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Xbox 360 802.11n adapter rebirths on Costco site, ships November 10th for $88

You can't keep a phoenix down and this Xbox 360 wireless n adapter seems to be a bird of similar feather. After discretely showing up on US retail sites and subsequently managing to drop off into internet obscurity, the 802.11n-compliant peripheral has returned to the scene via Costco's site, this time with a November 10th shipping date and a more attractive than before $88 price tag. With only five days until the 10th, will this finally be the price and date that stick? Who knows -- but at least this time we won't have to wait long to find out.

[Thanks, WeakSasco]

Sony Ericsson Kurara suffers leakage, reveals HD label?

Boy, we sure do love our early glimpses of pre-release hardware, and today we have not one, but two sources of purported pictures of the Sony Ericsson Kurara. Touted as a sibling to the Satio, the Kurara is mooted to have a 3.5-inch AMOLED touch-sensitive screen, 8.1 megapixel camera and, wait for it, 720p video recording. The image above seems to confirm this with a big "HD" inscription next to the camera lens, but that label is missing in the gallery below. We'll just put that inconsistency down to the extremely early samples on show, and start getting all frothed up in excitement over the possible UX inclusion on this Symbian S60 device when it starts selling in the first half of 2010.

[Via My Sony Ericsson and SlashPhone]

Read - PhonesDB
Read - Sony Ericsson Club

Olympus E-P2 leaks out again, brings along lofty price tag

We heard way back in August that an E-P2 could be on tap for a late 2009 release, and while it doesn't appear that the actual ship date will happen before next year, we'd be shocked if Olympus didn't come clean with its second Micro Four Thirds camera here soon. We've seen leak after leak after leak, and now we're staring at what appears to be a few press images of the not-yet-released camera. Reportedly, the 12.1 megapixel shooter will feature AF tracking, an electronic viewfinder, a black color option, 3fps shooting and a 720p movie mode. Nothing earth-shattering, but an appreciated update nonetheless. We're told that it'll be available across the pond in January for the mildly stunning price of £849 ($1,406), but at least that sum includes a 14-42mm lens. Or so they say.

Microsoft Courier interface explained in more detail

Steve Ballmer might have no idea what's going on with the Microsoft Courier tablet, but a new set of documents leaked to Gizmodo certainly suggests the product is more than just a couple videos the boss-man hasn't seen. The images detail the Courier's unique user interface, which draws on everything from multitouch gestures to pen-based handwriting recognition. The heart of the interface appears to be the Smart Agenda, pictured above, which pulls together all your disparate content like calendar entries, emails, and to-dos into one unified starting place, described as "Cliff Notes" to the Pagestream "novel." The journal itself appears to be searchable by all kinds of data, including time, location, and tags, and it's all accessed by a special multi-button pen. There's also a camera and an offhand mention of "boos and subscriptions," so it sounds like whoever was dreaming this all up considered using the Courier as an ebook reader as well -- which would be totally sweet, given the types of annotations you could do. Of course, none of this is real yet, but we're hoping against hope -- please, Mr. Steve, make our holiday dreams come true?

Leaked Walmart ad reveals Xbox 360 Arcade with $100 gift card, $300 HP G60 laptop

It's not quite a $99 Xbox 360, but if this apparent Walmart scan via Kotaku is to be believed, that $199 Arcade version is getting a $100 gift card promotion going into effect this Saturday. In real terms, that boils down to a $234 Xbox 360 Pro for first-time buyers, seeing as you'll be needing that $135, 120GB hard drive, too. Also listed are a Sony Blu-ray player for $148 (we're guessing the currently-MSRP'd $199 BDP-S360), and a $298 HP G60-519WM, which touts a 2.2GHz Intel Celeron, 15.6-inch HD display, Windows 7 Home Premium, 3GB RAM, and a 250GB HDD -- not a bad followup at all for that Compaq CQ60. Some interesting spy shots from the Slick Deals forum seem to give credence to the scan, although we're still playing wait-and-see -- that $100 gift card with the Xbox 360 arcade is almost too good to be true, even if it is just a clever tactic to clear shelf space in the lead-up to Black Friday.

Update: Sure as the sun, an official ad has popped up on Yahoo's front page. Screenshot after the break.

[Thanks, just4onepost]

Read - G60-519WM spotted
Read - $199 Xbox 360 Arcade with $100 gift card?

Lenovo's rumored ThinkPad X200e gets two more spy spots, another shot of believability

Aw, snap. We'll be frank -- we didn't have too much hope that the supposedly leaked ThinkPad we spotted over the weekend was a legitimate product, but now that the evidence is mounting, we're finding it difficult to contain our excitement. Two new spy shots of the purported ThinkPad x200e (or ThinkPad x100e) have emerged over in China, and we're being told that Lenovo's not going out of its way to deny their genuineness. Are we really looking at a ThinkPad netbook? And will the Earth really continue to spin if Lenovo deviates from the tried-and-true ThinkPad design that has held things in balance for so long? Color us disquieted.

[Via Cloned In China]

Is this a next generation ThinkPad, or the cruelest Photoshop ThinkPad fans have ever witnessed?

So, before we get ourselves in a tizzy, we'll caveat that there are some seeming signs of Photoshoppery here, namely the edge around the keyboard and of course the pure insanity of putting chiclet keys and a white skin on a ThinkPad (Cloned In China thinks it might be an outright KIRF). That said, there's something about the laptop that smacks of ultraportability and simplicity which we're not entirely averse to. And for the purists there's still that nipple and the third mouse button to be smug about, which is something for them to think about while the burn down the Engadget HQ in a rage for us even suggesting this could be a good direction. Check out another shot after the break, and shots of another even odder design at the read link.

[Via Cloned In China]

Atom-powered Cowon W2 leaked, could be crowding in on imaginary tablet territory

If there's one thing we like more than a flesh and blood slate tablet PC, it's one with zero launch specifics or imagery, and hopefully a dearth of specs. Cowon's delivering the former in spades, with the leak of the Atom-powered W2 MID on a Bluetooth.org certification page. Of course, calling it an internet tablet might be reading in a bit much, but it seems a good fit for Cowon's sensibilities and background up against that Atom processor under the hood. We suppose we'll just have to wait around to learn more, but this could be the start of a beautiful rumoring relationship.

[Via DAP Review]

250GB PS3 spotted in Best Buy backroom, making trouble

It's not quite as delicious when Sony (in a rare move) has actually confirmed its console for a release to market, but just because we know the 250GB PS3 is landing in the US on November 3rd doesn't mean we can't derive any enjoyment at all by the fact that it's been spotted at a Best Buy in Houston, all primed for the shelves. Since the shipment's obviously already been made, we suppose we'll be seeing a few instances of early stocking of the console over the next couple of days, unless Best Buy has considerably cleaned up its act when it comes to launch dates -- doubtful!

[Thanks, anonymous ]

ATI's dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970 pictured in the wilderness

And now... fighting out of the red corner, weighing in with two Evergreen GPUs, and wearing black trunks and red trim, it's the Radeon HD 5970. ATI's latest challenger for the title of undisputed graphics champion has been snared in the wild, and its photo shoot reveals a suitably oversized beast. Measuring in at 13.5 inches and requiring both an eight- and six-pin power connector, the pre-production sample can fit inside only the roomiest and best-powered rigs around. It's named somewhat confusingly, with AMD dropping its X2 nomenclature for dual GPU setups, but it features two HD 5870 chips running in onboard Crossfire on the same PCB, and foreshadows a HD 5950, which will combine a pair of the more affordable HD 5850s. Performance figures available earlier have been pulled, at the behest of AMD, but we've got plenty of eye candy to admire, and there's also no price tag in sight to spoil our daydreaming pleasure.

[Via PC Perspective]

Leaked docs show HTC's DROID Eris launching on November 6th for $99, running Android 1.5

Like it or not, we've got it on pretty reasonable authority that HTC's first "DROID" phone is nothing more than a rebadged, shape-shifted Hero (something we've been hearing for a while now), and that it'll be launching on Verizon on November 6th, the same day as Motorola's DROID. That means Android 1.5 "Cupcake," Sense UI, 3.2-inch screen, 528MHz processor and so forth. The Eris will retail for $199 but with a $100 mail-in rebate. It'll pack in an 8GB microSD card and the hopes and dreams of a generation of cheapskates that will be hopin' and prayin' that HTC manages to push Android 2.0 onto this thing so they don't look too bad in front of their DROID-toting buddies on Verizon.

[Thanks, anonymous]

Olympus E-P2 tap keeps leaking, new viewfinder now on show

Now this is how you build up anticipation for a new product. Start off with just the name accidentally popping up on one of your corporate websites in order to get our imaginations flowing, then leak a teeny tiny image of the optional viewfinder. There's actually a good bit of info here -- you can tell the new attachment (titled VF-2) seems to be vertically adjustable, something missing from the previous generation, but there's also the bogus news that it'll fit only the forthcoming E-P2. The silver lining to that knowledge, though, is that the body we can only partially see must be the as yet unannounced E-P1 successor, which means the new Micro Four Thirds shooter will at least have the option of a black body... which some people care about. Deeply.

Sony Alpha A750 keeps with tradition, leaks out ahead of release

Minolta's Sony's DSLR range was refreshed only this August, but here we are, hearing rumblings of another new addition to the bunch. Set to occupy the space between the 14.2 megapixel A550 and 24.6 megapixel full frame A850, the imaginatively titled A750 is expected to strike the perfect balance between the two with a 14.6 megapixel full frame sensor. We see what you did there, Sony, very clever. If you ask us, anything over a solid dozen million pixels is overkill and just asking for noise trouble and processing lag, so in fact chopping a third off the A850's pixels could turn out to be quite a boon for overall image quality. Then again, we've no idea what else Sony might sever from its higher offering, though we're likely to find out by CES 2010 at the latest.

[Thanks, David G]

Litl Easel 'web computer' is cute as a baby-blue button

Sorry Litl, but the FCC just spoiled your surprise party. Described as "a web computer" running Litl OS (sorry Microsoft), the 3.38-pound Litl Easel (built by FIC) packs a 1.86GHz Atom Z540 processor beneath that 12.1-inch 1280x800 pixel display, a meager 2GB of storage, 1GB of DDR2 memory, 802.11b/g WiFi, and webcam all powered by a 2600MAh battery. There's also HDMI, a single USB jack, and an IR receiver for a Litl remote. A dedicated baby-blue "Litl" key on the keyboard would appear to act like a home key that takes you back to the "Card View" home page. Based on the description from the manual, the Litl OS will present information in stacks of cards: blue cards are "permanent" cards for the card catalog, family and friends, and settings; white cards are web cards displayed in a Mozilla browser; and black "channel" cards (known as widgets everywhere else) feature a Litl alarm clock, New York Times headline ticker, and weather channel. And if the cutsie-wutsie factor of the Litl Easel is lost on you then perhaps the "best results if plugged in" label on the power brick will help drive the message home. Litl already has a teaser page up so we expect this to launch Stateside sometime before the holidays. Read -- FCC document
Read -- Litl teaser

Droid Eris turns up in Verizon training course

Again, we have no idea why Verizon is burying the launch of the HTC Droid Eris alongside the Motorola Droid tomorrow (well, apart from the slow CPU and older Android build) but if you had any doubts that Big Red was going to launch this riff on the Hero, well, these screenshots of the employee training course should put those to rest. Interestingly, the buttons and logo placement are slightly different from the pic that was leaked to gdgt, but this version certainly looks like what Eric Schmidt was holding the other day, so we're thinking this is the final iteration. We'll see what's what tomorrow, we suppose.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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