Now, it’s entirely possible that this isn’t an official Barbie cellphone (or even an actual cellphone) but, if you’re looking for something that’s more Barbie-ish and, well, less cellphone-like than your usual phone, you may want to consider this new P520 model that recently turned up in China. Apparently, this one includes 2-inch,176 x 220 display, a 1.3 megapixel camera, “up to 2GB of expandable memory” (we’re guessing a microSD card slot), built-in Bluetooth, not one but two SIM card slots and, yes, an actual mirror. Sold? Then you can apparently pick one up now for 780 yuan (or $114), although getting one over here will likely take a bit more doing.

[Thanks, Daniel]

Filed under: Cellphones

Barbie P520 cellphone turns up in China originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:Barbie P520 cellphone turns up in China

We’ve always been intrigued by the EFI-X dongle that fools OS X into running on stock Intel machines, Software Update and all, and now it looks like the company a company called EFi-X USA is taking things one step further — it’s planning on shipping pre-built machines capable of running Apple’s OS. The EFi-X Millennium 4 will sport an overclocked 3.8GHz Core 2 Quad, 4GB of RAM, and a GeForce 8800 GTS graphics card in an Antec P180 case, all for $1,899 plus the $199 EFi-X dongle. The idea is to avoid any Psystar-style legal troubles by leaving the purchase and installation of OS X up to the end user, but apparently no one at EFi-X USA has talked to a lawyer or even read our previous posts on the matter, since Apple’s lawsuit against Psystar turns as much on contributory and induced copyright infringement as it does on Psystar’s direct violation of Apple’s OS X EULA. In other words, it’s illegal to sell a product expressly designed to allow customers to infringe copyrights — a principle Napster and Grokster made famous, you’ll recall. Plus we’re pretty certain there’s a DMCA argument in there since the EFi-X dongle circumvents Apple’s protections on OS X — the validity of which Psystar is actually testing in its revised countersuit. We’ll see how it goes — we’re seriously worried that these companies are doing far more harm to the OSx86 scene than good.

P.S.- Oh, and honestly, Apple, if you want this entire headache to go away, all you have to do is produce a reasonably-priced, configurable midrange tower. Think about it.

Update: We’ve just been pinged by the original EFi-X team, who tell us that EFi-X USA has nothing to do with them, that they have no plans to sell actual machines, and that they strongly disapprove of EFi-X USA. Shades of Psystar’s use of netkas’s work on OSx86 without permission, we’d say — shady shady.

[Thanks, Mark]

Filed under: Desktops

EFi-X USA decides to tempt Apple’s lawyers, will start shipping OS X-capable machines originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:EFi-X USA decides to tempt Apple's lawyers, will start shipping OS X-capable machines

Convert DVD to specific MPEG-4, H.264 video format which are playable on all iPod models, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod Video. It also allows you to convert DVD audio to MP3, M4A, or WAV format.

Source:Enjoy DVD Movie On iPod Nano, iPod Touch, iPod Classic

We’ve always drooled after the top end of the Ultimate Ears headphone line, and it looks like we’ve got a new lust-magnet — the company just introduced the Triple.Fi 10vi in-ear buds with an iPhone and Blackberry-compatible mic / button. The triple-driver ‘phones are said to have the same essential guts as UE’s far more expensive custom monitors, and they’ll kick out frequencies as low as 10Hz and top out at 17kHz. Yes, we want them. No, we can’t justify spending $420 on them. Yes, we’re totally thinking about it anyway.

[Via iPodNN]

Filed under: Portable Audio

Ultimate Ears intros Triple.Fi 10vi headphones with built-in mic originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:Ultimate Ears intros Triple.Fi 10vi headphones with built-in mic

We’ve seen a few attempts to turn solar cells into something a tad more fashionable, but this new so-called Hana-Akari prototype from Sony goes quite a bit further than most, with it employing a newfangled “dye-sensitized” technique to spruce up the otherwise drab solar cells. Apparently, Sony not only sees those being used to power the lamp itself (which appears to use LED lights), but other devices as well, although it seems to be keeping expectations somewhat in check by only showing it with a small fan. As you might have guessed, there’s no indication of a release date for any actual products just yet, or a price for that matter, but Sony says that the dye-sensitized process itself is both cheap and effective.

[Via BoingBoing Gadgets]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household

Sony shows off stylish Hana-Akari solar-powered lamp prototype originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:Sony shows off stylish Hana-Akari solar-powered lamp prototype