Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It’s been a long road plagued with disappointments and major mishaps, but SpaceX (and founder Elon Musk) has finally made history — on Sunday the company’s Falcon 1 rocket reached orbit. After three attempts to bring the dream to life, the space exploration company succeeded in putting the first privately-developed rocket into space. The liftoff was seen live during a webcast, and the company’s site was continuously updated with news, including a message written at 16:26PDT reading:

T+0:08:21 Falcon 1 reached orbital velocity, 5200 m/s

Nominal Second stage cut off (SECO) - Falcon 1 has made history as the first privately developed liquid fueled launch vehicle to achieve earth orbit!!!!!!

Needless to say, after the trials and tribulations SpaceX has gone through (including the loss of Star Trek star James Doohan’s ashes), this must be welcome relief… as well as the birth of a potentially lucrative new enterprise. Er, no pun intended.

[Via Slashdot]

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Filed under: Cellphones

Okay, so first we heard that Nokia’s Comes with Music service would be good and ready by October 2nd. Then we heard October 17th. Now, a certain “anonymous industry source” has revealed that the long-awaited XpressMusic 5800 (or the Tube, as it were) will be launching on the 2nd of next month. With so much conflicting evidence out and about, we’re firmly in “wait and see” mode at this point, and considering that “launch” gives no indication of a ship date, we reckon you’re better off doing the same.

[Thanks, Mikkel]

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Filed under: Announcements, Cellphones

If you’re feeling those butterflies-in-the-stomach over next Tuesday’s Android and T-Mobile announcement, hold tight. We’re going to be there live, blogging away like you know we do and hopefully handling (or at least seriously photographing) the first official Android phones. We wanted to give you a heads up so you’ll know where to be, so join us at 10:30AM EDT for all the good news!

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

On the whole, we’d say KURO plasma owners are pretty stoked about their sets. Those who’d prefer a KURO-branded LCD, however, have been waiting anxiously to hear something more from ole Pioneer for months. Thankfully, the firm has finally spoken, and while it doesn’t mention any brand / model names specifically, we can assume that those LCD HDTVs we saw emerge in Europe will be gracing US shores in mere months. During the first half of 2009, Pioneer LCD HDTVs will be loosed in North America and Asia, and unless plans change, the panels within will actually be supplied by Sharp. Might we be on the lookout for a sneak peek at CES ‘09?

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Filed under: Cellphones

Let’s be honest here — there’s precisely two three things you still need to know about the BlackBerry Storm. Launch date, price and whether it’ll play Doom. Sadly, we’re no closer to helping you on those last two, but the datasheet you see above does give us a general idea of when we’ll see this puppy in stores. Obviously looking to get this out before the holiday rush, it looks as if the carrier will be making things official sometime between September 22nd and October 1st, and that little “eligible for Annual Upgrade (by 11/1/08)” bit gives us hope for a November 1st release. In case you were wishing for the impossible, Verizon gets all red-text up in here with a note that this thing will not, come hell or high water, be sold sans an e-mail / data package. Interestingly, the Boy Genius has asserted that VZW is playing the fiddle by loosing all these “leaks” on the unsuspecting public. We’re not very confident of that being true, but it’s decent fodder for discussion if nothing else.

Read - BlackBerry Storm pre-launch information
Read - Verizon slipping Storm details?

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Filed under: Transportation

Wipe those tears away, budding astronaut. SpaceX’s latest failure wasn’t completely in vain. According to head honcho Elon Musk, the problem came just after a “picture perfect first stage flight” when a longer than expected thrust decay transient of the new Merlin 1C regeneratively cooled engine became “just enough to overcome the stage separation pusher impulse.” You honestly may need to be a rocket scientist to digest all of that, but here’s something even the layman can understand: Musk wants flight 4 in the air as early as next month. We’re told that the long gap between flights 2 and 3 was simply due to all that engine engineering, but technologically speaking, nothing will change for the next attempt. Godspeed, Falcon 1 (v4).

[Thanks, Kenneth]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation

Aw man, and we had such high hopes that the third time really would be a charm. SpaceX’s third attempt to launch a payload rocket into outer space failed this weekend, with launch control confirming an “anomaly” just five minutes after liftoff. Elon Musk, SpaceX chairman and CEO, did admit that it was “obviously a big disappointment not to reach orbit on this Flight 3 of the Falcon 1,” but he has assured the world that his firm won’t be wasting any time feeling sorry for itself. The Falcon 1 was carrying a minuscule satellite dubbed Trailblazer for the Pentagon’s Operationally Responsive Space Office, though we’ve no idea how costly the loss was. Thankfully, we can all look forward to SpaceX trying again sometime in the future, but unless the tables turn in a hurry, we’d say the odds are still stacked against it.

[Via Wired]

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Filed under: Transportation

Hold onto your dollar bills, y’all — the WhiteKnightTwo is set to be unveiled (and swooned over) on Monday. We knew the fabled space tourism vehicle was set to be unwrapped this month, but knowing that said event is merely hours away just gets our juices flowin’. Richard Branson and “other dignitaries” are preparing to officially launch the ship at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California (a short drive from Zzyzx, we hear), and we’re still being led to believe that test flights should begin as early as this fall. Hey, at least you know what you’re doing next year if your ship comes in.

[Via The Register]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Shocker_Apple_actually_apologizes_to_MobileMe_customers’; After six long days, Apple has issued an official statement on the debacle that was / is the MobileMe transition, and has offered a 30-day extension to contracts as an olive branch to disgruntled users. According to a form letter being sent to subscribers, the company openly admits that the switch to MobileMe was “a lot rockier than hoped,” and claims that the service is now running smoothly. Additionally (and somewhat surprisingly) Apple rescinded its use of the word “push” to cover all of its services, conceding that while there is indeed push to-and-from iPhones and the “cloud,” computers are still being polled every 15 minutes… which is the same as .Mac (and honestly Apple, you didn’t know that wasn’t technically push?). We suppose this would be all well and good provided that MobileMe was actually functioning as advertised, but indications from readers — and our own testing — suggest otherwise. Customers are still having difficulties with email and syncing between iPhones and the cloud (duplicate messages, deleted messages that don’t leave the inbox, etc.), the advertised “auto-complete” on mail addressing doesn’t function at all, and calendars are plagued with small moving / deletion problems, as well as being unable to sync subscriptions… and that’s just off the top of our head (see the company’s support forums for more). The 30-day extension is a nice gesture Apple, but we’re thinking customers would prefer a service that works as advertised.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

As the release date for ZeeVee’s ZvBox draws near (we’re hearing July 31st), the company is out and about in an attempt to drum up demand as the run-up to its launch progresses. During CONNECTIONS 2008, ZeeVee was in attendance with a ZvBox on display, and aside from snapping a few telling photographs, the folks over at eHomeUpgrade were also able to capture a couple videos to give you an early feel of its capabilities (and limitations). We don’t have to tell you where the goods are, but if you’re new here, that read link down there is a good place to start.

[Via SlashGear]

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Filed under: Laptops

It’s safe to say the flood gates are officially open, as just a fortnight after HP’s Pavilion tx2500z tablet got upgraded with Puma-based innards, along comes the Pavilion dv5z series to join the fold. Available for ordering right now at HP’s website, users can grab one of these lappies with an AMD Athlon / Turion X2 (Ultra) dual-core processor, a 15.4-inch panel, up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, ATI’s Radeon HD 3200 / HD 3450 graphics, integrated WiFi / Bluetooth, up to 320GB of hard drive space and your choice of a DVD burner or Blu-ray drive. For the full list of specifications and to get one of these headed your way, head southwest to the read link and be prepared to hand over a bare minimum of $699.99.

[Via Laptoping, thanks Danijel]

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Filed under: Cellphones

Don’t take a vacation day just yet or anything, but early word has it that Apple’s iPhone 3G will actually go on sale at 8:00AM (local time, most likely) on July 11th. If you’ll recall (how could you forget, right?), the original iPhone didn’t go on sale until 6:00PM on launch day, but considering that the whole checkout process will likely be a fair bit more involved this go ’round, we’d say it’s a smart move to get the line rolling early.

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Filed under: Tablet PCs

Get ready, argonauts — Panasonic’s Atom-based UMPC Toughbook is gearing up to ship out soon. Since getting really official at CeBIT in March, we haven’t heard a peep from Panny in regard to a definitive ship date. According to PC World, the rugged mini tablet will be loosed “later this week,” and it will of course include a touch-sensitive 5.6-inch screen, compact QWERTY keypad, a variety of ports, Intel’s Atom processor and a chassis built to withstand just about anything next to getting pelted with napalm. As for fleshed out specs and global ship dates, we’re told to expect those on Wednesday.

[Via TG Daily]

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Filed under: Laptops

The sub-$300 RazorBook 400 is far from being the most potent netbook on the block, but that succulent price tag will likely compensate in the eyes of some folks. If you’re one such character, you’ll probably want to take a look at the first hands-on video with said unit. Predictably, this bad boy is ridiculously small, and if the 45 second boot-up is any indication, it’s pretty sluggish as well. Video is just after the break.

Continue reading 3K Computers’ RazorBook 400 gets hands-on treatment

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Filed under: Laptops

Our feelings are largely unchanged about the lackluster RazorBook 400, but hacking a full Benjamin from the asking price is sure to get people looking. Yep, the subnote we previously heard would run around $400 has just been officially announced by 3K Computers at $299. Specs wise, everything is remaining the same — less than 2-pounds, 7-inch display, 4GB of internal flash and a promised boot-up time of under 8-seconds — but it just got a lot harder to brush this one off and look elsewhere.

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Filed under: Portable Audio

If that Swarovski crystal-clad E010 was a bit too rich for your blood, why not take a gander at said unit’s successor? The recently introduced NWD-E020F series sports that well-known USB stick style, and as you can tell, you can customize yours in (almost) any color you choose thanks to the bundled (and changeable) Style-Up panels. By juicing this one all the way up — which takes just an hour, by the way — users can expect a respectable 28 hours of continuous playback; as for file compatibility, the E020 will play nice with MP3, WMA, AAC and LPCM formats. Get yours here (as in, the US of A) sometime soon for $69 (1GB) / $79 (2GB).

[Via CNET]

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

We knew it was coming, and after waiting for quite some time for FreeSat to go from concept to reality, television viewers across the UK can finally indulge. If you’ll recall, a recent survey found that just 5-percent of Europe’s HDTV owners actually bothered to tune into HD programming, but now that number is likely to change. Effective today, 98-percent of the UK can fork out a one-time fee of £49 ($96) to £120 ($234) in order to acquire a FreeSat set-top-box, and after an £80 ($156) installation, users will have subscription-free access to BBC HD, ITV HD (coming soon), Channel 4’s digital service and around 70 other TV / radio channels. Better still, that number is slated to rise to 200 before the year’s end, and unsurprisingly, the launch is expected to boost available high-def offerings in the region. Anyone across the pond have their equipment set up already? How’s the service?

[Thanks, Ivan]

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Filed under: Cellphones

Get this: the first North American carrier to offer up Nokia’s 8GB N95 isn’t AT&T. Heck, it’s not even a US-based operator. No friends, it’s Canada’s own Rogers Wireless. Just as we had heard late last month, the N95 8GB has officially landed in the Great North, and starting on May 6th, consumers up that way will be able to secure one for a hefty $399.99 with a three-year activation on the Rogers Vision Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan. Don’t weep too heavily, AT&T users — your time should be coming soon.

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Just in case you weren’t satisfied with the plethora of media streamers out there already, startup ZeeVee is hoping to catch your eye with its admittedly unique offering. The June-bound ZvBox ($499) plugs into one’s computer (VGA) and sends on-screen content to every TV in the house over existing coaxial cabling. Put simply, the unit enables users to view any kind of internet media right on their television with no subscription fees or wireless dropouts. Aside from bringing internet video over, users can also access any other computer application (web browser, built-in DVD player, etc.) right from their set. In order to handle said tasks, the box comes bundled with a wireless ZvRemote / Zviewer, but those comfortable with managing their own desktop won’t be bothered with any fancy interfaces. Suffice to say, those looking to easily pipe their Media PC recordings to the family TV will certainly find reason to take notice. Head on the past the break for a few more details.

Continue reading ZeeVee’s ZvBox streams your PC to your HDTV over coax, Apple TV cowers

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Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video, Wireless

Just months after Alcatel Lucent and SFR hosted DVB-SH trials across the pond comes word that the mobile TV technology is headed Stateside. ICO Global Communications is donning the party hats and going through buckets upon buckets of ice cream in celebration of a successful satellite launch that will eventually bring those yearned-after mobile television goods to the US, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. The ICO G1 was placed into its initial geosynchronous transfer orbit yesterday afternoon, and now the company is eagerly awaiting certification that the bird is fully operational (and can pass the final FCC milestone) by May 15th. If all goes to plan, Las Vegas, Nevada and Raleigh / Durham, North Carolina will be gifted with ICO mim (mobile interactive media) service trials “later this summer,” though a commercial launch isn’t slated to occur until “later in 2009.”

[Via phonemag], image courtesy of WESH]

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