NYC

Oh man, is this the new version of Symbian? If so, it looks magical .  Ovi Store

NASA's already given us a glimpse at its Mars rover, courtesy of a USTREAM broadcast a few months back, but the crew over at BoingBoing has taken one small step for mankind by going even further in-depth with Curiosity before it launches in November. One lucky photographer was granted permission into the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and the fruits of his bunny-suited labor showcase the nooks and crannies of NASA's latest and greatest. We're still kind of bummed that the rover won't be equipped with a zoom 3D camera as originally planned, but we've got a hunch James Cameron's taking it even harder. Be sure to hit the source link for a whole smattering of more angles, if intergalactic spacecrafts are your thing. CrunchGear BoingBoing

Porting Doom to unexpected devices may be one of the oldest tricks in the game-porting book, but seeing it (or Doom 2 , no less) run in a somewhat playable fashion on an e-reader is still a feat worth noting. That was recently done on the as yet unreleased PocketBook 360 Plus e-reader, apparently in an effort to demonstrate its new Pearl E Ink display and Freescale processor. Head on past the break to check out the results for yourself -- and, no, Doom 2 unfortunately won't actually be included with the e-reader. The eBook Reader The eBook

If the previous Alienware M11x R3 spec leak got you all giddy, then we have some good news for you: according to a manual dug up by one of our eagle-eyed readers, it appears that this year's M11x refresh will indeed be coming with second-gen Core i5 ULV and Core i7 ULV options, along with a faster DDR3 bus (1333MHz instead of 800MHz), a higher-res webcam (2MP instead of 1.3MP), an HD TrueLife LCD, and optional 3G / 4G mobile broadband. But of course, the real meat on this laptop is its graphics card, which turns out to be an NVIDIA GeForce GT540M with either 1Gb or 2GB of dedicated memory -- not bad for a laptop of this size. Unsurprisingly, no dates or prices are mentioned here, but given the early start of inventory clearance, it shouldn't be long before Round Rock reveals all.  Dell (ZIP)

What started as loose-lipped tattle is now official: the PSP will get a taste of Sony's Music Unlimited streaming music service starting on April 14th. The service, tortuously entitled "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity" by Sony, requires a PlayStation Network ID to access all that digital audio. Once setup, Sony promises a "synchronized music experience" across your PSP, PS3, PC, and other network-enabled Sony devices like Bravia TVs and Blu-ray players -- a claim backed by a cloud-based catalog of some seven million tracks supported by a "music sync" functionality that will automatically organize your Music Unlimited library after perusing the local files and playlists found in your existing media player (yes, iTunes is supported). Click through the break for the full press release and a good video overview of the service while you ponder the $3.99 basic and $9.99 premium monthly service fees. "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity

A month or so ago, we reported that Kno was looking for a way out of the tablet hardware business and intended to transition itself into a purely software-centric operation. Well, now Bloomberg and All Things D tell us that a deal has been worked out to make that desire a reality. A $30 million investment round led by Intel Capital has reportedly been arranged, whose stipulations include granting Intel a license to the hardware designs and blueprints of the original dual-screen tablet. Chipzilla's share of the new buy-in is estimated at around $20 million, though before you start fantasizing about what the company's financial and R&D muscle could do for the platform, we should note that it apparently doesn't intend to build any tablets of its own. The goal is simply to obtain the kno how and share it with its OEM partners (while inevitably tying that gesture of goodwill to more chip orders). As to Kno itself, it'll try to exploit the new cash in its co

Feeling lonely? Got some Swedish kronor to burn? Now you can kill two birds with one stone thanks to Three's Scandinavian arm. Hold up, we're not talking about online dating here; but you could certainly start by buying a phone from 3LiveShop, which lets you interact virtually face to face with a human sales rep. Better yet, these folks are equipped with eccentric multitouch workstations (pictured after the break) to let them drag phones and spec sheets around your screen. We had a go on this service just now and apart from a couple of hiccups later on, our Hong Kong-to-Sweden call was surprisingly fluid and fun. Sadly, we didn't get around to filming our intimate conversation with Adam here, but you can watch a promotion video by B-Reel -- the folks behind the touchscreen's Flash interface -- after the break to see how it works.  Three , B-Reel

Whether you look at stats or your own limitless experience, you know very well that humanity spends too much time staring at tubes, screens, and other unnatural visualizers. Motorola isn't really here to fix that ailment, but at least it's converging the uses of some of those device classes with its introduction of a SocialTV Companion Service. Designed to turn your smartphone, tablet or laptop into a, you guessed it, TV companion device, this new software serves up social networking, complimentary content, real-time chat, TV show ratings, and interactive (as opposed to what, non-interactive?) games. Basically, since you spend your TV-watching time idly browsing away on your Xoom anyway, why not fuse the two things together and "generate some incremental revenue" for your service provider in the process? We presume the new SocialTV stuff will be rolled out in app form, Moto doesn't dish up those details or give us a launch date. If only we had an app

There hasn't been much good news coming out of Japan lately and this sadly keeps up with the unhappy trend. Sony Ericsson has officially bumped the broad launch (it's already available in limited quantities) of its Xperia Neo handset to at least July, explaining the delay as the result of "supply chain disruptions." Additionally, the Xperia Arc and Play devices, two other members of the company's new Android Gingerbread family, will be available in smaller volume than expected, at least for the near term. We guess that might go some way to explaining why the Xperia Play failed to reach some UK carriers in time for its April 1st launch date. Skip past the break for a statement from Sony Ericsson, who promises to be more explicit about the situation when it delivers its latest quarterly results on April 19th. As Sony Ericsson continues to assess the impact of the situation in Japan on its business, we have communicated to our operator customers and dis

We're still sitting here playing with our Decepticon and Autobot toys, Jetfire and Starscream continuing their battle for airborne supremacy. It's how we entertain ourselves whilst waiting for ASUS to release its Transformer tablet on the world, but now we can at least get our hands on what makes it tick. The source code for that 10.1-inch tablet with its IPS screen and Honeycomb flavor has just been lobbed up onto the company's site and, with just a few clicks, you can continue its trajectory right onto your storage device of choice -- though you'll need to run it through an unzipper before it can really have any impact. What you do with it after that is up to you, but you're going to have to wait a bit longer before you'll have anywhere to deploy the results of the included makefile. Android Community ASUS

Ladies and gentlemen, the days of spending $600 for an Android Honeycomb tablet are nearly done -- on April 24th, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 will wash that price away with waves of brushed aluminum. That's when the WiFi-only version of Acer's Android 3.0 tablet will hit Best Buy and online retail for $450 sans contract, but with the same basic raft of specs as the WiFi-only Motorola Xoom: a dual-core 1GHz Tegra 250 SOC, a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 LCD screen, 1GB of RAM, a 5 megapixel camera around back and a 2 megapixel imager up front, HDMI-out, not to mention a pair of 3260mAh batteries that Acer claims are capable of eight full hours of life while playing HD video. Sure, it's a wee bit thicker and heavier and only sports half the flash storage (16GB), too, but if you're attracted to shiny things, look for our review in the coming weeks -- or wait until this summer to get one with AT&T. PR after the break. Update: As Acer mentioned in its press release, pr

When a new console launches you expect it to hit the ground with a big "thwomp" that knocks the competition aside. Nintendo's 3DS, however, has had something of a softer landing. It released in Japan on February 26th and had been positioned high and proud at the top of the sales charts. However, it's already been usurped by the humble PSP, which according to Media Create sold 58,075 units in the week of March 28th to April 3rd. The 3DS, meanwhile, sold 42,979. This is in large part thanks to PSP dating sim Amagami , an old PS2 game that's just been re-released for the portable. It seems nostalgia trumps 3D wizardry again, and with the PSP getting cheaper in Europe this week, the competition is even getting tougher. gamesindustry.biz Kotaku , Businessweek 

Let's be honest, the only time you're likely to consider Apple's prices for own-brand peripherals reasonable is when someone else is paying for them. It's not unusual, therefore, for folks to look to complement their walled Apple garden with a few well selected accessories from the grey market. Such as this here Smart Cover knockoff, which saves you a whopping six bucks off the Apple price at only $33, comes with detachable (no user assistance required) hinge elements, and has a special pet-repelling odor as an added extra. Yes, it's pretty terrible and self-destructs the moment you look at it. And, naturally, it's available to watch on video right after the break. Wired MIC Gadget

Ever struggled to find the perfect adjective to articulate your admiration for a given article of awesomeness ? Matt Richardson over at Make felt exactly the same way, so he perfected himself an Awesome button, designed specifically to spit out synonyms for his favorite descriptive word. To accomplish the task, he had to gut a Staples "easy" button and arrange a Teensy USB microcontroller inside it, before making the resulting mini-thesaurus compatible with his computer. Don't worry, full instructions are contained in the video above. Just mash the play button. Make

Only Sony -- the company behind the "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity" streaming service -- would consider naming its latest flash memory card the "Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX." But once you get past its monumental moniker you'll notice that the 32GB (¥17,000 about $200), 16GB (¥9,000 or $106), and 8GB (¥5,000 / $59) MS-HXB series memory cards boast an impressive 50MB per second transfer rate as tested by Sony. That's a pretty decent jump past Sony's older MS-HXA series of cards and should help keep the few remaining Memory Stick-only devices happily bursting into a future dominated by Secure Digital. Impress Watch

Panasonic has been kicking around the idea of a tricked-out Android-based in-flight entertainment system for awhile, and now it's ready for airlines to start retrofitting their livery. The system, dubbed eX3, runs Android, relieving restless fliers with news, live television, games, and what the company calls on-board social networking, but that's mostly a nod to the Facebook app. Other amenities include broadband internet access and GSM service, touchscreen controllers, capacative screens, proximity sensors, and, in some cases, 3D displays. Not going to front -- we're stoked on the idea of tuning out on-board babies via multi-hour Angry Birds sessions, but we're seriously hoping the airlines ignore one of the system's marquee features: in-flight video conferencing. Panasonic's eX3 in-flight entertainment system Panasonic

We're not professional musicians by a long shot, but when we do get a chance to break away from the relentless torrent of cellphones and tablets, nothing quite hits the spot like a little music appreciation. Of course, when done Engadget-style this usually means a gadget of some sort -- and we'd be lying if we didn't say that Novation's newest didn't whet our appetites for some after-hours beatmatching. Twitch is essentially a full-figured DJ controller, but instead of some sort of round jog wheel (which the current reviewer has always found to be extremely counter-intuitive) the company added a touch strip, which can be used for everything from finding the beat to zooming in and out of the waveform display (after watching the video, it's hard to believe we've been beatmatching without pinch-to-zoom for this long). This bad boy also boasts a full compliment of controls for Serato, Traktor NI, and Ableton Live. You're probably interested in

Make no mistake: that whole 3D-everything trend is snaking its way into professional-grade products. Canon has issued a firmware update allowing its year-old XF305 and XF300 pro camcorders to record 3D HD video. There's a catch, though: you'll need two of these bad boys, which cost a princely $8,000 and $6,700, respectively. For those with a well-stocked studio, Canon's "3D Assist Feature" aims to take some of the grunt work out of setting up two cameras to record in 3D by optically aligning their lenses and calibrating their zoom settings. The company also beefed up the scan reverse feature so that you can flip the orientation of the video to horizontal, vertical or diagonal -- a strong likelihood if you're using a 3D mirror rig. Canon slipped in a few extra goodies as well, including the ability to turn off relay recording from one memory card to another, and to simultaneously record to two memory cards, should you be paranoid about data loss. So

We'd already heard that the BlackBerry Torch 2 would basically be a Torch with some significantly bumped specs, and that's now been all but confirmed by BGR , which managed to spend a bit of time with the device itself. As you can see, it's nearly identical to the original Torch in terms of appearance, but BGR says the device's 1.2GHz processor could "light a fire" when paired with BlackBerry OS 6.1, and that its 640 x 480 display "looks absolutely great." As with the Bold Touch it got its hands on yesterday, BGR says the Torch 2 will be making its official debut at BlackBerry World next month, with a launch on AT&T to follow in July. Hit up the source link below for a few more hands-on shots. Update: N4BB has just posted a full spec sheet, which reveals a codename "Jennings" while JerukNipis has some more, clearer shots of the slider -- including a nice closeup of the textured battery cover. CrackBerry BGR , N4BB , Jeruk