I bring that up because there was apparently this nasty rumor going around that all electronics would soon be banned on all British Airways and Virgina Atlantic flights once these inevitable "new security measures" went live. And could you imagine? A trans-Atlantic flight without laptop movies, MP3 jams and podcasts, and positively no covert airplane mode smartphone adult content? Hell in an aluminum tube, says I.

But it's apparently not true, for now. Both airways said electronics are still GO, even as some previouslt reported "unpredictable" security measures go into place over the next few days.

American carriers, like Continental, United and AA, have also not changed their security measures in the wake of the attempted Xmas Day terrorist attack—yet—so getting home from your relatives this week could still be moderately bearable, as far as air travel goes anyway. [Pocket Lint]

The price remains the same as it's been for the DSi: $170. The downloadable titles, which have been downloaded for you at the factory, are the gravy.

There are two bundles in all, reports Siliconera:

One bundle is geared towards Brain Age fans. It includes Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters, Brain Age Express: Sudoku, Brain Age Express: Math, Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics, Photo Clock and a white Nintendo DSi.

The Metallic Blue DSi Mario bundle is better suited for core gamers. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!, WarioWare Snapped!, Dr. Mario Express, Mario Calculator, and Mario Clock are loaded on that DSi.

All told, the two bundles give you $28 and $22 worth of freebies, respectively. [Gearlive via Siliconera]

A lot, apparently. To actually play games on this SNEGENES P portable, you have to jam actual cartridges into the back of the portable.

It's not an issue for collectors, obviously, but in this day and age of cheap emulators it seems a bit excessive. Let's see a lite version.

Note: The modder recorded the demo video incorrectly. This system doesn't actually play games in reverse. [Ben Heck Forums via Technabob]

Here's what we know: Not much. The leaked sheet contains no image, no real specs and no launch date. The tablet speculation only arrives once you consider Cowon's MO, paired with Atom. Yeah, definitely a stretch, but an interesting one to consider on this lazy, post-Halloween Sunday afternoon. [DAP Review via Engadget]

For about $122, the HD8800 will play back your media in glorious HD on its 4.3-in. screen. Or on a TV, where you can boost the portable's 800x480 image all the way up to true 1920x1080 HD.

The player supports *deep breath* RMVB, MOV, AVI, VOB, MKV, MP4, WMV, TS, TP, MPG, Flash, and can play MP3, WMA, FLAC and APE music files. [Ownta via PMP Today]

This latest entry attempts to camouflage the portable as some kind of Christmas decoration. The buttons glow, lights flash, yada yada yada you paid a $250 premium and then put a bunch of holes in it.

Sorry for all the negativity. I guess I was just holding out hope that the "PSPGo Mod" Google Alert that popped up in my inbox today was the one where someone finally hacked this thing with better wifi so it could download a file in less than a hour. [Acid Mods - Thanks, Wouter]

LED color, to be precise, and I must say the clean, new design is almost good enough to distract me from the fact that this little guy could have really, really benefited from a touchscreen. Almost. It certainly makes the screen a bit harder to see, in any event.

The LEDs are powered by that unique internal battery. You know, the one with the sticker. [YouTube via Engadget]

RealPlayer SP is the evolution of the long-running RealPlayer software, which has become a multi-limbed beast of a program: It's a media manager and player, along with a packaged web browser, a subscription and a la carte music store (Rhapsody), a gaming store (Real Arcade), an audio recorder, and now a streaming video ripper/converter with ties-in to social networking sites. It is at the moment Windows only, though we're assured a Mac version is forthcoming. The beta comes in two versions: One is free, and the other costs $40 and includes H.264 conversion, DVD playback and DVD burning.

The SP stands for Social/Portable, so you can get a hint of where they're going with all this. In addition to RealPlayer itself, the software integrates a button to rip video into your browser (Firefox, Chrome, and IE are supported, Opera is not, no word yet on Safari). This new addition includes a converter to pretty much every portable video format you could imagine, from BlackBerry to Symbian to iPod to Zune.

Where RealPlayer SP is convenient is in this video conversion, especially if you've got a more niche phone or PMP (and I certainly do). Normally, conversion to Zune-supported video is kind of a pain in the ass, but RealPlayer SP handles it easily and well. For newer devices like the Palm Pre and BlackBerry Bold, RealPlayer SP can pass the converted video right through to the player, while it's able to go through iTunes to get video onto an iPhone or iPod touch. Older or less common devices, like my BlackBerry Curve 83xx and my Zune, are still supported, but you'll have to copy the new video files over manually.

The problem with this new iteration of RealPlayer isn't the new features, it's the underlying RealPlayer media software. iTunes, Zune, MediaMonkey and WinAmp are all better and more full-featured media jukeboxes, and unfortunately, Real's new focus on streaming video is new to that category of software but certainly not new to any of us. Hell, Firefox has had extensions that can do the exact same thing for years, with admittedly weaker codec support.

I also wasn't thrilled with the conversion speed or efficiency. Real claims a 1x conversion time, meaning 1 minute of video will take 1 minute to convert, which is actually quite pokey. A 3.2MB music video took 3.5 minutes to convert, and I ended up with a 6.6MB file. Sure, it's not a big deal for such a tiny video, but it feels like it should have been far snappier.

RealPlayer SP is also tied in to various social networking sites, but it's pretty half-assed: For Twitter, it just provides a link to the page of the video you downloaded, along with some prime advertisement for Real that kind of makes you sound like a jackass. The default tweet is "just downloaded so-and-so video with RealPlayer!" followed by a link to the RealPlayer download site. So get ready to follow every single one of those Twitter posts with "Clarification: I do not work for Real."

Really, the new features in RealPlayer SP aren't bad at all. It's a good idea to integrate streaming video ripping into a media jukebox, and RealPlayer SP does about as good job at it as we could ask. But the overall package needs some work: RealPlayer SP is way too bloated to work as just a video ripper/converter, and as a media jukebox it's outdated and cumbersome. Real has a good idea here, but RealPlayer needs more than some flashy add-ons. We'd love it if Real would put out the SP features in a simple applet, and leave off the browsers and media managers that we don't give a damn about.

So who should actually use RealPlayer SP? If you're a BlackBerry or Zune owner who uses Windows, loves YouTube and is confused by the multitude of third-party video converters, RealPlayer SP would be an excellent choice for getting video clips on your phone. [Real]

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

All this leakage stems from the June issue of Qore, which is a bit of a slip-up on Sony's part. The Go looks to keep the single analog joystick, though the overall design is quite a bit more playful and, well, circular than previous iterations of the PSP. Notice we didn't say "attractive": the circle section that houses the start and select buttons especially has kind of a late-90s feel to it, but we'll have to see how it looks in the hand. It should be packing Bluetooth and a memory card slot (probably MemoryStick, grah) in addition to the 16GB of internal memory.

Also lining up with the previous rumors is that the new PSP Go will not replace the PSP 3000, but instead try to live peacefully with the older device on store shelves. And that hefty 16GB of storage space makes sense considering what we've heard about possible digital game rentals and a music store. [Gaming Console Network (site currently down) via PlayStation Forums via Engadget]

Said a Nintendo rep:

The "i" is symbolic of the subject "I" and its personal aspect.

Plus, the addition of two cameras gives the system its own "eye" on things. (*groan* - J.L.)

"Nintendo hope that the Nintendo DSi becomes more than a game system and more of a personal tool to enrich our daily lives," the Nintendo rep added.

Hey, kind of like an iPod touch! Except without the accelerometer, slick commercials or VIP preferred seating at Starbucks.

Consider me slightly underwhelmed, but we'll see. The download store and SD card slot—which may actually introduce a motion control component, if they can translate what Oberthur have done with SIMSense into an SD card—have promise. [TechRadar via Kotaku]

Hot!

Sure, this cable is from Brando, and could very well toast all your handhelds with questionable craftsmanship, but just think of the tag team fun you'll grant your Game Boy and PSP on their way out.

Seven bucks to make a handheld's day. What's to lose? Oh, it's Brando. Might 'splode [Brando via DSFanboy]

The beefing up arrives, apparently, because of Nintendo's multimedia plans concerning the portable—mainly the new sound, video and photo manipulation features.

"The markings on the CPU package yield no clues about its performance, but my guess is that any ARM9 or ARM11 CPU manufactured in 2007 would have a performance around the 266-533 MHz range," Bunnie says, adding that Linux could have a field day playing around on this system. Hackers, get going! [Bunnie's Blog via MAKE]

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED AND HIGH END
SPINN MP4 PLAYER RELEASED BY IRIVER

Leading Brand of Stylish Digital Devices Debuts
Metallic Touch-Screen MP4 Player with Groundbreaking Spindle Interface

Irvine, CA. – iriver, the international digital device leader known around the world for its innovative designs, launches the SPINN MP4 Player, the distinctive metallic MP4 player with a brilliant 3.3” AMOLED touch screen and unique spindle interface. Having generated buzz since its preview at CES 2008 with its striking design and impressive roster of capabilities, including video, music, FM radio, picture viewer, voice recording, wireless headset support over Bluetooth 2.0 and more, the SPINN MP4 Player is now available in the U.S. at $249.99 (4GB) and $289.99 (8GB) MSRP.

Sean Oh, Head of U.S. Operations for iriver, said, “We wanted to create a one-of-a-kind, high-end digital device that is truly unique. The SPINN maintains iriver’s signature simplistic design with a metallic silver, expensive look, but incorporates the new SPINN System Technology. The user has multiple options in navigating the device and can control the player using either the unique spindle interface, or the large 3.3” touch screen.”

The SPINN System Technology gives the user the ability to control the device through a spindle on the side of the player. With a simple movement of the thumb, the user can navigate through icons by rotating the spindle and pushing down on it to select options. The player can also be controlled with the touch of a fingertip using the large 3.3” AMOLED touch screen that exudes brilliant color and provides a clear, crisp picture.

The extensive features of the SPINN MP4 Player include:

· 3.3” QVGA AMOLED Touch Screen with Haptic Interface (reactive vibration)
· Spindle Wheel for Unique Operating Interface (use either spindle wheel or touch screen)
· Silver Magnesium Front Case for a lighter and stronger body as well as a gorgeous aesthetic
· Bluetooth 2.0 Wireless Headset Support
· Music (MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG, FLAC (lossless), APE)
· Video (MPEG4, WMV9, XVID)
· FM Radio and FM Recording
· Voice Recording
· Photo Viewer, Text Viewer, Flash Games

The iriver SPINN is available at iriverinc.com, Amazon.com, J&R and B&H Photo.

As the comments about this device over at the Register suggest, this is one butt-ugly portable that probably shouldn't have been compared to the PSP, let alone a DS. The "games" it plays are actually Java-based affairs, and its strengths, should they materialize in 2009, would be as a portable TV, movie player, camera, and even an eBook reader.

It's a device you should probably watch in the dark or after a few pints, but it does in fact mark a return to the hardware business for Sega after two generations away from the game. We're just having trouble figuring out what the hook is. Consumers aren't likely to be swayed by simple branding, Sega's storied history or not.

[The Register]

Here at the Ninendo Media Summit in San Francisco, NOA President Reginald Fils-Aime stated that the Nintendo DSi would not make an appearance in the US until "well into calendar year 2009." He cited the popularity of the current DS Lite as the primary reason for the prolonged release of the new system. For those (like me) still clunking away on the original DS, the wait just got a little more tortuous.