Sirius’ update to its Starmate line, the Starmate 5, is currently in front of the FCC for testing, and it looks like it might have a little trick up its sleeve. The gadget includes the standard abilities to pause, rewind, and replay up to 44 minutes of live radio, a memo feature to store up to 30 favorite artists or songs and a wide-angle 5 line display, but it also might just have the ability to play XM radio stations as well.

Though the function to grab sweet sounds from its partner-to-be isn’t listed in the Starmate 5’s spec sheet, a memo between a testing firm and the FCC authorization staff hinted at Sirius XM interoperability. In a letter asking the testing firm to do another bandwidth test, the FCC said that it “used the satellite radio signal coming from either XM or Sirius.”

If the hint means what we think it means, the Starmate 5 could be the first hybrid satellite radio receiver out on the market — kind of a bold move, considering the FCC isn’t even thinking about voting on the merger until late May or early June. [Electronista]

While we’ve heard Microsoft hint at keeping XP on store shelves longer than they initially stated due to the, well, boatload of people who want nothing to do with Vista, Dell is the first retailer to confirm having plans to sell the faithful ol’ OS past the end of June. But it isn’t because Microsoft’s gone and changed their policy; it’s because Dell is taking advantage of a loophole in Vista licensing that lets Microsoft pad their Vista numbers even when people avoid it like the plague.

Dell will take advantage of a licensing option in Vista Business and Vista Ultimate that lets PC makers provide XP under the Vista license, which Microsoft calls a “downgrade” license. (Enterprises with site licenses have these same rights with any version of Vista.) In essence, the user is buying a Vista license that it can apply to XP, and Microsoft can still claim a Vista sale.

This is all well and good for people who want to buy a new PC with XP instead of Vista, but in what universe is Microsoft able to claim a Vista sale with this? That’s some shady bookkeeping if I’ve ever seen it. That means if Dell sells way more machines with this “downgrade” option than with Vista, Microsoft can still claim that people are adopting Vista in droves.

But hey, it’ll keep XP available for people who want it, so I guess it’s a good thing no matter what kind of maneuvering it entails. But it just goes to show that you can never trust sales figures tossed out by marketing departments. [PC World]

Probably trying to polish its current poor image, Boeing invited Fortune Magazine to get an inside look into the Dreamliner factory, secret orgy quarters, and the showroom, in which—after spending $150 million on an empty aircraft—you have to pick the seats, including their A/V entertainment equipment (like whopping 23″ LCD monitors in first class), and even the coffee maker. Head to Fortune to see the entire video and gallery. [Fortune]

According to a leaked specifications list, LG has a Prada II handset in the works, and it sounds like it will be packing quite a punch. The details that have been leaked suggest the cellphone will have a 3-inch (400×240) WQVGA touchscreen, 5MP camera, front mounted camera for video calling, Wi-Fi connectivity, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, USB 2.0, Full HTML browser, FM radio, TV-out, microSDHC support and—we just can’t believe it until we see it— a full, slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

LG will be working on all the decent phone features, while Prada will be putting together crap themes, annoying ringtones and other stuff to ensure the handset is just a little rubbish. The LG Prada successor is expected to launch in Q4, 2008. We’re excited. [Eprice via Unwired View]

The first allegedly-leaked shots of the 3G iPhone arrived earlier this month. Yesterday, Engadget claimed that the iPhone was going to look all black and shiny, like in the photo. (Although they didn’t say that was a photo of the said unit.) Today, what we know for sure is that the thing in the photo is just a protection case available for the current iPhone out of Hong Kong. While it’s logical to assume that 3G will be in the next iPhone, we still have to wait to see if its all-black color, the GPS, or any of the other predictions are true or not. [winandmac]

LawnBott, the $2,750 robot which announced itself as your loyal automated lawn mower—capable of cutting 33,000 square feet of grass in a single charge—has revealed its true face: it wants to cut humans to pieces. Actually, just stupid humans, but the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Kyodo America have decided to “recall them immediately.”

Apparently, one of the owners lifted the mower from the ground while it was still on and “suffered minor lacerations from the moving blade.” Yet another case of stupid humans trying to win the Darwin Award. Fortunately for him, nothing serious happened, but the US CPSC and the company have decided to recall models LB2000, LB2100, LB3000, and LB3200 because “the cutting blades continue to rotate when the mower is lifted from the ground and the spacing on the side of the lawn mower could allow room for a consumer’s foot to go beyond the shield and be struck by the blade” which “pose a serious laceration hazard to stupid lawn bozos consumers.”

We like to think that, tired of being lifted from the ground by a moron while still doing its job, the robot decided to attack at once and eliminate him from the genetic pool, therefore improving Humanity. Really, give the damn thing a medal and a case of Olde Fortran.

CPSC, Kyodo America Recall LawnBott Lawn Mowers Due to Laceration Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
Name of Product: LawnBott Lawn Mowers

Units: About 530

Importer: Kyodo America Industries Co. LTD., of Lawrenceville, Ga.

Manufacturer: Zucchetti Centro Sistemi S.p.A., of Italy

Hazard: The cutting blades continue to rotate when the mower is lifted from the ground and the spacing on the side of the lawn mower could allow room for a consumer’s foot to go beyond the shield and be struck by the blade. Both instances pose a serious laceration hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: Kyodo America has received one report of a consumer lifting the mower from the ground and suffered minor lacerations from the moving blade.

Description: This recall involves LawnBott lawn mowers with model numbers LB2000, LB2100, LB3000, and LB3200. The robotic lawn mowers freely and automatically cut grass by detecting the signal of a perimeter cable. The mowers have a docking station for recharging and a shiny plastic cover sold in red, green or blue. “Evolution” or “deluxe” is printed on the side of the mower.

Sold by: Kyodo America dealers nationwide from January 2006 through December 2007 for between $1,750 and $2,750.

Manufactured in: Italy

Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled LawnBott lawn mowers immediately and contact Kyodo America to register their lawn mowers for repairs that will be ready by the end of June. Consumers who have registered their mower with Kyodo America have been sent direct notification by mail.

Consumer Contact: For more information, contact Kyodo America at (877) 465-9636 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.lawnbott.com

[CPSC—Thanks Steve!]

Gakutensoku is Asia’s oldest modern robot, built in 1928 for the ascension of the Emperor Showa (aka Hirohito). Twice as tall as the emperor at 10 feet, 6 inches, it could tilt its head, blink, smile and puff up its chest and cheeks with a system of inflatable rubber tubes. Long lost in Germany before returning to Osaka, it’s been restored and brought back to life with a $200,000 computer-controlled pneumatic servo system. But it definitely still moves like an 80-year-old—very slowly. Check out the video of it in motion below, it’s like a robot from “It’s a Small World,” but even more uncanny and creepier.

[Pink Tentacle, Asahi]

Daryl J. Roy isn’t your average Sprint sales drone. Service doesn’t stop just because you’ve got the receipt and walked out the door. Have you ever checked out Sprint’s picture mail? He wanted to make sure Nicole McElveen did after she purchased some new phones from him. So he sent her a few picture messages, even though she didn’t pay for the service, before really showing off the resolution and clarity of their cameras with full-frontal nude pics of himself. Just to make sure she saw how good the pictures were, he re-sent them three different times.

Now she’s suing Sprint and Daryl for $1 million—her husband, David, adds in the filing that the toll on his wife from the pictures has cost him the “services, companionship, love, affection and consortium of his wife.” Daryl says that’s total BS, they had corresponded over text messages, and she had asked for photos of him and that she actually “expressed her appreciation for receiving such photographs.”

Usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but honestly, I don’t want to get anywhere near this thing, much less thrust my consciousness into the center of it. [Dayton Daily News via Crunchgear]

The Blu Jacket concept from Lunar Design aims to turn our children’s children into walking billboards using an electronic fabric based on e-paper technology and space-age organic fabrics. It could display your mood throughout the day, pull up maps using a built-in GPS module, display photos, video and (gasp) even advertisements.

Imagine a future filled with people getting paid to wear annoying ads everywhere you went, or attention seekers getting in your face with a shirt filled with their stupid propaganda. It’s a good thing we will all be long dead before this sort of technology becomes widely available. [Lunar Design via Gizmowatch via DVICE]

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Symbian

While clearly not aimed at the deep-pocketed folks looking at those fancy N96s, the purported 7310 Classic makes us remember why S40 mobiles are still viable in a plethora of scenarios. Though we haven’t seen anything official from Nokia, word on the street has the candybar likely checking in with a 2.2-inch QVGA display, multimedia player, built-in Bluetooth, a FM radio and some form of expansion slot. Granted, all of those specs are still speculative at the moment, but feel free to tap the read link for a few more pics and lots of rugged machine-translated conjecture.

[Via Mobile Bulgaria, thanks Momchil]

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