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The Engadget Show - 004: The decade in gadgets, with special guest Peter Rojas!

What a crazy 10 years, right guys? It's really flown past; the highs, the lows, the stuff in the middle that didn't seem very impressive one way or another. For our final Engadget Show of the decade, we asked site founder Peter Rojas to join us for a look back at our picks for the most important and / or interesting gadget developments since 2000. A hardcore crowd came out just after a gigantic snowstorm to witness the proceedings, and now you get your chance to see how it all went down. This is a long one folks, so grab some popcorn and settle in for the show!

Note: The HD download below is on its way, so hold tight. The iPhone / iPod version and RSS versions are all fine.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Nilay Patel
Special guest: Peter Rojas
Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm
Executive Producer: Josh Fruhlinger
Edited by: Tony Chen
Music by: Bubblyfish
Visuals by: CJ
Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec

Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 004 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 004 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted)

Subscribe to the Show:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
[Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V).
[RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
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Asus Eee PC T101MT revealed by the FCC

Asus' Eee PC T101 convertible tablet has been floating around in one form or another for quite a while now, but it looks like it's now finally cleared the FCC as the Eee PC T101MT, which seems to suggest that it might just be getting official at CES next month. While details on this particular model are pretty light, the FCC filing does confirm that it packs 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and the "MT" in the model name likely indicates that this one's a multitouch tablet -- the Eee PC T101 that we've seen previously was a 10-inch tablet with the usual unremarkable netbook specs, but an upgrade to Pine Trail seems a safe bet for this model.

Apple planning event for January, with high-res iPhone or small-sized tablet in tow? Maybe just hanging out?

Breaking news, everybody: Apple's working on some stuff. The rumors are flying in all directions today, starting out fairly innocently with word from the oft-innacurate DigiTimes of an iPhone-destined 5 megapixel camera sensor. Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster piled on with an investor note saying they're giving an Apple January event a 75% chance of happening, and the tablet is squarely at 50 / 50. The most interesting word, however, comes out of the Silicon Alley Insider, who is quoting a "plugged-in source in the mobile industry" who says that Apple is working with some select app makers on prepping high-res apps to demo on a "new, larger mobile device." The device would be shown in January but not available at that time -- presumably in wait for these redesigned apps to mature (at WWDC, perhaps?). While that rumor is being piled in with the ever-present tablet hubbub, if we were to read between the lines we'd say it sounds more like a higher-resolution iPhone in the style of Google's Nexus one or Motorola's Droid -- both of which are making the iPhone's 320 x 480 screen look a tad archaic. Certainly more likely than Apple releasing "several tablets" to match up with all the disparate rumors we've seen of the 7-inch / 9-inch / 10-inch unicorn device.

Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Stuff you don't want

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.

That whole gift giving time is very nearly upon us, and if you don't know what to get your closest and dearest by now, you may well be beyond salvation. To honor those lost souls, and to appease the anti-consumerists out there who think there's more junk in stores than there is sand in Dubai, we present the dark side of the Engadget HGG. Here, nestled in the same familiar price categories, we pick out the best of the worst gadgets to see the light of day in 2009. So join us after the break, and should you find yourself unwrapping one of these in a couple of days... you have our condolences.
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TiVo, Sony and others to FCC: 'gateways' should replace CableCARD

Cable Gateway Diagram
All the comments to the FCC in response to the call for ideas to replace the failed CableCARD idea were due this week so we spent a little time reading a few of them and found some overwhelming trends. Everyone seems to applaud the death of CableCARD and is pushing for an end to the associated mandates as well as those related to 1394. Neither of these two ideas worked out as planned as is evident by the fact that most consumers don't use them. What's more interesting though is the recommendations and none were as detailed and thought out as TiVo's -- although we admit we didn't read them all. The idea TiVo and others are getting behind is what might be known as a gateway, which we invision would look a lot like a cable modem. The key here is that while various gateways would be available depending on the medium your preferred provider used (coax, satellite, fiber), they'd all share a common interface on the consumer side and as you might expect this common interface would be of the IP variety with standard internet protocols like HTTP and SSL on top of it.
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RIM blames massive service outage on newer Messenger versions

Diehard BlackBerry users often compare BlackBerry Messenger to a potent drug. And just like a drug, coming down from a BBM high can be rough -- so rough, in fact, that RIM's claiming that a couple recent releases are responsible for "an unanticipated database issue" that stone-cold knocked out data service for many of the world's subscribers yesterday. Folks using versions 5.0.0.55 and .56 are being strongly advised to upgrade to 5.0.0.57 immediately, but in the meantime, Waterloo says its systems are back to normal while apologizing "for any inconvenience to customers." With three major outages now under BlackBerry's belt in the past month, faith in the rock-solid stability of its infrastructure is fading rapidly -- but then again, it gives you a great excuse to be off IM for a few hours and talk to live humans, doesn't it?

PS3 dipped in gold appeals to our 'elitist doofus' sensibilities

Here's the thing. Merely dipping something in 22 carat gold does not necessarily mean we'll like it better... but it's a semi-decent start. Now, we know a PS3 literally covered in gold and diamonds isn't exactly "news," nor is it anything we haven't seen before with other consoles. It is, however, a stark reminder that being super rich often leads to gaudy, tasteless, nearly criminal displays of ridiculousness. Hit the source link if you want to order one from purveyor Stuart Hughes for a mere £199,995 (that's about $320,000).

Panasonic and new best friend Sanyo plan one week storage battery for the home

One of the big obstacles in alternative energy is that some of its primary gathering mechanisms -- solar, wind, reclaimed heat -- aren't continuously available, so no matter how much of a science lab you have bolted to your roof, you still might run out of TV electricity during a calm night's Curb Your Enthusiasm marathon. Well, Panasonic's recent buy of Sanyo brought with it some choice battery tech, and the newly joined companies think they can be the first to build and ship a storage battery for home use. The plan is to release the lithium-ion cell in 2011, with enough juice in it to power a home for a week (a Japanese home, we presume), and the battery will be paired with a system to allow the user to monitor electricity usage on their TV. Of course, fuel cells have traditionally been looked to as the great home energy storage hope, but we doubt any will be able to compete with the tried-and-true lithium-ion by the time 2011 rolls around.

Exclusive: Nexus One full specs detailed, invite-only retail sales starting January 5th?

We know you're itching to get your hands on a Nexus One -- Google's managed to build buzz here the way only a couple companies in the world know how. Unfortunately, it sounds like you're going to need to cross your fingers (or pull out that eBay emergency stash) to get one out of the gate, because we've got some intel here suggesting that it'll be available only by "invitation" at first. Our tipster doesn't have information on how those invites are going to be determined, other than the fact that it's Google doing the inviting -- if we had to guess, current registered developers are a strong possibility -- but the good news, we suppose, is that T-Mobile will apparently sell the phone directly at some to-be-determined point in the future. Oh, but that's not all -- we've got specs, too. Lots of them. Here are the highlights, but follow the break for the whole shebang:
  • Android 2.1
  • 11.5mm thick
  • 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, 4GB microSD in-box expandable to 32GB
  • 5 megapixel camera with mechanical AF and LED flash
  • HSPA 900 / 1700 / 2100, 7.2Mbps down and 2Mbps up -- in other words, yes to T-Mobile 3G and no to AT&T 3G, though you'll still be fine on EDGE
  • 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display
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Highlights from NYU's ITP winter show 2009

Our friends over at Adafruit Industries made their way over to NYU's ITP winter show 2009 recently, and they've blessed us with some highlights. ITP shows are always interesting and worth a walk through, and this is one show we regret missing this time around. The fridgebuzz MK1 protoype alone is enough to snag our hearts -- a MIDI controller with 32 LED button switches and six copper switches, all in a super attractive package. The Super Duper cubes go beyond their ridiculous name, and operate as an interface to control video and music, with each cube boasting a gyroscope, accelerometor, battery, and wireless communication, so that the cubes can be turned (no wires!). There is plenty more to see, so hit the source link to check out photos and a video of the full highlights.

Lenovo set for January launch of Pine Trail-packing S10-3 netbook and S10-3t multitouch tablet

Lenovo set for January launch of Pine Trail-packing S10-3 netbook and multitouch tablet version
It's been awhile since Lenovo last updated its IdeaPad line, the S10-2 dropping over the summer, but we're hearing that the third iteration of the platform is set to be unveiled in the very near future. The model we spied at the FCC last month is confirmed to be the S10-3, possessing Atom N450 (Pine Trail) internals, a 10.1-inch screen, WiFi, 3G, and integrated GPS. More interesting is that there is an S10-3t model coming as well, a convertible tablet version which you can see the underside of above, thanks again to the FCC. It will feature a multitouch screen to make the most of its Windows 7 install, and hopefully won't be crippled by Starter Edition like another tablet we know.

Motorola Cliq gets rooted by the Dude

Motorola Cliq gets rooted by the Dude
Sick of Motorola meting out Android firmware updates when it chooses? Trust in The Dude -- TheDudesAndroid, to be specific, a user over at ModMyMoto who has posted The Dudes Root for Cliq (following up an earlier and similarly unkempt version for the G1). The install process looks about as complicated as you might expect, so make sure you keep Walter away while you're re-flashing lest your handset go all nihilistic on ya. At this point it's just another 1.5 ROM being installed, but the hope is for a 2.1 port coming in the not too distant future. Unless you're really pining to get full control over your handset we'd go ahead and wait for that version of the Dude to abide.

Update: The Dude mentioned in comments that credit is also due to fellow Android magicians danation, Skilrax_CZ, and others. We can't think of any funny movie references for those names so we'll just leave it at that.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Motorola Droid now just a (hacked) firmware update away from WiFi tethering

Motorola Droid now just a (hacked) firmware update away from WiFi tethering
Add one more item to the "Droid does" column -- unofficially, at least. WiFi tethering from Motorola's hottest is now possible straight from the phone itself, over WiFi even. PDANet already enabled the thing to share its connection, but relies on an external driver installed on a Windows or Mac device. This latest fix does away with that, but does require the installation of a hacked version of the 2.0.1 firmware. The process, laid out at the read link by DroidForums.net user webacoustics, doesn't sound that bad, but warnings like "if your phone stays at the white Motorola logo for longer than a minute or two, you probably bricked [it]" will leave many users sticking with PDANet or waiting for the official Verizon solution -- and paying out the nose for it.

Averatec's HS-105 netbook looks good, should've waited for Pine Trail

Details are exceedingly light on Averatec's HS-105 netbook, but all you really need to know is in the processor: there's a 1.6GHz Atom N270 running the show. Unfortunately, that's the same CPU that has been powering the bulk of netbooks for the past year or so, and with Intel's Atom N450 already being used in a few choice rigs, there's hardly a reason to cast a glance at this one. If you insist, other specifications include 2GB of RAM, a 945GSE graphics set, 10.1-inch LCD (1,024 x 600), 160GB / 250GB HDD, WiFi and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. There's nary a word on price or release, but we fully anticipate the sticker to fall somewhere between "ultra cheap" and "let's get two."

Acer's Aspire 1820PTZ convertible tablet hits the wilds of Singapore

Acer's Aspire 1820PTZ convertible tablet may not be making its London debut until next month, but evidently said machine is alive and well (and shipping, to boot) over in Singapore. One particular enthusiast managed to procure one of the twistable rigs, and as a favor to anyone who appreciates freedom, Kris Kringle and In-N-Out double-doubles, he decided to unbox it, snap a few shots, throw up a video and even toss out a respectable list of impressions. We're told that Acer crammed just about every piece of bloatware known to mankind onto this thing, and the owner didn't seem particularly thrilled with the keyboard nor the overall multitouch experience. That said, performance was found to be "snappy enough for general use," and the casing itself was satisfactorily solid. Hit that read link for the full rundown, and hop on past the break for a look at the boot sequence.
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“That Tegra chip is no joke -- the graphics in PGR: Ferrari Edition are easily on par with the PSP and quite possibly better.”
Trending posts from Engadget on Twitter, updated hourly.
15%

The percentage of electronics at the end of their lives which were recycled.

The EPA found that the percentage remained consistent from 1999-2005. Even as recycling rates went up, the amount of electronics reaching end of life outpaced the increase, leaving the figure static. (source: EPA, July 2008)

 

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