Adobe will release a version of Flex, its standards-based language and programming model, as open source.

Filed under: GPS, Handhelds, Wireless

Businesses and organizations looking to deploy location-aware handhelds to large numbers of personnel will be delighted to hear about Trimble's new Juno ST GPS / GIS PDA, which promises to be a low-cost solution that's equally at home behind a desk or in the field. Featuring a 300MHz processor running Windows Mobile 5, 'high-sensitivity' GPS receiver, WiFi, Bluetooth, and an SD slot, the 2.8-inch Juno ST claims to be especially skilled at locating a signal in so-called 'hostile environments,' and predictably works with the company's entire line of mapping and GIS software. The heralded low price has not been announced (it likely varies by volume), but you have until May to convince the boss that your team's Handspring Visors and fanny packs full of Springboard modules are getting a bit outdated.

[Via NaviGadget]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Features, Gaming

Here's that Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Kit that Microsoft so generously bundled with our Elite (don't expect to get one with yours, it doesn't come in the box). The documentation they sent with this thing was pretty substantial for an adapter and a CD you plug into your Xbox, but we think they want us to make sure we don't screw anything up and lose all our precious, precious data. Here's what you need to know (and some observations, to boot):

• You don't just transfer data to your 20GB drive externally -- you have to plug your 20GB drive into your Elite, and use the 120GB drive externally. (Yeah, we photographed the unit attached to our 20GB drive though.)
• You can only transfer content ONCE. This isn't a backup or duplication tool, it's one-time use per drive.
• Even after turning off the console our externally adapted drive kept spinning because it was powered by USB. Weird.
• Despite the on-screen diagram, our instructions say to use the BACK USB port. Woops, we didn't. Pray it doesn't kill our data.
• Apparently Microsoft wants you to dispose of your transfer cable after use. Um, ok?
  
• XBLA and Marketplace content (i.e. downloaded games and shows) require online authorization. In other words, some licenses can't transfer, and you won't necessarily be able to watch all your transferred media without logging on. Whatev.
• Movie rentals cannot transfer drives. "Watch them first!" because they're not going to make the trip, period. Double whatev.
• If your 20GB drive is maxed out like ours, it could take a while. The system transfer will tell you how long it estimates the transfer to take: moving our 17.5GB of data was estimated at 1 hour and 20 minutes.
• You can restart or stop the transfer at any time during the move, but you'll have to start all over again next time. But you won't lose any data. Supposedly.
  
• "Microsoft is not liable for any loss of data resulting from the transfer process." That's the third and final whatev!

We'll let you know the final time it took to transfer our drive's contents.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming

Mirror, mirror on the wall, which black high def console is the 1337est of them all? We know some people were bummed that the Xbox 360 didn't get to compete in the 2006 Engadget Awards with the PS3 and Wii (hey, it was launched in 2005!), but now's your chance to square off the two most expensive game consoles around. So who's gonna take it, Sony's piano black PlayStation 3, or Microsoft's matte black Xbox 360 Elite?

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

From atop a fibre optic tower

Cable incumbent Virgin Media has called on ADSL rivals to stop marketing their services as "unlimited", when fair use policies often mean they aren't.

But legal battle continues

Nokia is paying Qualcomm $20m for licensing its technology for use in the second quarter of 2007.

Don't expect much compensation though

Microsoft will be forced to hand over sensitive technical information about the Windows operating system to its rivals but can expect next to no compensation, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Looking a bit sketchy

Europe and the US have begun to lay the foundations for a data sharing link between their police and immigration forces.

The RVS4000 has just about every routing feature you could want. But it might put a crimp in your download speed.

Filed under: Gaming

While the Wiimote is probably exceeding Nintendo's wildest expectations in terms of its popularity among gamers, the little controller that could has also developed quite a following in the modding community -- with the proper scripts, you can control anything from an RC car to a Roomba to a software drum kit. Well now you can add research tool to the Wiimote's list of accomplishments, as scientists at the University of Western Australia have successfully employed it to navigate immersive 3D environments created by a projector and three-meter-diameter dome. By modifying the popular DarwiinRemote OS X app, Paul Bourke and his colleagues at the University of Western Australia found themselves with a cheap tool to fly through space simulations, cruise around a visual representation of supercomputer node activity, and even tour 360 degree VR maps of real world buildings. The team concluded that the Wiimote is a good-but-not-great substitute for the controllers normally used in these simulations, but at a fraction of their cost, it opens up this method of data manipulation to a whole new world of users.

[Via MetaFilter]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!