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Sony Ericsson laying off 450 employees in Research Triangle Park, NC

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"Planned" and "executed" are two very different things, and while we knew Sony Ericsson was mulling the idea of hacking 2,000 jobs, the hammer has finally fallen in Research Triangle Park, NC. The company will soon be axing 450 employees at its North American headquarters as part of a large reorganization, with most everyone knowing by the week's end whether they'll stay or go. According to Aldo Ligouri, Sony Ericsson's head of global communications and public relations, the RTP cuts are "part of company-wide changes that Sony Ericsson announced in July," and in whatever context, he added that "this is our map of how we see things moving forward." Just to put things in perspective, the outfit only has about 750 workers in the North Carolina-based facility, which is primarily seen as an R&D hub. Tough news to hear, no matter how you spin it.

Image courtesy of Flickr

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

If you're a T-Mobile customer who's been dozing off for the past few days, you've already missed your chance to pre-order yourself a G1. With any luck, that won't be a problem and you'll just be able to march into a store on or around October 22 and pick one up the old-fashioned way, but the window of opportunity for an utterly stress-free Android buying experience is closed. We don't have hard numbers on just how many units were being offered through the pre-order program, but 60,000 is getting tossed around as a rumor, which would work out to about 10 percent of the total outlay HTC is said to be aiming for by year's end. Of course, if you're not a T-Mobile customer, this is all business as usual and you're just chuckling under your breath that everyone's stuck in the same boat now, aren't you, you sick puppy?

Via TmoNews

Update: Well, that was quick -- the "Log in to order" button is working once again. Any bets on how long until they're out a second time?

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T-Mobile's newest set was officially announced today at a press conference in New York. Set to launch on October 22nd for $179 on T-Mobile in the US on a two-year stint, or $399 contract-free. Starting in early November all you folks in United Kingdom will have access and Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and the Netherlands can expect their release in the first quarter of 2009. The G1 features WiFi and 3G radios, a 3-megapixel camera, and support for the Android Market and Amazon's mobile MP3 store, giving owners apps and tunes on the go. Existing T-Mobile subscribers get first dibs, with orders being accepted starting today. Here's a rundown of the specs:

HSDPA 1700 / 2100 plus quadband EDGE
WiFi
3D graphics acceleration
3-megapixel camera
256 MB integrated storage, 1GB microSD card included
Android Market for on-device app purchases
Amazon MP3 app for on-device music purchases
Push Gmail support with full HTML client
Bluetooth (but no A2DP)
Google Maps with Street View
No Microsoft Exchange support
No desktop synchronization -- it all happens over the air
350 minutes talk time over 3G, 406 minutes over GSM
402 hours standby over 3G, 319 hours over GSM

Gallery: The T-Mobile G1

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OLEDs are pretty much awesome, but the coolest application, the bendy one, is still tricky, because flexible plastic is more porous than stiff glass, and OLEDs get really upset when they come in contact with oxygen. Apparently, though, Sony and Germany's Max Planck Institute have cooked up a flexible and transparent organic display that will do alright, when it is released in the undisclosed future.

Since it's see-through, it will be able to be seen at all viewing angles (uh, including those greater than 180°) and because of its low power constraints it will be able to run with minimal battery support. Applications discussed by the Daily Mail include the usual roundup of not-entirely-brilliant suggestions, such as clothing-mounted displays, roll-up digital newspapers and cereal boxes with animated ads. The good news is, all of this brings us much closer to my idea of a good product: wallpaper TV.

There's a video of the above rabbit jumping along the 3-inch screen to prove the video capabilities; my problem with the vid (besides the fact that I couldn't embed it for you) is that while it shows the display bent, it doesn't show it being bent. That's what I'd like to see. Daily Mail UK

I just got off the phone with Rahul Sood, founder of VoodooPC, who confirmed that the rumors of Voodoo's demise were not just premature but "nonsense," but said "HP is asking us to integrate into the larger execution engine." Rahul is comfortable speaking both plainly and in business-ese—what we take this to mean is that Voodoo will merge manufacturing with HP's core in Asia, unify other non-design aspects of the business, and shut down a good chunk of the operation in Calgary, Alberta. "Typically we don't comment on layoffs specifically," says Rahul, who adds that he himself will not be leaving Canada.

"We're basically plugging into the larger businesses," he says. "Notebooks will be manufactured and handled in Asia where there's much broader distribution. I can't just snap my fingers and have the Envy and Omen in Russia, Dubai and other places where people are begging for them. To scale the business and stay true to the brand, we have to structure it accordingly." Regarding layoffs, he did acknowledge: "There are definitely going to be people impacted. With any change, we have to take that impact in stride and keep pressing forward."

Rahul also addressed the concerns that some gamers had that Voodoo had abandoned its core audience. He surprised us with an interesting statistic: 25% of the Voodoo customer base are gamers, he says. The other 75% are "fortunate people who love the style and the fact that our products are so different." On the matter of the sleek new Envy not being a gaming PC at all, he mentions that it's not the first time, and that the hot-selling 12-inch Envy had integrated graphics too.

He stresses that the crazy Omen desktop and the Blackbird are both solid gaming platform. He also says that he's interested in the new directions that DIY enthusiast gamers will soon be taking. "The DIY enthusiast market will change," he says. "They're going to focus on more efficient computing rather than speeds and feeds, to bring more value to the end than just framerates. The DIY market will evolve—that's an opportunity for us to look into."

We have no idea what that might mean. Could it be a line of Voodoo-branded accessories? Or simply designing systems themselves with more DIY tweakbility in mind, like the Blackbird? Your guess is as good, or actually probably better, than mine, so go ahead and guess.

Believe it or not, there are no baseball bats in the Lego universe. Why? Probably because a minifig could use one to break another minifig's plastic cranium. And we all know that you can't use weapons in Lego's universe, much less break minifig craniums. This is why Brickarms, the dealer of All Things Violent for Lego minifigs, has released the baseball bat weapon, including a psychopath minifig posing with it for their publicity shots:

Maybe this baseball bat is what you needed to complete your video entry for the Go Miniman Go contest? Then get one as soon as possible because the end of the month deadline is quickly approaching. If you want to participate, check the contest rules here and send your video now. Brothers Brick via Brickarms