You just can't put this guy down. Just when you think he's had his full share of soldering injuries and heatsink frustration, Benjamin Heckendorn goes and builds the NEStari, a flavorful combination of NES and Atari 2600 in a convenient, portable package. The story is half the fun, but short of it is Ben had a NES-on-a-chip lying around and a spare Atari Flashback 2 chip, but only a single 3.5-inch LCD, so he decided to make a nice, fat portable that can load both NES and Atari cartridges. Sure, the DS lite kids may laugh, but you can always bludgeon them with this monstrosity, while playing gaming classics that far surpass the Pokemons of today. Well, at least Ben can. He's not going to be making any more of these, since the hack wasn't exactly easy to pull off. Hit up the read link for the step-by-step and even some video of the NEStari in action -- if you can get it to load.

While OQO has certainly had its share of ups and downs over the past few years -- from us calling the Model 01 the "heavyweight champion of vaporware," to literally having a market segment spring up around the devices -- things looked to be headed decidedly up with the release of the 3G-capable Model 02 at the start of the year. But as always with the San Francisco company, the transition between announcing a product and actually shipping it is proving to be a little difficult. With shipping delays stretching to 16 weeks, an OQO rep recently confirmed the problem and pointed the finger of blame: "All orders with Sprint and Verizon customers are on hold while some issues are ironed out with the WWAN product line." Engadget pal Boy Genius says his experience bears that out -- his commercially-purchased Model 02 has no software support for the supposedly-present Sprint modem, and to make it worse, the unit he received is covered in nicks and scratches, more evidence of hiccups along the OQO production line. Although we enjoy talking to the guys over at OQO, it sounds like they really need to get their ducks in a row with the Model 02. Peep the full Boy Genius rant with photos of his nicked-up Model 02 at the read link.

The Vulcan Flipstart is one of those products that just gets you juiced up about gadgets, because really, what's more gadgety than a full-fledged computer that you can slide into a coat pocket? There was a short while there (2003 to 2007) when we thought that the Flipstart would never make it out of vaporware hell; all that trepidation disappeared, however, when not one but two of the little XP-powered clamshells got delivered to our doorstep. Having already played around with both OQOs, several UMPCs, and countless smartphones, we had a pretty good idea of what we were expecting from this device, and from our preliminary evaluation, it does not disappoint. From the polished, slightly-heavy body to the port replicator to the geeky hip pouch, everything feels solidly built -- as we would hope for a product that's been in development for several years. Boot-up occurs fairly quickly, and you're up and running within the minute, with most applications performing adequately on a Pentium M CPU backed by 512MB of RAM. Input is also fairly painless; although touch-typing is a non-starter on the tiny thumb board, those used to their Treos will catch on quickly, and the dual methods for pointer control (touchpad and nubbin) felt responsive and precise. Another nice feature is the auxiliary external display, which although not powered by Slideshow, nonetheless offers PIM entries and media control in a very convenient manner. We'll have more impressions for you once we take our two new toys for a longer spin, but for now you can pass the time by checking out the loaded gallery below, complete with the all important Flipstart vs. Flipstart comparative shots.

There've been a few bright spots, but for the most part the world of do-it-all gadgets, with those large screens and QWERTY keyboards in tow, usually look frumpy at best. Luckily, conceptual designers have the luxury of tossing out all that "feasibility" nonsense, and Peter Norberg seems to have struck a cord here with this Me-mo setup of his. The system is based around one master unit, to which you can plug in camera, GPS, music and keyboard modules to expand the functionality as the mood -- or fashion -- requires. Things get a little too edgy for our taste with the jacket-button attachability, and devices like the E90 and F700 are starting to prove that maybe you can have it all, but we wouldn't be averse to giving some of Me-mo's offspring a spin all the same.

[Via textually.org]

We've started seeing UMPCs crop up everywhere. At Via's booth at ShowStoppers, there were about seven different UMPCs, but the Medion caught our eye. We hear from some other folks it's got pretty good battery life for a UMPC, and you should be able to get it in your own hands for under ten benjamins. After we stopped by Intel's booth to give it a more thorough run through, the keyboard was frankly crap, so caveat emptor. Download it below, or watch the usual flash video above.

[MP4] Download the video

Finally, we got to play with the S-XGen, that cellphone handheld that apparently will do pretty much everything but cook us dinner. Translated into specific spec-language, this one runs Windows Mobile 5.0 with a 520MHz Xscale processor, a 20GB drive, 128MB of SDRAM and shows itself off with a 4.25-inch screen at 470 x 270 pixels. Beyond that, you've got nearly every kind of connectivity known to humankind, with WiFi, tri-band GSM, Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB OTG and that good ol' Infrared (we're not totally sure whether you can sync it with your Newton). Unfortunately, we didn't have time to do a full dance with this device, but we gave it a quick spin and it's light, plasticy, and definitely unique. Now you can give it a test drive in our gallery.

Per protocol, Palm was scooped well ahead of today's announcement, but it's always good to see official details get laid out nonetheless. Following hot on the heels of its elder Windows Mobile sibling, the 750v, the Treo 680 comes into the light today for GSM networks -- a good sign for carriers worldwide after a year of CDMA equipment out of the company. Cast as an entry-level model (read: no WiFi support), the 680 brings it strong with a redesigned phone UI and software bundle, quad-band GSM (what, no quint-band HSDPA?), 64MB of RAM, and a VGA cam, all sitting atop Palm OS in the buyer's choice of Graphite, Copper, Arctic, or Crimson colors. No pricing or launch carriers were announced today, but given the branding we've seen on some of the shots thus far, we've got our guesses.

It looks like attendees of this week's DigitalLife conference in New York City (our own Paul and Peter included) will be treated to the announcement of a brand spankin' new Treo model. Well, "new" might be a strong term here -- the 680 is probably considered the odds-on favorite to get official, and we sort of already scooped that on account of Palm's own blunder -- but nevertheless, we know a diehard Palm OS fan or two that'd like nothing more than to hear Palm confirm that the 680 is real and shipping on Cingular post haste. Of course, they've always got the Cingular version of the 750 as a backup if they decide to keep the 680 under wraps for a while longer, but if they do decide to pass that off as the "new Treo" they're unveiling, our guys on the scene will have boos and rotten vegetables at the ready.

It's been a little while since we've heard much about Fujitsu-Siemen's lightweight Pocket Loox N100 GPS/PDA combo, but thankfully the folks at Lordpercy.com have come through and quenched our curiosity with a fairly thorough review of the device. The N100's vitals, if you need a refresher, include Windows CE 5.0 Core Version as the OS, a 2.8-inch TFT, 300MHz processor, SiRFstar III chipset, 64MB RAM, and an included 1GB microSD card -- all in a slight 2.4 x 3.5 x 0.6-inch package weighing just under four ounces. As for how it all comes together, Lordpercy came away mightily impressed with the device, praising its slimline design and, most importantly, its accurate GPS system, which managed to guide them through the streets of London without any trouble. They were also digging its capable audio player -- with support for MP3, WMA and AAC files -- along with the unit's decent battery life, which clocked in at just around four hours. For those less concerned with productivity, you'll be please to know that the Loox also comes pre-loaded with versions of Pac-Man and other retro games -- which we're sure will be the tipping point for more than a few of you.

Full-fledged UMPC it ain't, but now that we've got some more info on this flip-and-fold S-XGen handheld from Seamless WiFi, we're liking where this one is headed. Sure, the design is pretty frumpy, and we could do with a better screen-to-device ratio, but the Windows CE 5.0 unit runs a 520MHz Xscale processor, a 20GB HDD, 128MB of SDRAM, and a 4.25-inch screen at 470 x 270 pixels. As for connectivity, there's plenty to love, since the unit can handle 802.11b WiFi, tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900MHz), Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB OTG and even IrDA. There's also an SD card slot inside the 6.5 x 3.8 x 1.1-inch form factor and a purported 8 hours of battery life. The low screen res might make the rest of the frills a bit less exciting to work with, and Seamless WiFi claims that specifications might change without notice, but we're still looking forward to spying this one at CES and seeing just how close it comes to its all-inclusive dreams.

[Via SlashGear]

Speaking of unholy abominations, Sony decided to take some design tips from their own PSP, functionality from the OQO, usage scenarios from Nokia's 770 (and a wee dash dash of inspiration from Ixi's OGO), and mash it up all together into a single device: the mylo. The name refers to "my life online," ahem, which we assume probably has a little something to do with the Sony's old school MYLO / My Life Online, a wireless service Sony launched launched at PC Expo 2001 "to offer mobile users an original and personalized way to access information and entertainment content for work and play." (Yeah, that's specific.) This blast from the past now takes shape as a $350 WiFi-centric handheld features a slide-up 2.4-inch screen, VoIP capabilities via Skype, web access, media playback capabilities, 1GB flash, and a Memory Stick slot -- just think of it as a UX180P, you know, for kids.

[Thanks to Eric and everyone who sent this in]

Hard to believe that anyone would willingly stare at Windows XP on a tiny screen (the five-inch display on the OQO and the 4.5-inch display on the Sony UX are already pushing the bounds of XP's usability), but some info and images have turned up over at AVING about one with an even smaller display, the new Vega Ultra Portable. No slide-out QWERTY keyboard like either the OQO or the UX, but the Vega does sport what looks like a full numeric keypad on the front, as well as a 4.3-inch touch screen, an AMD Geode LX800 processor, 30GB hard drive, 256MB of RAM, and integrated WiFi. Should be out sometime next month, at least in South Korea.

[Via jkOnTheRun and MobileWhack]

Ben Hartland's so-called handheld GameCube here isn't quite in the same league as the homebrew wonders from that other Ben, our hero Ben Heckendorn, (though really, what is?) but we've still gotta give him a few points for effort. Unfortunately, the biggest drawback is that it just ain't all that portable, basically consisting of a full-size GameCube console stuck on an over-sized but well-engineered controller and screen -- and made even less portable by the fact that you still have to plug it in. If you can live with that, following Ben's lead should cost ya about $370.

[Via Joystiq]