QA4 Evoke signals the rebirth of Moto?

This fine Monday morning Motorola has made known that they are done designing and manufacturing lowly products that time and time again fail to impress. (Hopefully).  Starting their rebirth, the QA4 Evoke is actually a pretty darn good looking device.  Actually, really good.  But it isn’t all just a pretty face.  The features of Moto’s “Savior” phone include:

• 2.8” WQVGA 240×400 touchscreen display
• 2 megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom
• 256 MB internal storage with microSD expansion slot for additional storage
• CDMA 800/1900/1700/2100, Diversity 1900MHz and 2100 MHz EVDO Rev A
• Bluetooth, GPS
• Full HTML web browser
• Integration with Facebook, MySpace, and Picasa for the social butterflies
• Customizable homescreen by way of widgets
• Centralized & conversational style SMS and email (POP3/IMAP4)

This certainly looks as if it could be Moto’s start to remaking their image which has fallen drastically from their Razr days.  And finally they are breaking away from the Razr design.  While it was an awesome design at the time, all good things must come to an end.  This is the new Moto.

*Update*  Looks like our lucky friends up north are getting their paws on it first as Cricket has been named the debut carrier.

Source: Boy Genius, Moto

Wash the dishes AND generate power with the Mini Hydro Turbine

If you a nerdy nerd and like all kinds of little gizmos and gadgets as well as having an affinity for saving energy and the planet, I have something neat to show you.  Jinwoo Han has designed what could be considered the *insert comparison to sliced bread here*.  This nifty little wonder gadget goes by the name of the “Mini Hydro Turbine”.  The MHT clips to your faucet and converts the water pressure into electricity.  With that you can run other small electronics or charge your gadgets all while washing the dishes.  As electricity becomes the mode of transportation in all forms as well as the growing source of mobile power, integrating rechargeable interfaces into mundane everyday objects will make the future cleaner, quicker, and more efficient for all.  This concept by Jinwoo is something that would certainly benefit the planet as well as please that geek in your life. 

Source: The Awesomer

“Window Shop” for V-dub’s on your iPhone!

In what is a strange yet undoubtedly cool move by Volkswagen, a mobile version, specifically iPhone version of their website has been launched (open in desktop browser).  For the iPhone version just head to www.vw.com and your iPhone will take care of the rest.  I’ve looked at it and it really does have a great look to it no matter if what orientation the screen is in — very Applesque in desgin.    With the iPhone version of the page, you can browser all of their car lineup and find dealers by zip code (U.S. only).  The coolest feature so far is the ability to tap on that little “Assistance” icon above which will connect you immediately with Roadside Assistance — Nice Touch!  Never be lost or alone agian (as long as you have an AT&T signal that is).  The only thing that would be a big help and addition to their alreay great mobile webpage be allowing actual purchasing and financing look up on the iPhone itself.  Now I know that Flash is a big part of the whole financing and buying aspect, but if they could just figure out ways to do it without Flash, it would be killer for sure.

Source: Into Mobile

Chrome coming to Mac by the fall…so says Google

Those Mac users and Chrome hopefuls who are waiting for their chance to use Google’s wonder browser natively on the Mac’s still have a bit of a wait ahead of them. According to a “state of the browser” address by several bloggers and developers working on the Chromium (Mac verision) browser have said that they would be “very surprised and unhappy” if there wasn’t a functioning public version by fall. Yes fall. It seems so far away. So far they have cocoa shell wrapped around Chromium but it is highly unstable. Only developers and people who know how to compile code and mess around in terminal should even think about looking at using Chromium right now. On one side I want it to come fast as the screenshot above shows a very good looking browser that hopefully performs as well as it’s Windows counterpart. Though at the same time, being an outdoorsy person, I want the summer to stay as looooong as possible. Interested parties can stay up to date by following Pinkerton’s blog here, or by stopping by the Mac Status Detailed Status page. Chromium for Mac is not far off folks. It’s just around the bend.

Source: Gizmodo, Ars Technica

The Racer Theme for Blackberry puts a new twist on wallpaper…

The title above leads one to believe that a “special wallpaper” would be or is a gimmicky way to sell a theme. However, the way the developer of The Racer theme from idBerry exicuted his “window wallpaper” is actually quite unique and adds a pretty cool twist on Blackberry themes. What it is is essentially a “banner” or overlay over the actual wallpaper with just a small spot left open to allow the actual wallpaper to show through. As you can see above, it works well and gives you almost limiteless possibilities on how to show off your new enhanced wallpaper. The Racer theme is available for the Blackberry 8900 and Bold for $5.99 at the Berry Reivew Store.

Source: Berry Review

Jaunt Jackalope gets spiffy new beta tag!

For all of you linux users out there, particularly Ubuntu users, some screenshots of Ubuntu 9.04, “Jaunty Jackalope” which was released last week with a spiffy new beta tag.  The Lope has finally reached beta stage meaning it is a tad bit more stable so if you’re curious as to what the new features are and how it works, more normal non-computer literate people could try it out.  So, what exactly is new about Jaunty Jackalope?  All the information you could ever need is just inside.

New features coming to Android Marketplace?

The Android Marketplace is the pinnacle of consumer choice to many in the mobile world.  However, there are still improvements to be made.  Thankfully the Android team does listen to their customers and apparently wants to update the Marketplace with some new features.  What kind of new features?  According to Google’s Dan Morrill, some of the updates and features being considered include:

•  Customizable themes and skins (Awesome….Apple…WTF!!)
• More sorting options instead of just sort by “date” and “popularity”.
• A new desktop/web version of the Marketplace…(Again…Apple…WTF.  Get with the program)

Themes and skins are frivolous extras to some, while the new sorting options and desktop/web version of the Marketplace would appease a lot of Android users.  Personally, I love themes and skins.  I like to change the theme on my iPhone weekly.  I like change, what can I say.  More sorting options are always a plus while a desktop or web version of the Marketplace would be a very welcome addition.  One area they can go above and beyond Apple is by giving users the ability to manage apps on their G1 through the desktop/web version.  That would be a very handy feature.  Of course, these aren’t confirmed or even set in stone, but merely “ideas” that the Google engineers are looking in to. 

Are the features mentioned above right down your alley?  What features would you personally like to see come to the G1, Android, and the Android Marketplace?

Source: Andronica