dimdim isn't cool because it's open-source web conferencing. It's cool because of what open-source web conferencing allows technology providers to do with web conferencing that price and proprietary licensing hitherto precluded.

Inkless / tonerless printers aren't exactly new, but here's a more novel approach: inkless, tonerless, and completely reusable. The PrePeat rewritable printer is exactly that: using special paper made of PET plastic, you can make all the flowcharts and meeting notes you need, and when you want to start fresh, feed the paper back in to start fresh. Upfront cost is 500,000 yen (about $5,600 in US) for the printer and 300 yen for each sheet, in lots of 1,000 -- which we're taking to mean at least another 300,000 yen / $3,360 to get some use out of it. Each piece of paper is said to work about 1,000 times, but no word on how much (if any) history can be extracted from the materials -- just keep that in mind should sensitive information be your daily trade. Video demonstration after the break.

Continue reading PrePeat rewritable printer lets you undo print jobs, no ink or toner used

PrePeat rewritable printer lets you undo print jobs, no ink or toner used originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The HTC Dragon may not be quite the same mythical beast it once was now that the Nexus One has stolen some of its thunder, but it is still an actual device and, according to a recently leaked Dopod roadmap, it's headed for China in the second quarter of this year. Details are otherwise a bit light, but it is apparently an Android device (as expected) and packs a 3.6-inch WVGA display. Joining it over the course of the year are the 3.4-inch, Android-based A6388, the 4.3-inch Huashan (apparently now a Windows Mobile device -- possibly an HD2 successor?), the 3.2-inch Tianshan, and the considerably smaller Songshan phone, both of which are also Android phones, and should be out in either Q3 or Q4. Still no indication of a release for any of them over here, unfortunately, but something's bound to give with that many HTCphones floating about.

HTC Dragon and friends turn up on Dopod roadmap originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Nokia fan clinging on to all hope that the 5230 and Nuron were two separate entities, whereby you'd have even more Espoo devices to look forward to: you're wrong. TmoNews has picked up what's purported to be another internal T-Mobile documentation for the 5230 Nuron. Like the previously-rumored leak, it's said to be going on sale on March 17 with a 3.2-inch touchscreen, on-screen keyboard, and Ovi Store. Oh, and just in case you weren't sure if you fit the target audience, see if you qualify as "connected socializers, 20 to 40 years old, who are new to the touch screen category." That's gotta count for at least a few readers out there.

[Thanks, Alex]

Nokia Nuron spotted again, connection to 5230 cemented? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We'll admit to not being leading the field of study in Best Buy-ology, but here comes a new quiz for us care of a tipster who sent TUAW a screenshot of the inventory screen that shows what looks to be the current MacBook Pro SKU with status: deleted. What that means is no new orders can be made for that unit, at least for that particular store. Sign of impending MBP refresh? Intel certainly had us riled up last month with that Core i5-infused flier, but we won't get fooled again. Don't hold your breath for this one, but if more telltale signs start popping up, we'll be sure let ya know.

Update: Giving credit where due; the image originates from the MacRumors forums.

[Thanks, Jose R]

Current MacBook Pro SKU given mark of death in Best Buy database? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It seems odd that Apple execs would even hint at the possibility of an early price cut lest they give folks already on the fence about buying the first iteration of the device more reason to stay there.

We won't front -- there's little chance we'd actually use JXD's V3 handheld, but it's not for lack of interest. This here PMP / game player hybrid isn't apt to leave the shores of Asia, but for those in that neck of the woods, this unit offers up emulators for a slew of game consoles, a 4.3-inch display, a 5 megapixel camera and plenty of file format support to handle your favorite music and video. Reportedly, the device even features an FM radio tuner, and in case you're curious as to why there are two D-pads on this thing, it's because you'll need 'em to get through certain Game Boy / NES titles. Or so they say. We can't say we're stoked about the $112 price tag, but in a way, we're kind of in love with the whole flip-top design.

JXD V3 handheld is confused, confusing and altogether interesting originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's not everyday that we can say there's external laptop GPU love in the air, but right on the heels the appearance of the Gigabyte M1405 with its GeForce GT220 dock, NVIDIA is expressing interest in external laptop GPUs as well. Manager of notebook GPUs Rene Haas told X-bit Labs that he thinks external graphics adapters for laptops are a "big opportunity" for NVIDIA, though he noted the drawback of their high price tags. We assume he is referring to AMD's ATI XGP box (or Fujitsu Siemens's Lasso) which is the only one available -- the ASUS XG station (pictured above) that seemed to vanish into thin air after its brief appearance at CES 2008. Either way, Haas very clearly states that the large market appeal of affordable external GPUs is just his opinion, though we're going to assume his opinion holds a bit of water in Santa Clara.

NVIDIA pursuing external graphics accelerators for laptops? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix Watch Instantly fans could be due for a big upgrade, as CNET has heard the company will roll out 1080p and 5.1 surround sound later this year. No word on timing or any other details, but this could mean its moving to version 3 of Microsoft's Silverlight streaming platform with its additional tweaks for adaptive streaming and hardware graphics acceleration. Also unknown is how much bandwidth would be necessary, but considering Microsoft already uses very similar technology for its 1080p Instant On videos on Zune Marketplace through the Xbox 360 while only requiring 3 Mbps and VUDU HDX 1080p videos only state a minimum of 4500 Kbps, a massive jump in available bandwidth might not be necessary if you already get clear 720p video. The last big hurdle? How much content will be available that way, Gizmodo points out only about 6 percent of current offerings stream in HD we'll be watching carefully if the pace picks up going forward.

1080p, 5.1 surround sound coming to Netflix Watch Instantly in 2010? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The 747-8 Freighter, whose passenger version is slated to come a year later, is getting tested alongside the 787 Dreamliner in Washington state.

A former Intel executive pleads guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud by providing confidential information in the Galleon Group insider-trading case.

After Microsoft stated a week ago that it would look into reports of Windows 7 causing premature battery degradation, we've been staying up late at night with our frazzled lithium ion cells, reading them stories about Battery Heaven and generally trying to keep an upbeat tone around the Engadget HQ. Well, it turns out not everything is rosy in batteryville, but Microsoft says Windows 7 isn't the one to blame. According to the company's testing, the new tool, which reports when a battery is down to 40% of its designed capacity and suggests replacement, hasn't reported a single false positive. Additionally, the tool uses read-only data from the battery, and is in fact incapable of tweaking the battery's life span or internal data -- it merely reports the data it receives, and stacks the theoretical design capacity up against the current full charge capacity. Microsoft attributes the reports of the tool dooming batteries to an early grave to the mere fact that many people might not have noticed the degradation already taking place in their batteries -- most batteries start to degrade noticeably within a year. Of course, not everybody's going to just take Microsoft's word for it, and Microsoft itself will continue to look into the issue, but for now this sounds like a bit of a non-issue. The part about Windows 7 being less conservative with power use is a whole 'nother issue, of course.

Microsoft says Windows 7 battery 'issue' isn't one originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew Android 2.1 was coming for the Droid, but we'll confess -- we didn't expect it to come this soon. Motorola is now reporting via its official Facebook page that it's "happy to relay the 2.1 upgrade to Droid will start to roll out this week," going on to tease that it "will have more information to share on other device upgrades later." There's no detail on what the Droid update will entail or whether it'll roll out to every user this week (we doubt it), but by all indications, this is a promising sign that Moto's keeping the pedal to the metal, we'd say.

[Thanks, andrewcweaver]

Motorola: Droid update to Android 2.1 'will start to roll out this week' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So the good news here is that Google appears to have heard the cries for help, having taken a chainsaw to its brutal $350 "equipment recovery fee" that had been lumped on top of T-Mobile's $200 ETF for subsidized Nexus One contracts canceled in the first 120 days. The bad news, though, is that it still exists at all -- a hairy precedent for an industry being watched with eagle eyes by the FCC right now. The company has knocked $200 off the fee, bringing it down to $150; in other words, if you break your contract, you'll pay the same ETF that Verizon now charges on its "advanced devices." Whether that was a deliberate move to let 'em say that they're no more expensive than Verizon is unclear, but let's be honest: $350 is extreme, $550 was highway robbery. At least we're going in the right direction.

Google's Nexus One 'equipment recovery fee' slashed to $150, still a pain originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There's just no two ways about it: the integrated self-timer is easily one of the most amazing technologies to ever be invented. Yeah, we said it. Unfortunately, beeping for ten seconds while a shooter races to get in position isn't always ideal or fun, and that's where isharq comes in. His Arduino-based mod is amongst the most flexible out there for DSLRs, enabling it to morph from a basic laser trigger hack to something that senses heat, movement or sound (just to name a few) and then makes your camera react accordingly. As it stands, his setup triggers his DSLR to snap a shot whenever a laser beam is broken, and if you're eager to see more, be sure to peek the in-action video just past the break. Oh, and the source link holds all the secrets to recreating something like this in your own laboratory.

[Thanks, Simon]

Continue reading DIY photog creates laser trigger for remote DSLR snapping

DIY photog creates laser trigger for remote DSLR snapping originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The software maker says that an error message warning users that their batteries may need replacing appears to be working as intended, despite some complaints.

Sorry if we're the sort of folks to look a gift SD card reader in the mouth, but while we're oh-so-happy that Apple finally opened up application-enabled hardware development in iPhone OS 3.0, we really wish an accessory like this had been available for the iPhone right from the start. The new zoomIt SD card reader from zoomMediaPlus adds a bit of external, swappable memory to the iPhone and iPod touch at long last, giving you the ability to store your iPhone's pictures on the card, or pull stuff off it onto your handset using the free zoomIt app. Interestingly, this is coming to light just a couple weeks after we saw Apple's own similar solution for getting cameras into the iPad mix -- the SD and USB-adapting iPad Camera Connection Kit, which will be a mere $30. There's no word if Apple's adapter will work with the iPhone (we doubt it) or if the zoomIt will work with the iPad (perhaps), but the $60 pricetag on the zoomIt is a bit of a turn off. Also, it won't be shipping until April (though you can pre-order now for a $10 discount), so Apple may very well make up our minds for us by the time March rolls around.

zoomMediaPlus' zoomIt is the iPhone's long overdue SD card reader originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We don't typically do a lot of coverage of music gear here at Engadget because, by and large, it's an entire world unto itself -- a universe of specialty products that require unique knowledge (and often, talent) to use, let alone review -- and ultimately, we're only writing for a limited subset of our readership. There are, of course, countless exceptions to the rule; mixing gear in particular has really come into its own, technologically, over the past several years as a whole new generation of would-be DJ superstars come into the fold. A skill once dominated by turntables is... well, still dominated by turntables, but everything surrounding the spinning vinyl is changing: nowadays, you've got a PC that can serve as a virtually bottomless pit of tracks, state-of-the-art software for synchronizing and manipulating those tracks, and dedicated external controllers to help you control the software. Once an art form, modern DJing is now half art, half science. It's exciting, it's cool, and even if you don't know the difference between a crossfader and a high-pass filter, it's a lot of fun to see how this stuff works.

To that end, today we're taking a quick look at Native Instrument's Kontrol X1 -- the first official, dedicated controller for its Traktor series of apps, one of the world's most widely-used DJ suites.

Continue reading Native Instruments Kontrol X1 impressions

Native Instruments Kontrol X1 impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple's $499 starting iPad price tag is already lower than many people -- and a few competitors -- expected, but apparently Steve and company have left themselves a little wiggle room: Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope says that Apple told him it'll remain "nimble" when it comes to iPad pricing, suggesting that the price could drop if sales don't meet targets. That's not a hugely surprising thing to say, considering Apple's trying to be the first to achieve real success with a 'tweener device and strong pressure from netbooks, laptops, and smartphones threatens to collapse the space entirely, but a lot of people are taking it to mean some kind of drop is a done deal -- particularly since Apple cut the price of the first-gen iPhone by $200 just a few months after it launched and saw already-solid sales triple. We're honestly not so sure, though: Apple always tells investors that it's confident in how its products are priced but responsive to market changes, and it's not like a smaller price cut boosted the Apple TV into hit product territory. We'll see what happens after the iPad actually goes on sale -- we doubt we'll see any changes for another few months at least.

Analyst: Apple to be 'nimble' on iPad pricing, athletic on pommel horse originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chinese authorities have broken a hacking-tool dissemination ring, according to state media. by Tom Espiner ZDNet UK