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We’ve all seen the potential havoc that an iPod can wreak — either through misuse or some general explosiveness — and it looks like we now might have yet another cautionary tale out of Sweden, where a Saab 9-3 recently met an unfortunate end. While the exact, official cause of the blaze hasn’t quite been pegged down, investigators seem to strongly suspect that an iPod left in the car is to blame. That’s apparently because the car itself showed no signs of negligence or other technical faults (or evidence that the fire was intentionally set), and because the fire started on the seats, where the iPod was seemingly left. What’s not clear, however, is if the iPod was simply tossed there and caught fire all by itself, or if was charging when things went horribly wrong — although we’re personally willing to simply buy Google Translate’s answer that “the music has become so hot that it melted the inside.”

[Thanks, Martin L.]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Transportation

iPod suspected of setting Saab ablaze originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not much, in fact, these screenshots are incredibly easy to fake. Still, a hastily constructed WordPress blog has been setup to host what are claimed to be the world’s first screenshots of Google’s new Chrome OS — hailed as both a Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X killer or a Google FUD generator depending upon who you’re listening to. As the story is told, a Google representative demonstrated a private beta build of the OS to an anonymous Acer parts supplier yesterday, presumably somewhere in Taiwan. The picture above was grabbed breathlessly while the Google rep was distracted. Highlights of the demonstration break down as follows:

• The “elegant” install on the Acer Extensa 4620Z laptop took about 10 minutes and 1 restart
• Reboots desktop-to-desktop in about 25 seconds
• It was “amazingly fast” in its stripped-down beta form
• The blue orb on the auto-hiding “Chrome Bar” along the bottom of the UI is essentially the start menu
• Navigating the file system can be done in “exploration” (like Windows explorer) or “browser” (search based) modes
• The Chrome Bar can also host a search bar if configured
• Future Chrome OS netbooks will feature an iconified Chrome key on the keyboard similar to the Windows flag key

Of course, it’s a long, long time before this OS appears on next generation ARM and x86 smartnetbooks — second half of 2010 according to the Goog — so who knows what the interface will look like by then. One more image after the break.

[Thanks, Matthew M.]

Update: We just got another set of shots of what is purportedly the boot screen. To be honest, any of these could be faked, but we thought we’d pass along — hopefully we’ll be seeing something a bit more concrete in the coming weeks. Gallery is below.

Gallery: More leaked Chrome OS shots?

Update 2: Mr. Chrome OS Leak himself has come forward and confirmed his “screenshots” to be fake. Thanks, buddy. No word on this other set of pics.

Continue reading First Google Chrome OS screenshots leaked? Update: it’s a fake

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

First Google Chrome OS screenshots leaked? Update: it’s a fake originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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	Google announces Chrome OS, coming to netbooks second half of 2010 We can’t believe it’s actually here, but after hearing whispers of a Google OS for what seems like ages now, the company’s now gone official with its plans.		myTouch 3G hands-on (with video!) While it’s great to see T-Mobile’s next Android phone all official and everything, there are certainly few surprises for those of us already familiar with the HTC Magic / Google Ion.
	Sony Ericsson Rachael UI video leaks out, Kiki comes for the ride Just like HTC’s layered the Sense UI over Android on the Hero, the Rachael looks to have a polished custom Sony Ericsson interface over its Android build, and we’re definitely digging the vibe.	Other news of import Switched On: With Google, this is not your father’s OS war Amazon’s Kindle 2 gets a $60 price cut, now at $299 Sony’s Stringer dismisses PS3 price-cutting threats by noisy Activision CEO
	Engadget goes behind the Dolby logo With AV software and hardware alike carrying at least one Dolby logo, not to mention the presence of that same branding on big screen cinema, Dolby is truly a household name.		Sprint no longer selling Pre over the phone We’re told the move is being made so that the carrier “can focus inventory in sales channels where customers have the best opportunity to experience Ready Now.”
Ask Engadget HD: Best outdoor projector setup? Wisdom Audio packs a new SCS subwoofer in its CEDIA baggage		HTC Hero vs. T-Mobile myTouch 3G… fight! T-Mobile Dash 3G slips into availability on T-Mobile’s website LG’s 12 megapixel GC990 Louvre flagship with Schneider-Kreuznach optics records our puzzlement in HD

The Daily Roundup: here’s what you might’ve missed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments — according to the latest Chrome OS update from Google, you’re looking at the company’s initial ragtag team of co-conspirators for its entry into the operating system business. With Adobe’s involvement, we can assume Flash support is a given, and the others unsurprisingly run the gamut of netbook and smartbook players. We can’t help but notice a couple of conspicuous absences on that list, including Intel and Dell. With Intel, you don’t need to partner to work on its chips, but we gotta imagine it’d help by offering more support, and as for Dell, we don’t know about that one, but there’s still plenty of time for the Big G to enlist more companies in the lead up to its second half 2010 debut.

Update: Google updated the list to include Toshiba.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software

Google names Chrome OS compatriots, Dell noticeably absent originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google is bowing to the notion that some people use Gmail’s labels like traditional e-mail folders, and will now let them to drag messages “into” labels while organizing mail.

Elinor Mills talks about how Google’s e-mail security service unit handles as many as 3 billion message each day; Usenet.com ruling, a ‘whittling down’ of Betamax defense; and Bing’s first month produces small share gain for Microsoft.