Oh, to have enough time in the day to spend on this Mintpass puzzle calendar, which takes inspiration from those sliding-puzzle games we had as kids…only this time, with the day’s date. Yes, really. With 41 puzzle-bits (and one space for allowing them to slide about), the idea behind this calendar is pretty simple—until you have to change the dates around for the next month. At least they’ve thought to include a “help” break on the bezel, which lets you pull out all the pieces and arrange them properly…rather than spending hours trying to slide them into place. [Mintpass via WalYou ]

The folks at Mintpass, known for its adorable Mintpad touchscreen PMP, are back on the scene with a little something called The Cube. A schticky audio player that goes out of its way to recall the analog gear of lore, this 2-inch cube sports push button controls, analog displays for volume, battery charge, and frequency, 3.5mm audio out, and Bluetooth. We’ve got no idea what the storage capacity, price, or street date might be, but we do have some pretty pictures for you. Check ‘em out after the break.

Before the rise of Napster and AutoTune, we had drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Remember how great those were? MintPass’ Cube MP3 player, a 2″x2″x2″ box, sits somewhere between concept and product (leaning toward concept), and incorporates design details from analog music into the digital realm. The VU (volume unit) meter, a former staple of audio equipment, is celebrated front and center, backlit by LED. Similar battery and RF gauges dominate two other main sides, with the very back of the unit offering USB and 3.5mm out.

A designer at Mintpass has come up with these snazzy looking concepts that mimic the calculators in Windows and OS X. They admit that the designs are unlikely to fly with Apple or Microsoft, but hey, points for lateral thinking! Do you think the Apple version would cost more? [ Technabob ]

Ah, finally. Mintpass has been teasing us with its delightfully adorable Mintpad for nearly a year now , and after sending a few out to a smattering of media outlets, it fell into a holding pattern for the rest of the summer. Now, at long last, the touchscreen-based PMP is on sale over in the UK, paving the way for consumers ’round the globe to call themselves an owner. Final specifications include a 2.9-inch LCD, 4GB of internal storage, a microSD expansion slot, WiFi, 1.3 megapixel camera, support for a gaggle of file formats and a battery good for 30 hours of audio or 5 hours of video. Too bad that

This progress bar -inspired clock design from Mintpass actually includes a great idea: Clip up to 24 rewritable tabs onto the clock to mark appointments. It’s a neat visual organizer on a clock that might otherwise be too gimmicky. Each tab sets off an alarm that is disabled by turning the tab itself 90 degrees, showing the progress of your day’s work along with the actual clock’s progress bar. I love the tabs idea: It gives a clear visual demonstration of events that day, and being able to write (and erase? Or just replace?) each item’s title is a really nice touch. It wouldn’t be as jam-packed as my iCal, but it’d show big items in my to-do list at a glance.

Well, there’s not exactly a whole lot to go on with this one, but Mintpass looks to have just recently launched an English version of its Mintpad website, which could well be yet another a sign that the MID / PMP is finally nearing a release outside of South Korea. Of course, that’s still not quite a sure thing, especially since the previously rumored April / May release date has now come and gone, and there’s unfortunately not so much as a price on the website to further back things up. There are plenty of specs, however, including the same 400MHz ARM processor, 128MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and built-in WiFi as before, plus no shortage of pics in case you’ve yet to get an up close look at the device. [Via PMP Today ] Filed under: Handhelds , Portable Audio , Portable Video Mintpass launches English Mintpad website, sign of things to come? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:09:00 EST

I was excited to learn that the Mintpad —a Wi-Fi enabled, 2.9-inch touchscreen web-surfing pad and media player with 1.3-megapixel cam, microphone and built-in speaker—is coming to the US. The 4GB device—which goes for $143 in Korea—has many functions included, like a calendar, a notes app, blogging application, book store, chatting music, video playback and recording, photos, and web browsing “with Flash support.” So yes, I was excited, but then I remembered that—except for the Flash support, the video recording, and the fact that is a WinCE 5.0 Pro device—it’s like the description of a $229 iPod touch in a thicker box and with half the storage (and the iPod gets you one zillion more apps in a much sleeker package with real touchscreen with higher resolution—not a pressure-based one.) Still, it’s a cute device, but probably not enough unless they price it here really cheap. [ Poketables ]