As if we needed another Europe-only GPS device that brings nothing new to the table, Adapt is busting out their all-in-one navigation system which sports a few PMP features and an SD slot, but looks just as bulky as the rest of the similarly-specced devices on the market -- with a particular TomTom Go flavor. The 279 Euro ($354 US) unit sports a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, and is powered by a 400MHz processor from Samsung, along with that ubiquitos SiRF Star III chip and software courtesy of Route 66. There's 64MB of built-in storage, and some sort of music / photo / movie/ eBook playback ability, but we're not sure about formats or codecs. No word on the release date for this little guy either, but we're sure it and five other West Europe-only units will make it to market in the time it takes us to get a single one onto our lowly shores.

Thanks to the absolute success of the Engadget snarkbot -- that not only launches site spin-offs willy nilly, but serves us tiny sandwiches and mixed drinks when it's not busting out posts -- other media outlets are of course attempting to imitate our success. The latest such foray, News At Seven, is looking pretty hot. The completely virtual news show automatically gleans news from the web, supplements the info with blogger commentary and mixes in related images and video. It then uses a text-to-speech system and a lovable virtual newscaster to generate a video of the news with the Half-Life 2 engine. The three minute show is surprisingly entertaining and informative, even though it's in its early stages of development, and the show developers at the Northwestern University Infolab are hoping to develop the system into a full-blown evening news show replacement, which can be customized to the viewer's interests. While flesh and blood newscasters should be shaking in their boots, loyal Engadget readers should have no fear -- snarkbot 2.0 is on the way, and its automated development team tells us it's going to be quite snazzy.

[Via Fimoculous]

Face it, 1080p just isn't bleeding edge anymore. By the end of the year we're sure to have a $50, 1080p iPod from Apple, and then what are we going to do? Friends, we must move onto greater resolutions now before we miss the proverbial boat, and leading the way is Sharp with their new 65-inch prototype LCD which sports a 4096 x 2160 resolution. They're not the only one playing the ultra HD game, Westinghouse was showing off a 56-inch 3840 x 2160 display at CES in January, and Japan's NHK has been prepping a 7680 x 4320 "Super Hi-Vision" TV standard for a while, but Sharp looks to be doing a pretty good job of things all the same. The display, which is still in development, will be initially targeted at film and television producers, along with medical imaging purposes, but we're sure we'll find a good enough excuse -- and the nefarious means -- to squeeze one of these into the Engadget HQ within a year or so. Along with the 64-incher, Sharp was showing off their new manufacturing methods that allow them to get six 52-inch LCDs out of a single glass sheet, along with a "Mega Contrast" display that boasts of a spanking 1 million-to-1 contrast ratio.

If you can manage to squeeze yourself and three of your nerdiest buddies into this tiny car, y'all are going to have the one of the most gadget-laden rides ever perpetrated by man. From the pics you can tell the Renault Twingo concept is bristling with iPod docks, and a dashboard mixer puts them all to good use, but there's plenty of other stuff going on here. The car sports USB and Bluetooth connectivity, and each seat gets an audio jack for listening to an independent source, in case the front seat DJ isn't mixing it up well enough. There's also a 15-inch LCD, which is backed by an in-car PC with internet access of some sort. When you open up the hatch, there's some chilled beverages awaiting, and the speaker system points backwards to blast sound into the quickly assembling crowd of Very Cool People that suddenly will want to be your friend. Check out plenty more pics after the break.

If you're tired of waiting for your neighborhood gas station to bust out a hydrogen pump for filling up your fuel cell vehicle that you bought on the black market, have no fear. GM is prepping a hydrogen refueling station that can be set up in your home, and is powered off of electricity or sunlight. The expectation is that early adopters will be able to fill up their own vehicles at home while they wait for the hydrogen infrastructure to be built out. Honda has had already built a similar system, and it looks like it'll be a long while until we can find that sweet, sweet hydrogen nectar at our corner pump, so this might be the best we're going to get for a while. GM also recently announced that they're prepping 100 fuel cell-based Chevrolet Equinox SUVs to be put in the hands of "consumers" (i.e. 100 highly visible, photogenic and PR-friendly people) across the US. As for a publicly available fuel cell vehicle, it looks like you'll have to wait until 2011 to have a legitimate excuse to pick up one of these refueling stations.

[Via AutoblogGreen]

Just how it seems VeriChip has moved their implantable RFID tags from executives, to law enforcement, to soldiers -- and we're sure their next step is every baby born in the US as the child exits its mother's womb -- the ability to hack the chips has quickly made its way into the hands of the common man as well. Jonathan Westhues has posted up a tutorial for building your very own VeriChip cloner that lets you point and clone with the greatest of ease, stealing at whim the identities of all those foolish security conscious enough to wear an RFID tag within their flesh. We won't get into all the technical details involved in sticking it to the man in such a way, but the hack really doesn't look too incredibly hard as far as these things go, and it's not like you had anything better planned for a Tuesday night, right?

[Via MAKE]

It might look a little clunky, but Wolverine Data's new ESP PMP is all substance. Inside the 0.9-inch thick monstrosity is a 80 or 120GB HDD and a 7-in-1 card reader, making this the perfect tool for photogs looking for a good memory card backup solution. There's JPG, BMP, TIFF and RAW support, and all main memory formats can be used by the reader. If you'd rather be entertained, the ESP can do that too, with a 3.6-inch LCD and MPEG-1, MPEG-4, WMV9 and XviD codec support, along with the usual audio suspects, including AAC and CDA. The unit also includes built-in speakers, an FM tuner, audio-in, TV-out and can record video with an optional cradle that'll set you back $80. It seems like if you just want the entertainment factor, there are plenty of better PMP options than this thing, but for the photographer on the go, the video support couldn't hurt, and the $400 (80GB) and $500 (120GB) pricetags aren't too shabby at all.

[Via PVR Wire]

These days there aren't a whole lot of flavors to PC HD DVD drives, but Toshiba is hoping to remedy that with their new line-up of players and burners they're showing off at CEDIA. Most notable is the external USB drive they had under glass (pictured), which should be out by the end of this year, bringing plenty of HD DVD good times to all sorts of laptops and desktops that weren't privy to a built-in drive. Keep reading to spy a few internal editions, including a slot-loading version, along with a 0.37-inch thick model for stuffing into ultraportables -- which bests the 0.5-inch version we spied yesterday.

Just 'cause Verizon is the biggest domestic CDMA carrier in the game doesn't mean Sprint is just going to let themselves get pushed around when it comes to phone exclusives. Well, at least not all of the time. Sprint is busting out three new Motorola devices this fall, the MOTOKRZR, MOTORAZR and MOTOSLVR, and Sprint will be pushing its broadband content offerings to all of 'em. Not a lot of deets to be had, other than an "early November" availability -- and of course a comprehensive list of all the snazzy content, Telenav GPS service, "Phone as Modem" and Bluetooth capabilities available for the EV-DO phones -- but it's not like there's a dearth of info on these models. We're guessing the MOTORAZR of which Sprint speaks is the boring old V3m RAZR that's been out for VZW for a couple months, while the MOTOSLVR should be the L7c. The MOTOKRZR is of course that K1m hotness that just recently dropped into Verizon's lineup (Alltel's too), and it's good to know Sprint isn't far behind. Right now all you can do is register for more info on the KRZR release when it comes available, but we're sure we'll have plenty of launch info soon, seeing as early November isn't too incredibly far away. Alternatively, we've heard word from those in the know that these three are due on the 23rd of October, which seems to be contradicted by this PR, but we won't give up hoping. That same source gave us word on a Q1 '07 release of the Motorola Q, so hopefully that prediction works out a little better.

While barebones PCs are nothing new, and neither are all-in-one form factors, it's seldom that we see the two ideas meet. MSI's new 17-inch Crystal 945 barebones PC, however, does just that, allowing you to build a family-friendly PC with the heart of a hacker. Well, almost the heart of a hacker. The 945G chipset running this thing only supports up to a Pentium D processor, so you're not going to get a lot of power no matter how well you spec the rest. Most everything else looks pretty snazzy otherwise, including a 7-in-1 card reader, a PCI Express x16 slot (and integrated graphics if you don't want to spring for a full-on GPU), a mini-PCI slot for WiFi action, gigabit Ethernet and a bunch of other perks. With all that expandability, the Crystal is a bit on the bulky side for an all-in-one, measuring a full 3.8-inches thick, but there's really a lot to love here if you can overlook the processor limitations -- and if you've got the DIY spark to build your own PC in the first place. No word on price or availability.

[Via Randomly Accessed]

Despite the disappointing speed and range improvements we've seen from draft-n products so far, there's no denying 802.11n is the future of WiFi, and that means consumers looking for a speed boost who join the draft-n bandwagon do so at their own peril, risking hundreds of dollars on a wireless router that could very well prove incompatible and obsolete in a year or so. Well, router manufacturers have to sell something while they wait for the WiFi Alliance to get off its butt and approve a draft of the 802.11n spec, and ASUS is taking the draft-n game to a new level by guaranteeing future compatibility with the final 802.11n spec "whether in the form of firmware or hardware updates." ASUS is covering their WL-500W and WL-100W routers, both powered by "Intensi-fi" tech and claiming speeds higher than 100Mbps. The upgrade program covers all units purchased before the end of '06, and will last for 3 months after the ratification of the final spec -- which should happen sometime this century.

Good news for EV-DO junkies out there looking for a USB and/or Rev A fix: Novatel's lineup of Rev A products are now official, and are coming to an OEM or carrier near you this fall (we're thinking Sprint would be a fairly safe guess under the "carrier" category). The lineup includes that MCD3000 USB modem we saw hit the FCC the other day as the U720, which is apparently "about the size of a small cell phone," the Merlin M720 PC card -- which is already out for Sprint as the S720 -- and the Expedite E720 PCI Express Mini card. The latter is for laptop manufacturers to pop into their own products, so we probably won't see a retail release, and an ExpressCard version is notably absent. The good news is that all three of these pack EV-DO Rev A for 3.1Mbps speeds, along with the traditional GPS support, Rev 0 and CDMA compatibilities. According to Novatel, they're "currently ramping shipments at major carrier or OEM customers," and like we said, those S720 cards are already out, so these really should be right around the corner.

[Via Laptoping]

As if the world of high-performance gaming graphics wasn't already out of control, NVIDIA is rumored to be working a their next-gen "G80" GeForce 8800 card, which will be liquid cooled, and purportedly chows down on 300 watts of electricity to push its pixels. The news comes our way via [H]ard|OCP, which has spy pics of the monstrosity, and DigiTimes, which pulls on their usually cadre of shady insider sources for dirt on a mid-November launch. The card is designed for DirectX 10, allowing for beefier graphics and the offloading of some CPU duties, but DigiTimes is hearing word that DirectX 10 won't be ready in time for Vista's launch (it'll instead be available for download from Windows Update at a later date), and since the new graphics API won't be available at all for previous versions of Windows, a November launch seems a pretty risky move for the GPU builder -- though we're sure the DirectX 9.0 speed gains won't be non-existant. And of course there's always the pure, unadulterated geek cred of having a liquid-cooled supercomputer dominating that PCI-E x16 slot of yours -- not even Vista can take all the fun out of that.

[Via I4U]

Read - NVIDIA launching GeForce 8800 mid-November
Read - G80 spy pics

If you've been looking for a hugemongous NES to match with your 8-foot NES controller -- and happen to have around 400 pounds of wood just lying around -- you're in luck, since the NES-obsessed operator of the National Game Depot is "97% finished" with a project to build just such a box. Sadly, it doesn't look like this 8-foot x 3-foot x 3-foot monstrosity is going to be operational. Right now it's destined as this guy's entertainment center, since his original plan to use it as a bed was a bit too creep-o. There's also no word if our ancient methods of blowing inside and bopping the top of the unit will lend any magic to its workability, but it's always nice to have a place to store a few discarded koopa shells and 1UP 'shrooms all the same, and we suppose a TV or two couldn't hurt anything.

[Via MAKE]

Who woulda' thunk it? After all these years of rumors, delays, fanboy wars and beefy dev kits, somebody actually got a flesh n' blood PS3 with real, live blinky LED lights and even some of those "video games" all the kids are talking about these days. The lucky recipients of this system -- and subsequent takers of many nerdy pics -- are the PSM3 magazine peeps, so props to them for verifying the true existence of this mystical console, and for being a bunch of lucky bastages. As for their impressions, they're pretty positive. Apparently the system runs incredibly quietly, the "SIXAXIS" joypad is light (as ever) and quite responsive, and start up and load times are ultra-speedy. Of course, the console is also "heavy like a planet" and the shiny console easily succumbs to dust and fingerprints, along with being quite difficult to photograph -- though we're pretty sure you're not going to spend a large percentage of your time snapping pics of the thing when there's "TrueHD" entertainment to be had. Be sure to peep their vid of the PS3 in action after the break.

DSLRs get all the photog credit, what with those snazzy interchangeable lenses and decent image quality, but point and shooters get most of the work done for most consumers, thanks the the size and convenience of a tiny, easy to use camera. Well, nothing much going on for the "decent image quality" angle of things, but at Photokina, Pentax is showing off a "X-Change Point & Shoot" concept that demos an interchangeable lens system for a compact cam. The miniscule camera body has a pop-up flash, and can accept a variety of lenses. Interestingly, the CCD is built into each lens, allowing for different focal lengths, protection from dust, and what we suppose would be some hefty prices. Unfortunately, it looks like Pentax has been kicking this idea around since 2002, so we're not going to get our hopes up too much for an imminent release. Pentax has plenty of other interesting (and old) concepts they're showing off at Pk, so be sure to peep the read link to catch the rest.

[Via OhGizmo!]

If LG's morning laptop offerings didn't get you too excited, this new one from MCJ (Mouse Computer Japan) has little prospect of doing so -- but at least they've got a good pricetag slapped onto this new LuvBook i220FX-W laptop of theirs. MCJ is slumming it with a 1.6GHz T5500 Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of RAM, 60GB HDD, dual-layer DVD burner, and a 1280 x 800 15.4-inch display. The good news is that they've also stuffed a 1.3 megapixel webcam inside the 1.3-inch thick laptop, and at a mere 129,990 Yen ($1102 US) all this mediocrity shouldn't break the bank. It should be available now direct from MCJ, with Linux and OS-free versions available for the hax0rs.

[Via Akihabara]

Nothing much to see here, but Ageia is apparently prepping a PCI Express version of their PhysX card -- which is currently only available in PCI form. The new card boasts of zero performance improvements, since the original isn't even close to maxing out a PCI bus, but doesn't PCI Express just sound more exciting? We suppose if you've got all your PCI slots full-up with a sound card, Killer NIC and some AI Processing, a free PCI-E x1 slot might be your only option, but otherwise we can't imagine a huge demand for this card when this starts shipping sometime October-ish. Ageia also launched a new version of the PhysX SDK today, with Vista 64-bit and Linux support, along with a new "Realitymark" benchmark system to convince the unwashed masses that buying a PCI E dedicated physics card with near zero game support is a decent value proposition.

The peeps over at DigitalCameraInfo.com got their grubby mitts on some digicam hawterness over at Photokina and they've posted up their impressions for y'all to see. In the high end we have the Olympus EVOLT E-400 DSLR (top) with a £700 list price ($1324 US) for its Europe-only launch. Overall, it seems the 10 megapixel camera is a solid offering, with a particularly small form factor, but since you're not exactly going to be slipping this into your jeans pocket, that doesn't really set it apart from the crowd, and neither do the rest of its features. It should work for the more casual users, but DCI isn't really feeling this one for other higher-end uses. As for the Pentax K10D (middle), the DCI folks have pretty much nothing but praise, and are thinking it could work out as a budget alternative to the Nikon D200, and might be a fit for the pro set if the image quality is good enough. With a 10 megapixel CCD and features like shake reduction and dust reduction, all wrapped up in a well-made, weatherproof and easy to use package, the K10D could well be a worthy successor to the K1000, and at 1,000 Euros ($1,269 US), the price isn't too shabby neither. Finally, on the point and shoot end, there's the Samsung NV7 OPS. The $400 cam features an optically stabilized lens, 7.2 megapixel CCD, and an interesting "Smart Touch" interface, which involves buttons along the side of the LCD for intuitive menu navigation. Apparently the interface works great, but the rest of the camera isn't so hot. Performance is pretty clunky, and while DCI is reserving judgement on image quality until they can get the NV7 into the lab, the initial impressions weren't great. The good news is that colors looked accurate, and the image stabilization worked fine.

Read - Olympus EVOLT E-400
Read - Pentax K10D
Read - Samsung NV7 OPS

LG is going "premium" on their new line of AV Xnote lapsters, with Core 2 Duo across the board (topping off at the 2.16GHz T7400), and sizes from 12 to 17-inches. There's also some hefty 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 going on, along with 2GB max RAM, 160GB max SATA HDD, 5-in-1 card reader and 5.1 Dolby surround sound. The laptops run WMCE 2005, and are sporting DVB-T or DMB and EV-DO to top it all off. No word on price, but these should be available this month in Korea and Europe.

[Via I4U]