Tranquil PC just announced two new products based around Intel's upcoming Atom 330 dual-core processor, which Tranquil has confusingly dubbed the Atom2 Z330. We'll find out soon enough who's right in their terminology, but cheap-ass speed freaks have more exciting distinctions to worry about. The new processor has dual Atom wafers, for pretty much twice the fun, and Tranquil says that desktop performance is "very very snappy." They're celebrating the new processor with the T7-HSG Home Server, which will start shipping on September 30th in very limited supply for £299 (about $528 US). There's also a DVB-T Media Center in the works, but we're otherwise short on details.

As astutely pointed out by our friends at The Red Ferret Journal, it's a bit odd to see hybrid car makers cutting down on noise while electric car makers are looking to add it back in, but Toyota's silence isn't of the kill-a-biker sort. Toyota has worked internal noise-canceling into its new Crown hybrid, with microphones to pick up engine and road noise, and then speakers to blast out antiphase versions of those noises at head height. Toyota claims it can cut noise by around 5 to 8dB.

[Via TRFJ]

Set your alarms and kiss the kids goodbye, CERN will be providing a live webcast of the Large Hadron Collider's "First Beam" maiden voyage on Wednesday. Let us know how it goes, we'll be holed-up inside grandpa's bombshelter with our canned turnips and 10th anniversary Heaven's Gate Nikes -- remember, two-knocks if it's safe else we'll assume you're a robot.

[Thanks, Rui]

Read -- Webcast starting Wed, Sep10 at 09:00 CEST (calculated globally)
Read -- Satellite broadcast

We knew the US military was looking to hook up space with a WLAN router, and lo and behold, WiFi has finally launched well above the stratosphere. According to a status log from the International Space Station over the weekend, the Joint Station LAN network was transitioned to "new Netgear wireless APs, which provide the ISS with WiFi connectivity." The official report details the crew using it for very official and politically correct things (you know, testing and whatnot), but we're pretty darn sure a deathmatch or two went down as well. Or maybe those guys we saw yesterday just had some sort of gravity hack going on...

[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of LowPings]

Later today, Plastic Logic will be showing off its new e-newspaper reader (name, undecided) for the first time. The black and white, E Ink device features a wireless link to download content, room enough to store "hundreds of pages of newspapers, books, and documents," and a display more than twice the size of the wee Kindle while suffering just half the ugly. Better yet, the device is said to use "flexible, lightweight plastic" rather than glass resulting in a reader about one-third the thickness of the Kindle at about the same weight -- the reader itself (pictured left) looks rigid compared to that flexible display Plastic Logic has demonstrated in the past. Expected to go on sale during the first half of 2009 with more details, including which news organizations will feed information to the reader, promised for CES in January.

Ah, fiddlesticks! Here we were hoping that somehow ASUS could pack a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive and NVIDIA's GeForce 9300M GS into a netbook for under half a grand, but deep down, we knew it wasn't to be. Instead, this (very) well-spec'd N10 is ringing up at $849 over at J&R's website, but that also buys you a 10.2-inch LCD, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, a fingerprint reader, Windows Vista Business and a built-in webcam. Wondering when the charge will actually hit your card? "Coming Soon" is all we've got.

[Thanks, Rich]

RealNetworks, the company you love to hate, is back with a new product sure to capture the attention of Hollywood and its MPAA thugs. For $30, RealDVD plans to do what DVD Jon enabled years ago -- namely, making digital copies of your DVDs. Unlike Jon's illegal DRM stripping software, RealNetworks' approach lays on additional DRM allowing you to make a single copy, only, playable on the machine doing the rip -- up to five additional Windows PCs can be authorized at a cost of $20 per.

Real thinks that the use of the additional DRM coupled with Kaleidescape's legal victory -- a ruling that seemingly authorizes users to copy DVDs for their own personal use -- will help it escape the wrath of the MPAA. Not that RealNetworks has ever been afraid of a fight as demonstrated by its 2004 scuffle with Apple when it began offering software that allowed iPods to play Real's DRM'd content. Good thing too because we're pretty sure that shutting down the planned start of RealDVD's sales at the end of this month is the number one topic around the bunny-juice dispensers at the MPAA offices this morning.

[Via cnet]

Like a fiery car crash across the center divide, we just can't divert our attention from the antics of Gizmondo. Gizmondoforums, the self-described "home of the Gizmondo fanbase" (really, they have enough fans to create a base?) is carrying this quote from Rich Jenkins, who along with Carl Freer co-founded Media Power, the company now in charge of Gizmondo:

"We are excited about the potential of Android and have been working on an Android version of the Giz...Android would be a TERRIFIC addition to the Gizmondo and enable a TON of open source development."

Originally, the Gizmondo 2.0 gaming console was expected said to be WinCE 6-based and scheduled for an end of 2008 release. While this Android talk makes it all a bit more interesting, it certainly doesn't make it any more likely to happen.

Sony Corp just announced its new "Designed for Walkman" accessory program in a bid to boost third-party accessory development. Under the terms, any vendor that signs up gets full access to the specs for Sony's proprietary WM-PORT terminal... about 3.5 years too late. In return, licensees can prominently display this fancy, "Designed for Walkman" logo on their packaging and products as they grab for a slice of the meager accessory revenues made possible by the 4th place MP3 manufacturer owning just 2% market share. Hot Sony, hot.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! (Sorry, but where else were we gonna use that line?) For those unaware, Esquire's October issue is on newsstands now, and for 100,000 99,999 lucky souls out there, they'll receive one with a flashing E Ink display. Just in case you aren't quite lucky enough to apprehend one of your own, however, The Dastardly Report's Ryan Joseph was kind enough to snap a few photographs and even host a video of the exclusive mag before tearing it down for hacking purposes. Head on past the break for the clip, and tap that read link to have a gander at the stills. Oh, and dart out right this instant to snag your own.

Not quite sure what happened of late, but extra long lasting batteries are all the rage now. With netbook manufacturers offering up extended cells left and right, it's only fair that Sharp toss out a Willcom D4 with a super longevous battery, too. The Willcom D4 Ver.L (L stands for Long, loony) reportedly arrives with a lovely CE-BL58 extended battery as a standard accessory, and while the resource-demanding Office application isn't included, that helps keep the price at ¥97,700 ($901). A fair trade for the hardcore traveler, we suppose.

[Via Pocketables]

Look, we know how hard it is to hold in a secret, so we can sympathize entirely with Fry's on this. While new Zunes and / or features are looking more and more likely for September 9th, said e-tailer has already let slip a few new crucial details about the forthcoming (er, already out) 120GB Zune. For instance, we're looking at a Buy from FM option that enables users to tag sweet jams on the radio for easy purchasing when they arrive back at their PC. Furthermore, we're seeing Device to Cloud, Channels and Games options, all of which are further explained in the links below. In related news, a shockingly blue 8GB flash Zune has also emerged on the very same website (as predicted). Which is awesome if you're really into blue.

Read - 8GB blue Zune, via zunerama
Read - New Zune details, part I
Read - New Zune details, part II

Well, not really -- the actual experiments that could result in potentially disastrous "micro black holes" won't happen for another month (and probably won't end anything except the lives of a few protons), but as rumored, CERN's flipping the switch on the four billion dollar Large Hadron Collider this Wednesday to test the superconducting magnets that control the proton beams. After a clockwise test, they'll send protons counter-clockwise, and after that -- smashy time. Of course, there are still paranoid lawsuits pending to shut all this down, and we wouldn't mind another rap video or two, but after two decades of work, it's probably time to boot this thing up, death threats or no. Let's make it a good last month of humanity, people.

So the good news here is that Best Buy's getting ready to open its arms to yet another HTC product that's impossible to find by wandering into the brick-and-mortar store of the US wireless carrier of your choice; the bad news, though, is that it doesn't seem to be the version we wanted. The Touch Diamond now has a Coming Soon page all its own on Best Buy's site, which is just fantastic considering that neither AT&T nor T-Mobile have yet bothered to pick it up -- but the problem is that the specifications make no mention of US 3G despite the fact that we know there's just such a version floating around. Our hope is that we've just caught the big box with its pants down (wouldn't be the first time) and they'll look into carrying the real deal by the time "coming soon" switches to "in stock," especially since they've given the Touch Dual the same courtesy.

[Thanks, Mark]

Like your laptops available in soft, colorful tones? Looking for something a bit entry level? Fujitsu may have just the thing for you. The company has just introduced its L1010 mid-priced laptop (in Asia, at least), and it looks like just the right thing if you're not trying to break the bank or win friends and influence others. The L1010 packs a Core 2 Duo CPU atop the PM45/GM45 Express Chipset, a 1280 x 800, 14.1-inch LCD display, an NVIDIA 9300M GS graphics card with 256MB of RAM, WiFi, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, and HDMI outs. The laptops come in white and pink gold, black, turquoise blue, pink and purple color configurations, though the press release somehow fails to make mention of RAM or hard drive options. Fujitsu is mum on price and release date, but we'd say not too expensive, and fairly soon.

[Via iTech News Net]