When finished, Shanghai Tower will boast the world’s highest observatory, at 632m. This structure “is organized as nine cylindrical buildings stacked one on top of the other with a double-skinned layer on the outside.” Click here for first picture in gallery.

The outside layer is triangular shaped and swivels as it reaches upwards. Designed by San Francisco-firm Gensler, the tower plans on accommodating offices, a luxury hotel, nine sky-gardens and various retail and cultural venues, as well as a new Shanghai Metro stop.

[via Gizmodo - Thedesignblog]

Via Techeblog

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GameLoft has just released Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes for the iPhone, “a 3rd person shooter where you control your character across various missions.” Video after the break.

Shooting involves hitting a button on the bottom right, and special weapons (such as grenades) appear on the top right. Gameloft has added a number of additional special modes/features that keep things interesting.

[via Toucharcade]

Via Techeblog

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This incredible piece of artwork was “painstakingly crafted from 10 mm steel tube welded together into that familiar shape we all know and secretly love.” Click here for first picture in gallery.

Upon close inspection you see fine details in the wheels and the intake gills, even the letters spelling “Pirelli P7″ are worked out in tubing.

[via Jalopnik]

Via Techeblog

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We’ve spent a bit of quality time with the new MacBook Air, and while there’s little on the surface to denote a change, Apple did quite a bit under the hood to turn this into a serious laptop — of sorts. Full disclosure: we (meaning a certain Paul Miller, specifically) have been using a Rev. A MacBook Air for the better part of a year as a primary machine, to very much frustration, so we had some pretty big bones to pick with whatever revision Apple might toss into our laps. Luckily, our fears were unfounded; read on for all the gory, romantic details.

[Images courtesy of Sam]

Continue reading MacBook Air Rev. B mini-review

Filed under: Laptops

MacBook Air Rev. B mini-review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yes, a group of gun enthusiasts “have gone out of their way to mod a chainsaw so that it can be attached to an automatic rifle or shotgun in lieu of a bayonet.” Video after the break.

In fact, here’s a clip of them slicing through an old door, since the video titled “Sawing Limbs” isn’t what I thought it would be.

[via OhGizmo]

Via Techeblog

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Upgrades to the second generation MacBook Air include: “a real grown-up processor, great NVIDIA integrated graphics, faster memory and a faster system bus for a dramatic speed boost.” Click here for first picture in gallery.

There’s still one measly USB port, no FireWire, no Ethernet, a non-standard display plug, a non-replaceable battery, an external-only disc drive with some odd power stipulations and no internal 3G option or ExpressCard slot — this is still a far cry from your standard, “full featured” laptop.

[via Engadget]

Via Techeblog

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Not that we were too impressed with gOS when we first saw Rocket almost a year ago, but Cloud — the small footprint, quick boot Linux variant that Good OS introduced today at the Netbook World Summit in Paris — looks like an altogether different beast. Arriving pre-installed alongside Windows on the new Gigabyte touchscreen netbooks (perhaps some variant of the M912V), the new SplashTop-esque OS uses a web browser as its main interface, with an integrated dock providing such Web 2.0 mainstays as Skype, YouTube and the Google family of apps — and if this smattering of tools doesn’t meet all of your computing needs, you can always boot into your main OS from there. Cloud can be installed as a dual-boot partition on your hard drive or SSD as well as onto a flash chip hardwired onto a motherboard. That’s all we’ve for now, but you can bet we’ll be on hand to check it out at CES in January.

Filed under: Laptops

gOS “Cloud” instant-on OS comes to Gigabyte touchscreen netbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 we spied back when it was announced in September has just launched, and though there’s nothing incredibly exciting here, we thought we’d give you a swift rundown, because we’re just cool like that. The U101 boasts absolutely standard netbook fair — an Atom N270 CPU, Intel 945GSE chipset, 1GB of DDR2 memory, with 80-160GB mechanical drives and 4-16GB SSD options. It’s also got a 16:9 display with a 1024 x 576 resolution (rare for a netbook), a 1.3 megapixel webcam, and three USB 2.0 ports. The sassy little number comes in blue, pink, white and black, and it can be yours for €398 ($503) in Taiwan right now, but we’ve got no word on when it will be available elsewhere. Dip this puppy in gold or something and then maybe, just maybe we’ll bite.

[Via Fudzilla]

Filed under: Laptops

BenQ Joybook U101 launches, gives nearly no joy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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They might not care about it, but Sony looks ripe to enter the netbook market in the US. Unveiled today is the backside of this tiny “notebook PC” as described by the FCC under the model numbers PCG-1P1L and PCG-1P2L (PCG synonymous with Sony’s VAIO laptop brand). We see tests for Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and both EVDO and HSPA data courtesy of Qualcomm’s Gobi chipset. What’s more, with the FCC providing the exact measurement of that label (128-mm wide), we can eyeball dimensions at just over 9.5 x 4.5-inches making this netbook even smaller than the 10.3 x 6.56-inch HP mini 1000. What impact that has on the QWERTY and trackpad (if there is one) remains to be seen. Now please Sony, just announce, we were just about to pull the trigger when you spoiled our netbook purchasing party.

P.S. It runs Windows according to the label’s mention of the “Windows logo.”

Filed under: Laptops

FCC leaks little VAIO with WWAN — Sony’s first netbook? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case you missed it, last week TechARP said that Vista SP2 is scheduled for an April 2009 release to manufacturing — that means not you… not yet anyway. We’re guessing that it will hit a month later for general release if the Vista SP1 rollout was any indication. So who’s TechARP? Oh just the same group of Malaysian children that like to boast about how they broke the Vista SP1 and XP SP3 release schedules to the world. That makes their “confidential source” worth listening to. The source adds that Microsoft will deliver a SP2 release candidate as early as February so we’ll know soon enough how accurate this rumor is.

[Via Personal computer Advisor]

Filed under: Desktops, Handhelds, Laptops

Windows Vista SP2 set for April launch to manufacturers? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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