Gadget Access

As the latest airline to begin offering free in-flight Wi-Fi, Continental has announced their plans to allow passengers to have limited wireless access. The service will be similar to the Jet Blue service and allow passengers to use e-mail or instant messaging. Sadly web browsing and even downloading attachments will not be allowed.

A bit of good news does come with the Continental announcement, after you get board checking your email you will be able to amuse yourself by watching TV. The LiveTV service will offer 36 channels through DirecTV, first class passengers will be able to view for free while the economy-class passengers will have to pay $6.

In-flight Wi-Fi seems to be nearing a necessity as we have seen recent announcements coming from other airlines such as Southwest and Jet Blue. Lets just hope these limited services take note and begin to offer a full experience similar to Virgin and American Airlines.

Via [TechCrunch] Via [CrunchGear]

Posted Jan 30th 2008 3:25AM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Home EntertainmentYou probably won’t be seeing TVcompass’s SR 1500 universal remote released looking exactly like this (or even bearing the TVcompass name) but we have high hopes some other company will rebrand the WiFi-enabled unit soon. Featuring a QVGA display,and Windows CE, the SR 1500 pulls device codes from the web using the built-in browser, which supports Flash and J2ME, backup settings to a server, and do custom guide displays. There’s no pricing yet, but hopefully that’ll get sorted when this thing gets picked up for resale.

[Via pocketpcwire]

Posted Jan 30th 2008 6:02AM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Wireless
Hey, breaking up is hard to do — which is why we totally understand these reports that Sprint and Clearwire have been back in touch after two companies split back in November. Apparently all that interest in Clearwire from ICO, Amp’d, and DirecTV was enough to get Sprint back to the table, and Reuters is reporting that the new venture could see additional funding from Google and Best Buy to keep costs down. Still, we hate to see hearts break, and if this one doesn’t work out, well, maybe it’s time to set some boundaries, get some distance and seek out some new national telecom companies to partner with — you two deserve better than this.

Posted Jan 30th 2008 3:06AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Sad news brewing in Round Rock this morning. After slashing “dozens” of call center employees in Ottawa yesterday (and scrapping plans for 1,200 more), it looks like Dell is taking its cost cutting initiatives retail. Unfortunately, we’re not talking lower prices here. We have word from a number of sources that Dell’s 150+ Dell Direct Stores are about to meet the business end of the corporate axe. Whether that be in full or a partial reduction we don’t know. Nevertheless, with Dell now firmly entrenched in Wal-mart, Staples, and Best Buy, the mall kiosks sure seem redundant. Expect more on this later in the AM after Michael Dell’s had a chance to address the troops.

Read — Dell Ottawa closures

You now have your chance to be amongst the first to get your hands on an actual Optimus Maximus keyboard. Currently up for auction is just that, assuming you are willing to pay the premium price. We had thought people would be crazy to pay the $1,564 that it will retail for, but this auction seems to be taking that to another level, currently with 62 bids the auction sits at $1,900 with about 5.5 days left to bid. Of course the seller is kind enough to include free shipping. Winning this auction will either help you to impress your friends or possibly have them set up an intervention for spending so much money on a keyboard.

Read [eBay]

Posted Jan 30th 2008 4:24AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Digital Cameras
We understand that many of you have relinquished hope of seeing Sigma’s compact DP1 with DSLR-sized (APS-C not full-frame) sensor. For the rest of you, take note, Sigma just sprouted a new teaser page promising, “The worldwide debut, soon.” For all of Sigma’s claims that the DP1 is “a camera that belongs to no known category,” we’ll be sure to toss it under the “vaporware” tag if we don’t see it say, PMA-soon as in tomorrow.

[Thanks, Daniel]

Posted Jan 30th 2008 5:36AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Gaming, LaptopsThey may not be the first, but Dell’s 17-inch XPM M1730 “Beast” deserves a warm welcome to the NVIDIA 8800M GTX club regardless. The dual-card update represents a 49% performance gain (3Dmark06) over Dell’s previous top-end, dual 8700M GT card configuration. That puts the laptop on par with the DX10 performance of many new desktop rigs. Available now-ish in the US for $700 more than the dual 8700M GT option. However, orders placed today are estimated to arrive on February 20th with a cautionary footnote of possible delay. Ready for EMEA and AsiaPac regions sometime “soon.” Now, if only Alienware would update us on their M17x availability we’d have our 17-inch, 8800M GTX gaming options sorted.

Posted Jan 30th 2008 1:23AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Desktops, Home Entertainment, LaptopsJust as we feared, Asus is getting ready to dilute their Eee branding until it’s RAZRed down to a hint of its former panache. The new family of low-cost, Eee products will include the E-DT (desktop), E-TV, and E-Monitor. The $200 - $300 E-DT will initially sport a Celeron processor when it ships without a monitor sometime in April or May. The E-Monitor is more than just a display — it’s a 19- to 21-inch all-in-one PC with built-in TV tuner and a remarkable $499 price tag. It’ll be based on Intel’s Shelton platform when the AIO launches in September. The 42-inch E-TV will also launch in September and feature a Linux PC integrated into the LCD. It’s expected to list for a $200 premium over the low-cost 42-inch sets it will compete with. Just don’t get too hung up on those prices, kid. The Eee PC was only supposed to cost $200 when it was announced.

Now for the bad news. ASUS will not be offering a touch-panel in their next generation Eee PC after all — their market research shows limited demand. Not avid Engadget readers, are we ASUS?

For the latest info on the coolest gadgets, emerging technology and wired madness, subscribe to our full news feed or have it delivered to your inbox. Always free. Always unique. Thanks for visiting!

I am a bodyboarder from way back. I don’t know exactly when I first jumped on a piece of foam, but I am guessing it was sometime around the time that I was twelve. The waves at that Phuket beach were choppy but fun; nothing like the knee-deep reef breaks and pounding shore breaks that I would later go on to ride. I was nothing special in my bodyboarding days, I could handle my own in anything up to about 3 meters. I could probably have gone bigger but never encountered it. The one thing that I remember more than anything was the pounding that my back took. Come into a wave too late and you will find your heels touching the back of your head as you get pancaked into a sandbar. It is not fun and if you are not conditioned you will hurt yourself on big days in ways that you do not wish to imagine. Facial joint dysfunction is no joke.

At least in the water, you have water to cushion your fall, with the Airboard Classic 130 Bodyboard, you only have snow, ice and the occasional skull splitting rock. There is also the potential of it turning into a kite and getting you blown off a lift. I so want to try one of these. Does it look dangerous? Sure, but you trade the unpredictability of a breaking wave for the surety of a snow covered slope and a much harder landing. Wear a helmet and have some fun is what I say. This looks a thousand times easier than skiing or snowboarding, I want to see some action videos. It is made from urethane impregnated nylon and is inflatable, which should give your torso a little bit of cushioning. You can inflate your Airboard in 3 minutes with a hand pump.

Price: $280

Uncrate

Posted Jan 29th 2008 11:57PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Gaming We know that there’s plenty of folks out there eager to get their hands on Sony’s rumbling DualShock3 controller, but we’re hoping there’s not many desperate enough to consider something like this contraption in the interim. Apparently known only as the “Wireless Vibrating Grip,” the device rather obstructively attaches to your controller and presumably makes it vibrate with no rhyme or reason whatsoever at your command. Apparently sensing that wasn’t enough of a selling point, however, the manufacturer which seemingly does not want to be named has also seen fit to throw an FM radio into the mix, which surely must have Sony reconsidering their whole controller strategy right about now.

[Via Tech Digest]