I’m not going to spend much time talking about the sweepstakes because all the details can be found at Engadget, (it is there sweepstakes you know) but this is just awesome! Laptops, tablets, digital cameras and a bunch of other goodies are all on the list to giveaway and will make any students day. Enter the sweepstakes from here, and be sure to sign up with DISQUS as they will be using the registered e-mail from there to contact the winners. Good luck everyone.

via: Engadget

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Happy birthday, World Wide Web! Hard to believe you’re turning 20 already. It seems like just yesterday we were hearing the pitter patter of little dial-up, delighting at the words “you got mail,” and getting frustrated when calling our friends and receiving that dreaded busy signal. You’re all grown up now, helping people learn how to farm and become overnight pop sensations. What, we wonder, will the next 20 years bring? At the very least, you’ll eventually have to move out of your parents’ basement, get a real job, and settle down. It’s hard to pay attention to that kind of stuff, though, when you’ve got another year of sneaking beers ahead of you. So go ahead, World Wide Web, enjoy yourself tonight — just make sure to be home by midnight.

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The iPhone 4 takes fantastic pictures, for a phone. With the myTouch 4G Slide, HTC’s promising the first phone since the iPhone that takes better pictures and doesn’t suck at, well, everything else.

The Slide’s got an 8-megapixel back-illuminated sensor (also found in the iPhone 4, and a ton of higher end point-and-shoots, like from Sony) and a superfast lens (for a phone anyway, at f/2.2 versus the iPhone 4′s f/2.4). That means un-sucky photos even in low-light conditions, in theory. Plus, modes like Panorama shot, HDR and a rapid-fire burst shooting let you flex your camera phone photography muscle. It also has “zero shutter lag.” The camera automatically starts buffering as soon as the photo app launches, continuing to cache in the background until you push the camera button. The camera software then records the timestamp of your press and matches it to the photo in the buffer—another feature borrowed from higher-end point-and-shoots. The question is how the photos will actually look, though, since part of the reason the iPhone 4′s outclassed most other phones is how the shots were tweaked in processing.

Besides the camera, the 4G Slide is your standard Android smartphone with a 3.7-inch WVGA display, 1.2 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor and Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, with HTC’s Sense 3.0 and T-Mobile myTouch stuff on top (though T-Mobile’s using a lighter hand this time around, pulling back on stuff it used to add to every myTouch phone). And it’s one of the few Android handsets to natively support Netflix. The keyboard is pretty solid, based on our few minutes of tapping on it. The surprising thing is how thin the phones manages to be despite the humongo keyboard, with both halves of the phone thinner than an iPhone 4.

This could be T-Mobile’s next killer phone when it launches sometime in July—we’ll see.

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Here’s Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore demoing Mango, the next release of Windows Phone 7. Looks interesting–especially if the version of IE does indeed feel more like IE9 for Windows than it does like Windows Phone 7′s IE, which is one of the operating system’s weak spots.

As Jared wrote recently, Microsoft is moving Windows Phone in a contrarian direction, focusing less on apps and more on building features like search and social stuff directly into the OS. It could work–and at least it’ll give Windows Phone its own distinct personality. But it does multiply the number of things that Microsoft needs to nail to make the OS appealing.

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Attention all you design techies out there! Our friends over MuttonBasher.com are having a little design contest to come up with a new, creative design for there Facebook and Twitter accounts. So if you think you have some Photoshop skills, or at least know how to use Microsoft Paint, head over to MuttonBasher.com for more details.

Prizes include:
1600 Microsoft Points
or
$20 Playstation Network Card

Oh, and while you are there, be sure to follow them on Twitter. Happy button mashing.

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It’s a Galaxy Tab 10.1, but with 4G. No, not that 4G. Not even that 4G. This 4G. You know, the LTE variety, being spread around like Christmas ham by the folks at Verizon Wireless. Cosmetically, the slate offered up by Big Red is no different than the WiFi-only model that we peeked earlier in the year, but the LTE radio tucked within obviously makes it the one to get if you’re looking for top-tier speeds on the go. VZW will actually hawk two separate models LTE Tab 10.1 models (in white or grey), both of which are priced outrageously with two-year agreements: $529.99 for the 16GB model and $629.99 for the 32GB model. That’s a pretty penny (to say the least!) given the albatross that is a 24-month contract, and those who’d rather provide their own connectivity can opt for the WWAN-less Metallic Grey edition for $499.99 (16GB). Access plans start at $30 per month for 2GB, with $50 per period getting you 5GB, or $80 getting you 10GB (no mention of tethering, unfortunately). Your pickup date? Two days from now, or July 28th for the calendar-challenged.

via: Engadget

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I didn’t want to make this a full on comparison since both these phones are currently on the market and comparison articles and personal opinions on these two phones are now a dime a dozen.

Instead I am just going to chart the major points for each of the phones and let you decide which one you like better. Both phones have/do something a little bit better than the other, which make them very good candidates for a best of the best comparison. For example, the HTC offers 4G capabilities while the iPhone is stuck on AT&T’s 3G service, or the iPhones 30fps (frames per second) recording time over the EVO’s 25fps. Enough of my rambling, take a look at the chart and see for yourself.

I would like to hear your thoughts on which one you think is better or which one you would get.

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Worried that former HP CEO Mark Hurd might not know what to do with himself after getting caught falsifying expense reports to hide girl #2 and being forced to resign? Don’t be: ol’ Mark’s getting a $12,224,693 severance payment in exchange for agreeing not to sue HP. Yep, Mark Hurd just got $12 million in cash for fraudulently filing expense reports to conceal his mistress — not a bad trick if you can pull it off, we suppose. (We don’t know how much he’ll have to pay back, but we’re guessing he’ll have a little cash left over.) Oh, and he’s also having his option to buy 775,000 shares of HP stock extended to September, which is pretty groovy considering HP actually upped its quarterly forecast today, some other assorted stock-related compensation, and 18 months of health and dental benefits. Whoever said a little white collar crime doesn’t pay?

Update: CNBC has sources claiming the total value of Hurd’s severance including stocks is closer to $40-50 million, give or take. That’s… well, that’s a lot of ink cartridges.

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The Magic Trackpad is one of Apple’s latest creations, and the whole premise behind such a device is unbelievably simple; Take one laptop trackpad, make it work on your PC, add multi-touch capabilities, and voila there you have it. The whole thing operates on two AA batteries, and connects via Bluetooth to your PC.  From my understanding this is all part of Apple’s plan to do away with buttons on all there devices, though I can’t confirm that. This will have a variety of useful applications no doubt, but as far as gaming goes, I can’t see this out performing a good ole’ fashioned mouse.

For a complete product review, check out the guys over at Engadget.

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The HTC Evo 4G is a phone of epic proportions, offering one of the largest screens anywhere in the smartphone universe along with blazing-fast speed from it’s 1 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ processor. This phone is all about being big, being fast, and most certainly, being capable of handling whatever you throw and the Android 2.1 OS. This phone could even double as a personal security weapon it’s so big and it would look good in the process. But, even with the 4G capability and the geeky goodness dripping from this phone, it has a kickstand for crying out loud, not everyone will find it so attractive. What changes or modifications would you make to the HTC Evo? 3G option for those not interested in the $10/month charge for 4G? Allow other carrier options? Speak your mind in the comments section.

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