I got that chance on Monday, when the company stopped by CNET with a prototype of the product, which is set to ship in February for $490.

The goal of the Edge, the company says, is to offer a device that can replace the textbooks and notebooks carried around by typical high school students.

"We just thought here was a way to take technology and apply it to what they carry around," said Entourage Systems Vice President Doug Atkinson. "The initial goal was to put a 30-pound backpack in a device. I think we've achieved that."

There are a lot of features to like about the three-pound device, although, it definitely has the look and feel of a first-generation product.

The Edge's main selling point is, of course, the fact that it has two screens to do true work on. Unlike the Nook, which uses its color screen only for navigating the eBook and as an on-screen keyboard, the Edge's LCD can be used to run a variety of Android applications or to browse the Web.

The electronic ink side, meanwhile, can be used not only for reading books, but also for taking notes, using a stylus.

One of the Edge's many neat tricks is letting you go back and forth between the two screens. In particular, one can draw a line over a diagram in an electronic-book and—assuming the graphics are actually stored in color—see the same image in full color on the LCD screen.

The Edge also lets users highlight or annotate text and then navigate between highlights by touching on the color screen, using automatically created bookmarks. The device works with both EPUB and PDF files and has USB ports and SD cards for moving data back and forth, as well as a built-in Wi-Fi connection. It's also one of the first devices to sport a new chip from Marvell.

In addition to its book display abilities, the Edge also has two microphones for recording a lecture and blocking out background sounds with noise-cancellation (It doesn't have is the ability to synchronize one's class notes with the audio, a la Livescribe, but Atkinson said that is something that might be considered for future versions).

For all its cool features, there were a considerable amount of bugs yet to be worked out on the units I saw. Entourage still has a couple months to iron out the kinks, though.

Also, at three pounds and almost $500, the Edge is floating up into Netbook territory on both price and bulk. That, for me, raises my expectations on what the device should be able to do on the browsing and productivity front. I like the idea of a dual-screen e-book, but at that weight and price, it would have to really replace a laptop to earn its way into my already-packed carry-on.

Nonetheless, I look forward to checking out a production unit to see how much progress the company has made.

This story originally appeared on CNET

In 1983, Belgian engineering student and martial arts enthusiast Houben, then 20, was in a car accident that was thought to have left him in a vegetative state. Doctors relied on the widely-used Glasgow Coma Scale, assessing his eyes, verbal, and motor responses. What they failed to notice was that Houben was actually conscious—but completely paralyzed.

"I screamed, but there was no one to hear," he says in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel. Three years ago, neurologist Steven Laureys used modern scanning techniques to discover that Houben's cerebral cortex was, in fact, functioning. (The doctor has only just now made Houben's story public.)

Houben, who communicates via a computer with a special keyboard activated with the slightest movement of his right hand, is now 46. He has spent more than half his life trapped in his own body, and says he only survived this excruciating existence by dreaming himself away. In the interview, this is what he typed:

I am called Rom. I am not dead. The nurses came, they patted me, they sometimes took my hand, and I heard them say "no hope." I meditated, I dreamed my life away—it was all I could do. I don't want to blame anyone—it wouldn't do any good. But I owe my life to my family. Everyone else gave up.

I studied what happened around me as if it were a tiny piece of world drama, the bizarre peculiarities of the other patients in the common room, the entry of the doctors into my room, the gossip of the nurses who were not embarrassed to speak about their boyfriends in front of "the extinct one." That made me an expert on relationships.

According to Laureys, Houben's case may be far more common than we'd like to think. The doctor, who leads the Coma Science Group and Department of Neurology at Liege University Hospital, says that while Houben's doctors were "not good," he's not sure better ones using this same coma scale would have detected brain activity either:

In Germany alone each year some 100,000 people suffer from severe traumatic brain injury. About 20,000 are followed by a coma of three weeks or longer. Some of them die, others regain health. But an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people a year remain trapped in an intermediate stage—they go on living without ever coming back again.

In his paper, Laureys writes that in about 40 percent of "vegetative state" cases he has analyzed, current brain scanning techniques reveal signs of varying levels of consciousness. A case is being made, it seems, to stop relying on the Glasgow Coma Scale and start looking more closely at brain scanning images.

This story originally appeared on CNET

I loaded it and clicked on a Star Trek Original Series episode ("Menagerie"). There I was show six 8-minute segments that constituted the whole episode, and it was playing within seconds over wi-fi. It was not so fast when it switched to cell service, which was inexplicably at EDGE, but at least there was a status bar indicating how much of the clip had loaded, and it did, after less than a minute, play just fine. (That said, I wouldn't recommend spending too much time on this if all you have is a first-gen iPhone with no local wi-fi network.) I did not notice any advertising during playback.

There are a massive number of shows from the CBS family of channels, including Showtime, the CW and even CNET TV—all those video reviews. You can create a feed with your favorite channels and shows, but it's actually pretty easy to get around if you don't have any preferences, thanks to a well designed interface.

The bummer for now is that though there are CSI, Gossip Girl and Trek full episodes, most shows aren't there yet. My guess is that it's just a matter of time before more come on board. Except Big Bang Theory, which apparently isn't down with the new tech. What I really want is Hulu, Netflix and Amazon VOD, but at some point, that's gonna start eating into Apple's iTunes revenue, and AT&T's data allowances. Viva la content revolution! [iTunes link via NYTimes]

To enroll in the face recognition software, the built-in webcam on the laptop scans the face for prime areas, such as the eyes or more conspicuous facial features. The special photo, which does not have to be of high quality, is processed so that the key areas are enhanced and the contrast levels are adjusted to the expectations of the software.

Dong Ngo of CNET recently underwent a Skype demonstration with a BKIS technician. The technican captured a photo of Ngo's face, and produced a special "unflattering" photo five minutes later using a special algorithm. Ngo was able to use the photo to log in to his Lenovo Y430. The technician later then demonstrated this procedure on similar Asus and Toshiba notebooks.

In lieu of fingerprint scanners and the traditonal username/password combination, face recognition software may not be the most secure way to protect data. Until then, I'll just use my own "specially" produced photos (courtesy of Photoshop) to tweak that, uh, zit, maybe even change my eye color—ooh instant nose surgery—to log me in. But only after I post that photo of "myself" on my Facebook profile. Hah! [CNET Crave]

So the Eee was a minor global hit with the budget-conscious and started to get a bit of brand recognition out there. What next? Never the strategic thinkers, the company did what any Taiwan firm would do—flood the market with brand and line extensions...

...ASUS is no different from most in this regard. Sure, they have an Italian as their "design director", but no other outside adviser with any sort of influence. Their leadership is all very local with a local mindset, not those of the foreign-educated Korean type that Samsung brought in when it wanted to start revolutionizing its corporate culture.

And that's an important point: It took Samsung and others many years to become powerful global brands. And many of those early years were spent reforming the company from within and building a strong focus on a corporate mission and strategy. They didn't waste a lot of time on chasing feeble trends.

Granted, we've been a little confused by Asus' Eee line-up as well. We'd love to see them return to their roots and maybe stop slapping the name Eee on things that aren't cheap and netbooky. But blaming the dilution of their brand on them being Taiwanese is, considering the amount of tech-based success stories that have come out of the island, facetious.

Look at HTC, for example. The maker of the first Google Android handset has watched its revenues skyrocket at ten times the pace of the standard phone market. Or maybe Acer, who now commands second place in notebook shipments and third in PC shipments all over the world. While Taiwan's brands still aren't as globally recognized as their Korean and Japanese neighbors, the countries are all following pretty similar paths—moving from components manufacturing to high-tech, name-brand merchandise.

Besides, both Japan and South Korea got their best known brands up there without giving up "Asian corporate culture.” Samsung, despite its attempts to open up and adhere to global competition standards, is still run by a chaebol. Sony only appointed its first non-Japanese CEO two years ago. While there are tons of problems with the closed nature of Asian conglomerates, a “lack of focus” and iffy brand-building gimmicks probably aren't on that list.

And lastly, can you really call the netbook a “feeble trend?” A study in September pegged low-cost laptops as the driving force behind increased PC shipments at a time of economic sluggishness. If anything, Asus is the proud daddy of a movement that's changed the entire industry. Not all of Asus' recent moves have seemed particularly smart. But thinking their nationality has something to do with it—that's just plain dumb. [Cnet Asia]

Other interesting points:

8.0 to 8.9 Excellent A product that receives a rating in this range is superior in so many ways that its relatively few drawbacks are not very important. 18.6%

7.0 to 7.9 Very good While the strengths of a product scoring in this range certainly outweigh its weaknesses, it has some minor faults that certain users should be aware of. 41.8%

6.0 to 6.9 Good This range represents a product that is above average. Its strengths slightly outweigh its weaknesses, making it good for most uses but not a standout. 27.8%

So most products rate as very good. One might argue that "Very good" means average, and if 40% of all gadgets are rated so, they should be called that. ("Average" is a 5.0-5.9 on the CNet scale.)

It is, of course, complicated. Average implies, at the bottom line, that you probably won't be thrilled to own a device with such a CNet score. While "Very Good" implies you will be. Regular people will be happy with a lot of this gear, while the best gets an "Editor's Choice."

It is interesting that the video game reviews, which are much more subjective, made up the head and tails of the reviews.

The highest and lowest rated products both happened to be video games:

* 9.5 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PlayStation 3)
* 1.7 - Pimp My Ride (PSP)

CNet's reviews strive to be objective and reasonable, and in this, they've succeeded across the board. But I do wonder if a tighter review scale might serve the public better, along with more opinionated takes on what the best piece of gear in every category is. I mean, how often do your friends ask you what the second best set is on the market?

On top of telling them what I think is the best deal or best overall, I've long made a habit of recommending brands to friends, instead of particular models, so it's also interesting to see that ecoustics did a rundown of which brands did best, with Casio scoring lowest on average and RIM being highest (yes, over Apple.)

So, check out the article. I still use CNet for research and buying advice, and I'm sure many of you do, too, so it's good to understand that rating system. [ecoustics]

Shadow detail was not as good, however, appearing too bright, and the sets pushed reds a bit. The set scored below average in standard def upscaling, noise reduction and to top it off the power consumption was conspicuously high for its size. It does have 3 HDMI ports. This set, for all the reasons listed above, scored a 7.7. (That's low on CNet's relatively stubby scale.) UPDATE: David writes in to say he expected more from this set, but it is still fifth best, overall. [Panasonic, CNet]

[download via crave]

They were impressed with the HDMI 1.3 port, the individual color controls. But they disliked the reflective screen, which kicked up massive glare in lit rooms. They noted it isn't as dark as the ultra black 92 Series Sharps, like the LC-52d92u LCD, but the Sharp does have that blotchy lighting issue, so this the set to have.

The 65 Series is the top line LCD series at Samsung, until the 81 series comes out with LED backlighting. From what I've noticed from reviews this quarter, the tech is moving fast enough that you might want to think twice before picking up last year's sets on a discount. And you might want to wait for the other new LCDs to come out from Sony and others before buying. This field is evolving quickly. – Brian Lam

Samsung LN-T4665F - LCD TV - 46" [CNet]

Haven't you guys learned anything?
June 11th is a Monday, and Apple maniacs know that The Company only releases stuff on Tuesday. Even if Cingular is doing the distribution, it makes as much sense as any that the phone will be released, according to Cult Tradition. Which doesn't change until Steve Jobs says it changes.

The better bet is the Tuesday of WWDC, which is the 12th.–Brian Lam

iPhone on June 11th [CNet]

John "The Sheriff" Falcone has seen a lot of crap in his day, but it wasn't until last November that the copy for the Xploder PS2 HDTV Player article landed on his desk.
In each of our tests, changing to the 720p and 1080i modes did indeed change the system's output to those respective HD resolutions, however the image was stretched and squashed in both cases, creating a windowbox effect—we had to shrink the image even further and change the aspect ratio to 4:3 for the things to look playable.
For reference, they did a head to head with a piece of rubber dog shit, and the dog shit scored a 4.0.
(The dog poop doesn't even have component out, but its price point is much lower.)

What other shitty gadget reviews have you seen? Send em in, we'll make a list.–Brian Lam

Xploder PS2 HDTV Player [CNet]

Accurate colors; excellent detail with 1080 resolution material; can reproduce deep blacks; extensive picture controls

They couldn't be more dry about it, could they? What they're trying to say is that This Is The Best Looking HDTV Ever. Purdy!

But the plasma only scores an 8.7. Why?

Because almost everything CNet scores rates a 8.0 to 8.9? Yes, partially. But mostly because it's:

Extremely expensive; lacks speakers, stand, and tuner; subpar 480p picture quality.

There's more good stuff for the ultra rich. It has a unique 72Hz mode, which can playback the native film rate of 24 frames per second without all of that juddery math that happens when TVs try to stretch those frames into 30 frames (this does not compute...cleanly.) This works with Blu-players like those from Pioneer and Sony. And it walked through HQV's intense test disc, having nothing but smackdown for noise, jaggies, and cadence hopscotch (that frame rate translation stuff we mentioned earlier.)

But look, this is the absolute finest picture money can buy. Is it better than high end projection (front and rear?) Doubtful. But the allure of the world's most beautiful flat panel can't be ignored.–Brian Lam

Pioneer PRO-FHD1 [CNet]

John says not really. The difference between current HDMI and 1.3 will be real, but also very hard to detect for the average home theater couch potato. Especially considering that the only HDMI device out that supports version 1.3 is the Playstation 3. That's right. Not until sometime in 2007 will you see HDMI 1.3 compliant TVs, receivers, etc.

So go ahead and buy whatever you were going to buy with HDMI connections. Milli Vanilli agrees. –Brian Lam

John Answers HDMI 1.3 Questions [CNet]

I don't want to argue details. We are actually very fond of the self-parking sedan's endless list of innovations and toys, too. But being a geek car isn't just about the dashboard. The car itself is a gadget, too. And toys be damned, this one is the automotive equivalent of a Stepford wife. It's fantastic, but it's too boring to be a 10.

There's a much better car to nominate for that.

It shouldn't even be a mystery. The front runner for a Gizmodo's "Perfect 10" Geek Car is the Tesla electric roadster. It's an ill kept secret that the Tesla is built on a Lotus Elise's chassis, which I had the pleasure of driving through canyons in the deserts outside of Vegas. (Pictured above) And, my informal poll of roughly a dozen auto journos shows me it's the car most would buy if they had to choose. I'd agree. I've never had so much fun driving, credit to the endless grip in this street legal go kart. I even enjoyed it more than the Ferrari F430. The Tesla's addition of powerful electrics gives this chassis the geek cred it needs to be our "Perfect 10". And since this is Gizmodo, you should know that the Lotus did have an iPod dock with a mount that could withstand exceptional cornering forces. –Brian Lam

2007 Lexus LS 460 L [CNet]

The good news is that amongst the 1080p sets they used (the 47-inch Westinghouse and the 50-inch Pioneer) the level of detail was "virtually identical." However, when they compared the image to sets with lower resolutions, they noticed it was harder to pick up on the differences in detail. Overall, they concluded it would be "practically impossible" to tell the difference between the image on a 1080p vs a 1080i or 720p.

Personally, I'm on a mission to find a solid 1080p set for my living room (I've been eyeing this Westinghouse and a 1080p Samsung DLP), but what do you think folks? Is it worth it to go 1080p or is there no difference at all? – Louis Ramirez

The Case Against 1080p [via CNET]

Bose's new faux-surround PC speakers [CNet]

What do you want to see in the PSP2? Tell us in the comments! (if you need a comment account, email IwantToComment@gizmodo.com) – Richard Baguley

Sony's Mylo Killer:PSP2? [CNet]

Macromedia Flash Lite 2.0 support with user-created videos downloadable off their website means you can watch internet videos like Homestarrunner and Youtube on the go. Other features: FM tuner, voice recording, picture viewer, 23 hours of playback time (!), fast USB 2.0 transfer rate. There is a little bit of pixelation in some video scenes but nothing too horrible. All in all a good alternative somewhere between the iPod Nano and the iPod Video, but a little pricey at $449 $284.14 US. – Jason Chen

Bonus E10 pic after the jump.

iRiver E10 [CNet Asia]