Logitech outs two wireless mice and an external trackpad, all optimized for Windows 8

It'll be another two weeks before Windows 8 PCs go on sale, but if you like, you can hand pick out your gesture-enabled peripherals now. Logitech just announced two wireless mice and an external trackpad, all optimized to support gestures in Windows 8. Starting with the mice, the Touch Mouse T620 has the same design as the M600 announced earlier this year, except it supports Win 8 gestures out of the box. (The M600 will get a software update allowing it to work the same way.) Similar to its predecessor, the T620's entire top surface is touch-enabled, which means you can do things like swipe the right side for the Charm Bar, or swipe from the left to rotate through open programs. You can also double tap with one finger to return to the Start Screen, and double tap with two fingers to show the desktop.

Moving on, the Zone Touch Mouse T400 has a touch strip that you can use to move up and down through pages, as well as scroll through the live tiles on the Start Screen. In a brilliant twist, though, the touch strip itself is comprised of two buttons, which you can use to toggle open apps or bring up the Start Screen, depending on which end you press. Finally, the Wireless Rechargeable Touchpad T650 is a Magic Trackpad-style touchpad with a spacious glass surface, which seemed impeccably responsive during our brief hands-on with it. Unlike the two mice, which run on AAs, the T650 has a rechargeable battery, which you can re-juice over USB.

[Source: Engadget - Click here to read the full story]

Four Microsoft Windows 8 demo videos sneak online

As we get closer to Windows 8's October 25th launch date, expect the floodgates to open on a barrage of tidbits, insider peeks and revelations. One such early arrival is these four clips, lasting just under a minute, that demonstrate some of the new features that'll soon arrive on your computer, tablet or hybrid. We've included them for you after the break, but we warned -- there's no Alex Clare blasting in the background like those catchy Internet Explorer ads, so we'll just have to sing it ourselves. On three... "and it feels like I am just too close to looovvee youuuu..."

[Source: Engadget - Click here to read the full story]

Dyson’s Tangle-free Turbine tool The only turbine tool that doesn’t tangle

Other turbine heads leave you tugging out the tangles. They rely on a brush bar to collect hair and dirt from the surface. Hair wraps around the brush bar slowing it down and overtime stopping it from working all together. Hair balls, scissors – and mess. Dyson’s Tangle-free Turbine tool uses two counter-rotating heads, with brushes to remove hair and dirt sucking it straight into the bin - hygienically. No tangles – no mess.

 James Dyson

“We put as much into developing our tools as we do our vacuum cleaners. After the Groom tool, the engineers were tasked with getting rid of another hairy problem. We found that rubbing hair in a circular motion and causing it to clump allowed for easy removal, so we replaced the brush bar in the turbine head with two counter-rotating heads - improving the performance of our machines.”

How it works...

Fitting on most Dyson vacuum cleaners, it is the only turbine tool that effectively removes hair from surfaces without tangling. The flexible counter-rotating heads (made from TPU- thermoplastic polyurethane) and articulating base plate ensure that he brushes remain in constant contact with a surface – no matter how uneven. The brushes on these heads maintain contact over a larger surface area (when compared to a conventional turbine tool).  They spin round to the very front of the tool, dislodging hair and dirt right up to the edges of stairs and corners. With the heads counter-rotating they continually overlap, maintaining full surface contact throughout.

The Dyson Tangle-free Turbine tool splits the airflow between the mouth of the tool (for removing hair and dirt and through the turbine (for generating head-rotation). Only clean air is directed over the turbine enabling the heads to rotate with constant power.

Fifth-gen iPod touch and nano now in stores and in the mail

If you've been waiting impatiently to get your hands on the latest cellular radio-less iOS device, we've got good news. The fifth gen iPod touch with its elongated screen and colorful backplate is available today in Apple stores across the country. And, if you preordered the slinky aluminum and glass media player, it should already be in the mail. The latest edition of the nano, which is becoming more and more like its larger sibling the touch every day, is also popping up on shelves. The seventh generation of the tiny player, complete with multi touch screen and 16GB of storage, is cropping in Apple stores for $149 starting today. Let us know in the comments if you decided to pick up either device.

[Source: Engadget]

Facebook testing Pinterest-style 'Collections' to get brand pages more sales opportunities

It looks like Facebook is pulling a page directly from Pinterest's playbook. According to All Things D, the company is testing a new "Collections" feature that lets users collate product images from brand pages however they best see fit and share that collection with their friends. The feature is being tested today, but the company should be releasing it widely to the Facebook userbase later this afternoon; it doesn't appear to be live on our end yet. For starters, Facebook is testing Collections with seven retailers only, including Pottery Barn and Victoria's Secret — you won't be able to make collections from any random friend's images or even any brand page, at first. While other brands can't yet participate, Facebook will open the program up to all brand pages if they decide to keep Collections around beyond the test phase.

These new collecting features could certainly drive a lot more attention to brand pages, and Facebook is hoping to help make these pages more valuable — along with the photo is a price and purchase link. For starters, the company isn't charging a referral fee, but this could certainly turn into a new revenue stream for Facebook once the program matures. As for the end user, images won't show up in your new feed unless you're following the company or one of your friends interacts with and shares it — still, if this takes off like Pinterest has, there's a chance you could get bombarded with your friends' wishlists before too long.

[Source: The Verge]

Taiwan wants Apple to hide new radar defense system in iOS 6 maps

Two weeks ago, we brought you news that Apple (and in some cases Nokia) has high-quality imagery in its Maps application of military sites obscured in Google Maps. Today, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry has issued a statement to PhysOrg saying that it will request that Apple blurs satellite photos (or uses low-resolution images) of a new first warning radar system at its Hsinchu Air Base. A spokesperson said that although there was nothing illegal about what Apple is doing, the ministry will ask Apple to lower the resolution of images of some "confidential military establishments," adding that the same has been asked of Google in the past.

A quick glance at satellite images of Hsinchu Air Base shows a clearer image through Google Maps than via Apple Maps, but we're not entirely sure where the first warning radar system is located, nor do we know what it looks like. Regardless, this is the first case we've heard of a government department formally requesting that Apple obscure a military site, but as we suggested a fortnight ago, it likely won't be the last.

[Source: The Verge]

Wait times for App Store approvals reportedly rising

A developer training firm named Shiny Development has been tracking waiting times for the App Store review process as closely as it can, and it has bad news for would-be app developers: The waiting times for the Mac App Store are growing longer. In the last six months or so, the waiting time for getting a Mac App published has gone from under seven days to almost as high as a month, according to Shiny's data. Apple's process is largely closed off -- there is a little bit of information for developers on the main dev website, but otherwise Shiny has mostly gathered this information from the various developers it tracks and corresponds with online. If indeed the times for the Mac App Store have gotten this bad, it could mean that big apps are getting delayed longer and longer, and that could be trouble for the platform in general.

The good news is that the iOS App Stores' waiting times appear to be going down over nearly the same time period, from 10 days a few months ago, down to right around a week now. Apple has hired lots of app reviewers in the past year or so, and that's likely the reason for dropping times: As it has more people to check incoming apps, it can get approvals through the system quicker. Hopefully there's a bigger horde of Mac App reviewers on the way, so these apps can get out to the public in a relatively timely fashion.

[Source: TUAW]

UK government and industry heavyweights set up 5G Innovation Centre, want to go one better

The UK is almost ready to flip the switch on its first LTE network, but it's determined to be at the forefront of the next-generation, setting up a "5G Innovation Centre" at the University of Surrey. The government announced it's putting up £11.6 million (around $18.6 million) in funding, but another £24 million (around $38.5 million) will be coming from an industry group comprising the likes of Huawei,Samsung, Telefonica, Rohde & Schwarz, Fujitsu and others. The money will allow research to go beyond concept and theory, with the aim that all partners work together to develop and standardize 5G technology, which the university has been looking into for a number of years already. They will focus on energy and spectrum efficiency as well as speed, and although it's early days, 10Gbps has been banded around as a per-tower target, translating to roughly 200Mbps for each connection. Unfortunately, we've also got a number to kill your geek buzz -- it's upwards of a decade away. Still, at least you've got a long time to think about which case you'll be picking up for your 5G-ready Galaxy S XV.

[Source: Engadget]

Virgin Media begins pushing its UK broadband to 120Mbps, much to Usain's delight

If you're one of Virgin Media's top-tier internet customers, you may soon see your service getting a little speedier. The Branson-backed company is boosting its top speed from 100Mbps to 120Mbps, thanks to a £110 million ($169 million) infrastructure investment. The majority of the network -- around 60 percent -- has yet to be supercharged, but you can use the coverage checker linked below to see if you're in-line for an early Christmas present from Sir Richard.

[Source: Engadget]

Apple Preparing to Begin Shipping Fifth-Generation iPod Touch to Customers

At last month's media event, Apple introduced the fifth-generation iPod touch, a revamped version of the device offering the same 4-inch display found in the iPhone 5 and a number of different color options. While Apple immediately began taking pre-orders for the device, availability was set for a rather vague "October" timeframe. 

As of earlier today, some of those early pre-order customers have begun reporting that their order statuses have shifted to "Preparing for Shipment", the final stage before being passed off to delivery companies. At least one customer has reported that his credit card has also been charged. 

The move toward availability comes just after users noted yesterday that shipping estimates for new orders of the fifth-generation iPod touch through the Apple Online Store in Australia had shifted from the vague "October" to "3 weeks". Those following through and placing orders were finding an expected delivery date of October 29. A similar shift was seen in the New Zealand online store, with deliveries there scheduled for November 2. 

These new orders are, however, likely to be delivered somewhat after the first batch of pre-orders placed as much three weeks or more ago, and shipping estimates for new orders in the Australia and New Zealand stores have since reverted to the previous "October" timeframe. 

Macotakara reports that the official launch day for the new iPod touch and iPod nano in Japan is October 9, although early supplies are likely to be tight.

[Source: MacRumors]

Apple's 3D Maps and Imagery See Incremental Improvements

Following last week's open letter from Tim Cook in which he promised that Apple "will keep working non-stop" until the iOS 6 Maps app meets customers' standards for quality, Apple has indeed been making improvements to the service. While there is certainly a ways to go, it is clear that the company is indeed moving quickly to address issues and improve coverage for the flagship 3D mapping and imagery features in the app. 

While improvements have been ongoing, MacRumors forum members yesterday began noticing what appears to be a larger set of additions to the 3D content in the Maps app, including both the satellite/aerial imagery and the standard maps. One region that was among the first to be noticed was the New York City area, with a number of improvements including new 3D imagery of the Statue of Liberty being seen.

We've also heard from users who have experienced new Flyover imagery showing up in Honolulu, Hawaii and in the San Fernando Valley in the Los Angeles area. The changes are also affecting the standard vector-based maps as well, with users reporting new 3D buildings showing up in New York City and London. 

Interestingly, not all users are seeing the new imagery, with some even doing side-by-side comparisons between devices with different results. The difference is presumably due to aggressive caching of maps and imagery, and users who are not yet seeing the new imagery should see updates in the relatively near future.

[Source: MacRumors]

Feel the Force: Angry Birds Star Wars coming November 8th to iOS, Android and computers

Rovio teased a certain film-inspired Angry Birds picture a long, long last week, and as expected, it's another new game -- Angry Birds Star Wars. Our furious feathered friends are assuming the likenesses of characters from the epic saga, with the trusty Red Bird taking on Luke Skywalker's role. It wouldn't be the Rebel Alliance without a dark side to fight, which is where the Pigs fit into the storyline; even the music and levels for gravity-based play will hark back to the film franchise. In addition to the software, details of related merchandise have also been uncovered, including table games, toys and costumes. The game is out on November 8th for iOS, Android and computers, and if it follows the original storyline, we wonder how Red Bird's going to feel about his porcine family history.

[Source: Engadget]