Yep, new MacBook part numbers are in Best Buy’s database
Monday, February 25th, 2008Posted Feb 25th 2008 4:21PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Laptops
Our tip jar, it brings us so much joy — and it brings you, dear reader, this printout of what’s purported to be the Best Buy database listing for one of those heretofore-unknown MacBook model numbers. You’ll note that whatever MB402LL/A turns out to be, it’s said to be in stock on March 2nd, which is just a few days away — but also note that current MacBook Pros have MA-series model numbers, while the regular MacBook has traditionally carried the MB designation. That’s interesting, but we doubt a $1,999 MacBook is about to surface — besides, the current MacBook box is 15 inches square, smaller than the 17 inches listed here. (Yes, we measured.) As always, we’ll see when we see — come on Tuesday, you’re almost here.
There’s no love lost between Nokia and Qualcomm — the two companies have been suing each other willy-nilly for a year and half now — but it looks like they’ve agreed to stop the vicious procedural and technical legal maneuvering that’s marked the dispute so far and make a go at actually resolving some issues. That’s right, after filing nearly a dozen lawsuits and engaging in an endless war of paperwork, the two companies have agreed to sit down with their arbitrator and figure out who owes who how much, and who gets the 
Last we saw Panasonic’s P905i handhset it was was bunched in between a slew of other phones NTT DoCoMo was touting, but now that the phone is finally on sale it’s getting the spotlight to itself for a little while. In case you missed it, the real stand-out feature on this one is the phone’s Viera image processing and 3.5 inch, 854 x 480 screen, which should get put to good use thanks to the ample supply of PMP features including, of course, a 1seg TV tuner. Otherwise you can expect the usual 3G capabilities, along with a 2 megapixel camera, 1GB of built-in memory, and support for the DCMX iD mobile banking service. No word on a price just yet, but you can probably guess if it’s in your budget or not.
We’ve already seen plenty of prototypes of Menlow-based handhelds (or MIDs), but it looks like Germany’s Lippert Embedded Computers is among the first to put together a finalized version of the core component of said devices, with it now showing off its CoreExpress-Menlow module. Aimed at everything from automotive to medical to point-of-service devices (in addition to more consumer-minded handhelds), this board measures just 2.6 x 2.3-inches and packs the expected Silverthorne processor, along with some soldered on RAM, built-in WiFi and GPS, and support for a number of different storage options, among other shrunk-down features. No word on pricing or availability just yet, however, although Lippert will apparently have more to say about that at the Embedded World 2008 trade show later this week. 
Remember the Six Million Dollar Man TV series many years ago? That dude was fitted with all sorts of bionic stuff, and he really had it going on with bionic woman. I wonder whether they share oil instead of spit while engaged in some hot tongue action, but I digress. Six million bucks doesn’t really amount up to much these days no thanks to inflation and a rapidly falling dollar - and many people are already decked out in jewelry and other accessories that cost way more than that amount. Still, it would be nice to see humans being fitted with bionic body parts which feel just like the real thing, offering superior athletic performance minus the side effect of steroids. This bionic arm is currently in development at the John Hopkins University courtesy of a contract offered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
