Believe it: $70 at Target takes home a new Philips (eh hem, Funai) BDP5010 Blu-ray player that once sold for as much as $250. Hell, it’s listed for $139.99 right now on Target’s online storefront. If you do manage to track one down in a real life Target store then you’ll be getting DivX support, a SDHC card reader, BD Live, and HDMI CEC convenience. While a quick search returns a bevy of mixed reviews (image quality is only so-so), really, for $69.98 you really can’t complain if you’re looking to finally make the jump to 1080p physical media.

[Thanks, Keith B.]

Philips BDP5010 Blu-ray / Divx player drops below $70 at Target originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s no 80-porter, but ThinkGeek’s 16-port USB hub is definitely one of the classiest I’ve seen. At $160 though, you’d be paying a tenner a port. Are those extra USB slippers really worth it? [ThinkGeek via The Awesomer via CrunchGear] More »

Get ready for some buyer’s remorse if you’re one of the thousands who pre-ordered an iPad last Friday: your soon-to-be new toy already pales in comparison to the $19,999 diamond-coated iPad from Mervis Diamond Importers. What you have here is a stock unit of undisclosed specifications that’s been coated with 11.43 carats of G/H color diamonds rated VS2/SI1 for clarity — not exactly top-shelf stuff but chances are you’ll be so transfixed with the amazingly beautiful user experience you won’t notice the flaws. This poor iPad is just the latest in a long line of ridiculously expensive gadgets made more luxurious (many of an Apple persuasion) and is every bit as tasteless as the rest.

World’s first diamond iPad tries to deliver that magical experience originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s successor to the Vaio W netbook made its debut a little prematurely earlier this month, which has now been followed by its first unboxing and preview. Encased in an appealing matte black plastic, the Vaio M is set for an April launch in the UK at the very reasonable £300 ($456) price point. Unfortunately, the drop in price also means a lower-res 1024 x 600 display, while the W’s chiclet keyboard has also been replaced with a more conventional typing surface. With 1GB of DDR2 RAM and a 250GB storage drive, Sony seems to be giving us the bare minimum here, but that’s alright with us — let’s just make sure this thing actually has a battery that lasts, shall we Sony? The original article doesn’t seem to be up anymore, but give the Google Cached source a click for some more pictures.

Sony Vaio M and its Atom N450 heart get unboxed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At SXSW, The Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde helmed a conference via Skype, where he likened P2P to Coca Cola, and The Pirate Bay to sugar. He also said he could make Sergey Brin “want to marry me.” [TechRadar] More »

Qualcomm isn’t typically in the business of producing consumer-facing hardware — the company prefers to just build the chips that make your devices go “vroom” — but we’ve come across a patent application that details just such an idea. The multi-fold mobile device can be seen as either a foldable tablet or an expandable cellphone, but in either case its purpose is clearly to act as a hybrid device that performs both roles. With all least two displays on its three panels, this concept will also automatically reconfigure its UI based on a folding configuration sensor, and Qualcomm suggests you might also use it as a widescreen TV display, an alarm clock, a media player, or a web browser. Click past the break for a couple more suggested use diagrams, and feel free to write to Qualcomm with demands that this be put into production pronto.

Continue reading Qualcomm’s multi-fold mobile device is the future we keep waiting for

Qualcomm’s multi-fold mobile device is the future we keep waiting for originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What do you do when a laptop breaks down three months after purchase? Get it repaired? Sell it? Or do as this Chinese man did, and destroy it silently at a HP store, with not a single swear-word passing your lips? More »

GDC is over for another year, but the omission of any solid Nintendo news—particularly in the shape of a new handheld console—was not enough for RPAD.tv, who spent the whole show digging for DS2 information from developers. More »

Unless you’re a fan of high-tech jewelry, few things are as irksome as an overblown wristwatch design (we’re looking at you Tokyoflash). While a binary timepiece will certainly up your geek cred, it’s not very useful for providing at-a-glance information. Robert Dabi’s Zero concept above, however, remains simple, beautiful, and amazingly enough, useful, all that same time. Practical too if he can coax a batch of round LCD displays into a production run. More pics and video after the break.

Continue reading Zero watch concept perfects the minimal timepiece

Zero watch concept perfects the minimal timepiece originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You don’t need a smartphone to get smartphone-like services, claims AT&T. They of course have a few new handsets backing up that boast, but what’s most interesting is the free online syncing for both contacts and media. More »