SlingPlayer 2.0 was announced way back at CES 2007 (and, uh, re-announced this year) and it looks you'll finally be able to get a taste, public beta style -- but only a taste, since it's missing its most hyped feature, Clip+Sling. If you'll recall, C+S was supposed to let you nab up to 5 minutes of content and share it online with your friends, but it looks like only the local DVR features have made the cut, so while we're still excited about the new 60-minute buffer and EPG, it's not all we've been promised. On the bright side, the holdup isn't technical, it's legal, so once all the appropriate networkd partnerships and contracts have been signed, you'll be clipping and slinging like there's no tomorrow. Other minor changes include a tweaked UI (skin support has been dropped) and (finally!) the death of Slingbox Finder IDs in favor of user accounts. Windows-only for now, with a video demo after the break -- let us know how you're doing in comments!

Read - Slingcommunity announcement
Read - Dave Zatz's take

The 2008 Beijing Olympics -- the first covered entirely in high definition, with super slow-motion cameras and 3,600 hours of coverage, online and on TV -- approach. Think you're ready to get the most out of the Games, and maybe, just maybe catch the event you actually want to watch live as it happens? Head over to Engadget HD and get the full rundown on the different ways the Games are coming home and how to take advantage of them all.

We've been hearing about InPhase Technologies' Tapestry 300GB holographic storage disks since 2005, but we've never actually seen the product in action, even though the company has been promising ship dates the whole time -- and now it looks like we might never get the chance, as the company has apparently laid off "roughly half" of its workforce. The cuts are reportedly blamed on CEO Nelson Diaz refusing to listen to roadmaps from his engineers and setting unrealistic schedules -- hmm, you think that might be a problem after nearly three years of missed launch dates? There's still a chance we'll actually see these things make it out of the labs, but we're not holding out hope -- and we've got a feeling physical media might actually be dead when that happens.

[Thanks, Meno]

We're still trying to figure out exactly how Nokia intends to position the N85 slider in its Nseries lineup, and frankly, the FCC documentation that's been outed for it isn't helping much. Seems there are two versions of the thing: one with no 3G -- likely for China -- and another with WCDMA on the 900, 1900, and 2100MHz frequencies. That little dose of 1900 in there will be enough to give owners partial access to 3G while out 'n about in the colonies, but by and large, the phone appears destined for Europe where 2100 (and to a lesser extent, 900) is the name of the game. Both do quadband EDGE, so at the very least, you'll be able to roam the better part of the globe and get some semblance of coverage -- just don't expect it to be particularly speedy everywhere you go. To be fair, Espoo's been getting pretty good about crafting special versions of its hottest handsets that are ripe for North American use, so we're not giving up hope just yet that there's a third version floating out there.

[Via Cell Phone Signal]

Finally, purifying the air in your home doesn't have to make your pad look like it was ripped from the pages of the SkyMall catalog. A Korean company called Daan has introduced a new purifier that gets the job done while actually looking somewhat stylish. The devices suck up dust and cat hair in a 161 sq. ft. space, but are modular in nature, allowing you to stack multiple units on a stand for cleaning larger spaces (they can also be separated and moved to smaller rooms). Home electronics-maker Coway will apparently manufacture the device, but we don't have a word on street date or price. Sure, they may still be killing you slowly, but at least they'll look good while doing it.

[Thanks, Tony]

We've seen a couple tiny / portable RAID enclosures, but Addonics's new Portable Dual Drive enclosure is the smallest we've seen so far, with a compact stacked design that allows you to easily swap drives. The eSATA / USB 2.0 box supports RAID 0/1 and several other disk configs, and Addonics is hyping compatibility with SATA-to-CF adapters that'll let you build a crazy SSD RAID. Out now for $99.

The last we heard of the ThinkPad X200 Tablet, it was hiding out in Hong Kong, but the little 'vert is starting pop up in the States here and there as well -- check out this compatibility listing for the X200 UltraBase docking station. Yep, there it is in black and white: X200 Tablet. Sadly that's all there is, but y'all can't deny it -- the X200 Tablet is about to start ridin'.

[Thanks, LPD; Warning: Link is to PDF]

It's taken more than a year, but Verizon has just officially announced that it has completed its purchase of Rural Cellular, which you may also know by its business name, Unicel. This latest announcement follows a conditional approval from the FCC earlier this week, which required one of the two companies to sell licenses in six markets in order to "improve competition" -- a compromise Verizon seems to have been more than willing to accept. All told, Verizon will be forking over $2.66 billion in cash and assumed debt for the company, which will increase its customer base by more than 625,000, and expand its coverage area by 4.7 million people, including markets in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

Wipe those tears away, budding astronaut. SpaceX's latest failure wasn't completely in vain. According to head honcho Elon Musk, the problem came just after a "picture perfect first stage flight" when a longer than expected thrust decay transient of the new Merlin 1C regeneratively cooled engine became "just enough to overcome the stage separation pusher impulse." You honestly may need to be a rocket scientist to digest all of that, but here's something even the layman can understand: Musk wants flight 4 in the air as early as next month. We're told that the long gap between flights 2 and 3 was simply due to all that engine engineering, but technologically speaking, nothing will change for the next attempt. Godspeed, Falcon 1 (v4).

[Thanks, Kenneth]

It's arriving a month later than anticipated, but at least it's arriving (we hope). According to a first look at PhysX on NVIDIA's GeForce cards, The Tech Report is reporting (ahem) that the graphical outfit will dish out new drivers that add PhysX support on August 12th. The new software will allow owners of GeForce 8, GeForce 9 and GeForce GTX 200-series cards to use PhysX acceleration without shelling out any additional coinage, which means that you all will surely be giving it a shot just for kicks, right? Keep next Tuesday clear -- you and Unreal Tournament 3 have a date, like it or not.

[Via UberReview]

According to iPhone Atlas and iPhone hacker-extraordinaire Jonathan Zdziarski, Apple has readied a blacklisting system which allows the company to remotely disable applications on your device. Apparently, the new 2.x firmware contains a URL which points to a page containing a list of "unauthorized" apps -- a move which suggests that the device makes occasional contact with Apple's servers to see if anything is amiss on your phone. In Jonathan's words:

"This suggests that the iPhone calls home once in a while to find out what applications it should turn off. At the moment, no apps have been blacklisted, but by all appearances, this has been added to disable applications that the user has already downloaded and paid for, if Apple so chooses to shut them down.

I discovered this doing a forensic examination of an iPhone 3G. It appears to be tucked away in a configuration file deep inside CoreLocation."

Now honestly, we don't expect the folks in Cupertino to suddenly start turning off apps that you've paid for and downloaded, but if Apple is indeed monitoring iPhones or touches (even passively) for applications it doesn't want or like, it signals a problem deeper than a company simply wanting to sign-off on software for the device. Even on platforms like Symbian -- which calls for apps to be signed and traceable -- the suggestion that a process of the OS would actively monitor, report on, and possibly deactivate your device's software is unreasonable, and clearly presents an issue that the company will have to deal with sooner or later. Oh, and Apple -- we're not going to buy the "for your security" angle, so don't even bother.

[Via Mac Rumors]

Read - iPhone can phone home and kill apps?
Read - Apple's URL with "unathorized applications" string

Thanks to an early jump in Japan, we already knew that Canon's VIXIA line was getting a refresh, but now we can rest easy knowing they'll be coming to America. The HF11 Dual Flash camcorder (32GB in addition to an SDHC slot) and HG20 (60GB) / HG21 (120GB) HDD camcorders all boast 1,920 x 1,080 capture modes, Instant AutoFocus, SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization and 24Mbps recording to the AVCHD format. The whole lot is expected to ship next month for $1,199, $949 and $1,299 in order of mention, and the increasingly intriguing HF11 has already spent some quality time on Camcorder Info's review bench. Check out the in-depth writeup below before pulling that trigger in the heat of the moment.

[Thanks, Robin]

Read - Canon VIXIA releases
Read - Canon VIXIA HF11 review