In the market for a beastly portable gaming rig that won’t break the bank? Origin PC today announced availability of its EON15-S and EON17-S gaming laptops, with pricing starting at $1,525 and $1,576, respectively. You’ll of course still be able to hand over an arm and a leg depending on how you opt to build out your system, but considering that the base model is priced at nearly half the amount its predecessor was when it was announced this time last year, we imagine additions will wield a softer blow than they did in 2011. Both systems include Intel HM77 Ivy Bridge chipsets, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M, 670M or 675M graphics with Optimus power-conservation technology, and a 5.1 ONKYO surround sound system. Both cases offer unique designs, with black, red, silver or custom finishes, and a colorful backlit keyboard. What else could you possibly need? Perhaps a press release and a few more pictures — and we’ve got both for you right here.

Continue reading Origin PC EON15-S and EON17-S gaming laptops available now, priced from $1,525

Origin PC EON15-S and EON17-S gaming laptops available now, priced from $1,525 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Apr 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Origin PC EON15-S and EON17-S gaming laptops available now, priced from $1,525

Krystalo writes “The hacktivist group Anonymous today hacked multiple UK government websites over the country’s ‘draconian surveillance proposals’ and ‘derogation of civil rights.’ At the time of writing, the following websites were taken down: homeoffice.gov.uk, number10.gov.uk, and justice.gov.uk. The group is not pleased with the UK government’s plans to monitor Internet users.”

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Anonymous Hacks UK Government Sites Over 'Draconian Surveillance'

An anonymous reader writes “Facebook already shares its Law Enforcement Guidelines publicly, but we’ve never actually seen the data Menlo Park sends over to the cops when it gets a formal subpoena for your profile information. Now we know. This appears to be the first time we get to see what a Facebook account report looks like. The document was released by the The Boston Phoenix as part of a lengthy feature titled ‘Hunting the Craigslist Killer,’ which describes how an online investigation helped officials track down Philip Markoff. The man committed suicide, which meant the police didn’t care if the Facebook document was published elsewhere, after robbing two women and murdering a third.”

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Here's What Facebook Sends the Cops In Response To a Subpoena

Rumors relating to a new Kindle, or three, land in our inbox with surprising frequency, but when they come from our brethren at TechCrunch, we’ll definitely give it a listen. Devin Coldewey reports how he was lucky enough to snatch a glance at an in-development Kindle, which sports an illuminated screen. Amazon’s purchase of Finnish firm Oy Modilis, which has a quiver of patents pertaining to lighting technology, adds credence to the idea that an e-reader with some form of lighting could be in the works, and Coldewey thinks he’s seen it. He says tapping the screen reveals a slider that, when dragged to the right, “lit up evenly with a rather cool light.” Importantly — for eyes and batteries alike — the light is said to be softer, and of a gentler blue-white color, compared to the harsh white common in LCDs. The loose-lipped wielder of this device claims that the industrial design isn’t finished yet, but did hint at a 2012 release. We’re not holding our breath, but the chance to do away with additional light accessories, is definitely enough to have us keep our fingers crossed.

Illuminated Kindle e-readers could arrive this year, also, might not originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Apr 2012 09:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Illuminated Kindle e-readers could arrive this year, also, might not

Ready to suspend your brain cells in a superposition of disbelief? Good, because the latest news published in Nature is that diamonds are a quantum computer‘s best friend — particularly if they’re flawed. An international team of scientists sought out sub-atomic impurities in a 1mm-thick fragment of over-priced carbon and used these as qubits to perform successful calculations. A “rogue” nitrogen nucleus provided one qubit, while a free electron became a second. Unlike previous attempts at solid-state quantum computing, this new effort used an extra technique to protect the system from decoherence errors: microwave pulses were fired at the electron qubit to “time-reverse” inconsistencies in its spinning motion. Don’t fully get it? Us neither. In any case, it probably won’t stop jewellers tut-tutting to themselves.

Flawed diamonds are perfect ingredients for quantum computing, just add time travel originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Apr 2012 06:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Flawed diamonds are perfect ingredients for quantum computing, just add time travel

Lenovo’s ICS, 42-inch K71 smart TV going on sale by month’s end in China originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Apr 2012 02:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo’s ICS, 42-inch K71 smart TV going on sale by month’s end in China

MyWi gets friendlier with iOS 5, brings faster connection speeds and improved reliability originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MyWi gets friendlier with iOS 5, brings faster connection speeds and improved reliability

We’ve just received word of a spicy strategy change, to be enacted this Sunday, that’s sure to please the AT&T iPhone-loving masses. On Easter, select Ma’ Bell customers with iPhones — those off-contract with accounts in good standing — will be able to request a carrier unlock for their device. Once freed, any micro-SIM can be used — provided its carrier’s frequencies are supported — by the smartphone. An AT&T spokesperson was able to confirm that “a policy change concerning iPhones” would indeed be rolled-out on Sunday, but declined to elaborate further. That sound you hear? International Love, being quietly spun from the corner office of Ralph de la Vega.

[Thanks, John Crawford]

Here’s AT&T’s official statement on the matter:

Beginning Sunday, April 8, we will offer qualifying customers the ability to unlock their AT&T iPhones. The only requirements are that a customer’s account must be in good standing, their device cannot be associated with a current and active term commitment on an AT&T customer account, and they need to have fulfilled their contract term, upgraded under one of our upgrade policies or paid an early termination fee.

AT&T to begin unlocking off-contract iPhones this Sunday, April 8th (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T to begin unlocking off-contract iPhones this Sunday, April 8th (update)

New submitter PhxBeau writes with news of a particular sane judge in a copyright case. Quoting Torrentfreak: “In yet another mass lawsuit against alleged file-sharers, a California court has said that while it’s sympathetic towards the plight of the copyright holder, it will not assist it to identify BitTorrent users. It’s a shame that technology that enables infringement has outpaced technology that prevents it, the judge wrote, but added that his court won’t work with copyright holders who pursue settlement programs with no intention to litigate.”

The core issue is that an IP does not identify more than the bill payer — the good cause standard therefore is not met because the actual infringer is not identified.

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California Judge Denies Discovery In Bittorrent Case