It has taken longer than anticipated, but the Boox e-reader that we toyed with at CeBIT earlier this year is finally available for order here in the US of A, with shipments expected to begin in a fortnight. Onyx International’s 6-inch reader — which features WiFi, a Vizplex e-ink display, a 532MHz processor, 512MB of memory, a 1,600mAh battery and an SD / SDHC expansion slot — is bring slung across the seas courtesy of Dulin’s Books, and while it won’t ship with integrated 3G support, it’s still coming here with a lofty $349 price tag affixed to it. Sure, that WebKit browser may impress some, and the bundled white leather cover is a pleasant touch, but we can only wish it luck as it tries to rival the (less high-priced and more capable) Nook and Kindle.

[Thanks, Jorge]

Dulin’s Books brings Onxy’s 6-inch Boox 60 e-reader to US shores for $349 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 06:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The OWLE, available now from ThinkGeek, turns your iPhone into a full-featured audio/video rig by “using anodized billet aluminum, a mini boom-mic and a wide angle lens.” Simply slide the handset into the silicone case, and you’re ready to shoot. Continue reading to see how it works.

Still shots turn out great as well. The shoe mount on the top and screw mounts on the corners of the OWLE let you do things with the iPhone Apple never planned on.

[via ThinkGeek]

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Sure, this ain’t the first time that Seagate’s allegedly run afoul of the law, but this tale will definitely have you breathlessly demanding more (you know, if patent infringement is exciting to you — which would actually be pretty weird). Way back in July 2000, Convolve (an M.I.T. spin-off formed to market the school’s hard drive noise reduction research) sued Seagate for using patented tech in its Sound Barrier Technology — with the end result being that Seagate drives no longer support automatic acoustic management. But that isn’t the exciting part. In a dramatic turn reported by The New York Times, a former Seagate employee named Paul A. Galloway has apparently provided “an eyewitness account” of what went down, including the theft of info obtained in a meeting between the two companies held in 1998 and 1999 and the destruction of blueprints relating to Convolve’s technology. As for the whistleblower, he claims that he was kept in the dark about the nature of the research he was working on, with Seagate even going so far as to take his personal with notes pertinent to the trial. All of this (and more) are detailed in an affidavit that is available (in PDF form) by hitting that source link — and, man, is it a page-turner!

Ex-Seagate employee claims the company stole MIT research, tried to cover up its tracks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like Nokia’s pulling all the stops in its patent fight with Apple: in addition to the already-filed lawsuit, the Finnish company has now filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission, alleging that “virtually all” of Apple’s products infringe one of seven patents covering user interfaces, cameras, antennas, and power management. Ouch. Of course, this is a pretty standard tactic as far as major patent disputes go — this is just a second front of the same war, and we’d expect Apple to lodge an ITC complaint of its own in due time. What could make this interesting is the ITC’s power to ban imports of infringing products in relatively short order, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on this one.

Nokia brings Apple patent fight to the ITC, states most Apple products infringe originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve always wanted a really solid humanoid robot of our very own. Remo, a hobby bot recently released in Japan — who boasts two arms and legs and seems to be about the size of a Good Guy doll — could perfectly fit that bill. He’s got pressure sensors in his feet to help out his balance, two sensors in his “eye” section (with two color CCD cameras for image processing), and Bluetooth connectivity for communication with your PC. He also comes with the expressive faceplate you see in the photo — which should definitely keep your nieces and nephews from trying to touch him, anyway. Remo is available in Japan now, but something of this quality is, as you might have guessed, not cheap: he’ll run you

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This gamer made his list 28-weeks early, checked it twice, and got a Modern Warfare Collector’s Set rather than the MW2 game he asked for on Christmas day. Fortunately, “he enjoyed watching those movies and laughed off the entire incident.”

After seeing this the teenage was obviously shocked, but he kept his cool and in fact thanked his grandfather for the gift.

[via Gamingbolt]

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If you thought the automakers would be leaving CES to the Television and PMP makers, Ford would like to have a word with you. A few words, actually. Aside from announcing that in-car WiFi will be available next year, the iconic blue oval is this day calling itself the first vehicle manufacturer to offer factory-installed HD Radio with iTunes tagging capabilities. Slated to become available on select 2011 Ford models sometime next year, the implementation will enable listeners of HD Radio to “tag” songs they like via a single button press; from there, the song information will be logged within the radio’s memory, and up to 100 tags on Sync can be stored until an iPod is connected to suck them down. Once that data hits the iPod, users can then preview or purchase them conveniently through iTunes. There’s no word yet on pricing (we’re being forced to wait until CES), but we’re guessing it’ll demand quite the premium.

Continue reading Ford becomes first automaker to offer HD Radio with iTunes tagging

Ford becomes first automaker to offer HD Radio with iTunes tagging originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unlike Panic Attack, giant robots weren’t used in the Champlain bridge demolition, which connected New York and Vermont. Advanced Explosives Demolition used “800 pounds of explosives packed into more than 500 charges” instead. Video after the break.

Snow fell and a small group of onlookers watched as the 2,184-foot-long span between Crown Point, N.Y., and Addison, Vt., was dropped into the water and ice at the narrow south end of the lake Monday morning.

[via Huffingtonpost]

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Remember the Bolt from CES 2009? Man, that was ages ago. If you’ll recall, projector phones were actually all the rage for around 4.67 minutes at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, and ever since we’ve been dealt months of nothing alongside one lone ranger of something in the LG eXpo. Evidently Logic Wireless is hoping that we’ll forget all about the Bolt that never shipped and instead focus on the next best thing: the 150LGW. Available for order now at Skymall (of all places), the projector phone looks significantly slimmer and more stylish than the company’s first crack, and aside from the inbuilt PJ, there’s also twin SIM card slots, dual cameras, an Office file viewer, quad-band GSM radio, Bluetooth and Symbian running the show. We aren’t too sure we’d be willing to shell out $499 without any proof that this thing is worth its salt, but you can bet we’ll be on the hunt for it once CES 2010 opens up next week.

Logic Wireless 150LGW projector phone reminds us of that Bolt we once saw originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The tap that keeps on leaking has inadvertently let loose an internal “notebook index” document that corroborates earlier rumblings of a forthcoming Envy 14. Sourced from HP’s Korean site, this tiny ditty reveals Envy 14 and Envy 17 models, which both tick the ‘HP external USB DVD Drive’ category, bringing up the intriguing possibility of a 17-inch laptop without an integrated optical drive. The larger machine is also listed alongside “new” 6- and 9-cell battery packs, but other internal specs remain unknown. In other news, successors to the Elitebook 2730p tablet, 2530p ultraportable and 8730w desktop replacement have been spotted, with 16:9 display ratios on the smaller machines and 16:10 on the 17-inch workstation. Hit the read link for more details, and keep it locked to the Engadget channel as CES hits in a few days’ time, when a lot of these sketchy leaks will be replaced by exhaustive spec sheets and full-color, in-the-metal photography.

[Thanks, Billy]

HP Envy 14, Envy 17, and new EliteBooks leak onto the scene originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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