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]

Gallery: ATI’s dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970

Filed under: Desktops

ATI’s dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970 pictured in the wilderness originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget Podcast 169 - 10.31.2009

Tired of all the DROID talk? Well, tough cookies, mister. Nilay, Paul and Josh have a lot to say on the subject, and you’re just going to have to sit there and take it. Or you could skip the first 40 minutes of this week’s podcast, but that’s just a recipe for regret. If you do stick it out you’ll be treated to some unusually candid discussion of Josh’s facial hair and other more pertinent questions picked from the USTREAM discussion that will almost certainly frighten you straight.

WARNING: This podcast has been known to kill people. Engadget assumes no responsibility for injury or death.

[Thanks, JS and Rom for the image]

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: ChangWang2003 - 99 Problems (Battletoads Remix)

Hear the podcast

00:01:28 - Motorola DROID review
00:19:08 - HTC confirmed to be cooking up Android 2.0 update for Hero, other devices unclear
00:19:19 - Android 2.0 ported to original T-Mobile G1 (video)
00:19:29 - HTC Droid Eris peeks its head out once more, shows off 5MP camera
00:30:48 - Google Navigation video hands-on: you want this
00:32:25 - The game has changed
00:37:18 - How-to: hack your own DROID dock with magnets and cardboard
00:41:20 - Storm2 now available from Verizon for those who waited
00:49:25 - Nintendo DSi LL goes large in Japan on November 21 (update: DSi XL in Europe Q1)
00:53:41 - Netflix for PlayStation 3 requires a disc, software solution coming late 2010
00:57:28 - Apple TV 3.0 software update is out, with iTunes Extras, LP & Genius in tow
01:06:23 - Nokia vs. Apple: the in-depth analysis
01:06:40 - How-to: recycle your old gadgets

Subscribe to the podcast

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Download the podcast

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Contact the podcast

1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.

Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget

Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 169 - 10.31.2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ICANN approves Non-Latin Domain Names

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), or the Internet’s governing body has approved using non-latin domain names. Thse would include domains in native languages.

The process for registering non-latin domain names would start on November 16. The first phase would involve ICANN approving the languages in which the domains can be registered. The respective countries can then start registering the domain names.

“Right now Internet address endings are limited to Latin characters – A to Z. But the Fast Track Process is the first step in bringing the 100,000 characters of the languages of the world online for domain names,” ICANN chairman Peter Dengate Thrush said in a statement.

Rod Beckstrom, ICANN’s President and CEO, believes that the move will invite more individuals, especially those who are more comfortable with the native language or who are not familiar with Roman characters. ICANN had been working on the non-Latin domains for years. The delay in the process happened due to technical issues in the implementation, policy development and global cooperation.

“Our work on IDNs [internationalized domain names] has gone through numerous drafts, dozens of tests, and an incredible amount of development by volunteers since we started this project,” said Tina Dam, ICANN’s Senior Director for IDNs. “The launch of the Fast Track Process will be an amazing change to make the Internet an even more valuable tool, and for even more people around the globe.”

Does that mean that we would need new keyboards for the new non-Latin domains? Or would we have a pack of virtual keyboards to download for free? Only time will answer these questions.

In the meanwhile, are you comfortable with the idea of having non-Latin domain names? Would it make Internet usage easier or will it just end up complicating it more? Tell us in the comments.

via [PCMag]

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• Waterproof Keyboards!
• Orkut in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu!
• Google wins lawsuit against 17-year-old Indian Kid

Droid Launch Kit and User Manual caught in the wild

It’s time to get to know the Motorola Droid before its launch on 6th November. The launch kit and user manual have been leaked by an AndroidCentral user. The documents take you through the components and workings of the Droid.

So, if you are keen enough to spend a lot of money on the smartest smartphone from Motorola, these are what you would use to support your buying decision. More news on the Droid here. While we update you with the any new findings from these documents, you can use the comment section below to tell us what you think of the Droid.

Here are the documents:

Droid User Manual (PDF)

Droid Launch Kit (PDF)

via [AndroidCentral]

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• Android OS 2.0 coming with Motorola Droid on Verizon!
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How-to: geek up your pumpkin

BOO! It’s Halloween and it’s also a Saturday, so let’s not hear any pathetic excuses for not carving pumpkins. While we’re no experts, we’ve got a few tips for making your jack-o’-lanterns better looking and more unique:

• Always mark where you’re carving first instead of freestyling, especially for the lid. Once the knife’s in there’s nothing you can do about it.
• Want an accurate carving? Draw or print your pattern on paper first and then stick it on the pumpkin, so that you can use a pin to punch an outline.
• Use a scalpel. Seriously, it’s so much better than kitchen knives.
• Be creative: consider using a variety of carving depths instead of just cutting out holes. It’s best to start off with the darkest areas so that you know where the threshold is. If it’s too shallow you can always scrape the trench.
• Don’t use candles — they don’t last and aren’t safe for the kids and animals; many LED candles have a convincing flickering glow, so try those. Alternatively, why not convert a cheap solar garden light into a lid for your jack-o’-lantern? Or go Ben-Heck and try the Cylon mod?
• Keep the seeds for roasting — they make a good snack.

Feel free to refer to our gallery for the whole process. Enjoy and have a happy Halloween!

Gallery: How-to: geek up your pumpkin

Filed under: Household

How-to: geek up your pumpkin originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tesla Roadster keeps on rollin', goes 313 miles on single charge

What could be a better feeling than beating a world record? Beating your own world record. The Tesla Roadster has put an extra exclamation mark on its world-conquering single-charge antics by raising the bar from 241 miles back in April to an even more impressive 313 this week. As you can see in that homemade “world record” sign above, that’s 501 kilometers in metric terms, or pretty much the exact distance between Paris and Amsterdam. The Global Green Challenge in Australia — where this feat was achieved — allows only production battery-powered vehicles to compete, meaning that the new record is down to driver skill on the part of one Mr. Simon Hackett, and not some newfound techno mojo. Kinda makes those long recharge times seem like less of a burden, no?

Tesla Roadster keeps on rollin’, goes 313 miles on single charge originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola trendsetting with the Second android phone - Droid Smartphone

Motorola trendsetting with the Second android phone – Motorola Droid Smartphone, it’s a dynamite piece with its 3.7 inch touchscreen display, 5.0 mega-pixel camera, sliding QWERTY keyboard etc. Motorola mobile phones are amaranthine ahead in the mobile world and are the favourites of the mobile fanatics and today they have impressed their users again with this smartphone. DROID is an excellent phone which combines good speed web browsing, a colossal screen, and aptness of Motorola in voice quality and design both.

Now let’s have a look at its technical specification:

    •    Google Android 2
    •    WVGA resolution in its 3.7 inch screen
    •    Multi window HTML browser
    •    Free google maps
    •    5MP camera combining dual LED flash
    •    Accessing all services like Google Talk, Facebook etc
    •    16GB microSD which is further expandable to 32GB

This mobile has lots more to share with you and you will be tired of listening, but still it won’t stop.  You can also use some 12000 applications from this phone to entertain yourself. It weighs just 6 ounces and measures 2.4 x 4.6 x 0.5 inches. You can get this phone from November 6 with a 2 year of service contract at a price of just $199.99 a pop!

xpPhone is more of a netbook than a phone

In Technology Group, or ITG of China, has released the specifications and some pics of the user interface of what they call the “xpPhone”. This 4.8″ touchscreen phone can run the PC version of Windows XP. The device has specifications similar to that of a netbook and rums on a type of ‘AMD Super Mobile CPU’.

The specifications depict that carrying this device would be like carrying a mini-computer in your pockets. Take a gander at the spec list released by ITG and judge for yourself:

• CPU: AMD Super Mobile CPU
• Memory: 512M/1G
• SSD: 8G/16G/32G/64G
• HDD: 30G/60G/80G/120G
• LCD: 4.8′ TFT Touch-screen LCD 800*480
• OS: Microsoft Windows XP
• Network: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA (HSDPA/HSUPA); CDMA/CDMA2000 1X/CDMA1X EVDO,TD-SCDMA, TD-HSDPA
• Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g, WiMax(optional), Bluetooth, standalone GPS
• Camera specifications: CMOS, 300 k/1.3 million
• Ports: 1 x earphone jack, 1 x microphone jack, docking connector (include VGA output signal ), 1 x USB 2.0, SIM Slot
• Battery: Removable Lithium-ion
• Talk time: about 5 hours, standby time: about 5 days
• Real life: about 7 hours (Standard), about 12 hours (Large)
• Weight: 400g (including battery)

The 400g weight could be an issue for a lot of people, especially those who are big fans of wearing ultra-low waist pants, as the phone weighs enough to bring users an embarrassment of a lifetime (or at least lead users to inadvertantly break some laws).

The pre-order page is already in place but does not mention a price yet. The 3G module for your carrier frequency can be chosen from the pre-order page. The carriers already mentioned include AT&T, Vodafone and Orange. The US looks neat, organised and user friendly from the snapshots released by Gizmodo.

via [Gizmodo]

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How would you change Sony's PlayStation 3 Slim?

For the most part, we’d say that Sony addressed the concerns of many when it introduced the PlayStation 3 Slim. The console was smaller, cheaper and easier on the eyes, and of course the 120GB hard drive didn’t hurt matters either. That said, we know that the redesign didn’t please everyone, and we’ve heard more than a few PS3 diehards complain about the new design. If it were you designing a newer, less expensive PlayStation 3, what would you have done differently? Kept PS2 backwards compatibility? Colored it white? Added HD DVD support? Don’t be scared to get a little crazy — besides, they call that “innovation” in the corporate world.

Filed under: Gaming

How would you change Sony’s PlayStation 3 Slim? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Black Wii gets unboxed just in time for the darkest holiday

Those lucky enough to live in Europe and the UK will soon (as in November 6th soon) be able to purchase a special edition of that black Nintendo Wii some of us have been drooling over for the past few months. Sure, it’s just a regular Wii… but it’s black, which is so much cooler. Well someone’s finally gotten their hands on it and done an unboxing, and we have to say that it looks even better than it did in the press shots. The limited edition Black Wii bundle with Wii Sports Resort and a Motion Plus controller will run you around £164.99 in the UK, and those of us in the US? Well, we’ll just have to make due with the black controller and nunchuk. There are a few more shots after the break. Hit the read link for the full unboxing and video.

[Thanks, Emilia]

Continue reading Black Wii gets unboxed just in time for the darkest holiday

Filed under: Gaming

Black Wii gets unboxed just in time for the darkest holiday originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson Rachael teaser video plays with our hearts

The Motorola DROID might be at the forefront of the Android scene right now, but it looks like it’s going to have some high-end competition soon — Sony Ericsson’s been hyping the Rachael / XPERIA X3 launch on November 3, and today it’s put out this little teaser video. Nothing much here other than some fleeting glimpses of the handset in Luster White, but it’s looking quite sharp, and if the final specs are close to the DROID’s we could have a real battle on our hands — especially since SE’s crazy Android UI skin looks pretty sweet. Check the video after the break.

[Thanks, Lars]

Continue reading Sony Ericsson Rachael teaser video plays with our hearts

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony Ericsson Rachael teaser video plays with our hearts originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung rocks again with the new LCD monitor cum TV

Samsung rocks again and hits the market once more with its new LCD monitor cum TV. It’s a plus point for the all the computer users as they can switch to their TV in the computer itself whenever they feel bored. You can even utilize your space by buying just one and taking the benefits of both. It has given two new monitors and they are model as, 19-inch 933HD and 23-inch 2333HD. Both have TV tuners and you can switch on to them and can entertain yourself. Its also suffices an HDMI cable and thus you can attach a Blu-ray player.

The 19 inch supports 720p while the 23 one support 1080p resolutions. It also provides you an optional cable and a satellite connection. Dolby speakers are attached in the 23 inch monitor thus provides you excellent sound quality. You can get the dynamic contrast ratio of 10000:1 inch. These 2 monitors are de facto an ultimate piece and must to have in your homes.

LG roadmap predicts 'OLED panels will cost less than LCD panels in 2016'

Speaking at the FPD show in Japan, Won Kim, VP of LG Display’s OLED sales and marketing group laid bare its OLED plans for the future. Pretty significant as LG is one of only two players currently manufacturing production OLED TVs; though unlike Sony, LG has yet to ship anything — that bit of consumer magic begins in November. So here’s the deal: LG will release 20-inch and larger OLED panels in 2010, 30-inch and larger in 2011, and 40-inch and larger OLED panels in 2012. While 40-inch OLEDs will still be “fairly expensive” in 2012, Kim predicts that “OLED panels will cost less than LCD panels in 2016.” We’d love to believe that but it sounds overly aggressive to us considering the enormous investment panel manufacturers have made in LCDs (they’ll be milking profits just as long as they can) and new push towards 3D televisions. Besides, LG’s been all over the map with its OLED dates so let’s not go carving anything in low-temperature polycrystal silicon just yet.

[Via OLED-Display.net]

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

LG roadmap predicts ‘OLED panels will cost less than LCD panels in 2016′ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cisco FlipShareTV streamer outed in FCC documents

Flip Video remote, meet your family. One of Cisco’s latest FCC filings happened to keep its user manual outside the seal of confidentiality, giving us a pretty good look at FlipShareTV, a setup for streaming recorded video from the computer’s FlipShare software, out the USB dongle transmitted wirelessly to the receiver connected to the TV… and that’s about it. Nothing too thrilling here, and there’s no indication of price or release date. More pictures below — any Flip enthusiasts actually excited by this?

Gallery: Cisco FlipShareTV

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Cisco FlipShareTV streamer outed in FCC documents originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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