Let's face it: despite the new Xbox 360 being joyously quieter and more efficient, the previous model still manages to seduce some of us with its sexy curves. Speaking of which -- according to Joystiq's source, Best Buy's going to kick off August by lowering the prices for the Splinter Cell: Conviction and Final Fantasy XIII previous-gen Xbox 360 bundles. For just $299 -- $50 off the current price point (and $100 off the launch price) -- you still get a copy of the corresponding game title, a 250GB HDD, and two wireless controllers. So that's gaming sorted for the summer; now put that $50 towards some cooling aid and you're good to go.

Best Buy to slash prices for old Xbox 360 special edition bundles tomorrow? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 23:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In 2009, Chris Paget showed the world the vulnerabilities of RFID by downloading the contents of US passports from the safety of his automobile. This year, he's doing the same for mobile phones. Demonstrating at DefCon 2010, the white hat hacker fooled 17 nearby GSM phones into believing his $1,500 kit (including a laptop and two RF antennas) was a legitimate cell phone base station, and proceeded to intercept and record audience calls. "As far as your cell phones are concerned, I'm now indistinguishable from AT&T," he told the crowd. The purpose of the demonstration was highlight a major flaw in the 2G GSM system, which directs phones to connect to the tower with the strongest signal regardless of origin -- in this case, Paget's phony tower.

The hacker did caveat that his system could only intercept outbound calls, and that caller ID could tip off the owner of a handset to what's what, but he says professional IMSI catchers used by law enforcement don't suffer from such flaws and amateur parity would only be a matter of time. "GSM is broken," Paget said, "The primary solution is to turn it off altogether." That's a tall order for a world still very dependent on the technology for mobile connectivity, but we suppose AT&T and T-Mobile could show the way. Then again, we imagine much of that same world is still using WEP and WPA1 to "secure" their WiFi.

Hacker intercepts phone calls with homebuilt $1,500 IMSI catcher, claims GSM is beyond repair originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 22:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Most high-profile smartphones launch exclusively on one of the major carriers in the U.S. The Samsung Galaxy S, though, will come to market via all of them under different names, different industrial designs, and, in one case, with different input options. And yet, its screen's quality and size - big but not too big - will certainly make it a contender at all of them.

But the handset will encounter anything but a level playing field in its respective portfolios. The Galaxy S will provide a good lab in which to study how much motivation to push a high-end portfolio device counts versus the muscle of having the largest subscriber bases but stronger handset competition. With the Galaxy S's lack of exclusivity already dampening some carrier enthusiasm for promoting it heavily, it appears as though the handset's impact goes down as the number of carrier subscribers goes up. Let's look at the universe of Galaxy S distribution.

Continue reading Switched On: The Galaxy S paradox

Switched On: The Galaxy S paradox originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Studio XPS 9100 arrives with six cores, little fanfare originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The season's first selections all provide serious inter-conference drama, with a heavy dose of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). In the inaugural 3-D match-up, Virginia Tech from the ACC battles Western Athletic Conference member Boise State on Monday, September 6th. The following Saturday, the Big 12's Ten's Ohio State welcomes the ACC's Miami Hurricanes to the Horseshoe. The third contest, to be played September 18th, pits the Southeastern Conference's Auburn Tigers against their Clemson copycats from the ACC. We'll go out on a limb and say the Tigers with orange school colors win this one. [From: ESPN, via: Engadget]

Filed under: TV, Back to School

ESPN Announces Opening 3-D Slate of NCAA Football originally appeared on Switched on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Engadget Podcasters are chattin' re: magic, black magic, crack, GHB, Kmart, and Ashton.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Sadnes - Wicked Game

00:01:29 - New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only version and $189 3G model available August 27th in the US and UK
00:07:33 - Amazon sees e-book sales surpassing paper versions, has Mirasol technology in the Kindle labs
00:13:30 - RIM takes control of blackpad.com, laughter takes control of our minds
00:13:53 - RIM's 9.7-inch Blackpad rumored for November launch -- yes, Blackpad
00:14:22 - RIM and AT&T event next Tuesday -- BlackBerry slider and OS 6 en route?
00:24:32 - Apple iMac line gets speedbumped, low-end gets a Core i3
00:25:57 - Apple Mac Pro line overhauled with 12 processing cores, arriving in August for $4,999
00:26:17 - Apple Magic Trackpad official, shipping now for $69
00:26:30 - Magic Trackpad review
00:28:45 - Apple Battery Charger gets official: a battery charger, only you know, better (update: hands-on)
00:33:45 - Apple issues Magic Trackpad drivers for OS X and Windows, updates MacBooks with new gesture support
00:34:50 - Library of Congress adds DMCA exception for jailbreaking or rooting your phone
00:36:50 - Did the Fifth Circuit just make breaking DRM legal? Not quite.
00:51:28 - Augen's $99 GenBook smartbook preview
00:54:30 - Augen's $150 Android tablet hits Kmart circular, coming to stores later this week

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Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget

Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 207 - 07.31.2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Radio Shack is at it again, expanding your perceptions of the place that once actually sold radio components. A year after that ill-received 'The Shack' marketing campaign the company is now making a rather more substantial move, securing an arrangement with Target stores to see the creation of so-called Bullseye Mobile kiosks. This has started with a 100-store pilot program but, throughout this year and into summer next, the expectation is to prop them up in 1,750 big box locations. Something tells us they won't all be wired up for WiMAX, but we can hope.

[Thanks, Breon]

'The Shack' downsizes, opens Bullseye Mobile kiosks in many Target stores originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Radio Shack is at it again, expanding your perceptions of the place that once actually sold radio components. A year after that ill-received 'The Shack' marketing campaign the company is now making a rather more substantial move, securing an arrangement with Target stores to see the creation of so-called Bullseye Mobile kiosks. This has started with a 100-store pilot program but, throughout this year and into summer next, the expectation is to prop them up in 1,750 big box locations. Something tells us they won't all be wired up for WiMAX, but we can hope.

[Thanks, Breon]

'The Shack' downsizes, opens Bullseye Mobile kiosks in many Target stores originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Once upon a time, Dell's Zino HD promised desktop parts in a tiny box and didn't quite deliver the goods, but it was still cute and powerful enough a mini-desktop to earn a spot on our holiday gift guide. This time round, it looks like Dell might actually fulfill that original pledge, as support documents leaked at the company's website show the box sporting an AMD RS880M chipset capable of socketing Phenom II quad-core processors. While it only comes with onboard Radeon HD 4250 graphics by default, a Mobility Radeon 5450 GPU is listed as a potential option at launch, and the box can now hold up to 8GB of 1066MHz DDR3 memory alongside 802.11n WiFi and Blu-ray drive options. On the front and back of the small box, you'll find practically exactly the same ports, but there is a new optical S/PDIF socket capable of piping 7.1 surround sound. While there's no guarantee all these options are slated for a stateside launch, we imagine Dell will either deliver or keep a tighter lid on these sorts of docs.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Dell Zino HD 410 quietly leaks out with AMD quad-core potential originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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To win at Mario Kart on a console you must master two things: drifting and power-ups. Half of that is replicated in these R/C Mario Kart toys, which we saw standing still last month but now can finally see in action motoring around what looks to be either Corporate Carpet Raceway or CDR Castle. The controller emits that familiar jingling item select sound when you've snagged a virtual power-up, and you can see how mushrooms boost your speed while banana peels cause your opponents' cars to freak out. Sadly there is no drifting to be found in this version of the game, but we're wondering if a little tape on the rear wheels wouldn't help address that shortcoming.

[Thanks, Jarom]

Continue reading Remote Control Mario Kart toys tested, don't drift but do shoot (video)

Remote Control Mario Kart toys tested, don't drift but do shoot (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 13:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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