Motorola Droid Pro: It's Like a BlackBerry Impregnated by Android

The Motorola Droid Pro on Verizon isn't what we expected: It's a like a Motorola Droid, but with a BlackBerry keyboard bolted on the bottom. Or like aBlackBerry Torch that's permanently stuck open, running Android. Take your pick. Weird.

The Droid Pro's runningAndroid 2.2, and it's a world phone, so it's definitely aimed at the dissatisfied BlackBerry user looking to make a switch. More on it as we get it.

Official specs from Verizon: 3.1-inch screen, 1GHz processor, 4GB memory, 5MP camera (but only "DVD quality" video, 3G hotspot powers, DLNA compatibility. For the suits, it's got QuickOffice pre-loaded for Office docs, remote wipe and AuthenTec IPSec multi-headed VPN integration, with device and SD card encryption coming early next year.

Would These Concept Power Cables Make Your Life Easier?

Despite making almost everything we use every day of our lives work, power cables are despised, and we haven't innovated our way out of them yet. This nesting concept cable, however, aims to tame the jungle. But would it work?

The Line Block cables click and seal together like a Ziploc bag—the idea being that you can lock a whole cluster of them together into one electricity snake, rather than the rat's nest of wiring I have behind my TV right now. It looks good on paper—as many concepts do—but some are skeptical, worrying that power bricks and outlets would split up the linked wiring. Hard to say based on nothing more than a rendered image, but we salute any attempts to maintain order.

Skype Lands on Android Phones Running Eclair or Higher

It seems unfathomable that Skype didn't have an app for Android until now*, but it's true. Phones running Android 2.1 or 2.2 can download the free app now, for free Skype-to-Skype calls, IM and more.

Just like with the iPhone version, you can call over Wi-Fi or the network (3G is included), both of which work well judging by the brief play I've had with it today. It's worth noting though that Skype only works over Wi-Fi in the US.

You can instant message Skype contacts—even a whole group of 'em—and synchronize contacts with your phone book too. It's a 14.23MB download, and worth doing if you have even one contact using Skype.

The 3D Sound System With 62 Channels is the Death Star of Audio

This isn't a Death Star model to go with your AT-AT. What's lurking behind it is a clue. Have you got it? It's a sound system, only with a twist—it has 62 channels for 3D sound.

It's from the Japanese National Institute of Information and Communications Technology(NICT), a research firm which is responsible for looking after Japan's frequencies and time standards, and also tests marine radar and maritime safety systems. Amongst doing all those important deeds, they've obviously found the time to jump upon the 3D wagon, with this sound system that is the first of its kind in the world today.

With 62 channels, the sound is meant to be a full replica of the original audio, so you genuinely feel that the singer is right there in the room with you. In 3D. It's being shown off at CEATEC this week, and while it's unlikely to go on sale (especially outside of Japan) it's fascinating to see what technology is capable of. Don't stop at 62 next time, NICT.

This Is Russia's Next Space Station for Tourists

Looks like the space tourism industry is heating up. RSC Energia—the designer and manufacturer of the Russian ISS modules—is creating a new space station for tourists, scientists, and evil genius wannabes. Construction could start as soon as 2012.

No price for the tickets yet, but the station will be prepared to accept spacecraft from any manufacturer.

Sharp's New Japanese Android Phone Has a Retina Display Equivalent

Sharp's new IS03 Android handset has a 960 x 640, 3.5" screen, putting it toe to toe with the iPhone 4's super crisp Retina Display. Oh, and then there's the 9.6MP camera and the TV tuner.

The IS03 employs an Advanced Super View display in lieu of IPS for keeping things visible from all angles, and its 9.6MP camera has autofocus and image stabilization. The 1seg TV tuner and Osaifu-Keitai contactless payment system are just the icing on the cake. It'll be available on Japan's KDDI network soon, but hopefully the rest of the world will be able to feast their retinas on the display sometime in the future.

Zoom Q3HD Handy Video Recorder Shoots 1080p and Has Stereo Mics to Match

While pocket cams video quality has improved incrementally from "good enough" to really actually pretty damn good, audio quality has largely been ignored. The new Zoom Q3HD combines 1080p, 30fps video with stereo mics for the full pocket cam package.

Zoom is known for their audio recorders, and the Q3HD is a nicer-looking refresh of their Q3pocket cam. It shoots 1080p video in 30fps or 720p in 30fps or 60fps, has an HDMI port, and runs on two AA batteries.

But what sets it apart are its built-in stereo condenser mics, capturing 24-bit/96kHz audio that can hold up even if you're at a concert hoisting the thing above a mosh pit. Audio meters let you check your levels while you're recording, and gain can be switched between high and low settings or left on auto. The Q3HD will be available this fall for $299.

The Future of Cargo Transport Is a Slow UFO

The future of heavy cargo transportation looked positively eco-friendly and blimp-like earlier this summer, so it's really no surprise that Australia's Skylifter cargo blimp is making the Internet rounds this weekend.

Theoretically capable of lifting about 150 tons, this massive 500-ft prototype blimp features a flying saucer shape so that it can combat heavy winds and still deliver its cargo at a breakneck speeds (playful sarcasm) over distances of up to 1,200 miles.

Skylifter, which is also the name of the company that builds it, plans on having these airborne within the next three years.

3D Hologram App For iPhone 5

Chicken Nuggets Are Made From This Pink Goop

This is mechanically separated chicken. Chickens are turned into this goop so we can create delicious chicken nuggets and juicy chicken patties. It's obscenely gross and borderline alien but it's not going to stop me from eating nuggets. They're too good.

The process works a little something like this:


There's more: because it's crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia, soaked in it, actually. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color.

Yeah, that's just disgusting. But I can't shake my roots.

The Verizon HTC Merge Is a World Phone With a Slider Keyboard

Android Central got their hands on a new Android phone: the HTC Merge, an 800 MHz Android 2.2 phone headed to Verizon. It's a World Phone that uses HTC Sense and has a sliding keyboard similar to the T-Mobile G2.

Truthfully, the Merge isn't anything out of the ordinary. Other than having a decent looking physical keyboard, the Merge's specs—3.7" screen, 800MHz processor, 5-megapixel camera, 720p video—seem to be in line with the average Android phone. On the software side, it's running HTC Sense and because it's on Verizon, it uses Bing for search. I'd be smitten with this device if I loved Sense and needed a physical keyboard, though.

It's sort of amazing how many Android devices Verizon has and continues to put out, you'd think they'd be overlapping each other by now. But unlike the other phones, the Merge can be geared towards world travelers since it comes with a rest of the Earth-friendly SIM card slot. As the Merge hasn't even been announced yet, there's no release date or price point set.

16 Year Old Internet Addict Beaten to Death in Chinese Boot Camp

After refusing a direct order, 16 year old Chen Shi was beaten to death at a boot camp for troubled youth in China. And it's not the first time this has happened to teenage internet addicts.

A day at a typical Chinese internet addiction boot camp begins with a 6:20am wake up call and morning exercises. The day continues with a strict regiment of military drills, lectures, martial arts training, and sessions with psychologists. Lights out is at 9:30 sharp. Some boot camps employ the use of electric shock treatment, while others, like the Beiteng School in Changsha that Shi unfortunately attended, enjoy beating their students with a plastic pipe, a wooden baton, and handcuffs. And parents pay thousands of dollars for this.

Internet addiction among Chinese youth is a bit of an epidemic—1 in 10 teenage internet users are estimated to suffer from the problem. US internet addiction rates run at 3-8% for the entire population (which, apparently, is mostly comprised of our Giz readership).

Shi's mother had initially been informed that he was in critical condition after "possibly" suffering from a sunstroke. He had been enrolled in the program due to his fear of hardship, weak willpower, and lack of self-confidence. It seems that a change in attitude, an increase in parent-child interaction, and some harsh regulations are in order to prevent more such deaths from occurring in the future.

Sh*t Talkin

AT&T Selling Windows Phone 7 Devices Nov. 8th?

The WSJ reports that you'll be able to get your hands on a Windows Phone 7 device in the US the week of November 8th. That's a month after WP7's official unveiling, and weeks after the rumored European launch.

As for hardware, AT&T will feature offerings from Samsung, LG, and HTC from day one.

Those of you on Verizon and Sprint wondering when your WP7 devices are rolling through are going to have to sit tight; Microsoft's not pursuing a CDMA version of the phone until next year. And those of you on AT&T wondering why—apparently—Europe gets first digs? Well, chalk that up to life's unremitting unfairness, I guess.

Facebook's Rolling Out High-Resolution Photo Sharing

As big fans of photo-sharing site Flickr, one of the most frustrating things about the popularity of photo sharing on social-networking site Facebook has always been the relatively terrible quality of Facebook's highly compressed photos. Starting today, that's changing.

Over the next few weeks, Facebook will be rolling out support for high-res pictures for free to every user:

We're increasing the size of the photos stored from 720 pixels to 2048 pixels on the largest edge, for an 8 times increase overall. I'm really excited to be launching this feature. To see the quality of these pictures, you can view National Geographic's "Top-Rated Your Shot Photos (September)" album or Sports Illustrated's "Football Across America" album. Download high-resolution photos by clicking the "Download" link.

They're also updating their photo viewer with a new lightbox interface (think Flickr's new galleries—dark background with the image popping out in the forefront). Chances are you're not seeing any of the updates in your account yet, but the rollout starts today, so if you aren't, you can expect it in the near future.

A Gift For The Sexy Geek In All Of Us

Play chess, or masturbate? We love both activities so much, sometimes we just can't choose. Thankfully, with Kiki de Montparnasse's vibrator chess set, we can have both at the same time...we just have to find $7k to buy it.

This May Very Well Be the First New Earth

You are looking at what could be the fourth planet on the Gliese 581 star system, 20.3 light years from Earth. If the NASA artist rendition looks very much like our Earth... it's because it is similar to Earth.

Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star. A starship traveling at near the speed of light would only take 20.3 years to get there, which is not that much. Until now, astronomers had discovered five planets around this star. Some of them were too close to it, making them too hot to be habitable. Others were too far and too cold. But now, a sixth planet has been discovered right on the "habitable zone", the fourth in distance from the star: Gliese 581g.

If the discoveries from the planet hunters at University of California Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institution of Washington are right, Gliese 581g could be habitable.

Now, before you jump into the Enterprise and go there camping, roast some marshmallows, and get back leaving a lot of beer bottles and crap behind, being potentially habitable doesn't mean that we can just go there and thrive. It doesn't even mean that this planet is full of little green men or buxom big blue women. It just means that this is a planet that could sustain life, with liquid water and an atmosphere.

Gliese 581g has three to four times the mass of Earth, orbiting the star at an zippy 37 days. According to data gathered by the Keck I Telescope HIRES spectrometer, it's a rocky planet with a "solid surface and enough gravity to hold to an atmosphere."

More importantly, according to Steven Vogt, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, not only their "findings offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet" but "the fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common."

In other words, the chances of the Universe being bubbling with life of all kinds and forms just jumped beyond our most optimistic hopes.

OMG U R NOT SERIOUS: Justin Bieber Gets His Own Headphone Line

Dr. Dre, what hath ye done? As if 3% of Twitter's racks weren't enough, tween demigod Justin Bieber can now lay claim to his own headphone line—part of the Beats by Dre series of audio gear. Totes adorbs!

The JustBeats series (geeee-eeet it?) is available in earbud or cans form—but only in purple, Justin's fave color! The press release for the phones, clearly written by someone with a strong sense of irony, laments that young music fans have "never been exposed to high-quality sound." Yes, and Justin Bieber will be the solution to this social ill. We only hope they fit snugly enough for Segway getaways.

What Facebook and Skype Integration Would Mean For You

Facebook and Skype integration! That's the rumor. But beyond the intermingling of two major tech companies, the important question is: how's this going to affect you?

Video Chat With Facebook Friends From Skype

Just to be clear: this wouldn't mean that you'd be able to Skype video chat through Facebook. Not yet, anyway. Instead, when this supposedly goes live in a few weeks with Skype 5.0, you'd be able to connect with your Facebook friends list through Skype. Still pretty handy! And in-browser video chat is apparently seen as a "logical progression" to the partnership, meaning it could well happen down the line.

And Text Them, Too!

According to the WSJ, the deal would also include SMS, which definitely wouldn't get annoying after a while.

Facebook Phone's Own FaceTime?

Facebook denies that they've got a phone in the works—much less two—but that's a product that would definitely benefit from deep Skype integration. Skype's currently only available on Verizon phone.

A Google Voice Alternative

Specifically, an alternative to making calls in Gmail. That's not to say that a Facebook/Skype VoIP solution would be better, necessarily. But if you for some reason want to break free of big G, or don't have a Google account to begin with, you'd have a viable alternative. Choice is good!

You'll Actually Use Skype

As wonderful as Skype is, less than a quarter of its 560 million members are active. When they add what's arguably your most comprehensive Rolodex—your list of Facebook friends—you might be tempted to actually use other parts of the service once in a while. And eventually maybe even cut that cellphone voice plan loose.

Insulate Your Brain and Body in This Sealed Off Mini-Room

If you're unfortunate enough to live in a region cursed with bitter winters (I know I am!), you know the pain of keeping your pad heated. One solution? Build an insulated room within a room to stay focused and toasty.

German architectural firm Davidson Rafailidis created this prototype, constructed out of plastic and wood, that hooks up directly to a window for both light and warmth. Probably not a great space for the claustrophobes out there, but might make for an excellent place to get some work done without having to put on a sweater. Or hide some bodies. Y'know, whatever's your thing.