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Thanks to the eagerness of TeleNav’s web designers, they’ve let slip one of their most-closely guarded secrets — a stand-alone internet connected GPS device. We’ve got a TeleNav Shotgun in hand, but we weren’t prepared to fire that bad boy off until Monday. Since there’s this little slip-up though, we’ll give you some first impressions.

Marketing and timing aspects aside, the TeleNav Shotgun is actually a pretty sexy unit in terms of appearance. The UI is pretty clean and you could sort of think of it as a big brother to the TeleNav Navigator GPS software you have on your cell phone. The Shotgun uses a built-in SIM card (they won’t let us say which carrier, but it is GSM, obviously) to let you get real-time traffic, locations, restaurant ratings, look-ups, and whatever else your heart desires. The unit does work as advertised and we didn’t have any real hiccups. All in all it’s not bad, it’s just not great and we really don’t see a place in the market for this thing. We’ll let you ponder if you think you’re going to get one or not while we put the finishing touches on our review. We’re riding Shotgun, bitchez.

You know, with all the deserved hype about Android being much more open than the iPhone’s platform, one must wonder what security will be like. When iPhone developers starting coming out about Apple’s NDA on developing apps, everyone seemed to give old Steve-O the stink-eye. Add to this the fact that developers and consumers alike were complaining that Apple was remotely shutting off apps for no apparent reason. Well, it turns out there was a reason for that and Google is smart to follow suit. Being an open platform, Android could be susceptible to a world of hurt if malicious developers decided they want to mess up your phone - or worse, compromise your security. So as part of a better and safer platform, Computer world has this to say:

In the Android Market terms of service, Google expressly says that it might remotely remove an application from user phones. “Google may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement … in such an instance, Google retains the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion,” the terms, linked to from the phone, read.

We all want as little interference from the big guys as possible when enjoying our new gadgets and their apps or properties, but it’s nice to know they’re there to protect our stuff when necessary. Everyone can whine and say, “Hey man! I loved that app! Those bastards…” But our sentiment on this remote kill switch issue is - Better Safe Than Sorry.

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Everyone knows that the best thing about getting a hot new gadget isn’t the high you get when purchasing it, the joy of unboxing powering it on, or the the enjoyment it brings you over a period of time. It’s taking that expensive piece of equipment apart the first night with Red Bull-fueled precision. And that’s exactly what the same people that brought us the first iPhone 3G disassembly did. Through their latest ritualistic disassembly two interesting things were discovered. First, the new MacBook and MacBook Pro feature the same single-piece internal design, and second, removing the keyboard requires the removal of 56 screws. Yeah, that’s right. 56 screws.

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Have you ever been caught checking your Facebook at work and had your boss giving you the evil eye? Or perhaps you were working on your soon-to-be-huge screenplay at Starbucks and the girls sitting next to you were giggling at your space alien love story? Well, LG has come to your rescue. The electronics giant has developed a new 14.1″ screen that allows the visibility to be adjusted by angle. While it’s capable of a 175-degree viewing range, it can be adjusted to just 60-degrees to help avoid those wandering eyes. Typical LCD screens have subpixels for the three primary colors while the LG screen has extra subpixels to control this effect without affecting coloring on your screen. Pretty cool, eh? Now your IM fights with your girlfriend or pr0n pop-ups from those questionable sites you visit won’t be so embarrassing anymore.

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If you were looking for a rugged, ugly alternative to Nokia’s internet tablets or the flood of netbooks hitting the market, Motorola has just the device for you. The VC6096 has integrated 3G and 802.11a/b/g WiFi capabilities so you can keep up with BGR while you’re at your local Starbucks or out doing something, erm, rugged. It isn’t half bad: The VC6096 (they really need to come up with a name for this thing - like FGLY or something) has a full QWERTY keyboard, microphone and speakers, GPS, and Bluetooth connectivity. And of course, it runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro - the biggest thing that would set it apart from other portable internet devices like netbooks which carry full versions of Windows OS. Slap on 128MB of RAM, 256MB flash, a 624Mhz processor and it rises just above the “Ehh” factor. We really can’t think of any practical use for this thing that another, more appropriate device couldn’t do. But maybe we’re in the minority on this…

[Via NaviGadget]

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Advertised as being able to take abuse, Samsung put one of their SSD hard drives to the test by tossing one over the edge of a 3-story building. Landing with a giant bounce, they retrieved the hard drive, popped it into a laptop, and booted it, seemingly undamaged by its fall. Impressive there Samsung, but to really satisfy our craving for gadget abuse, we would have loved to have seen a spinning platter HDD subject to the same drop test. Care to film it again and show us how that would fare after taking a similar plunge? You know, something with drop detection…

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Two short weeks since the Slingbox PRO-HD and Slingcatcher were first made available for pre-order, the PRO-HD box is now alive and shipping. It’s probably safe to say that after a delay or two, the team made sure that it got this puppy out the door ASAP. For $299 ($329 for our Canadian buddies) you can be streaming 720p or 1080i high definition goodness to just about anywhere your little heart desires. The Slingbox PRO-HD also features an integrated digital tuner and plenty of inputs to accommodate your DVR, digital cable, satellite receiver and DVD player. The release also coincides with a major software revision for Windows XP and Vista users. SlingPlayer 2.0 includes plenty of updates and new features, not the least of which is much needed live video buffer that allows viewers to pause, rewind and fast forward live streams a la DVR. There is also a great new guide feature that provides a built-in programming guide outside the player window, allowing you to easily browse program schedules as you stream. Today is a big day for our pals at Sling Media and with these major updates and the PRO-HD release out of the way, hopefully we’ll see things kick into high gear on the mobile front.

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First the Mini 9 netbook and now this tiny little pocket projector - isn’t everything supposed to be bigger in Texas? Geared towards the “road warrior” according to the copy on Dell’s product page, the Texas-based PC slinger has finally made its latest creation available to the public. The M109S is a teeny tiny projector measuring 3.64″ x 4.12″ x 1.46″ and weighing in at a feather-light 0.80 lbs. Well, maybe it’s not feather-light but Lauren Greenfield might still have some perfectly understandable objections. With an 858 x 600 SVGA resolution and an 800:1 contrast ratio, this little scrapper is capable of projecting a clear image up to 60″ diagonally; definitely more than impressive for a projector this small. It also has a host of features such as auto keystone, vertical adjustment and password protection. The only set back with this little gem might be the price point: $499. Hey if your clients can’t afford to have a projector waiting for you when you get to their offices, you’re likely taking them to the cleaners and $500 is nothing.

Oh and Dell people, what’s up with the heading on the product page?

Yeah, we get it. It’s a Dell.

[Via Your Blog]

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What happens when you mix together a NetBook, a portable GPS, and a PMP? You get the Clarion MiND, “Mobile Internet Navigation Device”. The new MiND uses the low power Intel Atom processor (running at 800Mhz) found in many netbooks and Linux as the core behind its multimedia and navigation features. The MiND uses Wifi and Bluetooth to establish an Internet connection so you can browse websites on its 4.8 inch, WVGA 800 x 480 resolution touchscreen. It utilizes Firefox as the browser and offers a full HTML browsing experience as well as Flash support. As a PMP, it supports MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, H.264, WMV, MPEG-4 and Real video. An optional in-car dock will deliver real-time traffic data and will also route the audio from the navigation directions and music files through your car speaker system. Very Cool! Every rose has its thorn and the thorn for the MiND is the battery life. Rated at only 2 hours for the standard battery and 4 hours for the extended battery, you won’t be using this baby for very long without a power source nearby. Nonetheless, this is an innovative mashup of some the most popular mobile technologies out there. Kudos for that, Clarion.

[Via DAPreview]

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The possibility of using brain-activated dialing instead of voice seems like a feasible thing of the future. NeuroSky Inc. of San Jose, CA is developing a new technology which will allow people to perform tasks and certain functions on their phones via brainwaves. Talk about crazy! There is already technology that exists where the minds of monkeys and some humans were used to move cursors on computers and play keys on a piano, so it seems only natural that they adopt this into other technologies. In one experiment done by NeuroSky, people were asked to move a character through a video game as quickly as possible. Multiple pieces of equipment were used and connected to the phone via Bluetooth. Hmm, we can picture the future now… “I wonder if I should call my ex, Kelly. Oh crap! Phone, I command you to stop dialing!”

Thanks, Yash!

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Attention Apple owners and Mac fanboys: Apple has issued a recall yesterday for their Ultra-compact USB chargers. Apparently the prongs have been breaking off and getting stuck in outlets, putting people at risk  of electric shock. Yikes! Apple is advising everyone to stop using them immediately, which is kinda stupid since they won’t be replacing them until October 10 (via web or in-store exchange). So, uh, if you depend on one of these, we guess you’ll be going without power for a while, or maybe you’ll just put yourself at risk by being the defiant rebels you are. Those who own the original iPhone, or overseas iPhone 3Gs take a little relief in knowing the ones provided in the box with their phones aren’t affected. Whew!

Thanks, to everyone that sent this in!

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Known for their unique small form factor case designs, Shuttle is launching their Shuttle D10 desktop PC this week. The incorporation of a 7 inch LCD screen with an 800×480 resolution into the case makes it look like it is fresh out of a modder’s basement. Way cool. Not too shabby on specs either, as the D10 will come in a variety of configurations that include either a Core 2 Duo E4000 Series, a Dual Core E2000 Series, or a Celeron 400 Series processor with 2GB of DDR2 (up to 4GB) RAM, RealTek 5.1 Channel Audio Support, and four USB ports. All this for under $500. Sorry guys, not for us this time as it is available only in Japan. Why do they always get the good stuff?

[Via Gearlog]

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Video conferencing phones weren’t all too popular in the past, but this new one from ASUS looks pretty wicked. Let’s rephrase that… it looks horrible, but we might just be able to overlook that. The AiGuru SV1 boasts a 7″ display, speakerphone, mic, and Wi-Fi so you can make calls via Skype without having to connect it to a computer. The best part of it all? In true Skype fashion, the calls are all free for Skype users. Another cool feature is the video-conferencing capabilities — perfect for business users or extremely bored friends. Available for pre-order as of this writing in Europe and North America, the AiGuru SV1 will run about $300 and will officially go on sale in early October. To make life easy, the directions for getting this little bad boy started are simple:

1. Connect to Skype via Wi-Fi or Ethernet cable

2. Log in or create new Skype account

3. Start video calling!

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What would you do if you put in your recovery disk for your Asus laptop and your anti-virus software alarms started going off? You would do what a reader over at PC Pro did. You would do some investigating. He first realized that something was amiss when his anti-virus was kicked off  by the presence of a keygen (credited to Freddy Kruger) for WinRar on the recovery disc. Unusual to say the least. A little file searching on the recovery disc pulled up a directory named “crack” which apparently contained serial numbers for other software packages. That is not the worst of it, further searching pulled up another directory that contained confidential Microsoft documents for PC manufacturers and associated keys and program files. Lastly, he located some internal Asus documents that detail “major problems” identified by Asus as well as source code for Asus software. He isn’t alone as other Asus owners report the same keygen and other unusual files on their recovery discs. According to PC Pro, Asus is investigating at a high level and was unable comment on how the files got on the disc. Psst, Asus, you may want to have a little talk with those people compiling the recovery discs for you. Tell them to lay off Pirate Bay and keep the confidential files on the “internal” servers where they belong.

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Panasonic announced on Friday the 12MP Lumix DMC-G1, the world’s first camera based upon the new Micro Four Thirds standard. Announced in August by Olympus and Panasonic, the micro four thirds standard allows for reduced size and weight in both camera bodies and camera lenses by removing the mirror box from the lens design. Sacrificing a true to life optical viewfinder for a mirror-less Live View electronic viewfinder, the distance from the lens mount and the image sensor (flangeback distance) has been cut in half. The lens mount itself has also been decreased by 6mm. Smaller flangeback distance and smaller lens mount = Lighter cameras and smaller lenses. No more lugging around a 10lb gear bag as the new G1 weighs in at a mere 385 grams (0.85 lbs) and has shrunk 6-8mm in size; while still retaining the overall shape, feel, and performance of a heavier, full-bodied DSLR. Sweet! It is expected in the US in November 2008. The folks over at Imaging Resource got their hands on a pre-production model and have done a hands-on review. Click on the link to see how this new lightweight contender performs.

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…and right on schedule! Umm, right? Yes people, the Slingbox PRO-HD and Slingcather are now officially available for pre-order from amazon.com and direct from Sling Media. With Hava picking up steam, we’ve been waiting for our buddies over at Sling Media to make good on some of the updated goodies we have been waiting for. It might not have happened as quickly as some would have liked but at least we now know it won’t be long before these puppies are shipping. For those who need a 60-second refresher course, here we go: The Slingbox PRO-HD is the first box from Sling Media that will allow you to stream full 1080i High Definition video from your home to, well, anywhere. It is also the first model to sport an integrated digital tuner (ATSC OTA and clear QAM are supported). The Slingcatcher on the other hand, is a different direction for the company. It is designed to bring content to a television as opposed to sending television content to the internet. Hook this puppy up to your set and you can view video files from a USB flash drive, stream video and other content from your PC to your TV and it even lets you catch another Slingbox’s stream so you can Sling from TV to TV with no middle man. There’s some more good news as well. Those of you who have been jonesing for some HD-streaming love will be happy to learn that the Slingbox PRO-HD is available for $299, the same price as the Slingcatcher, rather than the $399 price point that Sling Media had been announced. Solid.

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Mobile travelers rejoice, your battery woes may be alleviated, at least a little bit. HP announced today that you can get 24 hours of run time on a single charge with their HP EliteBook 6930p. The HP EliteBook 6930p was specially configured with an Ultra Capacity 12-cell battery, a power-saving Illumi-Lite LED display, an Intel 80GB SSD and Windows XP with the latest Intel graphics driver and HP BIOS. Phew, got all that? The battery life rating is based upon “an industry standard benchmark” so your individual performance may be significantly less vary. Versions of this notebook as configured with the low power Illumi-Lite LED display will be available starting October 2008. Now if they can just pack this power into a battery the size of a thick credit card instead of a 12-cell brick, then we really can rejoice!

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It’s a bundle of 3G joy for you mini notebook owners. Starting in November in Taiwan, the Acer Aspire One netbook is expected to ship with integrated 3G for $95 (NT$3,000) more than the standard non-3G model. Add in some bundled 3G service through Taiwan Mobile and you can save yourself $155 (NT$5,000) instead. Woohoo! Not to be outdone, it appears as if HP and Dell may be offering similar bundles in Japan. A post at jkOnTheRun has the newspaper flier above that appears to offer the recently announced Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and the HP 2133 mini notebook with a respectable $370 subsidy. The subsidy requires a two year commitment to a 3G data plan with Emobile. Wow! Not too shabby considering Dell just announced the Inspiron Mini 9 last week. Cant wait to see a similar bundle coming stateside. Sooner rather than later, please.

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Announced back in August, the Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet is now available and shipping worldwide. Not quite an MID but way more than a standard PMP, the Archos 5 has a 5″ screen with 800 x 480-pixel resolution, integrated 802.11b/g WiFi, Opera Web browser with Flash 9 support, and support, either natively or through a plugin, for almost every audio and video playback codec imaginable (including HD at 720p). It ships in 60GB, 120GB, and 250GB sizes for $350, $400, and $450, respectively. If you can stand the wait, a 3.5G HSDPA version is expected in December 2008. Want to get a closer look at the Archos 5 tablet in action, then head over to Archoslounge.net who has posted an 18 page review chock full of images and hands-on video goodness. We put a teaser above but there is lots more at their site to drool over. Be warned, the review is in French but we all know how to Google translate, right? Enjoy!

[Via ArchosFans]

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Richard! Congrats buddy, you’ll be dodging traffic and reading your friends’ tweets on the go (not while driving though, we hope) before you know it. Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner but things have been pretty busy here at BGR HQ. Don’t worry, we’ll have some exciting new stuff for you before you know it. In the meantime, a big thanks is in order to everyone who entered the contest and to Dash for showing BGR readers some well-deserved love. Congrats again to Richard to everyone else who entered, don’t worry if you weren’t the lucky winner this time around. You know your pals here at BGR will have plenty more gear coming your way before you know it.

Literally, on fire. Sony, along with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, has issued a recall on its TZ-Series laptop. The TZ100 series, Z200 series, TZ300 and TZ2000 series bought from July 2007- August 2008, to be exact. No overheating batteries this time, folks, the culprit instead is a poorly placed wire and/or dislodged screw in the hinge that could cause a short circuit. Short circuit = Overheating + Potential Fire. 15 cases have been reported so this is not a recall based on one man’s long winded tale of how his iPod exploded in his pants pocket (remember that one?). About 73,000 of these potential incendiary devices are floating around. So if you or a loved one is toting one, you better give Sony a call. Don’t want to have one burst into flames while you are on an airplane and have them think you are a terrorist or something like that.

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Gamers get your plane tickets now. The new PSP-3000 will be available On October 16th in Japan. Retailing at 19,800 yen ($184), the new PSP system will debut in three basic colors of “Piano Black,” “Pearl White” and “Mystic Silver”. For gamers with a flair for fashion (admit it, you’re out there), additional colors are expected soon. The PSP will come bundled with a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, a pouch, hand strap, and a wipe cloth for all those inevitable and annoying greasy fingerprints. Some new peripherals and accessory packs will also be available on release. No further details on release dates in other countries though it is still expected for the upcoming holiday season. Some cool new online services are also set to be launched this fall in conjunction with the release of this new device. PSP users will now be able to connect directly to the PlayStation Store and download entertainment and game content without piggybacking through a computer or PS3. Available for download on the launch date will be a PSP version of the Japanese PS3 game, Mainichi Issyo. Own a previous version of the PSP and feeling a bit left out? Rejoice as an update will extend this service to you too! Another online service will launch that “enables users to play PSP software titles featuring ad-hoc mode over the Internet through PS3 with other online players. PSP software titles such as “MONSTER HUNTER PORTABLE 2nd G” from CAPCOM Co., Ltd. will be compatible with this new online service.” A footnote says “Titles and the detailed information of the service will be announced in due course.” Hmm, not really sure what that means (PSP vs PS3 online games?) but it sounds interesting.

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Since you Canadians got the Blackberry Bold first, you had to wait for these - but now the wait is over. If giant towers are cramping your style, check out Dell’s new line of Studio Hybrids. You’ll also be happy to know, if you’re at all environmentally conscious, that these are Dell’s “greenest, most power-efficient desktop.” Like all of their machines, the Studio Hybrid is very customizable and comes in 6 different interchangeable color shells or bamboo. The disc slot will handle DVDs and Blu-Ray as an optional feature. Starting at $529, here are some of the features that can be had:

Pretty good deal, eh?

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WOW! (And we do mean World of Warcraft.) Gaming is about to get a little more fun for those nitpicky about their hardware and peripherals options. Microsoft is releasing the new, and long rumored, Sidewinder X6 gaming keyboard along with the new X5 mouse soon. The keyboard will have a detachable numeric keypad for the times you need to use both and remain ergonomically correct, or when your taxes, bookkeeping, and budgeting can wait. The back-lit keyboard isn’t anything terribly exciting, but it does change color and disable certain keys depending on what you’re doing. All the Windows functions keys are disabled during game play so you don’t launch the menu by accident, for example. As far as the backlights, red indicates standard keyboard function and amber means it’s business time.

The mouse looks much like the older one, but it is smaller and feels less clunky and awkward in the hand — perfect for avoiding carpal tunnel during those long raids and tournaments. While the materials used took a nosedive, the cost followed suit. At $59.99, however, it will still have everything a gamer needs such as a 2,000 dpi laser sensor and customizable buttons. Pretty wicked.

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Sony officially announced the PSP-3000 this week and gamers found themselves asking a question that really didn’t bode well for the updated system: “Is a new button, a mic and a new screen really worth an upgrade?” Well kids, a quick gander at the image above might help you come a little closer to answering that conundrum. All we can say is WOW. The striking resemblance between the PSP-2000 and the PSP-3000 comes to a grinding halt the second you turn that sucker on. The new LCD display has five times the contrast ratio, twice the color range and responds twice as fast as its predecessor. To put it another way, it kicked the PSP-2000 display in the shin and stole its lunch money. So far only the European pricing is known (€199) but we can say that the PSP-3000 is supposed to hit US shores in mid-October around the same time as the European launch. So gamers, what do you think? Does this comparison shot have you singing a different tune or is it still not worth the (probable) $250 - $300 entry fee?

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Well what do we have here? A few upcoming Eee PCs were recently uncovered as images made the rounds earlier this week but here we have something completely new from Asus. So what is it exactly? To be completely honest, we’re not really sure. The unit is reportedly called the Eee Monitor and it had been discussed briefly at Computex earlier this year but the Taiwanese computer company made sure to sit on many key details. Well say hello to our little friend. Several shots of the Eee Monitor are now swimming around the internet and it looks like a gem. As was the case before, details are still a bit scarce but a quick look at the display, the logo in the bottom right corner on the face of the unit and the ports on the back of the unit lead to some pretty probable speculation. How about a self-contained PC with built in Denon audio hardware, a 19″ display and a rumored integrated TV tuner? We’ll take two, thanks. Word on the street is that there will be a 19″ and 21″ model and the price point will start at… Ready? $500.

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