Motorola Mocks iPhone's Lack of Flash in New Droid Ad

The rich tradition of Droid ads poking fun at the iPhone is alive and well. After a series of DroidX ads mocking the iPhone 4's reception woes, Motorola has turned its attention to the iPhone's lack of Flash support . "Flash websites? There's a phone for that,” reads a new newspaper ad for the Droid 2. This, of course, is a pun on Apple's "there's an app for that" tag line. The popular tag line was also mocked by a Verizon ad last year: “If you wanna know why your 3G coverage works so well on Verizon Wireless – there’s a map for that!”

Nvidia and AMD ready to launch new GPUs in October

Nvidia is prepared to launch its latest GeForce 400-series GPU, the GeForce GT 430 codenamed GF108, around the middle of October and the GPU will feature a performance in between its GeForce GT 240 and GT 220; meanwhile, AMD is also set to launch its Radeon HD 6000-series around the same time, according to sources from graphics card makers.

Nokia E7 to be Announced at Nokia World 2010, Sources Say

It looks like Nokia is ready to take on the end of 2010 with some heavy hitters in their smartphone line-up. With word that the N8 is set to launch by the end of this month, Nokia is ready to make some waves. That is, if these rumors, coming from two separate sources, turns out to be true. According to Reuters, it looks like Nokia is set to officially announce the recently leaked Nokia E7. Not only that, it looks like Nokia is set to put the device as their flagship device.

The report is citing two sources that are intimately familiar with Nokia’s plans for the future, as it comes in regards to their announcements at Nokia World 2010. The sources also confirmed that the device will have a large touchscreen, as well as a full, physical QWERTY keyboard. That sounds just like the Nokia E7 that leaked out into the world a few weeks back. However, there’s no word on what other features the device will feature.

Speculation is pretty robust at this point. There are some who believe that the E7 will be running Symbian^3, while still others believe that MeeGo could indeed find its place on this flagship device. If Nokia is indeed hoping that this will be the device to save them in the smartphone market, we imagine that it would be a great device to showcase MeeGo on. As for the physical attributes, word has it that it could feature a four-inch display, and an 8MP camera on the back with dual-LED flash. Rumors have it that the device will launch in November, after Nokia World 2010 in mid-September. And of course, keep in mind that SlashGear will be there, keeping tabs on all the announcements. 

Nokia N8 launches September 30, says senior manager

Tapani Kaskinen is Nokia's Senior Comms Manager, so it's fitting that he'd be the first person from the company to communicate a solid release date for its long-awaited N8 handset. The gent in question told Finnish newspaper Kauppalehti that advance orders of the N8 will "begin shipping 30 September." Bear in mind we're chewing through a machine translation here, but that part's pretty unmistakable. It also meshes perfectly with earlier speculation surrounding Nokia purchasing Google AdWords -- that indicated a one-week exclusive starting on September 23rd for Nokia's UK online store, which, if you do the math, again points to a wide release at the end of the month. We asked Nokia about it ourselves and they're remaining mum on the matter, but chances are looking pretty good that October will start with the N8 finally in eager users' hands.

Apple sucks at Photoshop too

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the new fourth-generation iPod touch: it's so much like an iPhone that it has a Phone app (wait, what?). Better yet, if you do a Spotlight search on it, it'll return results from a messaging app it's not supposed to have. How's that for value? This would all be a great big enigmatic mystery if we weren't ourselves familiar with the practice (and pitfalls) of splicing disparate images into unholy creations. Well, at least now Microsoft isn't alone in making self-published Photoshop gaffes.

Secret Cinema: Lawrence of Arabia Windows Phone 7 Trailer

 good indicator that a product is getting ready to launch? You start seeing advertisements for it. In the case of this brand new Windows Phone 7 advertisement, you might notice that it’s a bit quiet. And, it’s missing any semblance of “information” about the particular product. But, when the ad is being showcased in front of Lawrence of Arabia, and it’s supposed to be a theme ad, then it will probably start to make sense.

The ad does show a Windows Phone 7 device, but we’ll point out here that it’s just a render. On top of that, the first thing the phone tell us, in delicate handwriting, is that the revolution is coming. There’s probably a few people out there that would love to say the revolution is indeed coming, but that Windows Phone 7 has nothing to do with that. Then there’d be the others that believe this revolution is meant for Microsoft internally, and not the phone market in general. It’s anyone’s guess, but we imagine that Microsoft is certainly aiming high.

Check out the ad below in all its silent (save for some music) glory. You’ll get to see the Windows Phone 7 home screen again, just as we’ve seen plenty of times before, but that’s not a bad thing, right?

Samsung N350 throws LTE and HSPA+ into an intriguing new netbook proposition

Yeah, we thought netbooks were old news too, but if they all start strapping up with the latest in 4G connectivity, we might have to give them another look. The Samsung N350 is just such a machine, with dual-mode LTE and HSPA+ built in. You won't be surprised that almost everything else is par for the affordable laptop market course: a dual-core Atom N550 CPU, that boilerplate 1,024 x 600 resolution on a 10.1-inch matte screen, 250GB of storage, 1GB of DDR3 RAM, a multicard reader, and a trifecta of USB ports. The basic wireless options are keeping up with modernity, however, with 802.11n WiFi andBluetooth 3.0 on board, both of which are nice to see. The 3-cell battery should last up to 6.7 hours and the whole package is expected to retail for €429 ($553) in Germany this autumn. You can probably expect a rebadge under the Go label for the US and a relatively swift launch over here as well. 

Stealth's Rugged Keyboard Comes with a Trackball

Stealth Computers, which specializes in tough technology products, has released a new rugged, "vandal resistant" plank with a built-in trackball and adjustable backlit keys.

"The new KYBX-400 series keyboard compliments our existing rugged peripherals family of products with the introduction of adjustable illuminated keys and a precision trackball. The keyboard is encapsulated in durable stainless-steel providing an anti-corrosive protection that is ideally suited for dirty and wet environments", remarked Ed Boutilier, CEO of Stealth.com Inc.

Protruding out of the steel casing are 71 polymer keys that Stealth says offers silent tactile feedback, while the trackball sports an 800DPI sensor.

At $700, Stealth isn't marketing the KYBX-400 at home consumers, but for applications that include process control, public space, in-vehicle computing, interactive kiosks, and anywhere else a sturdy plank is needed.