Okay, so maybe Circuit City only formally closed 155 of its retail locations, but let’s put it this way — if we’re up at 3:00AM and looking at which store to camp in front of, we’re picking the one that, um, isn’t bankrupt. All that aside, five pages of mildly delectable Black Friday deals have leaked for the company, giving you a full fortnight to think things over and handpick the bargains that you’ll be hunting for. Of course, savvy on the web shoppers like yourself aren’t likely to find anything here too fantastic, but we’d wager that even a $7.99 laptop sleeve is a far better value than a $12 Guns N’ Roses CD.

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays, Misc. Gadgets, Home Entertainment

Circuit City’s Black Friday deals leak, no word on if it’ll be open to sell things originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve certainly seen no shortage USB-friendly MIDI devices lately, whether they be instruments or hacks, but it’s been a long, long time since one caught our eye that brought your breath into the equation. Akai’s latest, the EWI (that’s “eee-whee” if you can dig it) USB is now shipping for $499, enabling you to simulate anything from a flute to a trumpet at a price about $200 less than the company’s other electronic wind instruments. It even comes with a complete software recording suite, meaning getting this EWI installed should be easier than playing a chromatic scale on a slide flute. Mastering the sweet, soulful strains of “Silhouette,” however, might be a little more complicated.

Update: Rollins wrote in to let us know these things are going for just $299 on the internet. Those “Sentimental” fantasies just got that much more accessible!

[Via musicradar.com]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Akai’s EWI USB wind instrument now shipping, to reveal your inner Kenny G. originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hard to believe that a company the size and stature of Microsoft hasn’t had an on the web store to call its home — not even a quirky collection of “Bill Gates is my homeboy” CafePress t-shirts and mousepads. The newly launched Microsoft Store solves that, however, with its many store-like properties. Therein you can find all sorts of Microsoft products, like software, peripherals, games and professionally-printed “Bill Gates is my homeboy” t-shirts.* What’s particularly notable is that Microsoft is jumping into electronic software distribution here, meaning in addition to traditional physical buys you can purchase a bit of software and download it right there on the spot. Downloaded software can be re-downloaded for as long as Microsoft provides mainstream support — about 5 years in most cases. We’d prefer forever and always, but we suppose that will have to do. The store is live now, and we’d advocate you head on over before we make some drastically ill-advised enterprise software impulse buys.

*This isn’t true.

[Via ZDnet]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Microsoft debuts Microsoft Store in apparent attempt to sell stuff originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If we’ve learned anything from The Ice Pirates, we’ve learned that in space — and increasingly on our planet as well — water is the most valuable substance. Among the host of upgrades that the International Space Station is set to receive over the next couple weeks is a water purification system that’ll recycle urine for use as drinking water. Similar technology has been used in the Salyut and Mir space stations to process water collected from the cabin’s atmosphere (the result of perspiration, aspiration and A/C condensation) but until now claiming back as much as 92% of water consumed by astronauts was just a wonderful dream. The project is part of a 15-day shuttle mission aimed at increasing the number of astronauts the craft can hold from three to six.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

International Space Station crew ‘thrilled’ to receive new urine recycling equipment originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We apologize for the cloying headline, but just wanted to point out to Ideal Purchase that the whole point of insane deals and “doorbuster” savings is, well, those things. We’re sure there are a couple things in this new Black Friday catalog to make a seven hour wait in below freezing temperatures — to be followed by frantic hand-to-hand combat with other recession-hit shoppers who may or might not be Arnold Schwarzenegger — completely worth it, but we’d really love to meet the person for which a $12 Guns N’ Roses CD qualifies as such a buy. If you’re looking for a $380 laptop, a lame $300 Xbox 360 bundle or a decent deal on a crappy LCD Television, knock yourself out.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Best Buy’s “doorbuster” Black Friday deals probably won’t result in the literal busting of doors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re absolutely, totally ready for wireless induction charging to make it huge. Have you seen our gadget charging station? It’s like some Lovecraftian nightmare; our latest intern went over to plug in his BlackBerry two days ago and we haven’t seen him since. For years we’ve been getting teased with limited, proprietary solutions (mostly for sweaty videogame controllers) but we seem to be firmly and disappointingly locked in the competing standards phase. While we hate to see yet another contestant enter the fray, Mojo Mobility Inc. might just have a winner with its Near Field Power technique, relying on thin, inexpensive coiled discs to both send and receive up to 4 watts of power with 70 percent efficiency. Unlike the competition no exposed contacts are required, and while it looks like you’ll still need to place the device onto a charging pad, with multiple transmission discs that pad could charge all your gadgets at once. Mojo plans to supply the receiving discs to battery and device manufacturers in the near future, and to that we can only say hurry up. Think of the interns!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Mojo Mobility’s induction charging tech: ideal thing to happen to discs since Tron originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen e-cigarettes before, and no one was really surprised to hear that inhaling liquid nicotine might not be the safest way to kick the habit. Fifty-One, a new, more cigarette-looking e-cig, claims it’s better than previous products because you change the mouthpiece with each use so you’re not inhaling old leftover nicotine again and again… plus they’ve added a fake smoke effect when you exhale, which makes you look and feel cool. Sound safer? Nope, probably not. There seems to be a host of other things just completely wrong with this product: it comes in five flavors (tobacco, menthol, chocolate, vanilla and coffee) and seems to be marketed to only the shadiest sectors of society — gangsters, card sharks, thieves, private dicks, AKA our kind of people. The starter kit also apparently includes a membership card in addition to all the regular stuff — batteries, USB charger, poker chips — and it’ll run you a not-so-affordable $149.95, but you can probably score that at tonight’s shakedown, right?

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

“Fifty-One” e-cigarette will ensure you have no friends even after you quit smoking originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, look — another SNES mod. This one’s actually pretty cute and useful in theory — an alarm clock! The finished product is absolutely functional, though we’re not too psyched on the sound of the alarm. Then again, we’ve never heard an alarm we were super stoked on, so it’s not this inventive chap’s fault. Hit the read link for full instructions on how to make your own, and take a peek at the clock-setting action in the video after the break.

[Via GoNintendo]

Continue reading DIY SNES alarm clock is kind of cool, truly alarming

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

DIY SNES alarm clock is kind of cool, truly alarming originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The new Yankee Stadium is going to be all tech-ed up by Cisco, according to an announcement made by Hal Steinbrenner on an impressive telepresence conference call this morning. The partnership has already yielded about $15 million of wiring and infrastructure for the stadium, with more promised. So what does this mean for you, the rabid Yankees fan, at the game? Well, they’re calling it a new “fan experience,” but for now, it essentially boils down to 1,100 HD video monitors all over the stadium doing things like playing “interactive” video, giving stats in real time, and offering the capability to do truly wild stuff like order concessions from your seat and see how long the line at the nearest water closet is. If it sounds too good to be true well, it’s not — kind of. Most of these features will supposedly be available when the stadium opens, though only in the luxury boxes… but Steinbrenner claims that infrastructure is already in place which will grant the stadium to provide these extras for everyone in the home eventually. We also hear there’s going to be WiFi throughout the stadium, and that one 16 ounce Budweiser will run you $24.50. As long as we can count on them to use those thousand monitors to get people to do the wave while listening to “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” we’re there.

[Via The LoHud Yankees Blog; Thanks Joe P.]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, HDTV

Cisco teams up with Yankees to bring HDTV experience to the new stadium originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember the iPosture? That little button-sized nano-sensor you attach to your body which then vibrates any time you slouch or strike a less-than-optimal pose? The one which supposedly improves your posture, making you look thinner and taller, feel more confident, and also doubles as a hot piece of jewelry? Well, it’s available now for the pretty reasonable price of $89.95 with a free copy of “Young, Sexy and Healthy” — which you were probably considering buying anyway. If you’re one of those people who can never get enough of being nagged at over your seemingly minuscule flaws, this just might be the perfect device for you.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

iPosture unleashed upon world, wants you to know you’re not standing up straight originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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