Filed under: Robots

We’ve always been skeptical of Rolly’s purpose, but Associated Press business writer Rachel Metz isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to reviewing Sony’s MP3-playing dance-bot. She calls it a mere conversation-starter “if your dancing hamster has run off”, notes that the $400 toy lacks a headphone jack, and scoffs at the 2GB of storage. She also offers that while she gets the notion of the Rolly as a programmable bot with its “Rolly Choreography” software, she had a hard time justifying the time it took to just get through one song (30 minutes of tweaking for 20 seconds of bot action). We’re not about to defend the Rolly’s place in life, but let’s be fair: Rolly isn’t meant to solve problems: it’s meant to confuse AP writers, scare cats, and get hacked to all oblivion.

[Via BoingBoing]

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Via [Engadget]

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ASUS positively, definitely launching 10-inch Eee PC 1000 at Computex

Filed under: Laptops

There hasn’t exactly been much mystery surrounding this one, but Crave’s UK arm has now gotten word straight from ASUS that the company will indeed be launching its new Eee PC 1000 series laptop at Computex in Taiwan next Tuesday and that, yes, it will a 10-inch model. This one won’t actually be available for sale until November, however, at least in the UK. Unfortunately, ASUS apparently isn’t quite ready to confirm if the laptop will be Atom-based or not, but everything certainly seems to be pointing in that direction.

[Thanks, Joe]

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MacBooks Get SSDs (Unofficially) [Apple]

While it’s possible to install standalone solid state hard drives into most any laptop, it’s always nice to see services selling preconfigured packages. Right now a company named ExperCom is offering both MacBooks and MacBook Pros with SSDs installed out of the box. And their prices are actually pretty reasonable.

While a new 15″ Macbook Pro with 200GB hard drive will run you $2,000 from Apple, Expercom’s version with a 120GB SSD will only cost $2649. That’s only a $50 price premium over the drive’s $600 pricepoint, so not nearly as bad as those beefed-up TiVos of yore. A 13″ Macbook with 60GB SSD will cost $1649…meaning that SSD laptops with functional hard drives will soon be getting downright buyable.

ExperCom will also transfer files off of existing systems you want to upgrade. That’ll run you $599 (60GB) or $899 (120GB) for the full hardware and service. [ExperCom via TUAW]

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Nokia N96 Available for Preorder, Due 7/31 for… $1,200?! [Cellphones]

Nokia’s upcoming N96 monsterphone might justbe coming out on July 31st with the wha-wha-whaaaa inducing pricetag of $1,200 if Play.com is to be believed. At least that’s what the pre-release price is on that site — Nokia’s estimated retail price is $800. That’s still a bonkers price to pay for a phone, but it’s significantly less bonkers than $1,200. In any case, 7/31 seems as good a date as any for the N96 to drop. We’ll see if that actually happens. [Play.com via Symbian Guru]

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Mouse Phone totally disregards Mickey trademark

Filed under: Cellphones

From the same e-tailer that brought you the CECT Wrist comes a not-exactly-Disney-approved handset that looks strangely similar to that really famous rodent. Yes friends, the Mouse Phone makes exactly zero mention of Disney in the description (yet slaps a logo on the inside), undoubtedly plans on paying $0.00 in royalties and even tries to dodge that ever-vigilant legal team by slanting the eyes and throwing on a Mii-style schnoz. The flip-open mobile features GSM connectivity, a 1.3-inch 160 x 128 resolution display, FM tuner, a built-in multimedia player and a 1.3-megapixel camera. Oh, and a wickedly exotic lanyard, too. All that for just

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Fujitsu Siemens’ Amilo 3000 laptops match your Stormtrooper suit

Don’t just sit there clone, Fujitsu-Siemens just announced it’s new Amilo 3000 series. The 16- and 18.4-inch widescreen (16:9) Laptops include options for Wireless USB, spill-proof keyboards, Blu-ray, and NVIDIA or ATI Hybrid Graphics for on-the-fly switching between discrete and UMA graphics when you need extra 3D power or extra battery life. They’ve also tossed in a palm-sized AMILO Graphic Booster; an external graphics adapter like ASUS’ ASUS ROG XG Station which Fujitsu Siemens claims provides your laptop up to 470% more GPU power. Matching accessories too, tough guy, all pictured in the gallery below.

[Via Pocket-lint]

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HTC Touch Diamond Available Online Now [Touch Diamond]

European users who want to get their HTC Touch Diamond slightly earlier than the June release date can hop online and buy them for a slightly exhorbitant price right now. DechoWireless, PopularElect and Welectronics have them in stock anywhere between $780 to $850 (you’ll probably want to go with the $780 one) ready to ship to you. We think they ship to the US as well, so if you don’t want to wait the extra few months for HTC to officially declare support here, this is your (kinda expensive) ticket. [Phone Arena]

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Space Shuttle to Save the Day, Take Toilet Repair Kit to ISS [ISS]

It must be a relief for the ISS crew to hear that their malfunctioning toilet will get some urgently-needed repairs next week, now that Discovery will be whizzing a new pump aloft. The dodgy loo has been unable to deal with liquid waste, and repair attempts failed. So NASA has cleared Discovery to fly on Saturday with a 13kg replacement pump, even though it means leaving other stuff behind. “Having a working toilet is a priority for us,” said Scott HigginbothamHigginbottom, in charge of shuttle payloads. The Russian-made pump was even give special treatment: it was flown in a diplomatic pouch from Russia. Clearly when spacemen need to go, they need to go… [New Scientist]

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Ed Colligan speaks about Palm OS 2.0

Filed under: Cellphones

While Palm’s CFO Andy Brown wasn’t exactly forthcoming with details about its elusive next-gen OS, a recent interview with top dog Ed Colligan revealed quite a bit about codename Nova. As if it wasn’t official enough already, we’re told that Palm OS 2.0 (which is also not the final moniker) will indeed be Linux-based, and Ed continued to say that it would be “driven around the internet and web-based applications.” Of course, a Palm interview wouldn’t be a Palm interview without at least some mention of the now-defunct Foleo, and the bigwig left a crack in the rumor drawer by stating that he “still believed the idea would be vindicated some day.” Trust us, there’s way more where this came from, so head on down to the read link if your interest is piqued.

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AMD Puma Mobile Platform Launching Next Week, Fighting the Good Fight [Amd]

Intel’s upcoming (and delayed) Centrino 2 isn’t the only mobile platform in town. At Computex, AMD will be showing off its Puma platform, which is made up of a Turion Ultra CPU (aka Griffin), a mobile version of the 780G chipset and Mobility Radeon 3200 integrated graphics (yay synergy). AMD’s mostly targeting “volume business and consumer markets,” so it’s aiming a bit lower than Centrino 2. Which seems to match how it performs in comparison, unfortunately. Still it’s good AMD’s finally getting it out the door, fighting the good fight. [TG Daily]

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