BGR unboxes the iPhone 3G, for real
The contact revolution will be electronicized (and lubricated)
Expo attendees try out multiplayer Commodore 64 game
Grab a moist towelette for some hot diskette unboxing
ScanLife: Barcode scanning for the 21st Century and beyond
The Japanese can even rest in peace eco-friendly
Samsung Use Your Instinct Contest

Rumor has it that T-Mobile USA plans to launch an Android handset as part of its nationwide 3G network launch, scheduled to happen sometime before the end of the year. Reports are circulating that the 3G launch is now scheduled for October 1st, and that the first Android handset will launch around the same time.

Following the carrier’s launch of 3G service in New York City in May, T-Mobile announced that users can expect 20 to 25 more 3G markets by end of the year, (first it was summer, then it was the end of the year.) The carrier has also announced that it will be offering an Android handset sometime during the fourth quarter. Reports from Google make is also seem likely that T-Mobile will be the first carrier to launch an Android handset. So it’s not completely crazy to believe these two events could be linked.

If this video is legit and this apparatus can truly pop popcorn using the heat generated from a USB port, then I now have absolutely no reason to ever get up from my computer — another grand step forward in my quest to become the first man to burn less than 200 calories per day.

via Metacafe [thanks for the tip, daa dee]

The three heavy-hitters have already reviewed the iPhone and were all, unsurprisingly, pleasantly surprised. Baig likes GPS and the 2.0 update. He couldn’t get 3G everywhere, which is a huge issue for some users.

Pogue has been rolling in a field of iPhones for months now and he really likes it… except the 3G part.

There is, however, a catch: you don’t get that speed or those features unless you’re in one of AT&T’s 3G network areas — and there aren’t many of them.

Finally, Mossberg says the battery is hitting about 4 hours with 3G running, which is pretty paltry. Hmmm… the 3G in iPhone 3G is what’s holding the bugger back. Maybe we should all go back to EDGE.

Today’s Top Posts:

• Wired gets a hands-on with the iPhone 3G OS, not that impressive [Update]
• Reiser leads police to wife’s body
• Sony releases PS3 2.41 update: Should fix those nasty 2.40 bugs
• Drobo 2 revealed: Dual FireWire 800 ports!
• The Japanese can even rest in peace eco-friendly
• Denon presents their first noise-cancelling headphones
• ScanLife: Barcode scanning for the 21st Century and beyond
• Acer Aspire X1200 desktops are tiny but loaded
• Hasselblad’s H3D-II 50 has 50 megapixels just for you
• Footballer upsets his team by posting potential transfer on Facebook

Now you’ve gone and done it. “It” being, maybe, freaking out the entertainment industry by not buying as many DVDs as you used to. (That, incidentally, sorta gibes with a study that come out today.) One of them there Lehman Brothers analysts downgraded numerous industry stocks yesterday because he doesn’t like how people are now downloading movies more and more often. Studios don’t make as much money of, say, iTunes downloads as they do when you swing by Wal-Mart or Best Buy and buy the physical DVD or Blu-ray. But, doesn’t digital distribution cost a lot less than shipping discs all over the world? I have no numbers to back that up, but having a movie on iTunes seems like it should cost less, bandwidth and all that included, than the alternative.

Basically, as consumers discover the numerous ways to download movies, both legally and illegally, the studios will be forced to move away from relying on disc sales to make money. Yes, just like the music industry had to do.

That said, there’s still something about buying a disc and plopping it in your player, then sitting back and watching a movie. Not for me, I’ll download all day long, but the guy who works all day then just wants to see a movie before going to bed without having to fiddle with his computer.

Attention Flash game developers-

It’s hard making money in your field these days, right? Actually, making money in any field these days seems to be quite difficult. But if you are a Flash developer and you’re focused in on games then why not enter into the Meez Inside Avatar Games Contest? There’s $20,000 worth of cold, hard cash in prize money and who doesn’t like free money? Meez has partnered with FlashGameLicense to run this contest starting today through September 8, 2008.

How do you get started? Inquire within.

You’ll need the Meez Inside Games developer tools like Avatar API and the rest is up to you, really. The games won’t be limited to the world of Meez, either, in case you were wondering. Some of the 3D Meez avatars are doin’ their thing in Dance Floor Destroyer. What that is, I don’t know. Your games, should you choose to participate, will be judged on the overall cool factor of your avatar. So make sure it has wicked graphics, dope beats (audio), it’s unlike anything else and the all-important factor being that people become hooked on it, like crack.

The Grand Prize winner will get $10,000, second place will come away with $5,000, third with $2,500 and five honorable mentions aka losers will get $1,000 each. Damn, I need to learn me some Flash now. Enter your submission here and read about the contest rules here. The developer’s tool kit can be downloaded here.

Tada, Activision Blizzard!

Yup, the merger between Activision, publisher of Call of Duty 4, and Vivendi Games, which owns World of Warcraft and Diablo creator Blizzard, has been approved by both companies’ shareholders. As you know, the new publisher will be called Activision Blizzard, and will be great.

The move should be finalized by tomorrow.

At this time there is no information on pricing or specs, but I’m sure they’re working to keep things competitive. It’s surprising they didn’t try to put these out before now — perhaps the costs were prohibitive and would reflect poorly on the Blu-Ray brand?

According to the Silicon Alley Insider Goldman Sachs says a “strong number” of executives surveyed say they expect to support the iPhone 3G within the next year. But before we sound the dirge for RIM, only 17% of the 100 execs surveyed gave the theoretical thumbs up to the handset entering their corporate walls. And as the Insider brought up, “supporting” a device is not exactly the same as recommending it or buying one for every worker.

Still 17% is strong, considering the devices relative immaturity and the vast resource that is the enterprise market.

According to a new splash page on the GoW site, GoW 2 will launch on November 9. How? Check out the dog tags. They read 033 116 117 126 071, which in ASCII translates to ESC N O V 9. I’m sure Devin and I will find out for sure on Monday.

EA still wants to buy Take 2, it’s true, and Take 2 is still playing shy. That, even though EA’s offer of $25.74 per share is now more than what Take 2 is currently trading at, $24.47. But that’s only part of the story, this on-going blah-blah-fest.

Apparently Electronic Arts has passed some sort of Federal Trade Commission test, paving the way for a possible merger.

What’ll get done first, this merger or the XM-Sirius merger, which Eric Logan, Executive Vice President of Programming at XM, said on today’s Opie and Anthony is exactly where it was when it was first announced?

Wonderful.

Tesla Motors has hired former Chrysler Executive Michael Donoughe to oversee the company’s engineering and manufacturing processes as executive vice president.

The 220 miles-per-charge electric Tesla Roadster that sells for more money than most people make in a year will soon be joined by a more consumer-friendly four door sedan. Donoughe should be well-suited for his new role, as he “previously headed the global mid-size vehicles program at Chrysler,” according to San Jose Mercury News.

Tesla also announced that it’ll build a new production factory in the San Francisco area instead of New Mexico, citing tax incentives offered by California.

Olevia! O-le-via! Hard-hearted harbinger of TVs!

Apparently it’s bad when a company’s stock loses more than 90% of its value within a single year. That’s what happened to Tempe, Arizona-based TV brand Olevia, who you might remember from such stores as “Sam’s Club” and “Costco,” among others.

The Olevia brand was the property of Syntax-Brillian. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday and will close down everything except for its digital camera brand, Vivitar, which it’ll sell. There are only eight remaining employees.

via Reuters

First, they’re planning on adding a display layer — a micro-LED array printed onto the lens that could display whatever you wanted. Of course, this is miles off, and among the stepping stones:

We need antennae on these contact lenses anyway because we need to transmit data to them. The other way we’re looking at right now is to incorporate photovoltaic [solar] cells.

Yeah; antennae on my eye, and I have to look at the sun to charge them up. It’s going to be a hard sell. But at least they might also be self-moisturizing. They’re looking into ways of trapping your natural lubricants (pipe down, they’re talking about minute amounts of hyaluronic acid) in the lenses to prevent protein buildup. Sounds good to me, and it may even occur.

Simply input your current monthly bill, minutes you currently use, number of lines, the number of text messages you log and data usage along with your zip code and Billshrink does all the math for you. There’s an option to import your actual bill that should garner the best results. It’s a relatively easy process and eliminates the number crunching you’ll have to endure yourself which is nice. I currently spend roughly $80/month with T-Mobile for my BlackBerry Curve with unlimited everything and by switching I’d be paying $156 extra per year. An extra $13/month. Psshh. That’s a drop in the bucket. A few caveats apply, though. I lose my unlimited nights and weekends and get 5,000 instead, but I rarely come close to going over. And there are roll over minutes with AT&T. Everyone’s situation is obviously different and this is not meant to reflect the price of the iPhone, so let’s not get into that spat again. It’s not too shabby, actually.

I just came back from the Softbank flagship store in “Tokyo’s Fifth Avenue”, Omotesandou street. Softbank is the exclusive carrier of the 3G iPhone, which will be available extra-early in this particular store on July 11th, 7 am (July 10th, 6pm EST).

And the man you can see in the video, Hiroyuki Sano, will be the first person in Asia to lay his hands on the 3G iPhone (assuming stores in Hong Kong will open later in the day). I shot the video and the pictures just now, in the middle of the night (July 8th, 2pm EST). This means Hiroyuki and the 15 people waiting with him must suffer for another 52 hours from Tokyo’s tropical heat. Another (more insightful yet shaky) video can be found here.

After forcing Hiroyuki to greet his fellow Western Apple and CrunchGear fans, I took the chance to interview him. Here is the gist of what he said:

- he was already interviewed several times by Japanese bloggers, TV and radio stations (I was the first gaijin)
- he is 24 and will celebrate his 25th birthday on July 11th (!)
- he skipped classes at college for 4 days to be able to queue up
- he travelled 230 miles from his hometown Nagoya to Tokyo
- he paid more for the travel than he will need for the iPhone itself ($213)
- he is waiting in front of the Softbank store since July 7th, 11pm EST
- he suffers from sunburn and boredom
- he denies being crazy

I would say Apple Japan owes this guy a massive schwag bag.