HP TopShot LaserJet Pro M275 scans 3D objects but only prints in 2D

For some reason, HP thinks your small business really needs the ability to scan 3D objects -- which is why it is releasing the TopShot LaserJet Pro. "TopShot" is the fancy name for the all-in-one's overhanging arm with a high resolution camera, which combines six images (three with flashes from different angles, and three in ambient light conditions with different exposure levels) to mimic a studio-like product shot. What's more, thanks to the Biz Card app, the TopShot can scan and import multiple business cards simultaneously. Also included are Google Documents integration and cloud apps as well as the usual ePrint and AirPrint features, which you can run without a computer on the 3.5-inch touchscreen.

AirPlay-enabled Music Tap systems touted by Pioneer, free us from living room control

Had your eye on an AirPlay accessory for your iPhone or iPod touch? Well, Pioneer is looking to help you pull the trigger on one. The company has announced a new set of AirPlay Music Tap systems that enable access to your music library without being chained to a peripheral. By connecting one of these bad boys to your home WiFi or ethernet network, you'll be able to access your entire iTunes library in various locations throughout your home -- 'course, having Apple's free Remote app will ensure maximum utility. Other features include a 2.5-inch full-color LCD display, Pandora, iHeartRadio, vTuner internet radio and Air Jam, which allows for playlist sharing on your arsenal of the company's Music Tap systems. When this pair drops in October, you'll have your choice of the X-SMC-3-S for $400 or the more dapper, bluetooth-enabled X-SMC4-Elite for $480.

White PS3 coming to Europe and Australia in November

There's nothing a like an (almost) fresh and exciting color variant to make us totally forget about the PS4. Besides, this little dazzler will come with a 320GB HDD and two equally white Dualshock controllers, which means you'll only have to spray-paint your PS3 Move, headset, external drive, wheel and eyebrows to match. Look out for it at GameStop in the UK, Germany and possibly other Euro nations too, as well as at Electronic Boutique in Australia from November 1st

Broadcom buys NetLogic Microsystems for $3.7b in cash, hopes to add more processors to lineup

You've probably never heard of NetLogic Microsystems, but you can bet that its technologies may very well end up in your next smartphone, tablet or vehicle. Broadcom has just announced its intentions to pick up the aforesaid company for a cool $3.7 billion in cash, with the "definitive merger agreement" already approved by the boards of both. According to Broadcom, the deal will extend its portfolio with "a number of critical new product lines and technologies, including knowledge-based processors, multi-core embedded processors, and digital front-end processors," and according to a televised CNBC interview with president and CEO Scott McGregor, he's hoping to extend Broadcom's reach in the automotive industry. His view? We're getting dangerously close to streaming television (and more) to a serious quantity of motorcars, but beyond wild aspirations, there doesn't seem to be too many hard plans being made public.

Fusion Garage hacks $200 off of Grid 10 tablet, aims to play the undercutting game

Looks like we're all indebted to HP in one way or another. Since the TouchPad fire sale began, we've seen a noticeable southward shift in tablet pricing -- it's as if iPad rivals finally figured out that battling on price was just about the only way to make a dent in Apple's enviable market share. Now, we're seeing Fusion Garage wipe a full $200 from its Grid 10 tablet... before the thing even ships. If you'll recall, the outfit was aiming for a September 15th release date here in the States, with initial pricing for its 16GB model set for $499 (WiFi-only) / $599 (WiFi + 3G). Out of the blue, those pre-order rates have plummeted to $299 / $399 this morning, giving prospective Grid OS adopters entirely more motivation to buy in. It seems that Amazon hasn't received the memo quite yet, so those hoping to get in the low-cost line should scurry down to the source link. Naturally, we'll be bringing you a full-on review as soon as we procure one, and we're guessing that just became a lot more relevant to your interests.

Update: A Fusion Garage spokesperson told Engadget that the company had planned to launch with the lower price all along, but negotiations with an ODM made it impossible to announce the price earlier. The company also added that the Grid 10 will experience a slight shipping delay, being pushed back to October 1st due to a "new criteria in [the] Adobe Flash Player (FP) 10.3 approval process."

Engadget's smartphone buyer's guide: fall 2011 edition

Shopping for a new smartphone is an exciting and arduous experience. It holds the promise of something better and the fear of a two-year commitment. For gadget enthusiasts, it also involves pouring over specs and reviews, and fretting over what's coming out in the near-term. As we publish this buyer's guide, we face potential upheavals in the mobile space. Samsung's Galaxy S II lineup will arrive at three major US carriers, the next iPhone perpetually looms in the distance, and a new generation of Windows Phone handsets is close upon us. You might ask, "Why would anyone buy a smartphone today, when something better is coming tomorrow?" Friends, that's the blessing and curse of the mobile world -- there's always something better coming. You can't wait forever, though, and if you want to purchase a smartphone today, we're here to make the process easier and help you make an informed decision.

While our choices are sometimes contentious, they're backed with experience that you can rely upon. If you're looking to make a quick decision without much effort, you can rest assured that our selections won't steer you wrong. Still, we encourage you to educate yourself before you decide on a smartphone that best fits your needs. Our Primed series is an excellent place to start, where you can learn about dual-core processors and mobile displays. As always, you're encouraged to share your own experience in the comments, and we hope you have fun listing your own favorites, too. Just remember that we have an $80 ceiling for our budget selections. Compared to our previous buyer's guide, Samsung has begun to lose ground, and while Android maintains dominance, it's found some unexpected competition. Curious to see how it played out? Read on, as we round up the best smartphones of the day.

We're live from Microsoft Build 2011!

There's been a lot of speculation surrounding what's going down at this week's Microsoft Build developers conference, and now we're here, in the land of the cartoon mouse (that's right -- right around the corner from Disneyland), hoping to get to the bottom of all the Windows 8 talk. We've already been privy to a number of previews and teases and even caught a quick glimpse of a handful of ARM-equipped Windows 8 development devices. We've reported on an upcoming Windows 8 App Store, a WP7-style Start Menu and, most recently, some super speedy boot times. All of these are part of a much bigger puzzle, one that's already promised to shake up the Windows brand, but we've yet to get a full reveal. If you ask us, it's about time Microsoft let it all hang out, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens. So keep it locked here for updates from the Anaheim Convention Center -- we promise you won't regret it.

BMW i3 electric and i8 plug-in cars on display at Frankfurt

We've seen 'em as sketches and we've seen 'em having fun on the snow, but now, after getting a few upgrades, they're parked on the stage at Frankfurt. BMW rolled out its new i3 and i8 electric cars, part of a new sub-brand focused on efficiency and responsive driving -- though it'll ultimately be up to the driver to determine just how responsively these behave on the road.

The i3 is a pure electric, 150km range (about 100 miles) and a very lightweight construction of both aluminum and carbon fiber. The i8, meanwhile, is a plug-in hybrid that is said to deliver about 87MPG and yet still get from 0 - 60MPH in under five seconds. Spunky, then. It also sports those funky laser headlights that are both far more efficient and far more awesome sounding than current LED models. This is what they look like in the flesh, and if all goes according to plan you'll be seeing them for yourselves when they enter production in 2013.

Sony announces Walkman Z PMP: 4.3 inches, Tegra 2, Gingerbread and 'Throw'

We already got some brief hands-on time with this Gingerbread-sporting PMP at IFA, where it went by the name of "Walkman Mobile Entertainment Player." Now it's just been announced as the Sony Walkman Z, which rolls off the tongue a whole lot easier. Beneath that 4.3-inch WVGA display lurks a 1GHz Tegra 2, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and a battery rated for 20 hours of music and 5 hours of video. There's HDMI out as well as Sony's Throw feature for pushing media wirelessly to a Bravia TV. Pricing remains "open" apparently, but Sony does commit to availability in Japan from December 10th. You'll get a choice of 16, 32 or 64GB models in either red/black or black/blue, or you can wait for a limited edition white version in early 2012. If you're planning on sending it our way, Sony, then you should know we'll be utterly broke by then.

Microsoft launches Windows 8 developer preview, downloads are live!

We got a taste of Windows 8 back at D9, but the real bounty is waiting in Anaheim. The company's kicking off its Build conference with a full-on developer preview of its next major desktop operating system, still code-named Windows 8 for the time being. According to Steven Sinofsky -- president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft -- the company has "reimagined Windows," bringing about a "new range of capabilities" that coders will begin to dig into sooner rather than later. As we'd seen before, the "Metro-styled" user interface is front-and-center, bringing graphical elements of Windows Phone 7 to desktop, laptop and tablet users of the future. Internet Explorer 10 is also onboard, as well as a focus on "apps" that can communicate with one another, and content that can sync across devices. Folks comfortable in a Win7 environment ought to be right at home here -- Win8 is built on the same foundation, though the retooled Task Manager and Windows Explorer should tickle the average fancy.

The Windows Store will enable devs to hawk their apps to any nation where Windows is sold, and yes, support for ARM-based chipsets is proudly included alongside compatibility with x86 devices. In other words, everything from "10-inch tablets to laptops to all-in-ones with 27-inch HD screens" will be able to ingest Win8 with ease. That's a markedly different take than the folks in Cupertino have expressed, with an (admittedly limiting) mobile OS being chosen to run the tablet side of things. Only time will tell which mantra proves more viable, but we're guessing the both of 'em will find varying levels of success. Microsoft has also confirmed backwards compatibility with "devices and programs" that support Windows 7, and while an exact time has yet to be revealed, we're told that developers will be able to download the Windows Developer Preview via the new Windows Dev Center later this week. Full fact sheets can be seen in the source link below, and our hands-on impressions of the new code can be found right here.

Windows 8 Store to sell both Metro-style apps and conventional Win32 programs

Oh, sure -- you've already started digging into the upcoming Windows Store (or, at least what it'll deliver), but Microsoft just revealed a cute little nugget about its future functionality here at Build 2011. In keeping with its mantra of making Windows 8 a one-size-fits-all affair, the Store will be home to both Metro-style apps (useful for tablets and desktops alike) as well as traditional Win32 programs. You know, like Quicken. The outfit is hoping for this to provide more visibility for the programs that we all grew up on, and so long as the categorization is under control, we're all for it

Medfield-based Android phone shown at IDF 2011, future Android builds to be 'optimized' for Atom

Google's Andy Rubin just came up on stage here at the IDF keynote, joining Intel CEO Paul Otellini who was holding a bona fide Medfield-powered smartphone running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)! Hard to be sure, but the device looks eerily like the Aava Mobile handset we've seen before. The cameo was part of a much larger initiative, which will see Intel working concurrently with Google in order to optimize future processors for use with Android. We were actually tipped off on this a few days back, but at the time, it was difficult to tell how much of a consumer impact it'd have. Given Andy's showing, though, it's looking better and better in that regard. The most impressive tidbit, however, is the promise that all future Android builds will be "optimized" for Intel's low-power Atom clan. We've compiled a gallery for you below, and hopefully we'll have a hands-on later today.