Microsoft may extend Windows XP “downgrade” deadline by six months

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

First off, we’ll warn you that these reports are currently unconfirmed by the suits in Redmond, but word has it that Microsoft is working with at least one OEM to have the Windows XP “downgrade” deadline pushed out from January 2009 to at least July 31, 2009. That’s according to an e-mail sent from Microsoft to an unspecified partner company, which purportedly details a plan to work with other buddies in pushing that deadline out another half year. Given the results thus far, we suppose we’re not too surprised to hear that firms are still clamoring for the XP option, but one wonders when this madness will ever end. Will folks really be opting for XP on new machines after Windows 7 is out?

[Via Download Squad]

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HP offers up Special Edition Pavilion dv4t and dv5t

Filed under: Laptops

HP’s got the Special Edition itch again, and it’s scratching it with both hands as evidenced by the newest dv4t and dv5t SE notebooks. Starting with the former, we’ve got a flashily designed 14.1-incher with a WXGA panel, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a handful of Core 2 Duo CPU choices, NVIDIA’s 512MB GeForce 9200M GS, up to 400GB of hard drive space, WiFi, optional WWAN and an integrated HDTV hybrid tuner. The equally fashionable Pavilion dv5t SE sports a 15.4-inch LCD, a GMA4500MHD integrated graphics set, optional Blu-ray writer and most everything already mentioned on its smaller sibling. You can snatch either of these up for $1,099.99 / $949 (or higher) right now, but we’d make sure you really dig the tattoos before making a decision you’ll regret forever.

[Via Notebooks]

Read - HP Pavilion dv4t Special Edition
Read - HP Pavilion dv5t Special Edition

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Filed under: Robots

You know those insect-like micro air vehicles (MAV) we’ve been seeing? Well, the ExoFly aerobot is based on that camera-equipped DelFly design, only this time it’s gearing up for a trip to Mars — maybe even Titan or Venus. Turns out flapping-wing flight is perfect for the low-density Martian atmosphere. The current prototype — weighing 17g with a wingspan of 350mm and flight time of twelve minutes — is being tweaked for use in future missions to Mars. The folks at Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University, who’ve teamed up with Ursa Minor Space & Navigation, plan on increasing the weight to 20g and adding an on-board solar cell, which they reckon should extend the flight distance to 15km. There’s also talk of using the digital terrain and image data gathered to simulate a 3D immersive environment for detailed analysis of extraterrestrial destinations — hopefully viewable by those of us who don’t have the billions to drop on a flight to Mars.

[Via New Scientist Space]

Continue reading ExoFly: Mars’ first tourguide

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Via [Engadget]

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Filed under: Robots

You know those insect-like micro air vehicles (MAV) we’ve been seeing? Well, the ExoFly aerobot is based on that camera-equipped DelFly design, only this time it’s gearing up for a trip to Mars — maybe even Titan or Venus. Turns out flapping-wing flight is perfect for the low-density Martian atmosphere. The current prototype — weighing 17g with a wingspan of 350mm and flight time of twelve minutes — is being tweaked for use in future missions to Mars. The folks at Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University, who’ve teamed up with Ursa Minor Space & Navigation, plan on increasing the weight to 20g and adding an on-board solar cell, which they reckon should extend the flight distance to 15km. There’s also talk of using the digital terrain and image data gathered to simulate a 3D immersive environment for detailed analysis of extraterrestrial destinations — hopefully viewable by those of us who don’t have the billions to drop on a flight to Mars.

[Via New Scientist Space]

Continue reading ExoFly: Mars’ first tourguide

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Via [Engadget]

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T-Mobile Launches G1 Emulator to Pass the Time until October 22nd [T-mobile G1]

If you can’t wait for the T-Mobile G1’s release, or just couldnt figure out if it’s available or not and missed your chance to pre-order, T-Mobile has released a pretty full-featured emulator to play around with. It doesn’t have everything (GPS is missing and a few functions just give an error message) but it’ll give you a good taste of what’s to come on October 22nd. [Cell Phone Signal via Engadget Mobile]

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