If there are fifty ways to leave your lover, surely there are at least a few methods to make miserable and humiliating the life of your arch-nemesis with the aid of gadgets. If you've got a chip on your shoulder, maybe you'll find a few things in our Holiday Gift Guide for enemy that really are better to give than to receive.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for enemy originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Dec 2007 17:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Want to get something really special for someone this holiday season? Something that can't be picked up in your local Sharper Image or Hot Topic? How about the late Saddam Hussein's 269-foot mega-yacht: the "Qaddisat Saddam?" For the low entry fee of $34 million, you'll get you a massive gold, silver, and marble adorned ship replete with Arabesque arches, fountains, dining and silverware for 200, a clinic with a surgical suite, a helipad, 14 cabins, plus bunk space for 35 crew members (or servants, if you will), and a secret passageway to an escape boat and sub-pod (in case you too are paralyzed by fear of assassination attempts). The sellers have thoughtfully renamed the craft the "Ocean Breeze," but we're fairly confident that no matter what you call it, the overwhelming vibe of mustachioed dictator will be impossible to obscure. Check the read link for a thorough tour of the entire ship -- and make sure you have your credit card handy.

[Photo courtesy of Radar Online]

Filed under: Transportation

Saddam's yacht: the perfect holiday gift originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 15:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Merry Christmas, American public! Reuters is reporting that FBI is moving ahead with its plan to spend a billion US taxpayer dollars on what it calls the Next Generation Identification system, which it aims to make the largest biometrics cache in the world. Because really, what could possibly go wrong in letting the government collect records of everyone's faces, fingerprints, and palm patterns (what, no retinal scans?) and even collude with private employers to automatically collect and add all the biometric data amassed during potential employees' criminal background checks? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Obviously.

P.S. -The only other document on NGI we were able to immediately turn up appears to come from 2006, and it doesn't like the same that Reuters is referring to. [Warning: PDF link]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

FBI amassing largest face, fingerprint, palm database in the world originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 13:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whether they're your boss, cubicle neighbor, IT guy / gal, assistant, consultant, or mail room clerk, they deserve a little something for the holidays. A touch of gift giving at year's end can perk up the dreariest of drones and put a smile on the face of the most tyrannical task-masters. And even if you don't really want to get them something, you might stumble upon that magical key of consumerism that unlocks the door to a promotion, pay-hike, new workstation, or just a little reduction in heat for a few months. Of course, you've gotta pay to play, so we present the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide for colleague -- treat it with respect, it could make 2008 a much smoother ride.

Continue reading Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for colleague

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for colleague originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There's not a whole lot out there on this one just yet, but apparently, Mainnav is getting set to unveil the MG-910D's successor -- at least, that's what we gather from the "available soon" icon beside it on the firm's website. Nevertheless, we do know that it will sport a SiRFstarIII GPS chipset, a display that shows speed, altitude and latitude, bike mounting hardware and a weatherproof enclosure. Additionally, we're told that it can store up to 120,000 waypoints at once and can interface with Windows-based software (presumably for Google Earth viewing). We're not quite sure if this one sports Bluetooth, but considering the current MG-910D does, we'll be banking on the feature carrying over. Look for more info early next month once CES rolls around.

[Via NaviGadget]

Filed under: GPS

Mainnav readies MG-950D data logger originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We're not exactly sure why, but we never really had a feeling that Asus wouldn't be able to move a copious amount of these things. Nevertheless, DigiTimes has it that Asus actually sold through 350,000 Eee PCs in a single quarter, beating industry expectations by a solid 50,000 units. Also of note, the report mentions that Asus is planning to launch the little bugger into Best Buy stores in the US while also kicking off sales in Japan next year, so there should plenty of opportunities to grab one if you've somehow missed out thus far.

Filed under: Laptops

Asus exceeds expectations, ships 350k Eee PCs in one quarter originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And we thought we were getting all fancy with RSS-capable wireless photo frames. The new Wireless PIXXA 8-inch WiFi frame from Ality not only works with the likes of Flickr, but syncs with popular online calendars and news sites as well, including a special Photo Messenger feature that allows friends to push embarrassing photos instantly onto the frame and in view of your holiday guests. The 800 x 600 resolution should be plenty, and in addition to the traditional card reader there's 2GB of built-in storage. Ality should be selling the PIXXA in the first half of next year for $299.

[Via Born Rich]

Filed under: Displays, Wireless

Ality's Wireless PIXXA puts more internet in the photo frame originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Army's been poking around with OS X for a while -- Xserves have run army.mil for a couple years now -- but it looks like it's about to deploy even more Apple machines in an effort to diversify its install base and frustrate would-be attackers. The move is partially due to the upcoming release of software that will allow OS X machines to work with the Army's Common Access Card smart card system, but the Army's experience with the Xserves seems like it's really the deciding factor: "[The Army's Xserves] are some of the most attacked computers there are," according to Lt. Col. C.J. Wallington, of the Army's office of enterprise information systems. "But the attacks used against them are designed for Windows-based machines, so they shrug them off." Outside security consultants say that diversity isn't enough, though -- while OS X may be difficult to break, hackers will simply learn to target the Army's Windows machines. "In the story of the three little pigs, did diversifying their defenses help? Not for the pig in the straw house," according to one analyst interviewed by Forbes. That's a good point -- but we're also a little concerned that all that white, aluminum and glass might clash with the Army's color scheme.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Army working in more Macs to diversify systems, thwart attackers originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 08:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After getting a good look at this thing, all we can say is that it better not take as long as the Tesla to get to market. Aptera's ultra-aerodynamic Typ-1 most certainly has some outrageous claims behind it -- most notably that 300 MPG rating -- and some people are doubting how real or drivable this thing could be. Popular Mechanics got a chance take the little Jestons-mobile for a spin, and discovered that it does indeed exist, and in fact happens to drive quite nicely. The interior is just as sexy as the exterior, so we'd recommend you peep the video now before you end up the last person on your block to pre-order one of these.

Filed under: Transportation

Aptera's Typ-1 gets a video test drive originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD removed any lingering secrecy when it gave the official word to expect new kit based on the R680, RV620 and RV635, but now we're seeing a trio of actual products (all PCIe 2.0) that are purported to be built around the aforementioned cores. According to MadBoxPC, the ATI Radeon HD 3450 will be based on the RV620, utilize 55-nanometer fabrication technology and will feature a 525MHz core clock, 400MHz memory clock (800MHz DDR), 256MB of DDR2 RAM and VGA / Display Port outputs. Moving on up, we've got the Radeon HD 3470, which is based on the same core but gets clocked a hair faster and ditches Display Port for DVI. Finishing things off is the RV635-based Radeon HD 3650, which will come in a 800MHz XT flavor and a 600MHz Pro iteration along with 256MB - 512MB of GDDR3 RAM. The trifecta is reportedly going to ship sometime next month, and they'll cost you just $50, $60 and $100, respectively.

[Via DailyTech]

Filed under: Gaming

Trio of new ATI Radeon HD cards get leaked, pictured originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 04:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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