Engadget this week reports that the Asus Eee Pad Slider tablet will indeed hit the market before the month’s end. According to an Asus representative that spoke to the site, it will ship with Google’s Android 3.2 “Honeycomb” OS and cost $475 USD for the 16 GB model, and $575 USD for the 32 GB model.

Asus officially released the specs last month, revealing a scratch-resistant 10.1-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) IPS panel. It will be viewable at angles up to 178°, supporting up to 10 simultaneous inputs and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass.

The tablet will also sport Nvidia’s dual-core Tegra 2 SoC clocked at 1 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi at 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a 1.2MP front-facing camera and a 5MP rear-facing camera. It will also feature a USB 2.0 port, a mini-HDMI output port, a microSD card reader and an audio jack for speaker output/microphone input.

As for other specs, the tablet will arrive in brown and white varieties, measure 10.75 x 7.09 x 0.68-inches and weigh just over two pounds. It will also feature a G-Sensor, light sensor, gyroscope, E-compass, GPS, SRS Sound with max bass response and a 25Wh Li-Polymer battery that will supposedly offer up to 8 hours.

On the software side, Asus said the tablet will include its Asus Launcher, MyLibrary, MyNet, MyCloud, File manager, Kindle books, Zinio Magazine, PressReader, Polaris Office and Asus sync. All of this will be easily accessed and managed using the tablet’s physical, slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Hands-on reports indicate that users must lift the display in order to expose the keyboard (rather than pushing it back toward the hinge).

SOURCE via Engadget

Theo Valich over at the Bright Side of News reports that MSI showcased select motherboards at the Intel Developer Forum which featured a unique add-on PCIe x1 card enabling voice control.

According to the report, the add-on card contains mic/line input jacks and connects to a header labeled “JDLED3″ that’s already available on some MSI motherboards on the market. The add-on is also driven by the company’s Voice Genie software which tracks voice patterns so that users can perform basic control functions.

“For instance, to turn the computer on, user needs to say ‘MSI Big Bang Power On,’ and to shut it down the user only needs to say ‘Power Off MSI Big Bang’ (in case of MSI’s Big Bang motherboard),” Theo reports. “You can also ‘Open Control Panel,’ ‘Open Browser’ and customize the commands. For instance, you can start the computer with a customized theme such as ‘Open thyself Sesame’ or ‘Warp One Engage,’ but bear in mind that shutting the computer down will require a reverse order of words (hence the MSI Big Bang Power On – Power Off MSI Big bang).”

Other than what was seen at the show, MSI has remained tight-lipped on the board, and there’s no known release date at this time. Still, the company promises that the accessory will be available at a “more than affordable” price whenever it decides to appear on the market.

Last week we got word that gamers in the UK will soon be getting that beautiful snow-white PS3 that debuted in Japan summer 2010. Now Sony is adding a couple of new colors to its line-up with the addition of a red and blue model. CNet reports that the two new PS3 Slims, in Splash Blue and Scarlet Red will arrive in Japan on November 17, each packing a 320GB HDD.

As usual, the only difference between these PS3 Slims and the current black model we have here in the U.S. are their shiny exteriors. Buyers will also score themselves some specially colored DualShock controllers, of course. Sadly, Sony hasn’t said anything about availability outside of Japan. We’re crossing our fingers that these patriotic red, white and blue consoles will make their way to the United States eventually, so we’ll keep you posted.

Are you one of the few who still hasn’t purchased the original Portal PC game? Then today’s your lucky day, as Valve is making the hit puzzler free for every PC and Mac gamer to download and play, and sadly today, September 20, 2011, is the last day for you to get it! There’s no catch that we can tell — no indication that the game will lock you out at the stroke of midnight. It seems to be yours to keep forever and ever.

The free Portal giveaway is actually part of a promotion stemming from Valve’s Learn with Portals games education initiative. As Valve states on the website, one of the biggest challenges in teaching science, technology, engineering, and math is capturing the students’ imaginations long enough for them to see all of the possibilities that lie ahead.

“When we heard the buzz surrounding the new role video games are playing in education, we had to throw our hat in the ring,” the company said. “It’s eye-opening to see how video games can be used in amazing and unexpected ways to help educate our next generation.”

That’s where Portal comes in, a tool that students (and everyone else) can download and play for free.

“Using interactive tools like the Portal series to draw them in makes physics, math, logic, spatial reasoning, probability, and problem-solving interesting, cool, and fun which gets us one step closer to our goal—engaged, thoughtful kids!” the company added.

So, better get yours for free right now before the end of the day! Head here to grab your free copy of Portal.

During the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Entertainment & Communications conference, AT&T CFO John Stephens said that the company plans to officially launch its LTE 4G network on September 18 (Sunday). As previously stated back in May, the launch will initially take place in five major cities across the U.S. including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

Currently only three AT&T devices are compatible with the upcoming network: the $699.99 HTC Jetstream tablet, the $69.99 Mobile Hotspot Elevate 4G and the $49.99 USBConnect Momentum 4G modem. AT&T has also stated that its HSPA+ USB modem, the USBConnect Adrenaline from LG, became upgradeable to LTE starting August 26 via a software update.

The network’s first LTE smartphone is expected to be the HTC Holiday, arriving within the next few months. It will feature a 4.5-inch qHD (540 x 960) display, a 1.2 GHz dual-core Snapdragon SoC, an 8MP camera and Android 2.3.4 (overlaid with HTC’s Sense 3.0 interface). If you assume that the next iPhone also has LTE technology then they may very well be the first LTE phone in AT&T’s lineup, if they are launched in October as we assume.

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During its Innovation Qualcomm event in Istanbul, Qualcomm revealed a rather interesting roadmap that includes a 28-nm S4 Class Snapdragon SoC containing a quad-core 2.5 GHz CPU and a next-gen quad-core Adreno GPU. The chip also reportedly offers stereoscopic 3D support, 1080p HD, and 3G and LTE connectivity for “next-generation” devices.

In addition to the S4 Class Snapdragon, Qualcomm’s roadmap also showcased three SoCs for this generation: one for the mass market, one for high performance smartphones and tablets, and one for multi-tasking and advanced gaming.

For starters, the 65-nm S1 Class single-core chip for the general audience sports a CPU clocked up to 1 GHz, up to the Adreno 200 GPU, and up to 3G HSPA.

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EA has changed the face of social gaming with the launch of The Sims Social on Facebook, claims Playfish founder and co-GM Kristian Segerstrale. While that statement may seem a little bold given that the game has only been active for less than a month, the numbers state otherwise: it’s bigger than Farmville.

But let’s be honest here: this is The Sims we’re talking about, a franchise that has seemingly generated a mountain of cash for EA and developer Maxis. The first two original installments and their library of expansion packs hovered at the top of software charts for years, and the spinoff console variants have done extremely well over the past decade.

That said, it shouldn’t be surprising that The Sims Social has become such an immediate hit, seemingly embedded in our pop culture. Right now it ranks #2 in the list of most-popular social games on Facebook, with 40 million active users compared to the current reigning champ, CityVille, which has 75 million monthly active users.

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