Inbrics announces Android MID, promises 'inspirational moments' (video)

Palm and Sprint issue statement acknowledging Profile backup issue
Nokia N900 now shipping in the land of Ford freedom trucks
Kindle 2.3 software update available, generation 1 owners need not apply
US Air Force orders up 2,200 more PS3s -- for thinking, not gaming
Emblaze's First Else unveiled in London, promises to be a game-changer


We know, our GPS gift guide has already been erected, but if you're in the unfortunate position of needing a high-end gift for someone who'll actually be in San Juan del Sur over the holidays, there's hardly a better option than this. The TomTom XXL 540S World Traveler Edition is exactly what you think it is: it's an XXL 540S, but with maps for the United States, Canada and Europe (what -- no Central America?). The 5-inch touchscreen is still there, as is the company's IQ Routes, 'Help Me!,' an increased 4GB of storage, advanced lane guidance and 7 million points of interest. It's expected to hit retail shelves in both the US and Canada early next month for $349.95 (US) / $399.95 (CAD).
Between this mess and the T-Mobile fiasco, we're pretty certain we're being forced to stay on the manual backup bandwagon for the foreseeable future."We are seeing a small number of customers who have experienced issues transferring their Palm Profile information to another Palm webOS device. Palm and Sprint are working closely together to support these customers to successfully transfer their information to the new device."

First thing's first: the video beyond the break is certainly not up to our usually stellar standards. That said, the voice recording is clear enough, so you may consider it an audio presentation with the bonus of a shadowy figure making occasional hand gestures in time with what's being said (lighting also improves as you go along). Arimasa Naitoh is the man behind the ThinkPad line, having joined the product engineering team at IBM during the 1970s and shifting with the ThinkPad brand on to Lenovo in 2005. Currently the VP for Notebook Development and the head of the Yamato Development Labs, Naitoh-san was kind enough to do a presentation in London yesterday, in which he touched on the history of the fabled laptop line and was also not shy about trumpeting the key advantages of the latest T400s flagship model. So click past the break, turn your speakers up, and get educated by one of the true founding fathers of mobile computing as we know it today.

We gadget nerds have to endure unspeakable atrocities in order to slake that early adoption jones: first-run gear shipped DOA, buggy pre-release software, and months of waiting after a product leaks only to be greeted by a jacked-up price premium at launch. So we feel your pain, original Kindle owners, after Amazon announced a major firmware update that brings native PDF support to the 6-inch Kindle 2 and DX readers with the promise of a staggering 85% increase in battery life to all Kindle 2 devices -- if you haven't already received it OTA, the 2.3 software update is now available for download and installation via USB tethering. At least owners of "some earlier versions of Kindle" (quote from the press release) will receive native PDF support whenever the 1st generation firmware update (currently at version 1.2) is released. It's worth noting that Amazon's PDF reader lacks a zoom function which makes many PDFs entirely unreadable on the device. Good thing Amazon's store is chock full of easily zoomable books in a proprietary format then, huh?
We were as surprised as anyone when the USAF threw down the cash for 300-odd PlayStation 3s back in March of last year, but what's more shocking is that it's now back for more -- seven times more, in fact. Already employing its PS3 cluster for research into high-def video processing, the Air Force Research Lab wants to expand its capabilities significantly and it seems that Sony's Cell processor is still its weapon of choice. We would use this opportunity to make a few jibes about lazy engineers upgrading their setups in time for Modern Warfare 2, but we're better than that. We'll also totally avoid noting that the US government's skimping on costs now is leading it to commit to an instruction set tailored specifically to the Cell processor, which contrary to the latest Xeons -- pricier though they may be -- is not guaranteed to keep updating in pace with the USAF's needs. Those are things we'll leave for someone who isn't afraid of death lasers and autonomous attack drones to say.



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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