to really figure out mobile ads (whatever that entails)? Wins a truckload of money. Case in point: Google figured out search advertising. Look where they are today.

Mobile browsers aside, just think of all of those free and cheap iPhone apps with room for innovative advertising to make somebody even more money. Not us, though. [BW via Alley Insider]

RED ONE getting Mysterium-X sensor upgrade next week

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/14/red-one-getting-mysterium-x-sensor-upgrade-next-week/

RED may be busy talking up and showing off its new EPIC-X and Scarlet cameras these days, but it's not about to leave its loyal RED ONE users behind, with it now announcing that they'll be able to upgrade their camera to the new Mysterium-X sensor starting January 22nd.. That's the same sensor that will come standard on the EPIC-X, and promises a range of improvements for the $5,750 it'll cost you -- not the least of which is improved low-light performance (one of the few knocks against the original sensor). Along with it, you'll also get a new version of REDCINE-X to handle the improved video, and those interested in stepping up to the EPIC-X beta program can expect to get a $1,250 credit if they qualify and join at the first or second stage.

RED ONE getting Mysterium-X sensor upgrade next week originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via debuts M'Serv 2100 server with 64-bit Nano CPU

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/14/via-debuts-m-serv-2100-server-with-64-bit-nano-cpu/

If you're a small business customer or very serious about your reality TV habit, you just might want to take a look at Via's newest. The M'Serv S2100 mini server is the first to rock Via's new 64-bit Nano CPU (in this case the 1.3+GHz at 1.6GHz) -- but that ain't all! The case measures only 10.2- by 4.7-inches but includes two 3.5-inch SATA II drive bays (for up to 4TB storage), an integrated and bootable CF card slot, two gigabit Ethernet ports, three USB 2.0 ports, VGA output, and VT virtualization support for network video recording and virtual server applications. OS support includes Windows 7, XP, Vista, Server 2008 Foundation, and various Linux distributions (such as Ubuntu, SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 Service Pack 2, and FreeBSD). Sales are reserved for OEMs and sysadmins for the time being, but who knows? Maybe if you turn up the charm you can get in on the ground floor here. Hit the source link to get started.

Via debuts M'Serv 2100 server with 64-bit Nano CPU originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS EeeTop ET2010PNT hints that NVIDIA Ion 2 is GeForce G310

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/14/asus-eeetop-et2010pnt-hints-that-nvidia-ion-2-is-geforce-g310/

We were a little disheartened last week when we didn't hear a peep out of NVIDIA about Ion 2, but Pierre of Blogee has dug up some dirt on the next-generation graphics. The ASUS Eee PC ET2010PNT's got a pretty nice looking 20-inch HD multitouch display, but it's also powered by the new Intel Pine Trail D510 processor and NVIDIA GeForce G310 graphics -- which according to the document is being dubbed as Ion 2. Sure, we already knew that the next version of Ion would be compatible with Intel new Atom platform, but we didn't know that they'd be tossing aside the GeForce 9400M for its G310 graphics card (which is apparently just a rebranded G210). As we thought, it looks like this will be a discrete solution, and it appears (if the benchmarks are accurate) that the G310 will be considerably faster than the current Ion platform. We're just hoping the 589MHz 16-core CUDA chip has been tweaked for better power efficiency when it comes to cramming it into netbooks. No word on when the ET2010PNT will be available, but given the initial hold up we saw with Ion 1 we aren't overly optimistic that it will be any time soon.

ASUS EeeTop ET2010PNT hints that NVIDIA Ion 2 is GeForce G310 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DigitalRise X9 tablet has Atom, multitouch, $780 price tag

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/14/digitalrise-x9-tablet-has-atom-multitouch-780-price-tag/

This one doesn't seem to have quite made it to CES, but DigitalRise's new X9 tablet is now available to order, and it packs just enough familiar features to fit right in with the pack. That includes a 10.2-inch multitouch display, an Atom N270 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, built-in 3G, GPS and WiFi, and Windows 7 for an operating system. Of course, availability is apparently limited to import shops at the moment, and this one doesn't exactly come cheap, with it running a hefty $780 -- although that is a $220 discount off its $1,000 list price.

DigitalRise X9 tablet has Atom, multitouch, $780 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ultimate Ears 18 Pro headphones feature six drivers per ear

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/14/ultimate-ears-18-pro-headphones-feature-six-drivers-per-ear/

We've always had a soft spot for Ultimate Ears, but things are getting crazy now that it's flush with all that Logitech money: the headphone makers just introduced the Ultimate Ears 18 Pro custom monitors, which feature six drivers in each earbud. That's right, six drivers: two each for bass, mids, and treble, along with a four-way crossover and a three-channel design that keeps the low, mid, and high frequencies isolated until they reach your ears. Yeah, we want them -- too bad they cost $1,350. We'll stick with our Super.fi 5 Pros for now then, thanks.

Ultimate Ears 18 Pro headphones feature six drivers per ear originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3G GSM encryption cracked in less than two hours

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/15/3g-gsm-encryption-cracked-in-less-than-two-hours/

Looks like all that GSM code-cracking is progressing faster than we thought. Soon after the discovery of the 64-bit A5/1 GSM encryption flaw last month, the geniuses at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science went ahead and cracked the KASUMI system -- a 128-bit A5/3 algorithm implemented across 3G networks -- in less than two hours. If you must know, the method applied is dubbed 'related-key sandwich attack' where multiple values of known differentials are processed through the first seven rounds of KASUMI, then using resulting quartets that are identified sharing key differences, subkey materials can be obtained in round eight to build up the 128-bit key. Sure, it's hardly snooping-on-the-go at this speed, but worryingly this was only an 'unoptimized implementation... on a single PC.' At the same time, the paper condemns the presumably red-faced GSM Association for moving from MISTY -- a more computationally-expensive but much stronger predecessor algorithm -- to KASUMI. Guess we'll just have to stick with Skype.

3G GSM encryption cracked in less than two hours originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG Display's 19-inch E Ink display plays loose with the truth

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/15/lg-displays-19-inch-e-ink-display-plays-loose-with-the-truth/

Well doesn't that look impressive? A big 'ol 19-inch electronic ink display that appears to emulate your father's newspaper. No doubt, this massive Metal-Foil e-paper prototype from LG Display is impressive at this size (just 0.3-mm thin and 250×400mm -- about the same size as a 297×420-mm sheet of A3) and weight (130 grams). Hell, we were already impressed with the flexible 11.5-inch panel from LG Display found in the Skiff Reader. However, like the rigid Skiff Reader, a flexible panel doesn't mean that we'll be seeing a flexible e-reader. In fact, chances are we won't after the manufacturer gets through adding a touchscreen overlay, application processor, and radio chipset. Let's hope for a surprise though, whenever these panels do make it out for mass production... assuming anyone still cares about monochrome E Ink displays by then.

LG Display's 19-inch E Ink display plays loose with the truth originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Clear releasing two new WiMAX modems with integrated VOIP functionality

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/15/clear-releasing-two-new-wimax-modems-with-integrated-voip-functi/

Clear releasing two new WiMAX modems with integrated VOIP functionality

We were recently lucky enough to experience Clear's WiMAX service in Las Vegas for a week and, after having 4G available whenever we wanted it, we were a little sad to go back to our 3G domiciles. For those who live every day in a WiMAX wonderland, Clear has a pair of new modems for you, both featuring built-in ATA compatibility meaning those signing up for Clear Voice VOIP can jack their phones straight in. The devices are the Gemtek Series G, available in Vegas, and the Motorola CPEi 725 Series M, available in Portland. Both are $80 up-front or $5 per month on lease, and neither are available where we are, so if you'll kindly excuse us we're going to go pout in the corner for a bit.

Clear releasing two new WiMAX modems with integrated VOIP functionality originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, January 14, 2010

This Tiny Core i7 Motherboard Could Almost Fit In Your Pocket [PCs]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/CWX3-jVZYmk/this-tiny-core-i7-motherboard-could-almost-fit-in-your-pocket

5 inches by 3.7 inches—that's the diminutive footprint of the fully loaded conga-BM57 Core i7 motherboard.

Despite its small stature, the conga-BM57 features an impressive spec list, including a 2.66 GHz Core i7, 8GB of RAM, integrated intel graphics, 5 PCI Express lanes, 8 USB 2.0 ports, 3 SATA, 1 EIDE and Gigabit Ethernet—plus support for dual displays over VGA, LVDS, HDMI, DisplayPort or SDVO.

The price and release date are still unknown, but at this size, it would make one heck of a HTPC that could double for some gaming. [SlashGear]

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