When the Optimus 2X was announced a few days ago, North America was conspicuously left out of the nebulous launch plans mentioned in the press release -- but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not coming. RCR Wireless says it has it on "rather good authority" that LG's beastly Tegra 2-powered Android phone will in fact see a US launch, and that said launch will be on T-Mobile in late February (which would be right after MWC) or early March. Considering how aggressively T-Mobile has been pushing Android dating all the way back to the G1, we tend to believe it -- and between the dual-core processor, HSPA+, and the promise of a Gingerbread update in the works, this could easily hang with the HTC Mechas and Motorola Olympuses of the world (likely launching on Verizon and AT&T, respectively) over the next few months.

You know that Verizon FiOS iPad app we spied back in August, the one that streamed TV and VOD content? Nope, still not here -- check back 2011. Want to use your Apple slate as a giant remote for your (HD) set-top box, browsing TV / VOD listings and remotely programming DVRs? Set parental controls and bookmarks, even update your STB names? Look no further than the iTunes store; all it's gonna cost you is 3MB of space.

At this point, we all have a serious question to ask: is there anything the Kinect can't do? While Microsoft has managed to move quite a few of the camera-laden tubes, a good amount of 'em have been put to use in applications not named gaming. Take the Virtopsy Project, for instance. This particular setup uses the Kinect camera bar to control a PACS system (OsiriX, in this case), and it relies on software based on "ofxKinect, libfreenect and open frameworks." That's a lot of technobabble for sure, but as they say, the proof is in the YouTube video. Ever dreamed of swirling medical images around with hand gestures? Head on down and mash play -- fantasyland awaits.

Say hello to the future of DVRs, at least from Comcast, as its as-yet unannounced Xfinity Spectrum box passed through the FCC's database shortly after having its existence revealed by the Wall Street Journal. A quick peek at the production-ready manual reveals there's plenty of new features here, including a new guide design including IMDB-style cast & crew info as well as access to internet services. While it's hardware makes this Pace RNG-210n a 500GB HD DVR with four tuners, MoCA and IP access, one of the biggest changes is a software makeover means it pops up notifications prompted by your Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Configurable at Xfinity.com/Spectrum, it looks like it will only pull in information when people you follow share pictures, video, or link to info about TV shows and movies, with "most" viewable right on the box itself, plus the option to share what you're watching on those services. There's less details available about that "apps" section of the menu but weather, traffic, music and games are promised, take a quick peek at the most interesting sections including a look at the guide, remote and box in our gallery or check out the FCC filings yourself for more details -- it's hard to tell if the changes will make all our issues with cable provided set tops go away, but pretty much any new guide has to be better than what's there now, right?

[Thanks, cypherstream]

Over the years of idle channel surfing and menu browsing you've surely developed some finely-honed IR shootin' skills, knowing which surfaces will and will not reflect the signals from your under-powered universal remote control as you try to bounce that beam around a pile of magazines and soda cans on the coffee table. Those skills are on a fast-track to obsolescence thanks to the new ZigBee Input Device standard, which finally could bring all TV remote controls to the world of RF wholesale. Well, it could, if it finds more success than the already existing ZigBee Remote Control spec has managed. The new Input Device standard builds on that, said to require less juice than IR so those tired and mismatched AAs could last even longer. It'll also work with mice and keyboards and the like, but naturally we're most optimistic for remotes, even though this comes a little too late to let us turn off our PS3s with our Harmonys.

Well, this is certainly an interesting, if not bewildering rumor. Obviously, we've heard that HP is working on webOS tablets for 2011 -- it's planning to double down on Palm OS, remember? -- but our friend Clayton Morris at Fox News has heard that some of these PalmPads could be coming as early as CES in just two weeks. So, what's said to be coming? Apparently, HP will introduce three tablets based on webOS 2.5.1, but the very puzzling part is that they will be "spin-offs" of the HP Slate, and as you can see in the image above, are said to look almost identical to the current Slate. Yeah, it even seems like that Ctrl + Alt + Delete button and slide-out certification tab are still present, though we're told there's also a Pre-like "multi-switch." We're highly skeptical of that image being a true render of the hardware since it's exactly the same as older HP Slate service manual line drawings (check one out below), but according to the report, the trio of PalmPads will be thinner than the iPad with rounded edges, pack Sprint 4G connectivity, weigh 1.25-pounds, have both mini-HDMI and USB 3.0 ports, and at least one will have a 9.7-inch display. Also, just like the HP Slate, there'll be two cameras -- a front-facing 1.3 megapixel lens and a 3 megapixel rear-facing unit. Lastly, there's said to be a straggling fourth tablet aimed at university students, though it apparently won't be on hand at CES.

We're obviously very intrigued by the specs -- USB 3.0, really?! -- and the fact that HP may not change the look and feel of the Slate all that much, but we'd be very very surprised if this were all to happen at CES. Firstly, we've heard a number of times that HP wasn't planning to release a tablet until later in 2011, and to wait this long to simply slap webOS into the HP Slate's shell seems almost foolish. What's more, repurposing the Slate means HP either ported webOS to Intel and threw battery life out the window, or completely swapped out the Slate's Intel-based internals for an ARM chipset without changing the exterior design at all. Needless to say, both options seem like completely inefficient and muddled ways to get a tablet onto the market.

On top of all that we feel obligated to point out that we've yet to receive an invitation to any sort of HP / Palm event at CES -- in past years, we've received invitations to both Palm and HP events long before the middle of December -- and we've been reliably informed that HP's floor presence at the show is smaller than in recent years. That just doesn't seem like you'd blow out a huge four-device tablet launch, does it? Rest assured that we'll clear our schedules for an HP / Palm event in a second, but something about an early January reveal just isn't adding up right now.

Nilay Patel contributed to this post.

When first announced, we had fears that the new NVIDIA GeForce GT 500M-series graphics would be little more than a tweak of a clock speed here and a new sticker there, as the specs of the 540M (96 CUDA cores, 128-bit memory interface) match the 435M series bit-for-bit. But, a Notebook Journal review of the first laptop to bear NVIDIA's latest, the Acer Aspire 5742G, finds that the performance boost is tangible. "Much stronger," even, scoring 8315 points in 3DMark 06 -- a good bit higher than the 435M scores we've seen. The laptop otherwise is said to be quite a powerhouse, with a massive 8GB of DDR3 memory onboard, but it's a gentle machine too, Optimus letting the thing run cool and long (up to five hours on a charge) when you're not getting your frag on. Indeed it's deemed the most powerful notebook you can buy for €700, and while that translates to roughly $920, we'll have to see what Acer decides to charge when it comes Stateside.

[Thanks, Markus]

Lookin' to straddle the fence with your next laptop purchase? Or maybe you're just lookin' to conserve battery life when not picking off enemies in Counter-Strike. Either way, Digital Storm's new xm15 (not to be confused with Alienware's M15x) can satisfy the yearning, as the $999 base configuration comes equipped with a 2.4GHz Core i5-520M, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 320GB HDD and NVIDIA's GT 425M (1GB). Naturally, Intel's integrated graphics chipset is also included for less demanding times, and if you're in need of a little more oomph, a $1,086 build jumps to a 2.53GHz Core i5-540M and a $1,367 model steps up to a 2.8GHz Core i7-640M. 'Course, far nicer editions are available if you're got the cash to customize, but we'll leave all that between you and your wallet. And whoever fills your wallet.

Well, no surprises here -- the FCC just passed a set of limited net neutrality rules by a 3-2 vote. The three Democratic Commissioners, including FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, voted yes, while the two Republican Commissioners both strongly dissented -- to quote Commissioner Meredith Baker, "I really, really, really dissent." The rules haven't been made public yet, but the general understanding is that wired broadband will be more heavily regulated than wireless -- a crucial point as carriers begin investigating pay-per-service charges. That means even net neutrality advocates are unhappy with today's decision -- Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps straight-up said, "Today's action could -- and should -- have gone further." What's more, we're hearing that Verizon is already considering a challenge -- which is odd since the rules appear to track closely with that joint Verizon / Google proposal from the summer. We're still waiting on the full text of the rules and will post a complete breakdown once we get them, but for now hit the source link and check out Genachowski's remarks on the regulations.

P.S. - Need a net neutrality refresher? Check out this awesome (and educational) animation and interview with Columbia law professor Tim Wu!

Palm promised that webOS 2.0 would hit all of its devices in the "coming months," and it looks like work is trucking right along -- we were just sent these shots of the updated OS running in beta form on the original Sprint Palm Pre. Obviously there's not much here that we didn't pore over in our exhaustive webOS 2.0 review, but we're noting the addition of voice dialing and some preferences for the screensaver-like Exhibition View -- we're told just the time works right now, but photos, agenda view, and Facebook are all listed.

Interestingly, this first beta is labeled "HP webOS Nova-Barley" and carries the version number of 2.0.1, with builds for the unlocked Pre and AT&T / Verizon Pre Plus also available -- the Pixi and Pre 2 variants of this build haven't been completed. Performance is said to be solid, although "not fast enough," and things are a little buggy, which makes sense for a first beta. The final build that goes out as an OTA update will apparently be version 2.1, although that's not totally confirmed yet -- we're told that there are references to a "Nova-Barleywine" in the code, but it's not clear if that's another 2.x version or something else entirely. Yes, it's all very exciting, but unfortunately none of this is what we really want: new phones and new tablets. Let's get cracking, Palm.

Sleep. It's where some get to relax, some get to be comfortable, and some get to be a Viking. But, for others, that overnight period can be a stressful time, full of tossing and turning and mornings highlighted only by ground beans and hot showers. For those unhappy souls there are ever more dreamtime gadgets working to help the situation and turn morning monsters into drowsy-eyed angels, devices like the FitBit, and latest among them is WakeMate, a $60 accelerometer-having wristband that charts your nocturnal sleep patterns. Sadly, we've found it can also be responsible for some early morning spikes to our blood pressure.

Couldn't stay up till 12:37AM? We'll forgive you... in time. Thankfully, the wonders of the internet are enabling you to travel back to catch our own Josh Topolsky's holiday jam party with Late Night's Jimmy Fallon. The duo ran through a gauntlet of gadgets, including B&N's Nook Color, Samsung's Galaxy Tab, D-Link's Boxee Box, Apple's MacBook Air, Dell's Venue Pro and the Gingerbread-equipped Nexus S. Also appearing: teenage jokes, visions of a lunar eclipse, legally / illegally downloaded content and the Nexus X. Yeah, the X. See what we mean in the pair of videos just past the break.

Surely you haven't forgotten about Clamcase! Merely 14 hours after Apple introduced the iPad, someone on Clamcase's staff filed a patent application for the device you're peering at above. Between then and now, a smattering of iPad keyboard cases have come to light, but quite a few folks have apparently been waiting for the original to materialize. This week, the company opened up the pre-order hotline for the device, hawking it for the not-exactly-bargain-bin price of $119. It's available in any color you want, so long as it's black, and if all goes well it'll hit the shipping docks next month. It's definitely the nicest of the bunch based on pictures alone, and it's not like it'll have to try awfully hard to beat the rivals that have already let us down. So, what's it going to be? You in for one?

Update: Thanks to a snazzy gift card, it's just $99 for a limited time.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Not looking to go all out with a DLNA-ready NAS or dedicated media player to get some streaming started on your home network? Then you might be able to get by with something like Planex's new MZK-SNG02US device, which packs a single USB port and an SD card slot, and basically acts as DLNA-enabled bridge between your storage media and your router. Unfortunately, it looks like this one is only available in Japan at the moment, and its ¥8,000 (or $95) price tag places it a bit closer to some of those aforementioned dedicated devices than we would have liked. We're guessing that will get knocked down a bit if and when it's released (and most likely rebadged) over here, though.

Speakers? Oh yeah. Wires? Heck no. Aluratek has launched three new wireless audio products collectively called Bump -- though somehow a wired model got lumped in there too. A bit of a step from the company's previous digi frame and e-reader offerings, the four tune-pumping solutions start with the $49.99 AMS01F, a wee boombox that plays music from SD, line-in, or FM and does six hours on a charge. The $79.99 AUWS01F ditches the media player functionality, relying on a signal sent from a 2.4GHz USB dongle that you stick in your nearest PC or Mac (within 60 feet) that has some tunes on it. Next is the $99.99 AWS01F, basically the AMS01F boombox with the addition of a separate wireless speaker. Finally, if you're not ready to cut the cord, there's the $19.99 APS01F, a single little tweeter with a 3.5mm cable sprouting from below. They're all available now, so you know what to do.

Update: Seems these are a rebadge. Welp, at least you've got another option.