Always dreamt of a Apple notebook with built-in WWAN? Looks like today's your lucky day: a prototype MacBook Pro just surfaced on eBay, replete with a SIM card slot and retractable antenna in tow. Expecting a nonfunctional parts machine off Craigslist, its newfound owner managed to resuscitate the 2007-esque gizmo into booting, but was unfortunately unable to coax any GSM goodness from the thing. According to the seller, regular MacBook Pros from the era contain the same (but unused) solder points for the SIM card as the proto, lending credence to the notion that Cupertino might have seriously considered a 3G variant. Either way, if you've got a knack for rare Apple collectibles, or feel the need to ogle and some red-colored innards, hit the source below.

Prototype MacBook Pro with SIM slot surfaces on eBay, unicorns actually exist originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Aug 2011 01:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MacRumors  |  eBay  | Email this | Comments

Surely you remember Sanho's HyperDrive lineup -- ya know, the only portable HDD that plays nicely with the iPad? Well, if you don't dig the $249 entry level price, you're in luck. The company just announced a bunch of new HDDs for you to take with you and your iPad on that road trip you've had planned for years. The new drives no longer sport the QVGA color display or the CF and SD card slots -- instead, the black case has two mini USB ports and a power socket. The HyperDrive doesn't come with the traditional AC adapter but instead a USB-to-DC cable and the user-replaceable battery will allow up to 40GB of transfers on a single charge. And if you're wondering why there's two USB ports, we really couldn't tell you. Perhaps if you choose the right port while connected to your PC and enter the Konami code, unicorns and fairy dust will pop out of your screen -- wishful thinking, we know. The HyperDrives ship in March (pre-ordering is available now) with prices starting at $99 for a bring-your-own-drive housing, 1TB for $349 and various sizes in-between. So, if your photo/video library is worth accessing at all times, well, props to you. Press release is after the break.

Continue reading Sanho announces new HyperDrive line-up, still enough storage for your Frank Zappa discography

Sanho announces new HyperDrive line-up, still enough storage for your Frank Zappa discography originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 06:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  HyperDrive  | Email this | Comments

Apple is a cyclical creature, like bears, unicorns and ladyfolk. iPods in September; iPhones in June; and likely, iPads in April. April is not so far away! So, unsurprisingly, we're starting to hear what the next iPad looks like. More »

Should there be an international award for Cheekiest Man of the Year, it'd have to go to Meizu's shameless Jack Wong. Shortly after Apple's keynote last week, the CEO of KIRFdom seized the opportunity to cry foul on the new iPod touch, claiming it "looks a bit like" his forthcoming M9II Android phone, as pictured above. Wait, M9II? Turns out even though the M9 has yet to materialize in early October, Mr. Wong already has an enhanced model to be brought forth by his faithful unicorns. Assuming both M9 series devices will carry the same Meizu-fied Android 2.2 software, the only known differences on the M9II include a larger 4-inch display (as opposed to 3.5 inches at 960 x 640), the additional front-facing camera plus flash for the rear camera, and a Cortex-A9 CPU. To play devil's advocate, we'd actually suggest Wong skip the M9 for this lovely dream phone, but we're probably too late -- check out his snazzy prototype M9 after the break.

Continue reading Meizu CEO Jack Wong: Oh hey, the new iPod touch 'looks a bit like the M9II'

Meizu CEO Jack Wong: Oh hey, the new iPod touch 'looks a bit like the M9II' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Meizu Forum (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

When Amazon bought mutitouch company TouchCo, it wasn't all rainbows and unicorns. Nay, one of the casualties of the deal was the LinnStrument, a multitouch music maker that's currently in need of funding. Is it worth it? Take a look: More »

Well, that didn't take long. Already analysts are crawling out of the woodwork to put the seemingly miraculous Bloom Box fuel cell in its place as yet another energy saving technology that won't perform as advertised.

This week it was IDC Energy Insights analyst Sam Jaffe, who said that while the fuel cell developed by Bloom Energy CEO K.R Sridhar and his team was definitely "not bogus," it just doesn't differentiate itself well enough from already available fuel cell technologies—especially as it pertains to price.

And the device's supposedly unique "fuel-switching" ability? Not unique at all, Jaffe claimed on his Energy Insight blog, in a post titled "Four Things Bloom Energy Forgot to Tell the World":

"Any high-temperature fuel cell should be able to do that. The fact that it's solid oxide and it's primarily ceramic opens up the possibility of making it much more cheaply, but every start-up in the energy field has an expensive product that they claim one day will be cheap. There is no reason to believe that Bloom has the ability to make it that much more cheaply. I'm pretty pessimistic about it."

Indeed. Further...fueling Jaffe's pessimism is the belief that a Bloom Box isn't really all that green if you're comparing it to the way we traditionally get power from the grid. At a cost of $7-$8/watt, he contends, the miracle box is no less expensive than photovoltaics that have been purchased at a rate of 100 kW at a time.

Another miracle energy tech bites the dust? Unless Bloom Energy can curb costs and green things up a bit, the answer for now is "maybe." Unless the unicorns get involved, anyway.

Still confused about fuel cells and the Bloom Box? Be sure to check out our regular Giz Explains column on this very topic! [IDC via CNET]

It's a well known fact that Safari's CSS engine runs on rainbows, unicorns, and sugar, or that Internet Explorer 7 HTML renderer uses copious amount of babies' blood. However, very few people know that Chrome runs on goats.

Exactly, 12,000 goats are teleported every second after a fresh reboot. TWELVE THOUSAND GOATS, people. That's a lot of greek yogurt. Like, at least five thousand yogurts per second. Or ten. I'm not sure. Depends on the goat being african or european. Or if they are about to be roasted. So leave those poor goats, alone, Google, they have enough problems on their own.

Matthew Inman, aka "The Oatmeal," is a former web designer turned comic artist. He subsists primarily on a diet of dead crickets and malt liquor. He also thinks that printers have a place in hell right next to unicorns.

Reprinted with permission from Matthew Inman. You can see more of his work on The Oatmeal or in 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth, the comic book which he self published last year.