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Mangrove WinMo tablet rough-handled, teased for being 'tubby'

Not too long ago C-motech popped up on our radar with Mangrove, the 7-inch touchscreen tablet that's been tragically saddled with Windows Mobile 6.5. The kids at SlashGear have just had a chance to play with the device, and to be honest they don't seem too terribly impressed. When stacked up against the Quanta Android Smartbook, for instance, the form factor was deemed unimpressive and "tubby," while the 1GHz Snapdragon seemed lackluster compared to the similarly powered HTC HD2. And it doesn't seem that the 800 x 480 resistive touchscreen has won many fans. But who knows? Maybe at the right price, this guy will find its (albeit small) audience. Or they can slap Android on the thing, in which case we have the perfect name for it: Mandroid.

The Engadget Show tapes this Sunday with HTC's Drew Bamford and Chris Grant of Joystiq!

The Engadget Show is happening again, humans! This Sunday, November 22nd, we'll be bringing that live magic back to the stage as we sit down with Drew Bamford (you can read a bit about him here), director of HTC's Innovation Center (the place where things like the Sense UI are born). We'll also be joined by Joystiq's Editor-in-chief Chris Grant for a special roundtable discussion focused on gaming. As a bonus, we've got giveaways for everyone in the audience, plus one of the lucky attendees will walk away with that Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundle we just got our hands on!

The show takes place at the Tishman Auditorium at Parsons The New School for Design. As you may already know, we film live in front of an audience once a month -- but if you can't make it, don't worry. We're bringing the video back home to Engadget (and as a free download here, in the iTunes Store, or the Zune Marketplace) for your viewing pleasure.

The beautiful venue (which you can see in a photo after the break) is located at 66 W. 12th Street between 5th and 6th Aves. Seating is limited and tickets will be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis -- which means if you want to join us in the audience for the show, you'll have to arrive early and be prepared for a little wait.

Here are the facts you need to know about the show:
  • The show is graciously sponsored by Nokia, and hosted by Parsons The New School for Design
  • The total show length will be around an hour
  • The amazing Glomag will be performing live along with visualist Dan Winckler!
Here is what you need to know if you want to be part of the audience:
  • There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free
  • The event is all ages
  • The venue seats just over 450 people
  • Parsons students are welcomed, and we encourage them to come!
  • Tickets will be available for pickup at the Tishman Auditorium at 2PM on the 22nd, and we're strongly encouraging people to get their tickets and not stand in line -- if you have a ticket, you'll have a seat!
  • You'll need to hold onto your ticket stub to be eligible for the giveaways
  • You cannot pick up tickets for other people -- if you want your friend to get a ticket, bring your friend!
  • The show begins at 5PM, and doors will open at 4:30PM
If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget.com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget.com.
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Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Cellphones

Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season.

True smartphones like the Palm Pre, Motorola Droid, and iPhone are all chewing up a majority of wireless mindshare these days, which makes it particularly easy to forget that there's this huge, vibrant catalog of cool non-smartphone handsets sitting right below them in your favorite carrier's lineup. They can play music, games, sometimes last for days on a charge (try that with a G1 -- we dare you), and often take up just a fraction of the space in your pocket that a more powerful handset would. They're not for everyone, but odds are you know a couple folks who fit the featurephone mold, and... well, it is the season of giving, isn't it? Follow the break for a few of our recommendations.

Note: Looking to give a few smartphones away to friends and family? This particular guide's all about regular cellphones -- but don't worry, we'll be posting our smartphone guide in the not-too-distant future!
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Entelligence: Chrome OS, babies, and bathwater

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

In an age where products that have never been announced get coverage and even critiqued over rumored shipping delays, it's no surprise that Google received a lot of coverage this week with an update on its Chrome OS strategy. While not quite rumorware, it's a lot like the cloud it depends on: more vapor than substance.

I don't think Chrome would be a bad idea if it were something that was targeted to complement existing PC architectures. Why isn't it? If it's web-based, Chrome OS could and should co-exist with Mac OS, Linux and Windows. It's the idea that Google is promoting Chrome as a PC OS replacement for mobile devices and riding the netbook hype all at the same time that gets me, as does the fact that I need to get a new device to run Chrome OS. That's ridiculous, as are reference design requirements like SSDs instead of hard drives. Worse, trying to merge the PC and phone into some weird new intersection of devices is not what the market wants or has ever looked for. This type of specialized hardware sounds like it's going right into the 'tweener category and we know what happens to those devices. You just have to look how successful netbooks running Linux and Firefox have been to get a sense as to how well this concept is likely to go over with consumers.
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Grace E-motorbikes are ultralightweight, German, and very expensive

We've ridden our fair share of electric bikes and motorcycles, but we've yet to get our hands on one that's been hand assembled in Berlin/Biesenthal. Grace boasts a water-tight / ultra-light CNC-Aluminum frame, a 1300-watt motor, lithium-ion batteries, a 40 30 MPH speed, a range of up to 31 miles, and a one-hour recharge time. Looks good enough for a Kraftwerk video, although you'd better steer clear of the Autobahn with this thing. The bike starts shipping in January for €5,877 ($8,760-ish).Video after the break.


[Thanks, Christopher]
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How-to: run Chrome OS as a virtual machine

Itching for some Chrome OS? Well, we all are, but you might be a bit disappointed at the fact that while Google has open-sourced its progress on the OS so far, the version that is currently available for download seems eons behind what Google showed off at its event yesterday. Still, if you just have to see it for yourself, the good news is that it's a total breeze to get a virtual machine running. We used a VMWare image that was packaged up by the kind folks at gdgt, and set it up with VMWare Fusion running on a recent model MacBook Pro. Your mileage may vary depending on your particular setup (there's also an image available for the free, cross-platform VirtualBox software), but the principles should remain the same. Check it out on video after the break.
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Robots perform synchronized interpretive dance for the holidays, fill us with cheer

You know what we love? Dancing robots and Christmas tunes. So combining the two and throwing the video up on YouTube would be akin to heaven, right? Well, as you'll see in the amazing video after the break: it doesn't get much better than this. In fact, it might even be enough to clear the "bah humbug" out of us for good.
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Barnes & Noble's Nook now sold out for the holidays

Hoping to put your hands on a Nook this holiday season? Here's hoping you got in the door early, because bookseller Barnes & Noble claims that the Kindle-competitor has sold out for anyone hoping to gift the thing this year. According to the New York Times, B&N says pre-orders on the device have exceeded its expectations, and the well has now run dry on forthcoming stock. To make up for the loss, the seller is offering placeholder certificates for buyers, with a promise that the next round of devices will be shipping out around January 4th. Are suburban moms to blame? Only B&N knows for sure.

FLO TV for iPhone proof-of-concept caught in the wild

We don't know if watching TV on a 3.5-inch display is your bag, as it were, but it looks like Qualcomm is moving onward and upward with its plans for FLO TV on the iPhone. Not too many details at the moment, just some pics that Electricpig snapped of a handset running a proof-of-concept app that relys on an external device for reception, streaming re-runs of Mayberry R.F.D. to your handset via WiFi. No word yet on the when this device might actually go "prime time," but with any luck the five pocket TV enthusiasts out there may someday be freed from the tyranny of the FLO TV Personal Television. Get a closer look after the break.
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Robots perform in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' said to outdo the cast of New Moon

Shakespeare's plays have a long, long history of being modded to fit the times. We've seen Macbeths do the running man, and Cordelias dressed like Susie Sioux -- and we've also seen Forbidden Planet, so we know that Robby was just a tinned up Ariel. So robots in Shakespeare? Sure, we've seen that before, but what haven't we seen intertwined into bad theatre? Well, Texas A&M's just staged A Midsummer Night's Dream to include robotic cast members. Working with Professor Robin Murphy, who heads up the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue, director Amy Hopper hacked the script a bit to include an air robot -- which is about the size of a pizza, and has been used in military operations -- playing a fairy, and six small radio controlled helicopters. The robotics team used the opportunity to observe how cast and audience members reacted to the robots, and we're pretty sure the audience warmed to them far more quickly than they would to Christian Bale or Sean Penn.

YouTube pulls a Hulu -- yanking API access from Popcorn Hour (Update: Google responds)

Hope you weren't enjoying watching YouTube on the television screen via Popcorn Hour and other set-top boxes, as they have been given notice by the newly 1080p and network TV-friendly website that they are no longer welcome to access its content. The new Hulu-ish Terms of Service (section II, item 10) restricts API clients from the ability to "use the YouTube API in connection with any API Client created for use on television set top boxes, television game consoles, or video screens packaged and marketed as television sets;" according to Popcorn Hour COO Alex Limberis this applies to all with the exception of "a few strategic partner's Google has singled out" -- PlayStation 3, Wii, TiVo, Panasonic, Samsung and other licensed hardware is safe.

Update: After speaking with Alex we've got a better view of the situation -- as is clear from the TOS, manufacturers streaming directly via the API as Popcorn Hour did are no longer welcome without cutting a seven figure check to license access. Google did offer to allow continued access via its YouTube XL interface, but for devices like theirs not built around Flash, that possible solution proved to be technologically unfeasible. Obviously these changes apply to all, but as of yet we're not aware of anyone other than Popcorn Hour that has been contacted directly about it.

Update v2: After the break is Google's response, stating Popcorn Hour and the like have been in violation of the above TOS for over a year, from its perspective, this is a simple matter of defending its rights from "video scraping technology." As we mentioned above that means most are in no danger of losing access, but fans of these media streamers will have to live without it, until either YouTube can control the experience or the manufacturer pays up.
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MIT researchers develop liquid metal battery for the grid and the home

We've see plenty of green power research over the years, from solar plants to underwater turbines , but relying on the sun or the sea for electricity is not without its challenges: the sun doesn't always shine, for instance, and sometimes the water is calm. A group at MIT led by professor Donald Sadoway is developing grid-scale storage solutions for times when electricity isn't being generated. Since these batteries are intended for the power grid instead of cellphones and Roombas, the researchers can use materials not feasible in consumer electronics -- in this case, high temperature liquid metals. Besides being recently awarded a grant from ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency, Energy) to put these things in green power facilities, MIT has just embarked on a joint venture with the French oil company Total to develop a smaller-scale version of the technology for homes and office buildings.

Motorola Motus specs leaked, headed for AT&T?

Slowly but surely, the Motorola Motus is coming into focus -- sort of. Hot on the heels of that super blurry shot we saw yesterday, BGR has some specs for the mid-range Android set, which seem to indicate this one's not much more than an AT&T-oriented variant of the Cliq: 850 / 1900 / 2100MHz 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 3.1-inch capacitive 480 x 320 display, microSD expansion, MOTOBLUR, and a Qualcomm MSM 7201A CPU, which will undoubtedly be clocked at 528MHz. Unfortunately, there's no word on what version of Android is on this thing, but we've got the sinking feeling it'll be 1.6, given the last-gen hardware and Blur UI. Not the most impressive first Android set for AT&T -- let's hope there's a better surprise in store.

Smartfish ErgoMotion Mouse fights off RSI with a bit of wobble

After a long period of incubation, Smartfish is at last ready to start shipping the first of its "ErgoMotion" devices. The ErgoMotion Mouse is a pretty straightforward wireless laser mouse, with large right and left click buttons, a nice big scroll wheel, and its own little USB wireless dongle. What makes it different is a truly odd raised platform that allows the mouse to tilt in all directions -- apparently providing for more natural motion. We tried it out for a bit, and while it certainly provides a fresh method of using the mouse, the very fact that it's working out more arm muscles simultaneously means that there will probably be a bit of fatigue at the outset. The ErgoMotion Mouse is available today for $50, and you can check out some video of it in action after the break.
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Banned Xbox modders get a class-action lawsuit to call their own

You had to know someone out there would try and profit off Microsoft's recent mass bannination of modded Xbox 360 consoles from Xbox Live, and although the eBay scammers arguably got there first, we're awarding the style trophy to AbingtonIP, an Oklahoma law firm that's trying to gin up a class-action lawsuit. Why? Because even though the XBL terms of service expressly prohibit modded consoles, AbingtonIP thinks it's not fair for Microsoft to have timed the ban to coincide with the release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and it also thinks it's unfair for an XBL ban to affect "Xbox functionality not associated with piracy" like Netflix, arcade games, and DLC. A noble cause, to be sure, but if you're a modder who didn't think there was a chance you'd be booted from Live at some point, you're not a very smart modder -- and Microsoft isn't under any obligation to time its bans for the convenience of people breaking its terms of service. The firm is just at the generating-interest phase and hasn't filed anything yet, so we'll see how far these freedom fighters get -- we'd guess this one dies on the vine.

Sony Ericsson Pureness hands-on: Pacman edition

We've seen it out and about, but at last we got a chance to actually play with Sony Ericsson's tribute to impractical style: the Pureness. As it turns out, using the device is just about as pointless as it seems. You can always just barely make out what's happening on the semi-translucent monochrome screen, and we found ourselves constantly shifting our angle and backdrop to improve readability. The capabilities of the phone should come as no surprise to anyone who's used a Sony Ericsson Java-happy dumbphone in the past, and the handset also has that wild variety of face buttons that are typical on a SE handset. Up top, with the d-pad flush on the face, things start to get crowded, but overall the phone is pretty usable tactile-wise. The meaty numeric pad should be a boon to a T9 afficianado, and we even managed to play a game of Pacman on the handset. Overall the materials used are nice and XPERIA-ey, but the most overt luxury item here is the block of glass that serves as the screen. In the US the phone will be sold unlocked at the Saks online store -- obviously courting the fashion-concious consumer it's built for -- but there's still no word on a US pricetag. Check out some video after the break.
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XOR's X02 Urban Transformer is more Vespa than Wheeljack

XOR's X02 Urban Transformer is more Vespa than WheeljackWe can't all be a Witwicky, owning a badass robot able to change from sportscar to hulking humanoid. Some of us have to aim a little lower; enter the XOR X02 Urban Transporter. It's an electric scooter that can fold into a little cube for easy storage (shown after the break) and attaches to a luggage cart to be wheeled away -- just keep in mind that at 50kg (110lbs) it's not hardly suitable for overhead compartments. There are three models, the lowest being the X02-50 with a top speed of 37mph and a maximum range of about 40 miles. Highest spec is the X02-125, supposed to deliver performance like a 125cc scooter, a maximum speed of 65, and "impressive accelerations" -- performance comparable to the Zero S or Brammo Enertia. Charging takes just two hours and they actually don't look half bad, providing a nice mix of retro scooter and futuristic urban transporter. Just the same, you probably wouldn't want to show up at any robot uprisings on one.
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Nokia N900 drops to $480 on Amazon

The N900's US retail price of $649 is a steep barrier to cross without the carrier subsidies negotiated in Europe. But what if we told you that Amazon has cut the price to $530 minus another $50 (after mail-in rebate) for a $480 take home price? Not bad for an unlocked ARM Cortex-A8 handset with excellent browser, 32GB of flash, 5 megapixel camera and an enthusiastic Maemo development community hellbent on making this the greatest device ever known to mankind. No, not by ship date (which is presumably any day now) but by 2012 if things go according to plan.

[Thanks, Samuel]

Pogoplug second generation debuts, coming this holiday with enhanced web interface

Well, well, looks like Cloud Engines, Inc. is doing what it can to poise Pogoplug as a much more consumer-friendly device, both in hardware design and expanded web interface. The second generation Pogoplug solves one of our chief complaints of the first -- namely, four USB ports instead of just one -- while at the same time still sticking with ethernet as its sole internet connection of choice. It's also much more stylish in design, with an elongated clear casing and a pink strip of plastic serving as the faceplate, stand, and the cable organizer. A bit bulkier, sure, but it's certainly something we don't mind being seen on our desk. As far as the new UI goes, it's a simple drag-and-drop interface, multimedia slide shows (worth it if you have good taste in music, but the statistics aren't in your favor), and options for instant sharing to Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, via links to the specifically selected pogoplug content. It can autosync with popular multimedia apps like iTunes, Windows Media Player, and iPhoto. One nice bonus is direct playback of video from the interface -- works on iPhone, too, but in both cases it's a pretty low res presentation.

At $129, it's a little costlier than the old model, but the company's promising no additional service fees. It's coming out in time for this holiday season. Fan of the first generation hardware? The good news is that it'll be updated with all the new features, giving you the same experience minus the new style and extra USB ports. The bad news is, the older model's on the outs -- from now on, it's a second generation world. We're looking forward to some serious sit-down time here, but in the meantime, please check out images from our brief hands-on at an event earlier this week -- press release is after the break, too, if you're interested.
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California mandates TV energy efficiency improvements by 2011

California mandates TV energy efficiency improvements by 2011
That new HDTV of yours? It may be thin and light and lovely, but it ain't saving you any money. The state of California knows this and has created new energy efficiency standards applying to any sets sold after January of 2011. The initial regs state a maximum of 1 watt of consumption when "off" and, when on, a maximum of .2 watts per inch of screen area plus an arbitrary 32 watts. Two years later, in 2013, things get even tougher, that formula dropping to .12 per inch with a 25 watt base modifier. There are plenty of TVs that already meet the 2013 criteria, most of them smallish LCDs, so it's not an impossible dream. The bad news? An inability to sell non-compliant sets in CA could result in lost tax revenue. The good news? Reduced energy bills and a smaller hit to our fragile environment. The really good news? Any set greater than 58-inches is exempt, so go big, broheim.
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“The debut of the Go has been marred by some pretty downtrodden decisions on Sony's part.”
Upcoming Engadget posts on Digg over the past 24 hours.
99.1
MILLION

The number of televisions estimated that sit unused in closets.

The EPA estimates that nearly 100 million unused televisions are currently taking up precious, beautiful space. (source: EPA, July 2008)

 
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