Engadget

For those who picked up one of our eBoy-engineered tees from last fall, we've some good news for you: the new line is out now! Just in time for the holidays, one of the world's finest 8-bit artists has kindly provided us with a new range of t-shirts, and perhaps best of all, each one is in stock and shipping now. For those new to the name, you can dig into our introduction of eBoy here, and you can grab a shirt of your own in the source link. They're priced at $24 (US / Canada), or €24 elsewhere, and if you're curious about sizing, have a look at American Apparel's size chart right here.

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Buried amongst Nintendo America's amusing (and often silly) Direct presentation from today comes news of the next iteration of its popular lifestyle experience: Wii Fit U. Outside of a few brief screens and a very vague first half of 2013 release window, not much is known about the updated title save for one bit -- an included pedometer dubbed the Fit Meter. Functioning much like the Fitbit, this additional peripheral will, presumably, be clipped to users' clothing, gathering movement data that will eventually be transferred to the Wii U console for use in over 77 game-based activities. Health-tracking is fast becoming a crowded space, so it's no surprise the Big N would want to extend that plastic scale's functionality with some real-world info. We'll keep you updated on any further news as it's released. In the meantime, check out the full recap after the break.

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LTE has been available in Russia for some time, but it's largely been the province of modems and tablets until now. Samsung wants 4G to be more pocketable in St. Petersburg -- it's launching the quad-core Galaxy S III LTE as the country's first LTE smartphone. The flagship should reach 17 Russian cities on December 20th through local carrier MegaFon at a premium price of 29,990 rubles ($973) off-contract. Those who do jump in early on will get up to 100Mbps downstream and the promise of VoLTE calls once testing wraps up. And before you ask: while the iPhone 5 is arriving in Russia a week earlier, on December 14th, there's no indication that it will serve up LTE. Russian 4G networks run on the 2.6GHz band that the iPhone 5 doesn't support despite its many frequencies; the Galaxy S III should be the first to put its LTE to full use in the region.

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Something's amiss with Instagram links on Twitter and it's not just the overabundance of unnecessarily filtered photos. Users have noticed that, upon clicking those links, images are displaying incorrectly and, in some cases, showing up as cropped. There's no need to drag out the fail whale though (apart from amusing lead image purposes), as both companies have acknowledged that the issue lies in the Cards - specifically, Instagram's disabling of them. What that means for end users is that preview thumbnail images will no longer show up from within feeds, reverting the integration to a "pre-cards experience." Speaking at LeWeb conference in Paris today, Instagram's CEO Kevin Systrom insists the change has nothing to do with the outfit's acquisition by Facebook and, instead, is framed as a way of promoting its own web service. As for those "lomo-fi" shots you're all so fond of snapping, have no fear, you'll still be able to tweet those out with same ferocity.

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The ITU hasn't updated its rules since 1988. Thankfully the telecommunications arm of the UN is currently meeting in Dubai to rewrite its hopelessly outdated regulations. The US and Canada quickly sought to place limits on any new rules and keep the international body's focus on telecom operators and protect companies like Facebook and Google that rely on, but don't own, the world's online infrastructure. Unfortunately, with 150 other countries sitting at the negotiating table, that proposal was shot down. Critics worry that an expansion of the ITU's powers could make it easier for authoritarian regimes to thwart anonymity and expose more content to censorship. The failure of the proposal does not mean that the International Telecommunication Union will actually seek to regulate the actions of internet companies, but it does leave open the possibility of broader rules that could disrupt the status quo. A number of key issues, regarding security and the weaponization of the web, are also on the table. Next week the participating delegates will vote on changes to the 1988 treaty, which would then have to be ratified by participating nations independently.

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We don't know if this has customers' interests at heart, or if AT&T's call center staff were just sick to the eyeballs of having to explain people's bills to them, but the end result is the same either way. Folks who join AT&T or switch to a new plan are now increasingly being offered "video bills" that provide a "line-by-line visual and audio tour" of individual items on their statement. Judging from the sample video after the break, it seems that only the numbers inside the video are personally tailored, while the voice track is predetermined and makes the difficult assumption that all AT&T subscribers are called Brian.

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Windows 8 has ushered in an era of category-defying devices, with hybrid machines that bend, flip around, lie flat and otherwise contort flooding the market (and our offices). When virtually every Windows 8 product we've reviewed possesses acrobatic abilities, it's easy to forget regular ol' laptops are running Microsoft's new OS, too. One such machine is the $1,949 ASUS Zenbook UX51Vz (aka the U500), a 15-inch Ultrabook with the trappings of a multimedia powerhouse, including a quad-core Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GT650M graphics and a 1080p IPS display -- and no gymnastic tricks up its sleeve. Another thing it doesn't have: a touchscreen, which is available on plenty of other Windows 8 notebooks, not to mention other upcoming Zenbook Prime models. Considering that (possibly glaring) omission, is the UX51Vz still an attractive option at this premium price point? Head past the break to find out.

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Planning a gluttonous holiday season and then a health kick in the New Year to balance it out? Well, when you start on the latter, you might want one of Zensorium's Tinké cardiorespiratory monitors to track your progress. The sensor is compatible with any of your old-fashioned 30-pin iOS devices (it'll work with the Lightning adapter, too), and with the press of a thumb, it can measure heart rate, blood oxygenation and respiratory rate using light. All this data is fed into the free companion app, which generates an overall fitness score called the "Vita Index" and logs it for later comparison. Stress levels can also be assessed, using fluctuations in your heart rate to score the "Zen Index." Sharing how unfit and stressed you are can be done via Facebook or Tinké's own network, which also allows you to compare results with other users worldwide. The monitor will set you back $119 and is available now from Zensorium (link below) in a choice of four colors. If you'd like to start improving your Zen Index right now, then check out the soothing acoustic sounds in the product walkthrough video below the fold.

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Soccer's governing body isn't that big on technology, which is why you occasionally see the odd refereeing mistake (or two). Fans may have hoped that the goal-line experiments at this month's Club World Cup would be the dawn of a new era in which computers are trusted as final arbiters. But it's clear that FIFA isn't ready to go that far just yet. Secretary General Jerome Valcke has announced that referees will get to decide 90 minutes before kick-off whether to use the Hawkeye and GoalRef systems, and will have the authority to overrule the systems' evidence during the game. We're still hopeful that the men in black will accept the help of this technology, but if they don't, we may have to switch to a more computer-literate pastime.

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During today's Nintendo Direct presentation, Iwata-san had plenty of game footage to show to Japan-based fans, but he also casually mentioned that Google-powered maps and street vistas would arrive on the Wii U at the end of January 2013. As demonstrated by the man himself, you'll be able to swing the GamePad around to get the best view of anywhere that's been documented by Google -- including underwater. Navigation looks similar to the previously-seen Wii U Panorama View (which Nintendo confirmed would arrive Spring 2013) and although Street View isn't motion video, there's admittedly more to see from Google's cartography. You'll be able to navigate down roads, and use the vanilla map view and street view on both the big-screen and the GamePad. If you're liking what you hear, you'd better be quick: the app will launch free for two months, after which users will have to pay an as-yet-unmentioned price for access.

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