If you've seen Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus in action, then it should be clear that the menu button has no future in the Android ecosystem. In order to drive that point home, Google has posted over at the Android Developer blog urging app creators to "say goodbye to the menu button." With the until now standard key getting the boot, big G wants devs to start designing interfaces that focus on the ActionBar introduced with Honeycomb. Of course, there's only so much room on the screen, and that's where the "action overflow" button comes in handy. Those vertical elipsis hide useful, but perhaps secondary options, that don't fit in the action bar. It also pops up on the far right of the navigation bar as a replacement to the menu button... basically because it behaves the same as menu, just in a different location. If nothing else at least Google is pushing Android and its apps towards a more uniform design. Check out the source for more details.

It's not the smallest transistor out there, but the boffins at IBM have constructed the tiniest carbon nanotube transistor to date. It's nine nanometers in size, making it one nanometer smaller than the presumed physical limit of silicon transistors. Plus, it consumes less power and is able to carry more current than present-day technology. The researchers accomplished the trick by laying a nanotube on a thin layer of insulation, and using a two-step process -- involving some sort of black magic, no doubt -- to add the electrical gates inside. The catch? (There's always a catch) Manufacturing pure batches of semiconducting nanotubes is difficult, as is aligning them in such a way that the transistors can function. So, it'll be some time before the technology can compete with Intel's 3D silicon, but at least we're one step closer to carbon-based computing.

Seriously, we can't caveat this one enough -- there is no way of knowing if this is in fact the Galaxy S III or, if it is, when it might come to market -- but, it looks like Samsung's "next big smartphone" just made a cameo on the company's support pages. Listed as the GT-i9300, the mystery device reared its head over at the Global Download Center of the United Arab Emerites site. If Sammy is to keep with its naming scheme i93XX would be a flagship device -- the i90XX line was the Galaxy S, i91XX represents the S2 series, while the i9250 and i9220 are the Nexus and Note respectively. As we warned before though, this could be some mid-range device and Samsung could be changing its naming conventions. Or, perhaps, its yet another variation of an existing model. Still, we'll take this as a good sign that Seoul squad has something interesting brewing.

Sony's PlayStation Vita hasn't exactly sold like hotcakes over in Japan, so the company has sweetened the pot for the portable's potential Stateside buyers. Those who placed pre-orders will get a couple of extra goodies for their $350. To go with the previously promised limited edition case, 4GB memory card and copy of Little Deviants, you'll also receive 250MB of data from AT&T and a PlayStation Network game gratis as soon as you activate 3G on the device. Furthermore, folks buying a Vita on launch day can look forward to the same free data and PSN game, plus an 8GB memory card in exchange for their $300. So, that enough to get you on the handheld's bandwagon? Sound off in the comments below.

Just wake up from a very restful week-long slumber? First of all, we're envious of your good fortune. Second, Research in Motion made a few changes to its leadership chart. Third, you must be really hungry right about now. So grab a sandwich, come back in an hour and join Myriam, Brad, Sean Cooper and our very special guest Kevin Michaluk (yes, Mr. CrackBerry Kevin himself) as we discuss the northern news, as well as anything else that happened this week.

Be sure to send questions or comments you have for us or Kevin via Twitter (we're @engadgetmobile), or make your voice heard in our Ustream chat room during the show!

January 27, 2012 5:00 PM EST

We're pretty fond of new ways to integrate smartphones with car stereos here at Engadget, which is why we're particularly intrigued by a new Kickstarter project called Dash. Unlike MirrorLink, which reflects a phone's interface onto a larger touchscreen, this nifty creation puts the smartphone front and center in the stereo itself. While the Dash will initially support only the iPhone 4 / 4S and iPod Touch -- which connects via the dock connector -- the company seems ambitious to target other platforms in the future.

The Dash comes in two parts, the double-DIN stereo itself, along with a detachable aluminum faceplate that's held to the main unit with neodymium magnets. The only interface element is a volume knob, as every other interaction is performed on the iPhone's 3.5-inch display -- just promise to keep your eyes on the road when you sort through your tunes. The stereo contains four 50W channels and two 2V preamps. The Dash is currently projected to ship in July for $300, but a $250 donation serves as a discounted preorder right now. It'll be available in a variety of colors, which you can peep in the gallery below, and be sure to check out the project's video after the break.

It remains to be seen when or if they'll turn into actual products, but The Daily reports that Microsoft is at least working on getting its Kinect technology shoved into laptops. While details are light, the iPad-based publication says that it's seen a pair of prototypes that "appear to be Asus netbooks running Windows 8," but which have had their webcams replaced with an array of sensors that run along the top of the screen (a set of LEDs are said to be at the bottom). The Daily also says that it's confirmed with a source at Microsoft that the devices are indeed official prototypes of a Kinect-enabled laptop, and it unsurprisingly suggests that Microsoft would likely license the technology to laptop manufacturers rather than build its own hardware.

If you're gonna be late to a party, you should at least be fashionably late. That's the mindset behind Toshiba's entry into the dedicated e-reader space with its new 7-inch BookPlace DB50. Toshiba hopes adding an e-reader alongside its existing AT200 and Thrive tablets will push more eyeballs towards the 100,000 or so titles in its BookPlace online bookstore. The ¥22,000 ($284) BookPlace DB50 sports a TFT-LCD screen with an LED backlight, a 1GHz Freescale i.MX535 processor, 8GB of internal flash memory and a microSD slot. The device also measures 120mm wide, 190mm tall, 11mm thick and weighs 330 grams (11.6 ounces), with battery life rated at up to 7.5 hours. Toshiba did not mention the operating system in its release though the hubbub in the Interwebs is that it will use customized versions of Linux and Android Gingerbread. The Japanese debut is pegged for February 10th and the company is apparently considering a release outside the country, too.

Fresh off the publication of its latest tablet report, Strategy Analytics has come out with a new batch of statistics on the global mobile market. In a report published yesterday, the research firm crowned Apple as the world's largest smartphone vendor by volume, on the strength of the 37 million iPhones it shipped during Q4 2011 -- good for 23.9 percent of the market. Samsung wasn't too far behind, though, with 36.5 million smartphones shipped during the quarter, comprising 23.5 percent of the market. Nokia finished in third place, with 19.6 million smartphones and a 12.6 percent market share, though it fared notably better among handset makers on a global (i.e., smartphone and feature phone) level. According to Strategy Analytics, the Finnish manufacturer shipped 417.1 million handsets for the full year, 113.5 million of which were shipped during the fourth quarter of last year. For the year, Nokia accounted for 26.9 percent of the market, followed by Samsung, which shipped 327.4 million units shipped during 2011 and finished with a 23.1 percent market share. As for Apple, it accounted for 8.3 percent of the market in Q4 (its best showing, according to Strategy's metrics), with 37 million quarterly shipments. You can find more details in the pair of press releases after the break, or at the source link below.

Sometimes we like to tell ourselves it's not, but in the end, it's all about the Benjamins. We tried to get someone named Benjamin on this podcast to underscore this point, but, you know, he had other plans. Tune in for this special Rich Dad, Poor Dad edition of the Engadget Podcast: we'll let you decide which dad is which.

Host: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater, Dana Wollman
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Longview

01:14 - RIM's Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are out, new CEO Thorsten Heins may license BlackBerry 10
12:01 - Google updates ToS, shares your data across its services (video)
18:42 - Apple announces Q1 earnings, sets quarterly record with $46.33 billion in revenue
21:14 - Apple's Q1 hardware sales: 37 million iPhones, 15.43 million iPads, 5.2 million Macs, 15.4 million iPods
30:50 - Microsoft paid Nokia $250 million to adopt Windows Phone, Q4 earnings report reveals
42:23 - Netflix Q4 results: 220k new streaming-only customers, beats earnings estimates (Update: no game rentals coming)
47:30 - Nintendo releases quarterly earnings report: 61 percent drop in profit, grim forecast
55:25 - HP: Open webOS 1.0 arriving in September, Enyo 2.0 framework free to developers today
58:32 - Listener questions






Hear the podcast

Subscribe to the podcast

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace

Download the podcast

LISTEN (MP3)
LISTEN (AAC)

Contact the podcast

Send your questions to @tim_stevens.
Leave us a voicemail: (423) 438-3005 (GADGET-3005)
E-mail us: podcast at engadget dot com
Twitter: @bheater, @tim_stevens, @danawollman