The early days of VOIP calling required a lot of patience, as the half-second or more delay between you speaking and your conversation partner receiving often turned the convo into a start and stop mess. Those days are gone for voice, but we're right back there again when it comes to HD video calls. However, random product researcher Fraunhofer is working on a new device to kill the lag and speed up your two-way monologues. It's basically an encoder card able to do hardware squashing of……

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Well, this is sad and unexpected: Microsoft's Major Nelson just announced that Xbox Live Gold will be getting more expensive in the US, UK, Canada, and Mexico starting November 1. A single month will go from $7.99 to $9.99, three months will go from $19.99 to $24.99, and the yearly sub will now be $59.99, up from $49.99. Yes, it's super lame, but to make up for it Microsoft's running a quickie “lock in” promo for a discounted $40 one-year Gold sub starting November 1 — a nice deal ……

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What's this? A 7-inch, aluminum-trimmed, multitouch tablet from Korea running Android? Why it could be none other than the Samsung Galaxy, er, KT Identity Tab. Think of this 1GHz tablet with TFT-LCD, 8GB of internal memory (and SD expansion), DMB TV tuner, light and gravity sensors, built-in ebook reader, and 3 megapixel camera as KT's answer to Samsung's Galaxy Tab Android 2.2 tablet expected to hit SK Telecom, South Korea's largest carrier, sometime in September. And with KT&#……

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Your media streamer options aren't exactly limited these days, but if you're looking for one that will also double as a NAS (and prefer to get your gear from Japan), you might want to consider Digital Cowboy's latest addition to its Movie Cowboy line: the Xtreamer Pro. This one packs the same dual 3.5-inch hard drives as the company's previous DC-MCNAS1 model (not included), but adds an HDMI port to directly connect to your TV, and what appears to be a whole new interface to let……

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With the Nikon D3100 now official and out in the open, it's time to tilt the rumor mills back towards a successor to the company's much-loved D90. Nikon Rumors has a few morsels, including what it's confident is the official name: D7000. (Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) No source is provided, so until we get something official, just use pencil to write it down on your wishlist. Got that? Good. The site also has a few other details that it's less sure on… but just to teas……

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It's that time again, the Engadget Show is back in a big way this Friday, August 27th at 8pm! First up, Josh is sitting down with Samsung Chief Strategy Officer Omar Khan to chat up the company's recent Android sprint, then Engadget's investigative correspondent Rick Karr is back to scale a skyscraper and check up on an AT&T team tasked with improving New York's data infrastructure. Next up, Josh and Paul welcome fellow editor Joanna Stern back to the roundtable and we'……

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Another contender has entered the fray in the great tablet wars of 2010. It's the $500 Olive Telecom OlivePad, a seven-inch, 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreened device. Announced back in July, Indian television show TechGuru snagged one for review a few weeks back where they, predictably, squared it off against an iPad. The Android 2.1 device looks nice enough, but, according to the translation recently provided by Netbooknews, doesn't compare to Apple's device in terms of visual app……

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Terrific news, laptop shoppers. Toshiba's concept-turned-commercial Libretto W100 is now on sale in the US of A, but there's no telling how long it'll remain in stock. We heard from the get-go that this dual-screen wonder would only be a limited run, and just a week after going on sale in Japan, the W105-L251 is getting prepped right now for a shipping label with your address on it. $1,099.99 buys you a Pentium U5400 processor, Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit), integrated Intel HD gr……

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There comes a time in any electronic gadget's life when it becomes useless and although it's inevitable, the length of the useful lifespan can vary greatly. In recent years firmware updates have really helped extend the life of devices, but when the manufacturer has no financial incentive to support older products, it can mean a premature end (at least from the customer's perspective). Well after three years that time has apparently come for FiOS TV subscribers who own ATI Digital C……

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A portable game console mod is like a still life: sure, it's been done before, but it's very satisfying when it's done well. Or, to take the analogy further: where a still life lets the artist arrange the design elements with in a composition any way he wants, the modder works with elements necessary for game play, but is free to arrange them in the manner of his choosing. Our man Techknott, who once thrilled us with his Wireless Visual Interface for the PS3, is back on the scene wi……

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