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HP's gaming-oriented Pavilion Elite Phoenix is UK-only for now. (Credit: PC Gamer ) UK-based PC Gamer has a cheeky post up today regarding a for-now-UK-only Pavilion Elite Phoenix gaming desktop from HP. PC Gamer points out the rebirth metaphor in the name as it relates to the goings-on with HP's Personal Systems Group. We might also note the significance of the name as it relates to HP's previously stagnant gaming PC efforts since the departure of Rahul Sood , former head of HP Global Gaming, and founder of the HP-acquired boutique PC builder , Voodoo PC. The system itself looks like a stylized take on the HP's newly redesigned Pavilion Elite desktop that came out in the U.S. this summer. That model and its AMD Radeon HD 6850 graphics card had respectable gaming chops, but it played to a more... [Read more]

The Netgear WNDR3800 N600 Wireless Dual-Band Gigabit Router - Premium Edition (Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET) The WNDR3800 N600 Wireless Dual-Band Gigabit Router isn't intended to be Netgear's top-of-the-line wireless router for homes. That's the role of the WNDR4500 , which makes no compromises and offers 450Mbps wireless speed on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. However, in our testing, we found that the WNDR3800 is arguably the best router among those recently announced by Netgear. For one, despite the fact that it only supports the 300Mbps standard, its real-world data rates on the 2.4GHz band are better than the WNDR4800's. Furthermore, the WNDR3800 offers something that its big brother doesn't: it can host a USB external hard drive as a personal cloud storage option. It even comes with a piece of software called ReadyShare Cloud PC-Agent which enables VPN-like access for the remote computer, as though the remote computer were in the same local network as the router. O

Dell is adding a 14-inch model to its new line of thin XPS z series laptops--though availability, for now, will be limited to China. The 4.4-pound XPS 14z boasts a borderless--or bezel-free--display yielding a design that's similar to a 13-inch laptop. And Dell squeezes an optical drive into a form factor that's just less than an inch thick. Dell XPS 14z. (Credit: Dell) Like the earlier XPS 15z , the 14z has Intel Core i5 and Core i7 Sandy Bridge processors. It also comes with an Nvidia GeForce GT 520M graphics option, USB 3.0 ports, and a 1366x768 HD LED display. Availability is in China only and is being launched ahead of the country's Golden Week holiday. Availability in other regions, including the U.S., will be announced in the coming weeks. By announcing in China first, Dell is acknowledging the enormity of that market. In China a model with an i5 processor, 4G RAM, 500GB HDD, and 1GB video card will be priced at 7,699 yuan. Information about pricing and sales in the

Some folks get along just dandy with an iPod and a speaker dock, but if you need a rig that'll handle more sources, Harman Kardon hopes to have you covered with MS 150 -- which bears more than a passing resemblance to the Zeppelin Mini . This stereo system comes loaded with an iPhone dock, CD drive and FM tuner, along with a flood of auxiliary connections not limited to its headphone jacks and subwoofer output. It's even sporting an LCD display so you'll know what's pumping out of its 30 watt drivers. The MS 150 is available now from Harman Kardon, but all of its functionality will cost you -- it's priced at a whopping $600. Hey, at least it comes with a remote. You'll find full details in the PR and video demo below. Continue reading Harman Kardon's MS 150 speaker dock supports multiple devices, $600 pricetag (video) Harman Kardon's MS 150 speaker dock supports multiple devices, $600 pricetag (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Sep 201

Impoverished football soccer clubs, with their massive stadiums, billionaire owners and millionaire star players have it awful hard, you know. If a club wanted a statistical analysis of the team's movements over the 90 minutes (more if Sir Alex Ferguson is involved) then it needs to spend big on a ProZone statistics system. That's all due to change, thanks to Adidas' new adizero f50 miCoach -- an "intelligent football boot" that includes a space for the miCoach Speed Cell, a tracking device that works like a souped-up Nike+iPod . The chip records your speed, sprint times, distance, step and stride rates, stores it for up to seven hours and pushes it over WiFi or USB to the device of your choice. You'll be able to share your stats online with friends via Facebook and compare them to pros like diminutive pitchman Lionel Messi, diminutive Welshman Gareth Bale and the, ah, not-so-diminutive Emmanuel Adebayor. A pair of boots, Speed Cell and dongle will require

Tag Heuer's high-end concept chronograph is so precise, blink and you'll miss it -- literally. The Mikrotimer Flying 1000's watch movement runs at 500Hz. Compare that to other high-end chronos plodding along at 5Hz, and you start to see the sort of power and precision Team Tag are working with -- this mesmerizing piece of wrist jewelry is capable of banging out 3.6 million beats per hour. Initially planned as a one-off, the concept watch will now go on sale for a lucky few timepiece obsessives . Be prepared to reach for your severely over-burdened money clip, though; the price is set at €65,000 ($88,580), with a limited run of ten arriving before the end of the year. Gawp in awe at the brief video after the break. You may have to sell the Batmobile . Continue reading Tag Heuer concept watch beats 3.6 million times per hour, $89,000 price tag gives heart palpitations Tag Heuer concept watch beats 3.6 million times per hour, $89,000 price tag gives heart palpitations origi

Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world where we all just got along, people worked for the thrill of it, and knowledge was free? Yeah, fat chance dreamers. 'Sue', our new millennium's most oft-used verb, is getting some heavy play at the hands of the tech industry. The latest court room combatants? Why, that'd be LG Group and Osram . You see, once upon a time LG was late to the LED patent game, and was content to fork over the cash to Osram for use of its tech. Skip to now, and the electronics giant's claiming it can get its lighting goods elsewhere, picking from a plethora of relevant IP-holding companies and combining that with its own patents. Despite having already countersued Osram in July to prevent the import of that company's allegedly infringing products into South Korea, LG's gathered its legal arsenal once again to block the sale of Audis and BMWs throughout the entire country -- cars that include Osram's LED tech . It's hard to im

Perhaps calling an immobile plastic bug with explosives strapped to its underside a " jumping robot " is a bit of a stretch, but who are we to argue with the Army Research Laboratory and the University of Maryland. The two groups have collaborated to create a pair of "robots" that measure just a few millimeters in size but can jump several centimeters in the air. One uses a spring like mechanism (which an operator must press down with a pair of tweezers) to propel it, while the other uses a small rocket, which can be triggered either by current applied over wires or a phototransistor (for untethered flight). It all makes for a pretty neat video, which you can find after the break - even if your sister's Furby was more robot than these tiny things. Continue reading Tiny 'jumping robots' have more in common with firecrackers than Johnny 5 Tiny 'jumping robots' have more in common with firecrackers than Johnny 5 originally appeared on Engadget o

Amazon unveiled three new products at a press event in New York on Wednesday, including its much-anticipated first tablet computer, the Kindle Fire . The new Kindles — and their unusually low price points — will likely have an impact on both the ereader and tablet markets. Here’s a concise guide to the new products and what makes them different from their predecessors. Like similar products from Kobo and Nook , the Kindle Touch allows readers to flip pages, search, shop and take notes by swiping and tapping the screen. It costs $139 with 3G, and $99 for the Wi-Fi-only version. Because it needs no extra room for buttons, the device itself is smaller than previous models of the Kindle. Here’s a gallery of the Kindle Touch: The $79 Kindle. The $79 K

Tim Yeaton is the President and CEO of Black Duck Software . He has more 30 years experience working in the software community. Contact him at tyeaton@blackducksoftware.com. Most people do not think of software developers as being high on the “social” scale. In fact, the (misinformed) stereotype for a typical developer is that of the introverted geek. But in many ways, particularly with open source developers, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Contributing to open source software is a profoundly social activity. Some of open source’s main tenets are collaboration, transparency and meritocracy, which require developers to collaborate and share at a highly productive level. And with over 500,000 open source projects on the Internet, there’s a lot of collaboration going on. It’s clear that by participating in open source communities, developers are engaging in productive social behavior. While some people may picture open source developers as working quietly and in isolation, the

Adobe Systems has updated Lightroom and Photoshop to support a number of new small, higher-end cameras from Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, and Pentax. The software packages handle the raw photos that higher-end cameras can produce, offering higher image quality and better flexibility at the expense of convenience. And as new cameras arrive, Adobe must build support for the new models proprietary formats. Lightroom 3.5 of and version 6.5 of Photoshop's raw-image plug-in (available on Adobe's download site ) now can support a host of new compact interchangeable-lens cameras (ILCs) that lack SLRs' bulk-inducing reflex mirror. In addition, it supports high-end medium-format cameras from Hasselblad, Phase One, and Phase One's Leaf subsidiary. The full list: • Fuji FinePix F600EXR Sony's NEX-5N is among the new cameras that Lightroom 3.5 supports. (Credit: Sony Electronics) • Hasselblad H4D-60 • Leaf Aptus II 12 • Leaf Aptus II 12R • Nikon Coolpix P7100 • Olympus E-P3 • Olymp