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Who would’ve thought a Macbook Pro would be the spotlight of the Macworld conference, instead of desktops? (See our live blog of the event.)

The 17-inch Apple Macbook Pro was rumored to receive the same aluminum brick, glass trackpad, and new Intel CPU treatment–but that was a long shot, to say the least. The biggest story here is the non-removable battery.

Apple claims that a removable battery leaves a lot of “wasted space,” so by turning the battery bay into something equivalent to those of the iPods and the iPhone 3G, the 17-inch MBP can accommodate a higher-capacity battery. According to Apple, it will get about 7 to 8 hours on a single charge, depending on which nVidia GPU it uses (It uses the same switching graphics technology as the Apple Macbook Pro 15-inch–dual graphics).

Meanwhile, the new Pro’s lusciously thin design and its status as the lightest 17-inch laptop (6.6 pounds) in the world are secured
.
There are other things to drool over, too, like the new LED screen. It’s not an 18-inch widescreen, and it’s not the 16-by-9 form factors that are taking over the media center laptop space. The 17-inch wide sports a 1,920-by-1,200 resolution, with options to go with glare or no-glare.

A no-glare option and the screen’s 60-percent-greater color gamut (a sign that it’s an RGB LED screen) should be music to a photographer’s ears. Of course, there are other laptops that tout a high color gamut on their screens: The Sony VAIO VGN-AW190 claims up to 130% of the Adobe RGB color space and the Lenovo Thinkpad W700 workstation (http://www.pcmag.com/articlϴ/0,2817,2329027,00.asp) goes up to 72 percent.

At $2,799, the Macbook Pro 17-inch also features a 2.66-Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, both nVidia GeForce 9400M and 9600M GPUs, and a 320GB hard drive.

Original post by Carol Mangis

We got a good look at the M98xNU a few days ago, and now it seems that one of those crazy kids over at the Notebook Review forums has dropped the dime on some other new Clevo notebook models we might be seeing at CeBIT 2009. Most notably, he names the predecessor to the company’s D901C laptop: the D90xF will offer a 17-inch screen (up to 1920 x 1200), and it may be Core i7, though this is not certain (sometimes desktop chips end up in high-end laptops, so it wouldn’t be unheard of). Also in this batch are several touchscreen tablets, including the 7-inch TN70xM with an Atom Z series processor and passive cooling, the 8.9-inch T89xM with “rugged” design, and the TN12xT, a 12.1-inch based on the Montevina platform with Intel’s GM45 chipset. Additionally, we can look forward to the second quarter of 2009 for the launch of the 10.2-inch M71xL, the 10.1-inch M81xL and the 13.3-inch ―xT. And if that weren’t enough, early next year should see the release of the company’s widescreen W76x series of laptops with 15.6-inch, 16:9 aspect ratio displays. Not that you’ll necessarily see the Clevo name on many of these — the company is known primarily as an OEM. Still, this is an interesting peek into next year’s possible Alienware, Voodoo and Sager machines. And you know what? There′s plenty more where that came from — hit the read link for all the glorious details.

Filed under: Laptops

Clevo laptop shocker! Scores of new, cryptic model names originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Joseph L. Flatley

Toktumi recently announced a partnership with Dell to distribute its small business VoIP service through a co-branded site on Dell.com (www.dell.com/voip), which also features Fonality, Nortel, and Bandwidth.com. So what’s so special about Toktumi, (a word play on ‘talk to me’) and it’s USB-based plug-in device? Well, Toktumi is very similar to the popular Magicjack, which also uses a USB connector for connecting an analog phone. However, Magicjack is only $19.99/year (first year is $39.95) for unlimited U.S. calling while Toktumi is $179.40/year ($14.95/month) for unlimited dialing inside the U.S. and Canada. So what does this extra cost get you?

Continue reading Toktumi Now Offered on Dell VoIP Website…

Tags: Bandwidth.com, Fonality, Magicjack, Nortel, packet8, Toktuni, voip

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Original post by nafiz

When I met with PIKA Technologies  at ITEXPO they told me support for FreePBX was coming. Well today, PIKA Technologies announced that PIKA WARP the Appliance is now compatible with the Asterisk-based FreePBX GUI (Graphical User Interface) application. I reviewed the PIKA Appliance recently and was pretty impressed with it. Having FreePBX support is a huge milestone for the PIKA Appliance. FreePBX is a popular user-friendly web application  that makes it easy to setup and configure Asterisk.

According to PIKA, “While customers often develop their own GUIs, many have told PIKA that if WARP were compatible with industry-standard GUIs like FreePBX, they would be much more inclined to adopt the portfolio. With today’s announcement, PIKA has once again demonstrated its responsiveness to the needs of its user base.”

“We are very pleased to have supported the effort to adopt the FreePBX application to run in the PIKA Warp environment,” said Terry Atwood, vice president of sales, marketing and customer care at PIKA Technologies. “Used in many Asterisk implementations around the world, including Trixbox, FreePBX has proven its value, time and again. When the FreePBX team expressed their willingness to work with us to port to the Warp Appliance, we jumped on the opportunity.”

“FreePBX has become the de facto standard for enterprise grade PBX functionality delivered to the SMB business and includes a very rich set of functionality and customization potential,” said Philippe Lindheimer, open source community director of Bandwidth.com and leader of the FreePBX project. “But no GUI is complete without a wide range of hardware options to complete the package. We are delighted that PIKA can now include FreePBX in the PIKA WARP and bring our two eco-systems together.”

Today’s announcement from PIKA follows news of a new partnership between FreePBX and Bandwidth.com, a complete business communications provider offering advanced VoIP, Internet services and managed network services to small and medium businesses. Bandwidth.com will devote significant resources to expand the scope of FreePBX while protecting its charter to remain open source and free.

“The partnership with Bandwidth.com is great news as it gives FreePBX the support it needs to grow while ensuring it remains a free GUI for the entire open source eco-system,” said David Clarke, business development manager at PIKA and director of the PIKA Warp Community. “I know the choice of Bandwidth.com was a decision that Philippe made only after months of consideration and sound input from the key developers and contributors to the FreePBX project.”

Out of the box, FreePBX provides a long list of features including many typically found only in an enterprise-grade PBX, some examples are:

• Unlimited number of voicemail boxes
• “Follow me” functionality
• Ring groups and call queues
• Unlimited number of conference bridges
• Paging and intercom functionality
• and much more

The PIKA WARP Appliance product portfolio is ideal for deploying small- to medium-sized IP-PBX systems, IVR self-service systems, predictive dialling systems, fax servers and many other features typical of a traditional, purpose-built business telephone system that are often lacking in a computerized system. Compatible with a variety of open-source development platforms, including Asterisk and Linux, the Appliance offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional off-the-shelf computers and plug-in-card network connectivity in a smaller footprint.

Tags: Asterisk, Bandwidth.com, David Clarke, FreePBX, Philippe Lindheimer, PIKA WARP Appliance, Terry Atwood, voip

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Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Displays

Asus is ritzing up its LCD inventory with four new high-end displays this month — the V𒘂H and VW266H at 25.5 inches (beating out the manufacturer’s current top end) and the V𒗮H and VW246H at good ol′ 24 inches. They all feature the company’s new Splendid Video Intelligence Technology, run at at 1,920 x 1,200, and have a 20,000:1 contrast ratio, which is a significant improvement over the current Asus flagship’s 3,000:1, but the max brightness is a bit lower. Why two at each size, you ask? Actual specs are identical across the board, but the V𒘂H and the V𒗮H have built-in webcams, while the VW266H and VW246H don′t — unfortunately, pricing info is not yet available, so there’s no telling how much extra you’ll be paying to record cringe-worthy YouTube diaries.

[Via PCLaunches; thanks, Vinit]

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Original post by Samuel Axon

Filed under: Storage

Don’t spaz out or anything, but that thing you’re peering at above actually isn’t a small flask of cologne. No, no — it’s an 8GB USB drive, and it’s one of the most expensive you can buy. Reportedly built with titanium, the drive is water-resistant, crush-proof and fancied up further with a single red ruby. Sure, it’s 21,750 rubles ($837), but dollars to donuts they’d trade you one for a sure-to-be-authentic iPhone.

[Via Gadgets-Weblog]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Household

OpenPeak was showing off an Atom-based version of its OpenFrame touchscreen / phone combo at IDF last month, but it’s only just now gotten fully official with it and, naturally, it’s taken the opportunity to dish out some new, prettied-up pictures. Not much looks to have changed with the device itself in the past month or so though, with it still promising to “simplify everyday family and media interactions” and, just as importantly for OpenFrame, “drive new revenues for service providers” — it’ll handle phone calls, too. Unfortunately, while OpenFrame is still saying we can expect to see the first devices based on the platform early next year, it’s apparently not yet ready (or able) to announce exactly who those OEM partners might be.

[Via HotHardware]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

That’s right folks! An enterprising member of the eeeuser forums has found a way to give the Asus Eee PC 901 HSDPA.

The instructions, stripped down for the layman, involve opening up the netbook, installing a HSPA or EVDO miniPCI-E card, and setting it up properly in the OS. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, can we expect an add-on kit from Asus? (And how does this mod affect the Eee’s battery life?) While you’re waiting though, feel free to check out the complete how-to here.

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Original post by Rico

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

It would have been juicier if Microsoft hadn’t announced the fall Zune lineup a day early and gone directly head-to-head with Apple’s newly refreshed iPod lineup, but the fact is that if you’re in the market for a new player the past 48 hours have delivered a slew of new options. Microsoft concentrated on the software side of the equation with Zune 3.0, but Redmond’s players themselves got a WiFi music store, some new games, and Buy From FM, while Apple added in new Genius playlists across the board and updated the iPod nano’s form factor and UI. At the high end of the capacity scale, the Zune seems to have the win on paper — both the Zune 120 and the iPod classic frustratingly top out at 120GB, but the classic’s stagnated essentially at the level of the 5.5G video iPod while the Zune 120 carries all the features of its smaller siblings. On top of all that, you have the newly-thinner iPod touch, with all of its browsing, media, gaming, and third-party application features — and the lost purity of purpose adding all features those entails. That’s a ton of choices — so c’mon, kids, what’s it going to be?

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Cellphones

Yeah, we all knew — or rather, hoped with all digits crossed — they were coming, and what better venue to make the announcement than at CTIA in San Francisco. We’ve talked about these two for what seems like ages so we won’t bore you with the tech babble, the important bits are Touch Diamond on September 14th, Touch Pro on October 19th. Pricing? Touch Diamond will run you $249 on two years after $100 rebate and the Touch Pro $299 on the same term after the same $100 rebate. Job well done busting these two out Sprint, we can’t wait to get hands-on.

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Original post by Sean Cooper

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

We know it’s been a long day of Apple news, what with all those colorful new nanos, the thin-as-all-get-out touch, a fresh version of iTunes, and that forthcoming iPhone / touch update (and don’t forget about those new shuffle colors). It’s all a lot to take in, but as usual, we’re presenting it to you in one delicious, easy to digest roundup. Enjoy!

The liveblog:

Live from Apple’s ‘Let’s Rock’ event in San Francisco

Hands-on coverage:

iPod nano 4G hands-on
iPod touch 2G - first hands-on

Product announcements:

iPod classic refreshed, only comes in 120GB flavor now
Official: iPod nano reaches 4G, looks tall for its age
iPod touch updated — same screen, new case, Nike+ integration
Apple introduces $79 in-ear headphones
One more thing: New iPod shuffle colors

iTunes / iPhone / touch updates:

Apple launches iTunes 8, NBC comes back, TV shows at $1.99, Genius in the house
iPhone 2.1 software update announced (update: $10 for some iPod touch owners)
iPod touch 2.1 firmware update now available

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Stoked about all those new features you heard about during today’s Stevenote? Dying to get your paws on the improved battery life, smoother UI, and other bug-destroying goodies? Well if you’re a current touch owner, you can download the update right now (for a tidy $9.95, of course). Just follow the read link’s “buy now” button to iTunes, and keep a credit card handy.

Update: If you already have firmware 2.0, this upgrade is free.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/iPod_touch_updated_same_screen_new_case_new_features’; As expected, Apple just updated the iPod touch with a new thinner stainless steel case — it’s still got the same display. There’s now hardware volume controls (hooray!) and a built-in speaker, and a Nike+ receiver is also built in, so you just need the shoe transmitter. On the software side, the UI has been tweaked and the new iTunes Genius features have been added, and the App Store is now included (obviously). Battery life is decent at 36 hours of music and 6 hours of video, and Apple’s doing the same “environmentally sound” design thing it did with the new nano. Three price points: 8GB for $229, 16GB for $299, and 32GB for $399. So much for that rumored price drop below the iPhone’s $199 price point, but we won’t complain too much about a $100 price drop.

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Cellphones

Is this supposed HTC Opal the followup to last year’s trailblazing HTC Touch? According to what looks like an internal HTC document gone viral, the Opal will run HTC’s newest TouchFLO 3D UI band-aid for WinMo 6.1 atop the same TI OMAP 850 proc already powering the Touch. Looking a bit deeper reveals quad-band GSM / EDGE with the same WiFi, MicroSD slot, Bluetooth 2.0, 2 megapixel camera, and 2.8-inch 240 x 320 pixel touchscreen found in the aged Touch handset. Only HTC, with its Touch Diamond, Touch Pro, Dream, and Xperia X1 can force a flagship device down-market so quickly.

[Via coolsmartphone]

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

For the acronym-challenged, Audi is getting serious about its Multi Media Interface. The automaker’s present system is widely regarded as the best of the best already, but it’s staying one step ahead of itself with the revamped version prepped for the A8 luxury sedan. Within the whip, you’ll find a 7-inch LCD with an 800 x 480 resolution alongside a DVD drive, 40GB internal hard drive, Dolby Digital 5.1 support, optional analog / digital TV tuner, Bluetooth, twin CPUs (800MHz and 500MHz), NVIDIA graphics for “genuine 3D maps” and an optional (but necessary, really) Audi Music Interface for connecting your favorite PMP. For those uninterested in the A8 (but suddenly obsessed with this new MMI), hang tight — it will be hitting other Audi vehicles here soon.

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Original post by Darren Murph