Filed under: Announcements

You’ve already heard our impassioned plea; we won’t go over that again. You know all the details of the challenge; we’re not going to rehash them here. This is just a quick heads up that today is your last chance to contribute to the Engadget Energizes Education charity drive on DonorsChoose.org, as well as a gentle reminder that we’re still far from our goal. Forty-nine generous souls have banded together to donate almost $6,800 as of this writing, funding a variety of projects that will impact over one thousand disadvantaged public school children. But our goal is $25,000, meaning that as it stands, thousands of additional students will go without the critical technology they need to start life on an even playing field. Please, do whatever you can to help this worthy cause reach as many young lives as possible. Thanks for your time, and your selflessness.

Update: The challenge has been extended by 24 hours, although we’re sure you’ll be rushing to click the link below anyway…

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Kmart loves the Toshiba HD-A2 player’s $200 price, so they’re going exclusive with it, meaning no set top Blu-ray players. Makes sense, considering Kmart’s market. Of course, this isn’t really exclusive while the PS3 is on shelves with it’s Blu-ray capability. So don’t read into this too much. The format war isn’t close to being over, although this will certainly help HD-DVD. And considering that those new hybrid disc players are coming, it may not matter for those willing to shell the bucks. [Home Media Mag]

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Halloween is all about dressing up, and if you’re not so into dressing yourself up, there’s no way you won’t enjoy dressing up Microsoft honcho and complete madman Steve Ballmer. This shouldn’t be as fun as it is, it really shouldn’t. I made Ballmer look like a ballerina! Ah-haw-haw-haw! [Joy of Tech]

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

We realize what day it is, but we’re pretty certain the FCC isn’t messing around on this one. Right on cue, regulators have “approved a rule that would ban exclusive agreements that cable television operators have with apartment buildings, opening up competition for other video providers that could eventually lead to lower prices.” The move was apparently “unanimously approved,” and Chairman Kevin Martin went on to say that there was simply “no reason that consumers living in apartment buildings should be locked into one service provider.” Not surprisingly, a spokeswoman for Comcast proclaimed that “many consumers were likely to wind up paying more for services if the FCC’s interference in the competitive marketplace stands,” but it’s fairly safe to assume Verizon and AT&T see things very differently.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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By Andrew LiszewskiA Korean company by the name of MIRAEPLASMA has just released a set of super thin stereo film speakers called the MP-170. The speakers use a special plasma technology, which is presumably what allows them to be so thin. They’re also designed to be used with a desktop computer and can be made […]

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