We're back, and better than ever! After a quasi-relaxing Thanksgiving break, the Engadget Podcast is on the scene and strutting like 1970's disco dancers. Enjoy the soothing sounds of Josh, Paul, and Nilay this week as they discuss Nokia's newest smartphone entries, the Peek email device, Blockbuster's foray into streaming movies, and lots and lots of personal stuff that no one has ever heard before.

Side note: Josh is suffering through mic problems and had to resort to his internal mic -- if you have any good suggestions for a USB mic or headset, let us know in comments! Otherwise, enjoy the 'cast!

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, and Nilay Patel
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Snow

01:51 - Nokia N97 hands-on part II: the reckoning
31:18 - Nokia E63 hands-on
37:45 - Peek handheld: $49.95 for "today only"
51:08 - Blockbuster joins the movie set-top-box game with 2Wire MediaPoint player

Subscribe to the podcast

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace

Download the podcast

LISTEN (MP3)
LISTEN (AAC)
LISTEN (OGG)

Contact the podcast

1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.

Looking for a completely impractical and ridiculously expensive cooling solution for your new i7? Danamics has your number with its LM10 CPU cooler, full of a sodium and potassium mixture (called NaK) that would explode if it came in contact with water (which, remember, is what you're mostly made of), but is perfectly inert inside its little pipes. We're more worried about the pump: a marvel of modern tech that uses a powerful electromagnet to create flow -- not exactly the sort of thing you want next to your RAID array. It all sounds menacing and lovely and would be a nifty conversation starter at your next LAN party, but sadly it simply doesn't perform according to NordicHardware -- it's beaten by $50 heat pipe cooler from Thermalright. At $350 the LM10 seems to be an impressive technological trophy-piece, but unless we can amp up that magnet and spray NaK all over our case during an RIAA raid, we think we'll pass.

There are quite a few eerie similarities between Rob Spence and Tanya Vlach. For starters, they're both artists, and secondly, they both currently have one prosthetic eye. The real kicker? Each of 'em wants a camera stuck in there instead. In what we can only hope is (or isn't?) a freakishly growing trend, Mr. Spence has reportedly sought consultation from the University of Toronto's Steve Mann, a self-proclaimed expert in the field of wearable computing and cyborgs. Essentially, Rob is hoping to install a webcam in his eye socket in order to become a so-called "lifecaster." The camera wouldn't actually be wired to his brain, thus his level of vision would remain subpar, but it would make him a living science experiment that would surely prove insightful to an array of others. As of now, it sounds like the road to installation is long, but we get the impression that this guy isn't apt to give up until the proverbial fat lady begins to bellow.

Up until now, Fusion-io's ioDrive has pretty much put every other SSD-on-a-PCIe-card to shame in terms of sheer performance, but it just might be looking at its first formidable competitor in the Micron Washington. The prototype device was recently showcased on video (posted after the break), and while we're not told how capacious it is, it is understood to be using 64-bit SLC NAND chips. When placed in a Xeon-powered server, the unit is able to achieve 150,000 to 160,000 random write IOPS with a bandwidth of 800MB/sec per card. Micron is convinced that it can reach a bandwidth of 1GB/sec and 200,000 IOPS with this technology, though Fusion-io's CTO proclaims that users can achieve "over 6GB per second" when using eight of its ioDrives in conjunction. Of course, the aforementioned ioDrive is actually shipping, whereas this elusive Washington doodad won't see commercial light until at least 2010.

[Via The Register, thanks Vik]

HM Revenue & Customs has put out an official report warning that "hundreds of imported counterfeit game consoles seized at UK freight depots were found to have been supplied with potentially dangerous power adapters." Most of the wares had been purchased at a deep discount from Asian websites claiming to sell "genuine Nintendo products" for over 50% off. The Big N has already stepped in to confirm that the DS / DS Lites are indeed counterfeit, and the accompanying power adapters were also deemed "potentially dangerous, since they had not been electronically tested and do not meet strict UK safety standards." C'mon parents -- even if the youngin' has been bad, we'd still say coal is more fitting than a stocking full of potential electrocution.

[Via Pocket-lint, image courtesy of Infendo]

Or more importantly, do you even care? One quick glance over at WiBrain's website will leave you searching to no avail for any traces of the i1, and while it's a shame we might not ever see this hardware package mass produced, we can't say we're terribly surprised. We mean, really, how many of your nerdy friends have saved up for one of these unwieldy UMPCs over, say, a netbook or the like? If the i1 really puffed its last breath at IFA, at least we can say we went to its farewell party. Ah well, onward and upward, right?

[Via Slashgear]

Update: The unit is still hanging around on WiBrain's German website, which possibly explains its IFA presence. Maybe it's being reserved for a Europe-only introduction? Thanks, xtron!

Dry your eyes, drummer. We feel your sense of loss at the news that Rock Band 2 may not be getting its promised second kick pedal after all, ruling out proper reenactments of Lars' two-foot prowess (without a little modding). Now at least you can improve the quality of that one kicker you do have, replacing it with something a little more weighty. Nyko's aptly-named Metal Pedal, a bargain at $20, works with both Rock Band games as well as Guitar Hero: World Tour on all platforms, and is made of real metal to give a more authentic heft. No, nothing will feel quite like the real thing, but it's surely better than that cracked hunk of plastic you've been meaning to send back to Harmonix for months.

Just imagine -- yapping for hours on end to your dream lover could actually leave your cellphone with more juice than what it started with. This completely bizarre scenario could theoretically become a reality according to new research from a professor at Texas A&M University, and it's all thanks to the magic of nanoscale piezoelectrics. If you'll recall, we've seen this technology generate energy in wearable devices before, so it makes sense that sound wave energy could also be captured and converted into electricity. Of course, we're still a good ways away from this being ready for commercialization, but who knows how quickly this could come together if placed in the capable (albeit unpredictable) hands of Dr. Walter Bishop.

[Via phonescoop, image courtesy of Rutgers]

Okay, so we fully understand that it would make life a lot easier on AT&T if every smartphone on its network used the same operating system, but we're not so sure we like the idea of losing the whole "ability to choose." Speaking at the Symbian Partner Event in San Francisco, AT&T's Roger Smith (director of next generation services, data product realization at AT&T) reportedly stated that he wanted to "standardize on a single operating system for AT&T-branded smartphones as part of a dramatic consolidation of its mobile platforms over the next few years." Given the location of the speech, it's no shock that Symbian was named "a very credible and likely candidate" to be that system, and for those questioning the iPhone, he was quick to point out that said mobile is simply a third-party device tapping into AT&T's technologies. Honestly, we're not sure how to take this seriously -- is he really saying he's willing to alienate RIM and / or Microsoft in order to only sell Symbian-based handsets? Doubtful.

Sure, it's foolish and low-tech as hell. But in the 8-hours you were cooped up on that transatlantic flight, did you ever once think about using the barf bag as an adjustable mount for your media player? No, you just held your iPod touch in your hand, occasionally dozing off until awakened by a jerk of the earbuds from your fallen iPod. Who's the fool now?

[Via Random Good Stuff]

While everyone wants their gadgets, particularly smartphones, to become smaller and smaller we paradoxically want the screens to get bigger and bigger. That's why so much R&D money is spent on wearable, folding, projecting, swiveling, and rollable displays: there's a gold mine to be had by the first to offer a solution with mass-market appeal. Here's Taiwan's great economic hope developed by its Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) with some help from industrial design house, PilotFish. The TFT-EPD (Thin Film Transistor Electrophoretic Display) panel combines a folding-top display with a bottom-sliding secondary (separated by a 1-cm flexible strip) to double the total panel size to 5-inches -- other screen sizes are also in the works. What looks like a break through the center of the combined display above is actually a software taskbar. While these are obvious mock-ups, prototype displays do exist with plans to take the technology -- which will included touchscreen capabilities -- into production sometime next year. Imagine this applied to an N97 followup and you might appreciate our enthusiasm.

[Via Computerwoche]

It's been almost a full year since we last heard from AMtek, but we have to admit that we're at least mildly interested in what it has going on in the T10L. The touchscreen-based UMPC packs an Intel Atom N270 CPU, integrated graphics, up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a rechargeable Li-ion, 80GB hard drive, 10.2-inch 1,024 x 600 resolution display, 1.3-megapixel camera, dual speakers, WiFi and a basic array of ports. Everything's tucked into a portable 2.6-pound package, though there's no telling when or where we'll see it emerge. CES-bound, maybe?

[Via GottaBeMobile]

Bezel-integrated webcams for laptops will soon get a sore-ly needed boost thanks to Samsung. Its new 1.2 megapixel S5K4AW System on Chip does what your VGA webcam can't: shoots real-time 720p at 30fps. The 1/4-inch CMOS imager is also 3x more sensitive to light than current sensors thanks to its superior 2x2 binning technique -- or so Samsung says in hopes of drumming up interest to sell samples to OEMs. Mass production is set to begin in the first half of 2009 for all your dimly lit, locked door, HD video conferencing needs. Just remember, some things are not meant to be seen in high-def. You listening Bruce?