Not that you won't be able to buy this thing from carriers here shortly, but there's just nothing quite like being the first on your block to own a new handset. For those with cash to burn and an insatiable desire to play with RIM's forthcoming Kickstart 8220, look no further than eBay. Up for auction right now is an unlocked version of the aforesaid mobile, but it looks as if the final bid will end up well over a grand. Good luck (being patient).

[Via CellPhonesMarket, thanks ghengis]

While we'll always know Violet for its iconic bunnies, the company is branching out into a more direct RFID application. The Mirror RFID reader is a USB-pluggable little platter that can read RFID tags and launch an assigned action on the computer when it spots a tag it knows. Examples we saw included a tagged post card of Vegas launching a corresponding picture on the computer (lame), a tagged toy car bringing up a map (getting warmer), a tagged umbrella launching the weather forecast (now we're cooking with gas), and a cute little mini-Nabaztag figurine doing whatever it wants (en fuego / choose your own tired metaphor). We could see the reader being put to use for the computer illiterate, or children having their first go at a PC, but we're more excited to see what hackers can make of the tech -- old people and children are overrated. No word on price or release date yet, but Violet has a press conferenced planned for Monday, so we should know more then.

Delta Electronics might've jumped the gun a bit with its claim of firsties on Texas Instruments' new "PhlatLight" HD LED DLP projector tech. Delta hasn't brought even a prototype to IFA, but over at Texas Instruments there's a Vivitek version of the lamp-free projector tech, which TI claims will be the first to market sometime in Q4 of 2008. The specs they rattled off are undoubtedly impressive: 50% better color range, 500,000:1 contrast ratio, 30% less power draw, and of course 1080p to put a feather in the cap. In TI's darkened viewing room the image was certainly impressive, but we're guessing specs like these could carry over nicely into our less-than-ideal bedsheet setup back home.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

If there's anywhere exactly wrong for displaying a speaker's prowess, it's in the middle of a tradeshow booth. The subtle musical stylings of Sony's ultra-high-concept Sountina speaker were a bit lost to us as our ears warred against the IFA drone, but what we could hear sounded just fine to us -- and there's no arguing with the looks. We kept expecting Tesla to jump out from behind a curtain and start spouting off about some free energy properties of the organic glass tweeter, but sadly walked away Tesla-free. If we were to make a value call about the sound, we'd say the mids were a bit of a no-show, while the smooth variances of the high-end were alright, but not life changing. But we won't.

We just went on a whirlwind tour of Navigon's booth here at IFA 2008, and while a sea of barely distinguishable GPS devices has a tendency to send us into sudden and violent fits of napping, we thought we'd give you a look-see just in case you feel otherwise. The only real standout was the new 7200 (pictured), which has a flat, glossy front, and is a joy to touch -- we're not positive it's capacitive, but it feels a ton better than the regular dull resistive touch of most GPS units out on the market. We also took a look at the 2200 and 2150 Max, as you can see in the gallery below. Knock yourself out.

We're not sure how this came to be, but when Jon Stewart needs to make a real / fake call to Democratic governor Mark Warner to let him know how bad his speech at the DNC "suuuuuuucked," he reaches for a Centro. Check the read link to watch the full episode, and if you don't enjoy comedy, you can just skip to about 3:29 in to see Palm's cheapo smartphone get some face-time.

Are you ready to really let loose at this year's CES? If you said yes, then you'll be stoked as hell to know that our main man Steve Ballmer will be taking over Bill Gates' famous keynotes. You read that right, the scariest fratbanger this side of your last toga party will be stepping up to the plate in what we can only hope will be the kind of explosive performance we've come to expect from him. Other keynoters will be the handsome Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer and Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Ford. Here's hoping Gates at least drops by for a cameo -- it just won't seem like CES without him.

Now that the cat's out of the bag it was no trouble tracking down HTC's S740 this morning, and just for kicks we rammed the phone up against the Touch Pro, which we subsequently rammed against the Touch Diamond and an iPhone for a generally violent display of smartphone force. It is worth noting that while the S740's keys are similar to the Touch Pro's, they're not quite as deep or clicky, which leads to a rather sub-par typing experience by HTC's standards. That glossy mirror finish on the phone screens isn't doing them any favors either -- even when wiped smudge free it seems to impede viewing -- and we must say the Touch Pro's matte finish makes the Diamond and iPhone 3G look cheap in comparison. Oh, and when asked about the Dream, the HTC rep quickly replied "we don't know anything." It was worth a shot, right?

Red CEO, Jim Jannard, is stirring up trouble in the RED User forums, J. Wong-style. His latest volley discusses the new Mysterium "Monstro" sensor program, the next evolution (and future free upgrade) to the Mysterium X sensor slated for RED's 5k Epic. The most interesting revelation though is this little nugget: in addition to Epic, RED plans to place Monstro into, "another camera aimed squarely at the DSLR market." He later adds, "Future cameras will shoot ultra-high resolution stills and motion..." Now, considering that the second generation, full-frame, ~25 megapixel Mysterium X is already a serious challenge to 35mm film, we can only imagine what this DSLR with a third generation RED sensor might offer. Hear that Nikon? Your D90 is just the beginning of this story. Let's just hope that televisions and monitors, already struggling to reach 4k, Quad HD can keep pace.

[Thanks, Jundai]

We can't verify the claim, but we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of this picture taken of Microsoft's new 16GB flash-based Zune 16 and FCC approved, 120GB Zune 120. It's not the backstory we find so solid, it's more the thought that some lonely soul is busy Photoshopping Zune rumor images on a Friday night -- an ennui so black we could not possibly fathom. Oh and the French? Zune's in Canada remember, blown-up international and the source country of this photo.

Even though the product doesn't have any availability, pricing, or even a name yet, Delta Electronics is claiming to have the first full HD LED-based DLP projector, and is showing a demo unit at IFA and CEDIA. Using tech developed by TI and Luminus Devices, Delta says it's ready to go with a full-size 1080p projector with "PhlatLight" LEDs pumping out the lumens, which of course means an end to futzing around with burnt-out projector bulbs right in the middle of your feature presentation. No doubt, we're seeing LEDs show up in all manner of display devices, and if LED-lamped projector prices follow a trajectory like LED-backlit LCDs, we'd be happy campers indeed.

[Via About Projectors]

Read - Delta Electronics first LED HD projector
Read - Luminus and TI develop lamp-free tech

You hear so much tough-talk and blustery grand-standing these days over data capping that it's hard to take any of it too seriously. A recent announcement by Comcast, however, is sending chills down the collective spine of Engadget (and seriously threatening to put a crunch on Thomas Ricker's... er, "movie" downloads). The company recently confirmed that it will begin capping its residential broadband service at 250GB per month (or roughly 124 SD movies) come October 1st, and could simply terminate customers who violate the cap more than twice. Of course, 250GB is a pretty large chunk of bandwidth, so you'll have to be entertaining some pretty hefty habits to break that bank. Then again, who likes the Man breathing down their pipeline?

You've got to feel bad for the vendors at the Sign and Display Show 2008 that's going on in Tokyo right now for being totally overshadowed by IFA, but this nifty dual-sided transparent touch display from Teraokaseiko is definitely noteworthy, even if it just because it'll make future versions of Battleship and Connect 4 super fun. It's just a monochrome 256 x 120 EL-panel prototype for now, but it recognizes simple multitouch gestures like pinching, and there's definitely promise in the idea -- now if it could make it out of the Sign and Display Show and into the big leagues, we'd be all set.

We've got our crack team of Engadget ninjas at IFA working to figure out exactly what's going on, but early word is that over 220 German Customs agents have raided the show looking for patent infringements. It's not clear how many booths have had visits from The Man, but it's somewhere over 50 -- we've been hearing a number in the 70s -- and spokespeople for Customs says inspections will continue until tonight. Sounds like a repeat of what's happened at CeBIT for the past few years, where German firm Sisvel has had several companies' booths shut down and products seized over claimed MPEG patent infringements -- you might remember last year's kerfuffle with Meizu and the wrongful seizure of SanDisk DAPs in 2006. There are rumors that Asian companies, including MSI, are being targeted, and that the Taiwan Image Hall in particular was hit hard, but nothing's been substantiated and German authorities say they're looking at all companies equally. We'll let you know what's going down as soon as we find out more.

[Thanks, Adam]