If you know anything about European retailer Fnac, you know it’s not the go-to place for bargains. However, it’s this very outlet that’s now selling an 80GB PlayStation 3 bundle (which includes the console, a single controller and inFamous) for €100 less than its “everyday low price” as of yesterday. Of course, one major French retailer slashing the price on a system that’s long overdue for a break isn’t reason in and of itself reason to believe anything’s on the horizon, but pair this up with everything else we’ve heard over the past few weeks, and we’d say all the vague omens are pointing to a leaner, cheaper and altogether more dashing PS3 on August 18th. In our magical fantasy land, anyway.

Update: Our friends at Engadget Spanish just let us know that there’s been a price drop in Spain as well. Getting warmer…

[Thanks, Nelson]

European retailer hacks €100 from PlayStation 3 in run-up to gamescom originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:44:00 EST..

 |  |  | 

Go here to see the original:
European retailer hacks €100 from PlayStation 3 in run-up to gamescom

Well, clandestinely is perhaps too strong — and long — a word for it, but the fact is that Intel’s thoroughly roadmapped and unnecessarily delayed desktop refresh has already happened for folks in Taiwan. Our buddies at TweakTown even went to the trouble of putting together a video of Taipei’s computer market, which didn’t seem to suffer any shortages of Lynnfield parts. In US currency, the prices above are $204 for the Core i5-750, $296 for the i7-860 and $593 for the i7-870, which at least confirm earlier indications on the matter, but come on Intel, if you’re not going to announce these things, at least start selling them on the sly over here too.

Continue reading Video: Intel is clandestinely selling Core i5 and new i7 chips in Taiwan

Video: Intel is clandestinely selling Core i5 and new i7 chips in Taiwan originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:07:00 EST..

 |  |  | 

View post:
Video: Intel is clandestinely selling Core i5 and new i7 chips in Taiwan

Okay, so maybe “new” is being a bit generous here, but whatever the case, MSI has a fresh five piece of C Series laptops ready and willing to be purchased, opened and openly abused. The C Series never has been much to look at nor swoon over, with the whole lineup packing only decent specifications and a rather unexciting motif. Not that there’s anything wrong with the all-business approach, but nothing here is going to set the world ablaze like, say, Toshiba’s inglorious X305. The CX600, CX700, CR600-013, CR600-017 and CR700 are all either being introduced or mildly tweaked, with the 600 models packing a 16-inch display and the 700 flavors getting things done on a 17.3-inch panel. The CR600 and CR700 offer up a discrete GeForce 8200M GPU and optional Blu-ray drive, while the other guys get by with a Mobility Radeon HD 4330 and DVD burner. Hit the read link for the full specs list, and feel free to select one to call your own starting at $549.99.

Filed under: Laptops

 |  |  | 

Read more here: 
MSI dishes five new C Series laptops, all of which are perfectly average

So concerned with the quality of the liquor you binge-drink that you think a testing device that looks just like a pregnancy test is in order? Sweet — Rotgutonix has got you covered! Just uncap the tip, dip it in your drink for a few seconds — and you’ll have an answer in under a minute — and while the device is only capable of recognizing five liquors at this point, the company hopes future iterations will include up to twenty. Sure, it’s a novelty item, and likely won’t actually be able to tell you if that Johnnie Walker you’re swilling is “rotgut,” i.e., poison, but it’s fun, right? Of course, you could just do what we do — subsist entirely on seltzer — and save yourself the trouble of having to wonder if your alcohol is poison (probably). Sadly, it seems to be unavailable for purchase yet, but we’re going to keep our eyes out for this one, we assure you.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

 |  |  | 

The rest is here: 
Rotgutonix — the slightly paranoid, somewhat discerning drunk’s best friend

And so it continues. It seems like just when rumorland is ready to claim this month or this season as the absolute certain sure time of the Apple tablet, those pesky “sources” get cold feed and bump the imaginary release date back a year or so. At least that’s what the folks at The Loop are saying. They claim “very reliable sources” have called the September rumor “flat out wrong,” and state that we won’t see the tablet until the first half of next year sometime. Sigh. Don’t give up internet, if we just wish hard enough we know that anything is possible.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Tablet PCs

 |  |  | 

See the original post here:
‘Sources’ say no Apple tablet until 2010

When it rains it pours — right on the heels of the punishing blow dealt to RealDVD, the money-laden Kaleidescape crowd suffered its own setback at the hands of the law. You just know that the DVD CCA (Copy Control Association) appealed the 2007 ruling that allowed Kaleidescape owners to rip DVDs to their media servers, and yesterday a California Appeals Court overturned that ruling. Next stop — the Santa Clara Superior Court, which could place an injunction on Kaleidescape if the appeal is upheld. It’s not over yet, but we’re prepping the soundboard with ominous music, boos and noisy hand-wringing. Whatever (and whenever) the outcome, we can only hope that Blu-ray’s Managed Copy comes to the scene sooner rather than later and settles this issue for our beloved HD content

Filed under: Home Entertainment

 |  |  | 

See the original post here: 
Kaleidescape gets in line behind RealDVD for rough treatment

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

I originally started this column on my take on what an Apple tablet might be (I literally dreamed about it and started to write it down when I woke up). I was really into it, which explains why I didn’t save it as I wrote. I think you can see where this is going.

Like a cartoon character who notices that he’s no longer standing on solid ground and suddenly begins to fall, I reached over to save, but was too late. My trusty XP install suddenly blue screened. Muttering just a few choice words, I rebooted, only to blue screen again. No problem, there’s always “safe mode.” Too bad safe mode blue screened as well. With little hope of getting anything recovered, I gave up, fired up my Mac and started from scratch. It’s not the first time this has happened to me, where for some reason or another I’ve lost work on my computer. I suspect it’s happened to a few of you out there too.

But this latest bad experience changed my thought process from Apple tablets to what’s wrong with the whole PC landscape and today’s operating systems.

Continue reading Entelligence: Stains on the sleeve of my operating system

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

 |  | 

Go here to read the rest:
Entelligence: Stains on the sleeve of my operating system

We’ve been seeing a lot of reports of Verizon data services being down today, possibly limited to BlackBerrys (which, ironically, are probably used in mission critical situations more than most other devices). What’s the status out there in the field? Anyone see any issues?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Response from commenters has us thinking this is a pretty isolated incident, but keep the reports coming. Thanks, everyone!

Is Verizon data down for you? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:23:00 EST..

 |  | 

See the rest here: 
Is Verizon data down for you?

At a quick glance, you might think that you’re looking at the back of a 5530 here, but look closer — the camera’s a little different, and we don’t know what’s up with that grille or the slits underneath. Indeed, we could very well be looking at the back of a rumored 5900 XpressMusic, a phone allegedly set to bow at Nokia World in Stuttgart next month with a 5 megapixel camera, S60 5th Edition FP1 (first we’ve heard of an S60 5th Edition feature pack), and — get this — support for SDXC, which would give the phone truly insane expandability options. It’s also apparently a bit thinner than the 5800 it’d be replacing, though the SDXC rumor is truly off the wall — we’ll need to wait right up until Nokia World until we believe that particular tidbit.

Update: Looks like the photo’s been floating around for a while — hard to say whether it’s legit or not — but these spec details are new. Of course, time’ll tell whether they turn out to be legit — everyone got their German vacations booked? Thanks, Symbian Freak!

Nokia 5900 XpressMusic spotted from the back? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:59:00 EST..

 |  |  | 

View original post here: 
Nokia 5900 XpressMusic spotted from the back?

Continue reading CourseSmart releases eTextbook reader for iPhone

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

 |  |  | 

Here is the original post:
CourseSmart releases eTextbook reader for iPhone