You may be familiar with the modular line of Kondo robots sold in Japan -- but are you aware that a "Kondo Battle" exists where the bots duke it out to the death (or until they fall over)? Well, now you know... which is half the battle. You can pretty much see where this is headed -- life-size (or larger) Gundams going totally crazy on cityscapes across the globe. A picture says a thousand words, and video says billions and billions, so feast your eyes on the IDG News clip after the break, and to sweeten the deal, we've included a few videos of the actual fights as well.

We can't quite recall if the last week in April of 2008 was jam packed with camera introductions, but you can go ahead and pencil this little stretch down as quite an important time in the lives of DSLR junkies. Nary 24 hours after we gave you our pair of pennies on Nikon's D5000, Canon's EOS Rebel T1i (its arch enemy, just so you know) has arrived. Based on specifications alone, the T1i looks like a much more serious shooter than the D5000, though its kit package -- which also includes an 18-55mm IS EF-S lens -- runs you $50 more and omits that all-too-intriguing articulating display.


Instead, you get a fixed 3-inch Live View display (like the more expensive D90 over on the Nikon front), a 1080p movie mode (which trumps all Nikon DSLRs at the moment and matches the mighty EOS 5D Mark II), a ISO sensitivity up to 12,800 (the D5000 tops out at 6,400) and a 15.1 megapixel sensor (compared to the 12.3MP sensor in the D90 and D5000). We're going to run out and pit these two against each other in order to bring you a more thorough showdown soon, but for now, hop on past the break to see how the T1i -- which is shipping to the public today as well -- stacks up against the D5000 on paper. Oh, and check out the gallery if you're intrigued by world class knock-down-drag-outs.

You knew the comparisons were inevitable, but have you braced yourself for how incredibly similar these two laptops are? MSI's new X-Slim 320 13.3-inch ultraportable is a teensy bit wider and a teensy bit thicker than the MacBook Air, but most of the dimensions, layouts and curves are uncannily alike. As for build quality, MSI obviously suffers a bit for its netbook heritage. The plastics aren't stellar, and the keyboard, while delightfully full size, is a tad squishy, but there's still no denying that this is a pretty wild deal for this very particular form factor -- plus that built-in 3G, VGA and Ethernet are just rubbing it in Apple's face.

Now this is a fight worth waiting for.

[Photo courtesy of Robert Scoble]

You've got to love it, don't you? The prolonged hatefest between Intel and NVIDIA is continuing on today, with Andy Keane, general manager of the company's GPU computing group, delivering the latest blow. While speaking to reporters at the outfit's headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, he was quoted as saying that there is still "an incredible amount about Larrabee that's undefined." Furthermore, John Mottram chimed in by suggesting that "as [blogger and CPU architect] Peter Glaskowsky said, the 'large' Larrabee in 2010 will have roughly the same performance as a 2006 GPU from NVIDIA or ATI." We're beginning to wonder if these guys aren't just passing disses while sharing a cold one afterwards just to get attention, but being that it's more fun to envision suits from rival firms intensely angry with one another, we'll just keep believing this actually isn't a joke.

[Via Slashdot]

At this point, neither the HTC Touch Diamond nor the Samsung i900 Omnia need any introduction, but we're happy to announce that these two have stepped into the squared circle and faced off in an epic nine-page battle. Reviewers manhandled both phones for an extended time and broke down the UI, hardware, features and overall usability, so if that sounds like something you'd be interested in, cover your face and head on down to the read link. We're warning you though, it gets ugly.

[Thanks, Chavdar]

Not like we haven't seen hordes of humanoids fight to the death (or malfunction, whichever comes first) before, but this agile duo is really something. Seriously, just watch those feet scamper about and try not to smile. We'll bet you lose it when the big fella drops that massive left hook (but fails to connect). Video after the cut.

[Via MAKE]

Would you look at that: a thick slab of iPhone meat in a Sony Ericsson and HTC sandwich. The iPhone's big screen is nice and all but the device is starting to look a bit portly given that the Xperia X1 sports a QWERTY with chewy HSDPA data, the latter shared with the Raphael Touch Diamond. Tasty, regardless.

Update: Er, that's not the HTC Raphael, it's their Touch Diamond.

[Via WMExperts, thanks Al]

Ever wondered what would happen if you were to pit the Wowwee Roboquad against an excitable, yapping puppy? Wonder no longer, friends, as the answer to this age-old question has been captured on video -- replete with NES sound effects and 8-bit scorecard. Watch the battle for ultimate supremacy after the break... our money is on the dog.

[Via Digg]

Don't etch this one in stone just yet, but for those keeping a close eye on studios and which camp(s) they support, here's the latest. Reportedly, a so-called Blu-ray Festival has been raging in Hollywood, and aside from BD backers showing up in support of upcoming / existing films, there have also been a few interesting remarks uttered along the way. Most notably, Dan Silverberg, VP of high-definition media for Warner Home Video, stated that "one thing that may be changing is [Warner's] strategy," and he continued by proclaiming that hardware prices had reached a point where consumers "no longer wanted to decide" which format reigned supreme. The speech actually got interesting when he mentioned that the "notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something the company was re-evaluating." Beyond that, egos were simply inflated even more as recent BD vs. HD DVD sales figures were trumpeted about, but we think the aforementioned commentary is far more interesting that hearing about numbers we're already familiar with.

[Thanks, AG23]

We're told this type of battle is indeed legal in certain corners of the universe, but we honestly never thought we'd see the day when a gallinaceous bird came to the human's side to fend off the impending robotic takeover.

Ryan: "That sound? Seth Green and Adult Swim filing suit over the Robot Chicken trademark."
Thomas: "Quit your cock blocking and fight!"
Darren: "These wooden posts are such lame excuses for adequate prostheses."
Paul: "Look, I know you're scared. We're all scared. But if robots and robo-chickens can't learn to live in harmony, we might as well just let the humans have the earth all to themselves."
Evan: "Not surprisingly, the martial arts sequel to Howard the Duck tanked at the box office."
Don: "2019: Despite repeated protests from People for the Ethical Treatment of Robots, the title bout between Robo Chicken and BD "Boxy Hands" 209 went on as planned."
Josh: "I love you!" -- "It'll never work!"

C'mon, you didn't think Nokia was just going to sit around with 46 million bum batteries on its hands and not play the blame game, didya? Reportedly, when Nokia's worldwide CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was asked whether Matsushita (the batteries' manufacturer) would be held liable for the fiasco, he responded by saying that the firm was "investigating" the issue, and noted "...of course they are responsible to us." Currently, Nokia has yet to divulge what kind of financial impact this whole mess will have on the company, but it's apparently planning to pass along at least some of the connected costs to Matsushita. Furthermore, Nokia's chief refused to comment when asked about the future relationship between the two outfits, but we're sure true feelings will become evident in due time.

While it'd be easy for Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's deferment to be an end-all solution to the recent Google vs. Microsoft spat, we're inclined to believe that Google hasn't had its last word just yet. As it stands, the judge in charge has reportedly said that "she will likely defer to an agreement on desktop search forged between Microsoft and the plaintiffs in the US government's antitrust lawsuit against the software vendor instead of responding to a complaint from rival Google," and further explained that she didn't consider Google to "be a party in this case." Unfortunately, that's about all we've heard at the moment-- but stay tuned, this one's bound to go a few more rounds before the dust settles.