It’s the oldest trick in the book—reflect any object in a mirror and said object becomes infinitely more artsy. For this week’s Shooting Challenge , let’s show the world why mirrored surfaces have still got it. More

We just spent some quality time with the MIX10 build of Windows Phone 7 Series running on the same prototype hardware sourced from Garmin-Asus that we saw at MWC — and apart from a few Murphy’s Law-style demo hiccups, we loved what we saw. One thing that immediately caught our attention was the fact that lists of items “compress” slightly once you’ve reached their end — something we hadn’t noticed before. In general, it’s pretty impressive how much attention Microsoft is paying to the finer aesthetic points of the platform, from the slight “tilts” of items that you’ve pressed to the 3D effects you encounter as you flip through photos. Another thing we’ve confirmed here is that the test units do have accelerometers, refuting an earlier rumor that had been spreading out in Barcelona — we know this because the display auto-rotated while viewing a photo. Check out the full video — along with a shot of the phone resting alongside its Zune HD cousin — after the break

Chatter over the Milestone’s impending Android 2.1 update has reached a rolling boil in recent days, but it’s actually the Milestone’s American cousin that’s getting the official coverage today. That’s right: Verizon’s just posted details on the Droid’s upgrade to Google’s latest and greatest cut, and you’ve got the expected host of goodies including the new 3D Gallery app, voice-to-text, news and weather widgets, pinch-to-zoom support, “improved” pattern lock, and — get this — live wallpapers, something we’d originally thought Motorola might leave out. It appears to lack the Nexus One’s 3D app launcher (which we’d expected), but it’s still pure gold for owners. Let us know when you’ve gotten it, eh? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Verizon posts Android 2.1 upgrade details for Droid originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

Stanford’s Quake-Catcher Network has been up and running since early 2008, but it looks like it’s just now starting to reach the critical mass of users that’s essential for its success. As you may be aware, the software takes advantage of the accelerometers built into many new laptops to watch for any signs of shaking or vibration, which it then compares with data from other laptops in the same area — if they’re all shaking at the same time, that’s a pretty good indication there’s an earthquake happening. Until recently, however, there hasn’t been enough users in any particular area to produce reliable data, but Stanford now counts more than 450 users in California alone, which has provided it with its first truly viable testbed. Of course, more users would be even better, and you can sign up and download the software at the link below if you’re interested in helping out.

The biggest chunk of eye candy we’ve seen out of Microsoft’s MIX10 event so far today has been the unveiling of the significantly-retooled Windows Phone Marketplace that’ll debut in Windows Phone 7 Series — and needless to say, it’s a looker. It’s got support for credit card purchases, operator billing, and ad-supported content — a hot topic right now with Google’s and Apple’s mobile advertising acquisitions — and a try-before-you-buy scheme not unlike Android Market’s policy. and We’ve been offered some video of the new Marketplace in action, and it looks super polished and well-integrated with the typical WP7S way of getting around — you’re given a “panoramic view” where you can browse categories and titles, see featured items, and get details with ratings, reviews, screen shots, and pricing information. Purchased apps can be pinned to your Quick Launch screen, saving you a couple taps for your favorite and most frequently-used items. Watch the full video after the break — and keep an eye out for the trick “tilting” of menu items based on finger location toward the end of the clip, something we haven’t seen before

In case you hadn’t noticed, there was some trouble brewing in the NVIDIA camp. After ages of reigning atop the land of stereoscopic 3D playback on the PC, NVIDIA is finally being confronted with a real, bona fide standard for 3D, with zero GPUs capable of meeting it. The current NVIDIA 3D Vision -compatible cards pump out the necessary pixels over DisplayPort or dual DVI plugs, while the official spec for 3D TVs is an HDMI 1.4 plug that accepts data from both frames at once. We were in doubt there for a moment, but it turns out NVIDIA’s cards upgrade to 1.4 just fine, and all 3D Vision customers will be getting this as a free upgrade later this spring. NVIDIA will also be offering this 3DTV Play software in a standalone version for $40 to folks who don’t want to bother with NVIDIA’s 3D Vision stuff at all (with HDMI 1.4 you can just use the stereoscopic glasses that come with your fancy new 3D TV, no need for NVIDIA’s setup). NVIDIA is naturally hitting all the high points of the 1.4 spec, with 1080p24, 720p60 (the official gaming spec), and 720p50.

That’s right, you can now reserve your place in line to be the first to record four HD cable shows at once on your Windows 7 Media Center . The bad news is that ship date for the InfiniTV 4 is now May 31st. Ceton wasn’t willing to share a specific reason for the 60 day delay, but we suspect CableLabs is to blame — Ceton refuted this and insisted CableLabs has been very helpful, but we don’t buy it. The other big news — for those that were concerned with noise or fitment options — is that the latest version of the PCI-E card pictured above no longer includes a fan. The InfiniTV name was the result of over 1000 submissions to Ceton’s naming contest, of which Gary Petro came up with winner — the name is not to be confused with Comcast’s XFINITY . Future tuners in the line will share a variation of the name, so the dual external tuner would be the InfiniTV ex2 — for example.

It’s not much more than a hard drive with HD media playback abilities, but the Packard Bell Studio ST certainly looks nice, doesn’t it? It’s Europe-only for now, but we’re hoping parent company Acer brings over a US-branded version of this box, which holds up to a 2TB hard drive and can do 1080p out over HDMI with Dolby Digital. Codec support is described as “all main formats,” which is a little shady, but we’ll be forgiving if it’s cheaper than the Western Digital WD TV Live HD . [Thanks, Matt] Packard Bell Studio ST media playback drive invades Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Greetings humans! If you’ve seen The Engadget Show, then you’ve been privy to some pretty incredible performances by a group of musicians and artists who eschew familiar instruments in exchange for hacked and modded handheld gaming devices. We grabbed our cameras and got a brief look at the history of the chiptunes movement, the difference between Game Boy music and music from Game Boys, and most importantly, how these artists and visualists make it all happen. Kick back and take a look at the segment (featuring the likes of Glomag , Paris , and Outpt ) — you’ll be glad you did! Special guests: Glomag , Paris , and Outpt Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger Edited by: Michael Slavens Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec Download the Show: The Engadget Show Segment - 00 5 (HD) / The Engadget Show Segment - 005 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) Subscribe to the Show: [ iTunes ] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [ Zune ] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [ RSS M4V ] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically

Android Forums is alight today with fresh HTC Incredible chatter — a phone every Android fan on Verizon is desperately waiting for — and we’ve managed to glean a few more pictures and possible specs out of the mess. It looks like we can expect a half gig of RAM with about 320MB available (roughly the same as what you find on the Nexus One ) and an 8 megapixel cam, but interestingly, the phone’s Snapdragon core is apparently underclocked to 768MHz, almost certainly a battery-saving measure on HTC’s part; fortunately, the Sense -powered Android 2.1 firmware is still said to be “blazing fast.” It measures 117.5 x 58.5 x 11.9mm — just a hair narrower, shorter, and thicker than its Nexus One doppelganger, small enough of a difference so that we think it’ll be virtually indistinguishable in person. As shots go, we’re seeing now that HTC has moved from the brightly-colored glossy shell to a soft-touch black one while keeping the strange contours; we think there’s at least a chance that this is final ID, too, since the Verizon logo is silkscreened at the bottom. Inside, the entire thing (including the battery itself) is a shockingly loud shade of red, mirroring an odd design trend first seen on the HD mini . We definitely dig it. If the stats over on the forum hold up, the Incredible’s on track for a launch in April or May, so it’s still a few weeks off — in the meanwhile, we encourage you to check out more of the new shots after the break