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We told you when we unveiled our back to school guide that we’d be giving away a bunch of gear, remember that? Well, here we are, ready to deliver. So what do we have in our bag of goodies this time? Let’s just say our winner is going to be one happy camper. A bunch of the companies we featured in the guide have graciously handed over some gear for one lucky reader. The list of gear that will be in your bag is below — so read the rules (seriously, they’ve changed — read them!) and submit a comment to be entered! Good luck.

One randomly chosen winner will receive:

One (1) Acer Aspire Timeline 8000 laptop
One (1) Acer Aspire One D250
One (1) Nokia Surge
One (1) Astak EZ-Reader Pro*
One (1) iLuv iMM153 dock
One (1) Canon Pixma MP490 all-in-one printer
One (1) Timbuk2 customizable Swig bag
One (1) Cocoon Innovations CPS 400 laptop case
One (1) Roku Digital Video Player

Big thanks to the following companies for providing us with gear to give away: Acer, Nokia, Astak, iLuv, Canon, Timbuk2, Cocoon Innovations, and Roku.

* The Astak EZ-Reader Pro will be released during the month of September, and will ship to the winner at that time.

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school giveaway, part one!

Filed under: Announcements

Engadget’s back to school giveaway, part one! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:Engadget’s back to school giveaway, part one!

Patel Institute of Engineering and Technology’s A.K. Mittra and associates have devised a clever and inexpensive early warning detection system for monitoring the fetal heart rate of that bun months-long in the oven. With two microphones — one placed on the pregnant soon-to-be mother’s abdomen and one inside the bedroom — hooked up to a nearby computer, the two audio feeds are used to estimate and subtract the ambient room noise for a better read on the baby’s vitals just before the woman goes to bed. Converted to a wav file, if anomalies are detected it’s immediately compressed to MP3 and sent to the doctor for further testing. An efficient plan, to be sure, and we can only hope the baby is healthy and hyper-intelligent enough to give normal heartbeats and start recording his or her first LP.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Two-mic system detects fetal heart rate anomalies, prenatal beat sampling originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:Two-mic system detects fetal heart rate anomalies, prenatal beat sampling

It’s sort of interesting that China is where all the Android action seems to be going down lately, but here we are, staring at the LG GW880 — essentially the company’s first Android phone. Of course, “Android” in this case means China Mobile’s custom WiFi-less OPhone platform, which means we’ll probably never see this guy outside of the Middle Kingdom, but it’s a fair look at what LG’s handset designers think an Android set should look like: 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen, 256MB RAM, GPS, and a five megapixel camera. Honestly? We’re hoping LG has grander plans for those other Android phones it has planned for this year — we’ll just have to wait and see. Hit the read link for a few more shots in the meantime.

[Via Slashphone]

Filed under: Cellphones

LG GW880 leaks out, runs Android on China Mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:LG GW880 leaks out, runs Android on China Mobile

Filed under: Displays

Researchers developing OLEDs as cheap as newspapers? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:Researchers developing OLEDs as cheap as newspapers?

The NFL has ruled on the Dallas Cowboys punt blocking super-sized videoboard deciding to leave it where it is, 90 feet above the playing field, at least for this season. That’s no surprise to us, on the last EHD Podcast we figured no one would be able to tell Jerry Jones there’s a problem with his billion dollar baby, obstructed view seating and all. So far there’s just the one strike in the books, but if it happens again, it is a dead ball and the clock and down will both be reset. Haven’t seen the punt heard round the world yet? Check after the break for a clip of the kick that caused all the commotion, though we’re still waiting for a ruling on whether or not Gears of War tournaments on the thing are still legal.

Continue reading NFL to let Cowboys giant HD scoreboard stay as-is, at least for 2009

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

NFL to let Cowboys giant HD scoreboard stay as-is, at least for 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:NFL to let Cowboys giant HD scoreboard stay as-is, at least for 2009

It ain’t the first time we’ve seen a gizmo take a backwards approach to launch, and we get the feeling it won’t be the last. After leaking out, getting reviewed and hitting the all-revealing FCC, Samsung’s mildly exciting YP-R1 portable media player is finally an official product in the megacorp’s product line. Expected to debut at IFA here in just a few days, the 8.9 millimeter-thin player will boast DivX compatibility, a 2.6-inch touchscreen, TouchWiz interface and a Beat DJ feature that enables owners to add in their own crackly voice and space-themed sound effects to songs. We don’t expect the $180 starting price to budge much, though exact pricing details should be uncovered in Berlin within the next few days. As for shipping dates? It’ll march out next month in Europe, with “other markets including Russia, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan to follow.”

Continue reading Samsung’s YP-R1 now really official, ships next month

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Samsung’s YP-R1 now really official, ships next month originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:Samsung’s YP-R1 now really official, ships next month

We already know the Creative Zii EGG development edition is shipping out to eager hands, but for the even more eager eyes out there, the folks at Anything But iPod managed some pretty nice, well-lit HD video to give another illustration of how the hardware will look and feel. The narrator is quick on multiple occasions to remind viewers it’s an early build running on Creative’s Plazma OS only (no Android yet) and he takes issue with the feel of the thin film of plastic on the touchscreen, but that and slow load times notwithstanding, the device is looking mighty impressive. Pictures through the read link, and mosey on past the break for digital peep show.

[Thanks, Mathieu]

Continue reading Video: Creative Zii EGG development kit gets a second look

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Video: Creative Zii EGG development kit gets a second look originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:Video: Creative Zii EGG development kit gets a second look

We might already have all the specalicious details on the new EeeTops from ASUS, but it never hurts to see one in action, right? Taking center stage here is the voice-activated widgetry ASUS has added to its Windows 7 install, allowing you to check the weather, play music, and even initiate Skype calls solely via the awesomeness of your voice. Expected to retail at 599 in Europe, the 20-inch ET2002T definitely looks sleek, though its screen is glossy enough for the camera girl to wave at us surreptitiously a number of times. Check it out, but be warned, there’s a small bit of salty language midway through, which is as inappropriate for the office as it is hilarious.

[Via Notebook Italia]

Continue reading Video: ASUS EeeTop PC ET2002T gets touched up

Filed under: Desktops

Video: ASUS EeeTop PC ET2002T gets touched up originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:Video: ASUS EeeTop PC ET2002T gets touched up

Looks like smartbooks really are the new netbooks, after all. Aptly exemplifying dj vu, German company Smartbook AG has issued a cease-and-desist to Netbooknews.de, claiming it owns the trademark and copyright on the term “smartbook” and that its use on the news site is damaging to the company’s reputation and credibility. The letter demands that within two weeks all instances of the word be stricken from both the German and English-language versions, despite the latter being hosted in the US, outside of German jurisdiction. Of course, the logical thing would be to go after a company like Qualcomm who’s been using the designation all along, and not the outlets who report on it, but why let a little common sense get in the way of some good ol’ fashioned internet drama, eh Smartbook? By our count, it was almost exactly six months between Psion sending out its first cease-and-desist on “netbook” to media outlets and its eventual acquiescence and settlement with Intel, so consider the clock here officially ticking.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Filed under: Laptops

Smartbook AG (the company) follows in Psion’s footsteps, issues cease and desist letter to website using the term ’smartbook’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:Smartbook AG (the company) follows in Psion’s footsteps, issues cease and desist letter to website using the term ’smartbook’

So it looks like the rumors of an Apple event on September 9 are true. This event, themed after a Rolling Stones song seems to involve some classic tunes. It also a music-focused event so that means new iPods. But what else can we expect?

Here at TechCrunch there’s a daily argument in the office, on Yammer and even on the blog about the supremacy of the iPhone versus the Google-Voice-goodness of Android phones. I chalked it up to the usual get-off-my-lawn-style ranting of Michael Arrington, and assumed the average techie was still like MG Siegler– a total Mac-head who will love the iPhone no matter how bad the reception, how bad the battery life and how many times it breaks and he has to get a new one.

But some reporters– long harassed by Mac fan boys when they’ve dared to criticize the company (read: do their jobs) — are saying a sea change is occurring in Apple fan boy nation. Witness Jon Fortt of Fortune’s recent blog post where he says the Valley owes Microsoft an apology and compares Apple to Napoleon the pig in Animal Farm.

Tesla Motors has hired Ricardo Reyes away from Google as the company’s first Vice President of Communications. Reyes is currently the head of global communications and public affairs at YouTube. Reyes will officially join Tesla on September 14.

Tesla has been on a roll recently. They announced profitability, secured $465 million in government loans to build their next car plant and raised another $50 million in equity from Daimler that valued the company at $550 million.

Of the 7 bookmarklets I have installed on my web browser, the Facebook Share one is the one I use the least. Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of sharing stuff on Facebook, but the Share functionality is too slow and too clunky. Today, Facebook is trying to improve it but it’s still won’t be as good as the functionality of the company it just bought, FriendFeed.

From what it has written on its Facebook Developers site today, it sounds like most of the Share changes will be happening functionality for buttons partners can install on their sites. If you have a Share button installed, for example, users should see a dialog box that pops up to post an item to their profile. The dialog box is said to be “more consistent with other forms of sharing on Facebook.”

Recently NetVibes, the startup that lets you create a widget-filled customizable homepage, rolled out a free feature allowing users to create widget-based web pages, dubbed Theme Publishing. Ostensibly aimed at users, it also has one eye on potentially charging brands and agencies to create customised home pages.

In other words, Netvibes is trying to monetize itself as fast as possible. To that end it’s also now re-selling its architecture to portals and ISPs. Germany’s largest portal and ISP, T-Online, has thus now launched launched Meine Seite, a user-personalized, widget-based version of their site powered by Netvibes.