Windows 7 to be officially named… Windows 7

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Microsoft is expected to be handing out pre-betas of Windows 7 to devs at WinHEC and PDC soon, and it looks like it’s settled on an official name for its next-gen OS — ahem, Windows 7. Yep, the code name is the real name, which is a first for Windows. According to Mike Nash on the Vista blog, the company went with Windows 7 because it “just makes sense” as the seventh release of Windows, and MS doesn’t want to come up with a new “aspirational” name like Vista — it “doesn’t do justice” to the goal of staying “firmly rooted” in the ideas of Vista. Which probably explains why it looks so much the same. Sure, call it whatever you like, just get it out the door on time, okay?

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Beer Phone Essentially Ensures Drunk Dialing [Drinking]

The beer phone isn’t the most full-featured phone available, what with its lack of a screen making everything from texting to emailing to web surfing impossible, but it is shaped like a beer bottle. And that’s more than you can say for your precious Blackberry or iPhone. Also, it’s only $12 because it’s actually just a landline phone. So if you’ve still got a landline for some reason and also like to have normal household objects remind you of your dependence on alcohol, you really can’t go wrong. [SourcingMap via ShinyShiny]

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Coffee Cup Powers Your Morning…and Your Gadgets [Jump Start]

Without that cup of coffee in the morning most of us would be completely useless. Now our gadgets can get the same jump start thanks to this coffee cup charger from PowerLine. It features 2 AC outlets and one USB charging port with 200 watts of continuous power (400 watt peak). That’s enough to power up some TVs and laptops. Because of its coffee cup shape, the charger fits snugly into most cup holders so it would be ideal for long trips. Just make sure that you don’t reach for the PowerLine when you are looking for a sip of Starbucks. Sticking your tongue in this thing would be seriously unpleasant. Available for $27. [Amazon via GadgetGrid via Coolbuzz]

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Yoggie intros mini security computers for Mac desktops, laptops

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Peripherals

Yoggie’s mini “security computers” have been at the disposal of PC users for some time now, and it looks like the company has now finally decided to give Mac users a taste of the completely hardware-based security solution. That comes in the form of both Mac-friendly versions of Yoggie’s Gatekeeper ExpressCard and its Gatekeeper Pico USB stick, each of which are “full-blown” Linux-based computers in the own right, and include a slew of applications that promise to both increase security and take some of the load off of your laptop or desktop. What’s more, it looks like Yoggie is also giving Mac users a slight discount for their patience, as the Gatekeeper ExpressCard and Gatekeeper Pico are now available to pre-order fro $150 and $119, respectively, a 20% discount compared to their usual price, and their PC counterparts.

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Filed under: Robots

We’ve enjoyed watching KIST’s Hubo do crazy things like wear the face of Albert Einstein and ride a Segway, but we haven’t given as much attention to its brother Mahru. Feeling left out, the biped learned to dance with its upper body whilst walking around — an impressive feat, considering it wasn’t all that long ago that scientists first managed to get these things to take five steps without falling flat on their faces. Mahru also releases scents to express its artificial emotions, so you should be able to smell something fishy when it achieves sentience and begins angrily plotting to destroy its creators. Take a gander at a South Korean TV news report after the break.

Continue reading Mahru the robot dances to mask its emotional insecurities

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Via [Engadget]

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New MacBook 2008 Alleged Aluminum Case Photos Hit the Web [MacBook]

Chinese blog MacX is showing some very legit looking pics of what they allege is the MacBook Pro casing today. We will have to wait for the MacBook 2008 event this week to see if it is real or not, but they are crystal clear and in line with both series of previous leaked images.

[MacX via BGR]

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Awesome F-35B Video Shows US Marines Already Have Transformers [Sunday Eye Candy]

While we have seen glimpses of how the F-35B—the short take-off vertical landing variant of the F-35 Lightning II—works, here’s an amazingly detailed video showing its transforming capabilities in flight, which was posted anonymously in YouTube last week. According to Flight Global, this sophisticated war machine—which is now in its testing phase—won’t see real action any time soon, as its engine is getting redesigned turbine blades. [Flight Global]

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Apple MacBook 2008 Event: All the Rumors In One Place [Apple]

New MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and probably an updated MacBook Air are coming up next week, at the Apple MacBook 2008 event. The MacBook and MacBook Pro are long due for a case redesign but, beyond that, little is known for sure. Here we have collected all the pieces of information we have about them. All the facts, the logical rumors, and the crazy ones, which we will keep updating through the coming days until the MacBook Event liveblog kicks off.

The facts

• There’s an Apple event on October 14 and we will be there to liveblog the pants out of it.

• Long overdue, a new MacBook line will be unveiled, with newly-designed MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

• Remember that Apple told resellers not to stock MacBooks or iPods (this was just before the Let’s Rock announcement).

The logical and probable rumors

• The MacBook Air, being a recent design, will probably get a features bump, but not a redesign. This could to be supported by price cuts during the summer.

• The new MacBooks may abandon Intel’s chipset—not the central processor, but the supporting circuitry—in favor of an Nvidia chipset. Nvidia delayed the launch of their new laptop chipset to October 15, which apparently provides faster built-in graphics and superior HD capabilities, after it was delayed from its original September 30 intro date.

• Despite the pretty mock ups, the MacBook and the MacBook Pro will probably look like the MacBook Air, but on a different scale. In previous generations, there was always a new model that introduced a new look, then the rest followed up.

• Several images of the base top, the base bottom and the display frame of the MacBook Pro have surfaced. It is still not clear if these images are real or not, even while they do look real indeed.

• Some people alleged that these images show a shell carved out of a single piece of aluminum, using a new and revolutionary manufacturing process code-named “Brick”.

• However, there are several reasons to believe this may not be the case, starting with an Apple patent detailing a new welding process. However, both manufacturing techniques may have been combined for this product.

• The MacBook in the teaser invitation may be the 13-inch model. Assuming the Apple logo is the same size as before, that is. They have changed its size before.

• Following Apple’s commitment for greener computers, all displays in the upcoming MacBook line may be LED-based.

Crazy rumors and wishful thinking

• The usual blurry MacBook spyshots have appeared, some of which, like this one, have been proven to be fake.

• The glass iPhone trackpads are most probably just that, fake.

• Some crazy people really wish to see a touch notebook.

• There’s even more crazy people that think that a semi-transparent MacBook Pro may appear, based on an Apple patent.

• Some really really crazy people have been dreaming about tablet Macs since 2007 and before. Maybe the whole brick thing really refers to the fabled “son of Newton” that every fanboy has been dreaming about since forever, the subnotebook-tablet. After all, a pure tablet with no keyboard is really the only device that could be actually carved from a single piece of aluminum.

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iPhone 3G Coming to Walmart Just in Time for the New Great Depression [Apple]

Boy Genius Report has it “on good authority” that Our Lord and Savior Jesusphone 3G will be sold in God’s own retail store: Walmart. They name November 15th as the date of arrival, which is just in time for shoppers to overlook it as they clear their local Walmart of cans of beans to prepare for the econocopalypse that’s sure to destroy Western civilization as we know it. You heard it here first, folks: the hot gift this Christmas will be a can of Heinz baked beans. [BGR]

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