True revolutions in faucet designs may be few and far between, but China's Renshui is certainly doing its part to shake things up, and has now introduced yet another faucet sure to amaze and confuse visitors to your humble abode. In addition to breaking with the usual faucet design, this model packs a touch panel that will let you switch between hot and cold water, or dial in the exact temperature you want -- which is, of course, displayed on the faucet itself (it'll even warn you if the water is getting too hot). No word on availability over here, but it did recently win a red dot design award, so the chances of a release may have gotten a bit better.

Renshui rethinks the bathroom faucet originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I'm not saying there were aliens flying whatever buzzed Hangzhou airspace earlier today. But there's no question that it was an object, that it was flying, and that it's as yet unidentified. And yet it looks awfully familiar up close: More »



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This is a little video created by College Humor demonstrating what it would be like if classic video games all had a super-easy mode. Well -- what would it be like? Not fun. But you would leave the game feeling like a winner, which is key if you have low self esteem. Know what else helps? Having a penis as sharp and shiny as Excalibur. Haha, isn't that right, Arthur? Go on -- give it a swing. Hit it for the video (I laughed).

Readers offer their best tips for remembering your home computer's IP address, getting rid of tie fuzzies, and less well-known Skype features. More »



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We guess this is a "good" thing in a roundabout way, but Fring has just dropped the knowledge that its video calling update for the iPhone 4 has been so wildly successful that they've been forced to temporarily restrict Skype access to "free up capacity" for direct Fring-to-Fring calls. Hopefully the company is hard at work beefing up its infrastructure to bring everything back to normal -- but in the meantime, at least you've got an easy way to look your EVO-toting friends square in the face without having to actually see them in the flesh. Perish the thought!

[Thanks, Roy]

Fring bends under the pressure of iPhone video calling, Skype temporarily locked down originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yesterday, a long-exposure photobomb set the internet on fire. Today, creator Anthony Valle shared with Gizmodo his inspiration, aspirations, and who that poor unsuspecting girl is: More »



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Hey, remember that iPhone class-action lawsuit we poked around in a couple months ago and discovered Apple's lawyers confirming the original five year AT&T exclusivity agreement? Well, get ready to hear about it a lot more in the months to come, as the judge in the case has officially certified the case as a class action, meaning it now officially includes anyone who's ever bought an iPhone on AT&T. If you'll recall, the argument is that iPhone customers signed up for a two-year contract without being told that AT&T had an exclusive for five years -- thus in reality being held to the carrier for an additional three years without recourse. Sure, that sounds a little silly, but if you bought the first-gen iPhone and wanted to stick with the platform it's the truth -- discounting the fact, of course, that no one's required to buy another Phone after two years, and even then you have to sign a new contract. While we're definitely curious to see if the plaintiffs can get past that little logical hurdle and win something more than a token settlement, we're far more interested to see if they can get any more documentation from Apple nailing down its actual agreement with AT&T. Should be juicy -- we'll keep you in the loop.

iPhone AT&T exclusivity lawsuit granted class-action certification, every AT&T iPhone customer included originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week we took a look at some of your biggest email annoyances, helped iPhone owners jump ship to Android without skipping a beat, put together our geeky vacation checklist, and more. More »



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Scott Freeland, the industrious artist behind the iRetrophone dock has returned with iRetrofone Steampunk Copper edition. The dock is powered entirely by gears and steam and curly mustaches, just like everything else in the mid-19th Century. More »



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Steve Jobs might have thought he was lightly playing down reports that the Apple / Google rivalry had dramatically changed when he said "they decided to compete with us -- we didn't go into the search business" at D8, but it appears that his phrasing didn't sit so well with Larry Page, who told Reuters yesterday that Jobs was doing a "little bit of rewriting history," and that the "characterization of us entering [the phone market] after is not really reasonable." Page, who was being interviewed alongside Eric Schmidt, also said that Google had been working on Android for "a very long time" and that the goal was always to develop phones with solid browsers to fill a market void.

That's true, of course -- Google purchased Andy Rubin's Android, Inc. in 2005 -- but it's also an equally slight distortion: when Android was officially announced in November of 2007, it looked nothing like the OS we know and love today, and the SDK emulator used an image of an HTC-built prototype that had much more in common with the traditional BlackBerry than the iPhone. (Fun fact: that device eventually became the Palm Treo Pro running Windows Mobile.) It wasn't until the G1 shipped almost a year later that Android started to look more like what it is today, and we'd even argue that it wasn't until Android 2.0 hit on the OG Motorola Droid along with Verizon's Droid Does marketing campaign that the platform grew into its own unique and successful identity -- an identity that is now powerfully differentiated against the iPhone and driving accelerating device sales every quarter.

So, does any of this really matter? To the tech historians, perhaps -- and Apple and Google clearly see what they're doing as historically significant. Apart from that, it's a pretty meaningless distinction; Eric Schmidt followed up Page's comment by saying that the market was big enough for the iPhone and Android to coexist, and we seriously doubt anyone's phone purchasing decision will ever turn on what platform was released first. But it's also clear that the competition between these two companies is at fever pitch, which is great news for the rest of us -- let's just hope everyone involved remembers that Jobs closed his D8 remarks by saying "just because we're competing with somebody doesn't mean we have to be rude."

Google's Larry Page: Steve Jobs is 'rewriting history' by saying Android came after the iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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