Gadget Access

Just yesterday it was announced that the FreeRunner from OpenMoko would be ready for sale beginning on July 4, but it seems they just could not wait any longer, and have made the handset available today.

We would expect the original July 7 shipping date will however remain in effect, just due to the weekend. However if you were waiting, head on over and place you order today, after all that just means one less thing you will have to do tomorrow.

Product [OpenMoko Store]

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Perhaps in a catch-up game with the recent launch of the ultra popular Mozilla Firefox 3 and upcoming Opera 9.5, Microsoft has been beefing up its own Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) with plethora of new security features

Currently in public beta phase, this once dominant Web browser hopes to win back the hearts of its disheartened users with its new anti-malware protection and Cross Site Scripting (XSS) filter to fight against the so-called reflection attacks.

On top of these new developments, Microsoft recently announced other security features in IE8 such as the upgraded version of its phishing filter called SmartScreen Filter, improvement on ActiveX controls as well as anti-social engineering features.

However, most of these features are already available in other Web browsers so it won’t do much to help IE8 differentiate itself from competition. To make matters worse, your computer must be running Windows Vista SP1 or Windows XP SP3 for you to enjoy this added protection.

In short, we suggest sticking with Firefox!

Read [InformationWeek]

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by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 3rd 2008 at 1:52PM
July 4 was the date, but hey, what’s the harm in opening up the floodgates just a handful of hours early? Get past the lack of 3G, EDGE, camera, and a rock-solid set of tested, commercialized apps, and open-source phoning nirvana can now be yours for $399 on the plastic.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds

by Richard Lawler, posted Jul 3rd 2008 at 3:22PMIn case you didn’t get the message, Sony’s due sooner-rather-than-later 27-inch OLED is going to be priced for the Mark Cubans, Bill Gates’ and other people not you of the world, at least for the next couple of years. Even with recent massive investments, U.S. head Stan Glasgow tells CNET OLEDs in the future could be seen as a premium alternative to LCDs, but don’t expect Sony to jump on smaller screens while they wait for the technology to catch up, HDTV is the focus. As for the upcoming standard def-streaming Hancock experiment? The first of many, if things go well, while at the same time he acknowledges format war winner Blu-ray may not penetrate to the same level as DVD since “a lot of people may be happy with an upconverting DVD player” — which would be music to Toshiba’s ears.

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 3rd 2008 at 4:46PM
Given that Gateway just pushed out a round of updates including the relatively ginormous P Series, we reckon it was only logical to expect a review shortly. To be frank, the P-6831FX critiqued over at HotHardware is far from being the most potent machine with a 17-inch panel, but unlike many of its luxurious competitors, this one is actually affordable. So, how much gaming joy can $1,349.99 bring you? Quite a bit when the 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS and 3GB of RAM are included. Reviewers found gaming performance to be downright remarkable, though the 1.67GHz CPU did hamper it a bit in other areas. It should be noted that the unit now arrives with a slightly faster CPU among other minor extras, so if it was good then, we’re guessing it’s a runaway winner now.

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Filed under: Laptops

Even the manliest of men need to admit that they need food to survive. Preferably a nice juicy steak with a hot baked potato, but of course a slice of strawberry cheesecake would do. The point is that you can stock up on every tool in the catalog, but a nice pair of eating utensils is always an investment worth making.

Of course, with this outburst of industrial design influence, everything is being mixed and mashed into one beautiful product of productivity. These eating utensils are made for not only eating, but for crouching down for some butt-crack revealing plumbing, or even fixing a loose spark plug on your vehicle.

Each gadget features two sides. The fork, knife, and spoon side is perfect for chowing down on some grub. While the opposite site features a common tool for all of those handy man jobs you (wish you could) do. And even better, they even come shipped with a special tool set for keeping in storage.

Well, at least that’s the idea. As of now, they seem just a result of one designers imagination. But we’ve seen kitschy-er items reach fruition. Hell, we might even give these gadgets a try if we ever have the opportunity to fix something without our families running to the phone for an emergency maintenance call. Apparently self-repair is scarier to them than the repair bill.

Design Page via The Design Blog

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by Ryan Block, posted Jul 3rd 2008 at 3:43PM
Remember how when we launched Engadget Poland a couple weeks ago we said that we were just getting started rolling out new international versions of the site? Well, today we’re announcing two exciting new Engadgets we’ve waited for years to get started: Korean and German! They’re both in beta, so to speak, so try not to mind the sawdust as we work out the kinks. Big ups to Brian, Jason, Manfred, and everyone at our international teams that made these new sites possible. Oh, and if you’re waiting for Engadget in your language of choice, don’t worry, Korean and German aren’t the last we’ll be rolling out!

Read - Engadget Korea
Read - Engadget Germany

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Filed under: Announcements

Far be it from me to encourage you to work while you’re on vacation, but . . .

If you absolutely must toil while you broil, Download.com has gathered together a nice brief collection of software that will ease the pain. Or at least help you complete your tasks with dispatch and get back to your inflatable pool lounge.

Many of these tools were new to me, but I can attest that one of them. Documents to Go, works as advertised. (It displays several common file types like .doc and .xls on most mobile devices and, even better, permits you to create and edit them.)

Download.com neglects to nag you, so I will: Slathers of sunscreen, please, and keep the work to a minimum. You deserve a holiday!

Well, it has now become official, Firefox 3 has set the record for the most software downloads in a 24 hour time period and have been added to the Guinness World Records. The time period coincided with the launch of Firefox 3 and ran from 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008 during which a total of 8,002,530 people downloaded the software.

The downloads also did not stop there, as of current, which is just about two weeks since the launch, Firefox 3 has been downloaded just over 28 million times. Overall that is pretty impressive, but at least according to this user, so is Firefox. If you have not already I would suggest giving Firefox 3 a try.

Read [SpreadFirefox]

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Google Maps is experimenting with speech recognition technology for its mobile users. The lucky guinea pigs are owners of the blackberry Pearl 8110, 8120, and 8130 in the US. This is the same voice search technology that they use in their free directory service, GOOG-411.

This service proves to be very useful for many mobile users who lack the time or patience to type the long names of the places they want to go to. It will hopefully also add a level if safety as it could help to keep peoples hands and eyes off their phones and on the road, because even knowing the danger people still insist on using a mobile phone while driving. Here are the simple steps:

1. Press “0” to center the map view around your location
2. Press the left-side key and hold it while you say the name or type of business you’re looking for (for example, “pizza”)
3. When you’re done speaking, release the left-side key, and our voice recognition technology will figure out your request and find the business you’ve been looking for, no typing needed.

But voice search is not entirely new in mobile web. In fact, Google is a late comer in this arena. Live Search for Windows Mobile has already incorporated this feature in its services. Yahoo! oneSearch, on the other hand, is using Vlingo’s speech technology. As they say, better late than never.

Google Maps is quick to remind the users that this service is still in testing stage, meaning it’s not 100% accurate and will evolve over time.

Read [Google Mobile Blog] Via [Gear Diary]

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