Is this the VAIO P?

Sony isn’t being too coy with the VAIO P, is it? In addition to that teaser image, oh-so-beautiful FCC shot, and mistakenly-posted specs page, CNET’s uncovered this pic of the rectangular netbook with its lid open. We can’t really tell if the machine pictured has that crazy 8-inch 1600 x 768 display we’d heard about, but there’s a lot of the VAIO TT in those lines — so much so we’re wondering if it’s a ’shop, albeit a super-hot one. Of course, there’s no word on pricing, but we’re hoping it’s somewhere close to reasonable — we’ll find out in just a couple weeks at CES.

Update: We knew it looked a little too much like the TT — it’s a ’shop. Oh well, at least we can dream.

Filed under: Laptops

Is this the VAIO P? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Dec 2008 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Original Simon Patent (And 32 More Vintage Game Patents) [Gaming]

Over at Technologizer, they’ve assembled a fantastic list of vintage electronic game patents, including this original patent drawing of Simon.

Over 30 years later, the game is still in production (though we’re not sure you can still find the full sized version on store shelves)—and that’s a lot more than you can say for Atari’s Touch Me predecessor (which Simon essentially cloned and improved).

And if you like classic electronic game patents, there’s a lot more at the link. The list of 33 images includes the first lightgun patent, Wac-a-Mole, the NES, and R.O.B. [Technologizer]

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John Lennon eerily returns to push OLPC cause

John Lennon may have departed this planet 28 years ago, but that’s not to say he can’t still have an impact. With the assistance of technology and the consent of Yoko Ono, the heralded Beatle has returned in a new OLPC spot. In the ad, the late musician proclaims: “Imagine every child no matter where in the world they were could access a universe of knowledge. They would have a chance to learn, to dream, to achieve anything they want.” If this sounds like just the inspiration you needed to get your donation on, hop on past the break to see the vid in its entirety.

[Via Laptop Mag]

Continue reading John Lennon eerily returns to push OLPC cause

Filed under: Laptops

John Lennon eerily returns to push OLPC cause originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Watch One Year Pass in Forty Seconds [Time Lapse]

As if our lives don’t pass by fast enough, photographer Eirik Solheim managed to encapsulate the passage of an entire year into a 40 second HD clip using photos complied from his Canon 400D.

Solheim snapped images out his window at regular intervals all through 2008 and recorded background sounds using a Canon S2 IS and a Canon HF10 camcorder. In the end he produced two clips—a 40 second and a two minute version illustrating the passage of time on a fixed landscape. As you can see, the results are breathtaking—especially when you click through the videos and watch them in HD quality.

The best part is that Soleheim provides detailed instructions on how he created the videos from start to finish. He even provides access to the images and files so you can create something unique of your own using his footage. [Erikso via Neatorama]

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Nefarious Retailers Make Small TVs Look Bigger [Advertising]

Plucky New York Times reporter Matt Richtel made a shocking discovery: Big box retailers are exaggerating the screen size of certain televisions by as much as half an inch. The unanswered question: How dare they?

Best Buy, Circuit City, and other retailers have, under pressure from electronics companies like Toshiba, Sharp, and Sony, rounded the size of some television screens up to a more marketable number. A rogue 31.5″ television might be harder to market, but a family-friendly, round number like 32″ brings out the wallets.

Now, Best Buy clearly states these rounded numbers as “32″ Class,” and if you think that’s totally reasonable, you’d be disagreeing with Richtel. Apparently he’s even heard rumblings of a class-action lawsuit to presumably regain those lost inch fragments. A Sony representative stated that the lesser size is due to unspecific manufacturing concerns, but if that doesn’t sound like a hasty coverup of a conspiracy of massive proportions, I don’t know what does. [NYTimes]

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Art: Amusement Mag’s Console Sculpture [Art]

Giz friend Jean Snow interviews Amusement editor for Ping Mag, about the magazine’s unique mix of game coverage with a stylish mix of art, fashion, and digital culture. I love the photography.

I also found it interesting that the magazine does its own one of a kind ads for the companies for placement in the mag. A worthy read on how tech editorial can and will advance into more sophisticated, and less trade-like publications. [Pingmag]

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This Chandelier Is Fan-Friggin-Tastic [Fandelier]

The enthusiastically titled “Fan-Tastic Chandel-Air” by Meyda lighting combines, you guessed it, a chandelier and a fan into one crazy looking customizable design.

The first design in the series, “Tall Pines at Dusk” features “a Silver Mica shade transformed into a decorative /functional casement for a 29-inch fan.” It is also designed to be an energy saver with blades that can reverse direction—pulling hot air up in the summer and pushing it down in the winter. No pricing information has been made available, but it is billed as a handcrafted work of art, so prepare to overpay accordingly. [Meyda via Core77]

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Tiny Company Sues Apple, Microsoft, and Google, Has Balls the Size of Texas [Frivolous Lawsuits]

Cygnus Systems Inc, a small Michigan company, was recently awarded a patent for thumbnail previews of a file, and celebrated by immediately suing the biggest names in town.

Cygnus has named Microsoft’s Vista, Apple’s OSX and Cover Flow, and Google’s Chrome as infringing on their thumbnail preview patent filed back in 2001. Plenty of other products would fall under the scope of the patent including all modern web browsers, Adobe’s Photoshop, and even web apps like Flickr.

This is one of those patents for an idea rather than a product, and might have even been filed with lawsuits in mind. It’s telling that they went after the big dogs first, and have no claim that their company has actually been harmed by any patent violation. I don’t imagine they’ll get very far against the combined legal might of Microsoft, Apple, and Google, anyway. [Ars Technica]

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