Hard to believe it's been over two years since we wrapped our noodles around the Intel Eduwise and the OLPC XO, and while the average Atom-powered netbook has practically swiped the limelight, the low-cost laptop still holds a special place in our hearts. So it's with great joy that we present this mystical tour through the genealogy of the Classmate PC. On hand are a number of prototypes, a non-working mockup and a version of the Eduwise that actually retains the bulk of its hardware in the rear of the LCD. Heck, there's even a bright blue convertible in there that could probably give Doom a run for its money. Unfortunately, the writeup is in translated English, but chances are the images will do the bulk of the speaking to your soul.

It's somewhat difficult to believe that the Access Linux Platform (also referred to as ALP) still has proponents out there, but apparently, Edelweiss could be gearing up to launch what would be the very first ALP-powered handset available on the open market. Slated to launch exclusively in Russia, the touchscreen-driven smartphone would boast a 3.5-inch 854 x 480 resolution screen, quad-band GSM / tri-band UMTS support, 8GB / 16GB of internal capacity, GPS and a 3.2-megapixel camera with Auto Focus. Word around the block has it that the device was actually designed by Emblaze and will eventually be manufactured by Sharp, but that's if the teaser site actually leads to anything tangible.

[Via PalmInfoCenter]

Like DAPs with oodles of cheap storage, luscious screens, non-proprietary headphone jacks, and "so skinny I keep losing the damn thing" form-factors? Yamaha's BODiBEAT is not for you -- unless you're willing to look past all that in order to be the hippest sprinter on the trails. It's a chunky, blocky, $299 thing with a monochrome display and a measly 512MB of (non-expandable) memory, existing to serve only one purpose: amping up runners. According to a review at Yanko Design, it delivers on that at least, dynamically selecting from your tracks so beats suit your heart rate and pace, filling in with "built-in circa 1990 techno songs" when your collection fails to match your tempo. Its jogging-friendly "pinch" buttons got high marks, as did the accuracy in picking tracks to tweak workouts, but the overall value here seems awfully limited for all but the hardest of hardcore marathoners.

You're not being paranoid if you're surfing in public and feeling a little self-conscious; that creepy guy to your right is totally peeking over his Times, looking for a vicarious gadget fix. Right now you're probably thinking a privacy filter would help, but they tend to make things look awfully murky even if you're sitting front and center. LG says it has the solution with its new Viewing-angle Image Control display, a 14.1-inch screen able to have its visible extent cropped from 175- down to just 60-degrees via a push of a button, supposedly without impacting overall brightness. It's not the first nor the second such display we've seen with this ability, but it is already in mass production and should start showing up in laptops everywhere soon -- or not showing up, as it were.

[Via Electronista]

Uh oh. ASUS just issued a recall for all Eee Box PCs sold in Japan due to a nasty pre-installed worm. The malicious code dubbed "recycled.exe" may attempt to download additional malware while attempting to replicate itself to attached USB storage devices at the first opportunity. Of course, this isn't the first time that ASUS has been embarrassed by its image burns. Who could forget the the illegal keygen and confidential documentation shipped on those brand new laptops last month? Apparently, only ASUS who has yet to clean house.

[Via The Inquirer]

[Via Slashdot]

So you've just purchased a new desktop that checks in at 1.6- x 2.4 - x 2.1-inches (actual size may vary), and you're looking for the perfect LCD to accompany it. At long last, we finally have a solution for the aforementioned quandary. The Century LCD-4300U is a 4.3-inch LCD monitor that not only provides the convenience of a USB connection, but it also gets every ounce of energy it needs via that same USB cable. The mini monitor touts an 800 x 480 resolution, LED-backlighting and compatibility with Windows XP / Vista and OS X. Now, if only the darn thing didn't cost ¥19,800 ($197), we might have ourselves a runaway winner.

[Via OhGizmo]

You probably don't want to be seen at the beach with most solar-powered PMPs, but Shiro's SQ-S is superior in functionality if not in appearance. It can store 16GB of APE, FLAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, or WMA files, receive and record FM radio broadcasts and play video on its itty-bitty screen. Unfortunately only its backside is adorned with solar panels -- four hours of tanning on a beach towel will get you up to 35 hours of music and 7 hours of video, but you won't be operating it while it's lying on its face. No word yet about price, availability, or a flesh-and-blood photo, but let's hope it looks as good in real life as it does in this render.

[Via PMP Today]

Somehow, we don't think that this was what Swarovski had in mind when they began whoring their luxury name onto consumer electronics a few years ago. The Scitec SEB-100 canal-type earbuds with fancy, "hand-pasted" crystals will cost ¥10,000 (about 100 US beans) when they hit Japan later this month. The perfect gift for the glam-rock pansy struggling with middle age on your Malibu, beachside block.

We've always known that CES is the gadget industry's single most important event -- and the busiest week of our entire year -- which is why when the CEA rings, we take the call. And while we tend not to bother with a lot of industry partnerships, we've accepted the rare distinction for Engadget to be named the first-ever Official Blog Partner of CES.

Of course, for you (and us) nothing much changes when it comes time to hit the floor at CES 2009: we don't accept any hookups or editorial privileges from the CEA, and, as always, we're out to live up to our own reputation for bringing you no-holds-barred, hard-hitting gadget news at breakneck speed on everything you need to know at CES. We'll see you there in January!

We've been fans of Samsung laptops ever since we laid hands (and personal cash) on the ultra-portable Q30 resold by Dell as the X1. As such, Sammy has our full attention after announcing proper plans to enter the US market with five different Samsung-branded laptop models. Slated for sale at US big box and the usual brick-and-mortarless on-line shops are the 10-inch NC10, the 13.3-inch Q310 and X360, 14-inch X460 and P460, 15.4-inch P560, and 16-inch R610 slab with 16:9 aspect -- a silicon feast spread across thin and light, all purpose, business, desktop replacement, and netbook tastes. We're talking premium rigs here folks, a bold move with very questionable timing given the sudden shortage of discretionary capital held by the average Dusty McSixpack. Hit the read link for full specs and prices.

Look, we hate to be crude -- after all, you won't find any bigger proponents for bulking up the breast cancer research fund than the team here at Engadget -- but Toshiba might have a tough time selling its latest Portégé M800. We mean, just look at it. We're not exactly sure how it gets off calling this thing "pink," but the 13.3-inch machine will be sold (or just stocked) exclusively at Best Buy Canada for $799.99. As for specs, you're looking at a 4.6-pound chassis, 2GHz T3200 CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 250GB hard drive, Intel's GMA4500M integrated graphics, a dual-layer DVD writer, Bluetooth / WiFi and a built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam. $40 of each sale will be contributed to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, though we'd probably recommend picking up something a touch less ugly and just mailing in a donation yourself.

[Via ChipChick]

Toshiba's never been one to really pump out laptops with oodles of sex appeal (a few Portégé machines notwithstanding), and its latest two are decidedly drab. Aimed squarely at business users, the 15.4-inch Satellite Pro S300 and the 14-inch Satellite Pro S300M (shown after the break) both include a 2-year warranty, support for docking, a business card reader, a USB Sleep-and-Charge / eSATA combo port and face recognition software. As for the S300, you can snag it with your choice of a Core 2 Duo CPU, up to 3GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB 5,400 RPM hard drive, dual-layer DVD burner, WiFi / Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Intel's GMA4500MHD graphics, a built-in webcam / microphone and a 9-cell battery pack; the S300M gives you pretty much the same options but with a smaller screen and chassis. Take your pick, as they're both available to order right now starting at $899 / $829 in order of mention.

[Via Notebooks]

Well, maybe -- we're not calling it official until Steve pulls the cloth off himself tomorrow morning . Still, there's no denying the similarities between this image and all those other case leaks we've seen, and the list of specs we've been given matches up as well -- that "metal and glass" enclosure now houses an NVIDIA GPU, but no FireWire 400, and video-out is apparently through a connector "more compact" than MicroDVI. We'll find out soon enough -- oh, and just to amp up expectations, Boy Genius says he's confirmed the existence of an $899 part number in Apple's retail systems. Counting down...

Update: Our source just hit us with another pic, this time from the side -- it's after the break. We're also told that there's not one, but two NVIDIA GPUs inside -- we're guessing an integrated / discrete setup like in the VAIO Z, but we'll find out for sure tomorrow.

Update 2: Our source just hit us again to say that it's two full-on NVIDIA GPUs -- sounds like a hybrid SLI setup to us, which is pretty wild. Wilder still, they say the MacBook and 17-inch MacBook Pro aren't getting refreshed tomorrow, which we find hard to believe, but we'll see when we see.

Update 3: John Gruber over at Daring Fireball, the first to accurately predict today's launch event, has confidentally chimed in with many more details. The button-less trackpad is indeed glass, and "is a button itself" which opens the door for a few hours of trouser-heated speculation about the trackpad doubling as a BlackBerry Storm-like display (Gruber doesn't say and it doesn't appear to be in that image above so don't count on it). Gruber also claims that none of the new laptops will reach the rumored $899 price point -- the part number spotted earlier seems to be associated with a new 24-inch LED Apple Cinema Display with DisplayPort according to MacRumors, not a low-end MacBook. To support this, Gruber says that the aluminum MacBooks will indeed be announced in $1,299 (2GHz, 2GB memory, 160GB disk) and $1,499 (2.4GHz, 2GB memory, 250GB disk) configs and will ship by the end of the week along with new 120GB HDD and 128GB SSD configurations of the MacBook Air. While CPU clocks will remain pretty much the same, all new MacBooks -- regular, Pro, and Air -- will feature the new NVIDIA 9400M GPU -- the 15-inch MacBook Pro (the 17-inch will remain unchanged albeit with 4GB of memory and bigger 320GB disk) will feature a second 9600M GT GPU making it a true graphics powerhouse as previously speculated. Lastly, the current 2.1GHz white MacBook remains in the line-up but will be cut to $999.