Filed under: Desktops, Media PCs, Tablet PCs

Even though the first commercial deployments of Microsoft’s Surface have been delayed until spring, it seems that enthusiasm for the tech is still strong in Redmond — enough so that Steve Ballmer told reporters today that work on a consumer version has been sped up. The initial plan called for consumer-grade Surface products to, uh, surface in five years, but the demand for the tech is so high Ballmer said Microsoft is going to “follow our nose” and get it out ASAP. When that actually might be, we still don’t know, but hey — it’s not like we’re getting tired of that Big-Ass Table video anytime soon.

[Via The Raw Feed]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming

The delayed, revamped N-Gage client still isn’t ready for prime time, but the First Access preview service — which is just a little bit more functional than the preview shipping on some Nseries devices already — has finally launched. The service introduces a full suite of social gaming tools (though with compatibility officially limited to N81s for the moment, that’s a very small social circle indeed) and lets users download several game demos; Nokia promises that the service will evolve and expand as it ramps up for a full-scale release, so don’t get too down on the lack of content and community just yet. Oh, and just a word of warning, downloaders: your data will get reset prior to the full-scale launch, so don’t get too attached to your high scores, k?

[Via All About Symbian]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Storage

There’s been plenty of conjecture (pictured) about a 16GB iPhone — and its mysterious absence from the initial lineup — ever since the 16GB iPod touch graced us all with its minuscule presence, but things are starting to look up. We just got a pair of tips purporting inside AT&T info that both point to the 16GB iPhone showing up shortly. One person spotted the phone in AT&T Wireless inventory, listed as not in stock, while the other tipster was fairly certain about a release this Tuesday or the next one. Obviously this is all hearsay at the moment, so don’t go hawking that 8 gigger just yet, but we’ll see if Apple’s going to serve us up a Papa Bear-sized portion of gigabytes soon enough.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

It’s a little late, but it looks like the HP is finally ready to take your money and hand over a tx2000 tablet. Nothing really new to report specs- or price-wise: $1,299 buys you a 2.1GHz AMD Turion, 2GB of RAM, GeForce Go 6150, 160GB disk, LightScribe dual-layer burner and a fingerprint reader, while $2,311 bumps you up to a 2.2GHz Turion, 250GB disk, Verizon 3G ExpressCard, and Vista Ultimate. And, of course, that 12.1-inch touchscreen that “has a digitizer!” Not a bad deal, actually — anyone going to take the plunge?

[Thanks, Sky]

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Filed under: Gaming, Robots

Sure, we’ve seen DS bots before, but some youngsters in France have taken the whole control issue to the “next level.” Apparently, six engineering students decided to pull a fast one on a Pekee Robot (an open, modular, Roomba-like bot) which was collecting dust, and mainline DS controls into its tiny brain. The end result is a multi-use control rig run based entirely on Nintendo’s portable console, offering wireless command of the bot with the D-pad, touchscreen, motion sensors, and stylus strokes, as well as a target mode modeled after Super Mario 64 DS, and voice commands via the system’s mic. You can watch the video after the break to see the little guy in action, but you might want to avert your gaze when he becomes self-aware, determines humans are inefficient, and goes on a kill-crazy rampage.

[Via DS Fanboy]

Continue reading DS-controlled robot works six different ways

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