Phone Scoop is reporting that doomsday is imminent for Motorola, possibly as soon as this week. First off, up to half of employees from the company’s handset division will be shown the door, though the other divisions — Enterprise Mobility Solutions and Home & Networks Mobility — will be unaffected. Fewer employees inevitably leads to fewer phones, and it’s being said that Moto will produce just twelve models per year; among smartphones, only Android will be considered. What’s more, the company is pulling out of April’s CTIA show — the largest mobile event in the States — so it looks like that Android gear won’t be coming until later on. We’ll have more on this as soon as we know what’s up.

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola laying off throngs, focusing on Android alone for smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not every day you walk past something quite as striking as Toshiba’s new DMFC internet viewer prototypes. Sure, folks like Toshiba and Samsung have been chatting up DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) power technology for ages, but to see it live and in person — and powering a truly unique form factor — is quite a treat. Word is these things can last for a week of typical use on one methanol refill, and are running regular old Windows XP. Unfortunately, there’s no word on what processing and storage is under the hood or when these will hit the market, or for how much. Basically, Windows 7 is much more likely the OS we’ll be seeing on them by the time they’re ready to go — if that ever happens at all, DMFC doesn’t have the best track record of actually breaking through the productization stage. Video is after the break, and the gallery includes a couple other Toshiba prototypes.

Continue reading Toshiba’s DMFC “internet viewer” prototypes are truly next-gen

Filed under: Handhelds

Toshiba’s DMFC “internet viewer” prototypes are truly next-gen originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Culture, CES, Fashion

On the way to Microsoft’s booth, we encountered a man clearly so tough that he doesn’t even need to class up one of the world’s largest electronics shows by including shirt sleeves. Just in case that didn’t get the point across, the writing on the back of the shirt says it all. This is clearly a man who ain’t takin’ any lip from some puny HDTV pitchman. Even Scrat in the back can’t believe his attire.

Seen @ CES 2009: A man too tough for gadgets originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Four days of late nights, early mornings, endless meetings, and drugs will do this to even the most stoic PR flacks. Almost magical video is after the break.

Continue reading LG’s Renoir spokesperson: he will jump for you, ladies and gentlemen

Filed under: Cellphones, CES

LG’s Renoir spokesperson: he will jump for you, ladies and gentlemen originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Sports

The new-and-improved-but-completely-devoid-of-history-and-tradition Yankee Stadium will make its public debut on April 16, when the Yanks are scheduled to pummel the Cleveland Indians into submission. However, we’ve got a pretty good idea what we’ll be seeing the first time we cross the threshold of Baseball’s Cathedral 2.0 — Sony devices and branding, as far as the eye can see.

Sony Electronics and the Pinstripers announced Thursday that they’d signed an agreement designating Sony the official consumer electronics manufacturer of the Yankees. What’s this mean? Well, Sony gets a prominent advertisement on the right-field wall (as well as a number of diorama ads in the concourse), and the new stadium gets over 550 Bravia and LCD HD televisions for the high-roller suites, and a PS3 gaming area in the park’s “Strike Zone.” Oh, also, the Yanks’ new mascot is Polygon Man. That’s a fair trade-off, right?

[Via IGN]

New Yankee Stadium to be outfitted with PS3s and Sony branding originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Nintendo Wii, CES, Exergaming, Fashion

Ladies, how often have you taken a look at your poor little Wii Fit, and thought “If only there were some sort of peripheral to let the world know that I’m both concerned about my fitness aesthetics, and was emblazoned with pink”? Probably so often that you’ve lost count. As you know, pink is completely 100% the only color women are allowed to love and/or get accessories in. So the Lady Fitness Workout Kit has your name on it. Sorry, boys.

Seen @ CES 2009: The Lady Fitness Workout Kit originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Macworld, Cult of Mac, Other Events, Apple History

This year at Macworld 2009, two documentary films about the Mac held screenings. While we didn’t have anyone on-site at MacHEADS, a few of us were fortunate enough to attend Thursday night’s screening of Welcome to Macintosh.

Welcome to Macintosh, a documentary by Josh Rizzo and Rob Baca, chronicles the history of Apple and the Mac, using interviews with the people and the users that were there. Tony Walla contributed a great piece about the film last April, which fills in more background.

While the film is amazing (the DVD is available now and it is chock-full of awesome), the discussion after the screening was truly magical. Five of the participants from the film, along with Very Special Guest, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, appeared on-stage and answered questions from the crowd. (See the Woz answer our own Mike Rose’s question here)

Read on for more historic geekiness…

Continue reading Mac founding-fathers appear at Welcome to Macintosh screening

TUAWMac founding-fathers appear at Welcome to Macintosh screening originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Peripherals

There’s a magical subset of products one finds at CES, if one looks close enough. We call it the “We probably won’t buy these, and we’re not sure who will, but we’re really glad they’re in the universe” class of products. Yeah, we know, not the punchiest name. We’re workshopping it.

A great example is the X-Rocker Vibe, an odd speaker stage that the company (which also makes a line of gaming-centric chairs) plans to launch sometime this year. X-Rocker said the Vibe was supposed to replicate the sensation of taking the stage at a rock show, but all we got was “playing Guitar Hero during an exceedingly mild earthquake.” That said, the loud showfloor of CES isn’t a great place for testing audio products, so we’re going to give it the benefit of the doubt. Honestly, we’re just happy it exists.

CES 2009: Feet-on with the X-Rocker Vibe originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Detroit Auto Show, Convertibles, MINI

We’ll be straight with you. We missed the MINI press conference. We know, we know… the horror. Anyway, you didn’t exactly need to be Kojak to figure out what happened. The 2009 MINI Convertible drove out of a simulated ice block with a couple made up all frozen-like in the front seats. As for the car, well, it’s pretty self explanatory. Available in March, it finally ditches the last-gen engines for the NA and turbocharged 1.6L fours available in the hardtop Cooper and Cooper S. Other changes? The trunk’s roomier, the interior gets brought up-to-date, and the rollbar becomes a pop-up unit, significantly improving rearward visibility and giving the Cooper a much cleaner top-down profile. Finally, cute-gimmickry overload is fully achieved with the addition of the “Openometer,” an add-on gauge that tracks the amount of time spent motoring with the top down. Adorable, right? Chicks are gonna dig it.

Detroit 2009: MINI Cooper Convertible chills out originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Aftermarket, Detroit Auto Show, Sports/GTs, Supercars, Lamborghini, Special/Limited Editions

Lamborghini debuted the new Gallardo LP 560-4 Spyder in L.A., and the rumored LP670-4 SV is still a ways off, so the Italian supercar manufacturer decided to show off some of their non-automotive offerings in Detroit. Specifically, Lambo brought examples of its Ad Personam personalization program. A white 560 Spyder was flanked by a satin blue LP640-4 and LP560-4 coupe that were both simply mesmerizing. We’re huge fans of these new satin paints, because aside from lending an air of understated luxury to the Lambo’s lascivious lines, they’re remarkably easy to photograph. They reflect light beautifully, while providing translucent reflections that minimize glare and extraneous objects from the car’s surface. Lamborghini refers to it as a matte-luster paint finish, we’ll just call it matte-sex.

Both of the personalized cars here in Detroit are painted in Lamborghini’s new matte blue, although there’s no truth to the rumor that anyone showing a birth certificate that says their name is Matt Blue will get a free Lambo. Besides the new blue hue, Lamborghini announced that three more colors are now permanently available in the Ad Personam program: Nero Nemesis (matte-luster black), Bianco Canopus (matte white), and Marrone Apus (matte brown). But don’t let that limit you. Lamborghini will do just about anything the customer can dream up. And if you can’t get what you want from the factory, you can always go the aftermarket route and get yourself an Ed Hardy special. There’s a full press release after the jump and galleries of live and media pics are available by clicking any image below.

Live photos copyright (C)2009 Frank Filipponio / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading Detroit 2009: Lamborghini ups the personalization options

Detroit 2009: Lamborghini ups the personalization options originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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