Look, we know you’ve spent the last three or so hours toying around on Dell’s build-to-order page, but be honest with yourself — are you really willing to pull the trigger on an Inspiron 13 without taking one tiny peek at a review first? NotebookReview has snagged one of the new 13-inchers and taken it for a ride on the test bench, and overall, things are lookin’ up. Reviewers found the design to be “sleek,” the specifications to be “reasonable” and the price point “attractive.” Beyond that, it also found the battery life to be surprisingly satisfactory, though the “cheap palm rests and noisy slot-loading optical drive” were small (albeit noteworthy) nuisances. In the end, critics summed things up by suggesting that if you’re scouting “a basic mobile companion with good looks and a low price tag, then this is probably the right notebook for you.” Hit up the read link for the full writeup and even a few benchmarks.
In response to claims that their original iPhone 3G test was not valid because the phone used was in good working order, Swedish scientists gathered up 2 iPhones from users that were experiencing reception problems. Once again, testing showed that there was nothing wrong with the antennas. Obviously, you can’t test every phone, but it seems pretty clear that the iPhone antenna is not the problem here. [Goteborgs-Posten via AppleInsider]
We’re not sure whether this case is for the real upcoming iPod nano or it’s just a speculative fabrication. but its elongated design mimics the same style of the Kevin Rose rendering that we came out last week. I’ll tell you though, if Apple released a short, fat iPod just to go back to the tall, skinny design, it’s confirmed—Jonathan Ive really is exploiting the public as part of some larger, demented bet with Steve Jobs. [Alibaba via MacRumors]
HTC Dream’s Dimensions Leaked by FCC, Misses Out All-Important Thickness [Android] HTC’s Dream phone, with Android goodness, hit the FCC last week, and details have been popping up elsewhere too: But a new pic over at FCC has given us a concrete bit of data at last… the Dream’s size. It’s a svelte 55mm, or 2.17-inches wide, and 115mm or 4.53-inches long. That’s a jot shorter than the iPhone 3G’s length (though it’s 0.28-inches narrower,) and only slightly bigger than the HTC Touch Diamond at 4.02 x 2.01 inches. Do you spot what’s missing? The all-important depth of the phone—it’s not shown on the FCC imagery. The slide-out QWERTY keypad will play a part in that, but we don’t know as yet exactly how slim or pocket-stretching it’s going to be. [FCC]
If you are impulsive enough to drop over $100,000 on a whim for a nerdy automobile, here is your chance to score one of the five Batmobiles made for the original Michael Keaton movie. Unfortunately, you only have until 5PM PDT today to put in a bid on this baby, so you had better hurry (I know you guys are all frantically searching for your wallets). [eBay via CNet]
If you are impulsive enough to drop over $100,000 on a whim for a nerdy automobile, here is your chance to score one of the five Batmobiles made for the original Michael Keaton movie. Unfortunately, you only have until 5PM PDT today to put in a bid on this baby, so you had better hurry (I know you guys are all frantically searching for your wallets). [eBay via CNet]
We sort of figured Dell’s Studio branding would come to the XPS line sooner or later — the family resemblance between the Studio laptops and the XPS m1330 and m1530 is hard to ignore, after all — and it looks like we don’t have much longer to wait, if you believe these slides discovered by Jayson in the NotebookReview forums. The Studio XPS 13 and 16, due in November, will be Intel Centrino 2-based machines with hybrid SLI support, slot-loading Blu-ray drives, edge-to-edge glass displays with optional LED backlighting, backlit keyboards, and WiMAX and UWB support. We’re digging the funky woodgrain on the Studio XPS 16, but it’ll be interesting to see how much these cost if and when they hit — the Studio line was supposed to sit in between the Inspiron and XPS lines, so we’re hoping these’ll also come in below the current XPS price tags. Check the other four slides, including the Studio XPS 13, after the break.
Martin Montesano’s giant “Walking Beast” isn’t the first robot spider ever made, but it is the only one I can recall that is this enormous and has the ability to take on passengers. His 12,000-pound, 23-foot-long creation was built over the course of three years at an expense of $50,000—and it can carry up to six passengers in its steel belly and two (including the driver) in the head.
If you are fortunate enough to actually ride in the Walking Beast, don’t expect heart-pounding, edge of your seat thrills. Its Chevy V8 engine only musters up enough power to move the steel behemoth along at around 5 mph—although it does shake the ground up to 500 feet away with each step. Montesano is planning on making some upgrades to the Walking Beast in the near future, including an elevator system to load passengers. Perhaps he should start touring the country offering rides at $10 a pop—sort of like a nerdy adult version of pony rides at a state fair. [Pop Sci]
It’s official: Dr. Trung doesn’t have a day job. He’s been tweaking his fembot “Aiko” for almost a year now, and his latest creation is a rather amazing hand that can be used for Aiko or for human augmentation. The last time we saw them the hand was a clumsy golf glove affair, but now Trung has slimmed it down to more feminine, creepo proportions, while keeping the five movable fingers and pretty stunning dexterity for what seems to be a primarily individual effort on the part of Dr. Trung. The next step seems to be feedback sensors, and we still haven’t seen this bolted onto Aiko, but we like where this project is headed. Video is after the break.
In response to claims that their 
We’re not sure whether this case is for the real upcoming iPod nano or it’s just a speculative fabrication. but its elongated design mimics the same style of the 
HTC’s Dream phone, with 
If you are impulsive enough to drop over $100,000 on a whim for a nerdy automobile, here is your chance to score one of the five Batmobiles made for the original Michael Keaton movie. Unfortunately, you only have until 5PM PDT today to put in a bid on this baby, so you had better hurry (I know you guys are all frantically searching for your wallets). [
Martin Montesano’s giant “Walking Beast” isn’t the first robot spider ever made, but it is the only one I can recall that is this enormous and has the ability to take on passengers. His 12,000-pound, 23-foot-long creation was built over the course of three years at an expense of $50,000—and it can carry up to six passengers in its steel belly and two (including the driver) in the head.
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