Announcements

It’s (still) New Year’s Eve out here in the States, meaning in a few more hours you’ll not only see what it’s like to live in the future (i.e. 2008), but you’ll also lose your last chance to enter to win two round trip tickets on JetBlue (and some noise canceling headphones, to boot). Check out the rules, and to the young’ns out there, remember: if someone tells you that you’re going to a “key party” tonight, we recommend you politely bow out.

Just in case you missed it: we’re in the process of collecting nominations for the 2007 Engadget Awards, and we’re asking for your nominations! If you’ve never seen a gadget in a Stella McCartney gown break down in tears thanking its development team on live national television, well, it’s really something to behold — don’t deprive your favorite devices the opportunity.

It’s still not too late to win a pair of round trip tickets to any JetBlue destination, plus that pair of noise canceling headphones. You’ve got until New Years day to enter, but know we wouldn’t trust ourselves with such a valuable task on that particular day, so just hit up the read link now for the contest rules and enter while you’re still in possession of all your faculties.

Just in case you missed it: we’re in the process of collecting nominations for the 2007 Engadget Awards, and we’re asking for your nominations! If you’ve never seen a gadget in a Stella McCartney gown break down in tears thanking its development team on live national television, well, it’s really something to behold — don’t deprive your favorite devices the opportunity.

We know you want to be the envy of all your friends and colleagues by sporting one of the trio of Phosphor e-ink watches we’re giving away, so if you haven’t entered already, consider this a friendly reminder that the clock is ticking on all three contests. Entering is as easy as leaving a comment, so just make sure to read the rules and then throw your hat into the ring. Reminder: You can only enter once per giveaway (up to three times total).

Read - Phosphor E Ink watch giveaway (part 1), closes tonight
Read - Phosphor E Ink watch giveaway (part 2), closes Thursday night
Read - Phosphor E Ink watch giveaway (part 3), closes Friday night

Hey, it’s Christmas, so how do you like the sound of two round trip tickets to anywhere JetBlue flies? Not good enough? Ok, what if we threw in a pair of noise canceling headphones, as well? Will that pass muster? Excellent. Check out the rules below — we can’t guarantee you’ll get a BetaBlue flight with limited net access, but don’t say we never gave you anything!

• Leave a comment below. Tell us where you want to go! Map here and also after the break.
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you’ll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you’ll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winner will be chosen randomly. That winner will get two round trip vouchers on JetBlue anywhere the airline flies, and a pair of noise canceling headphones; tickets valued at up to $575 each, headphones at $100.
• Entries can be submitted until Tuesday, January 1st, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here, with additional JetBlue regulations after the break.

JetBlue legal stuff

Redemption of Travel Certificates is subject to the following terms and conditions: Redeemed travel is subject to availability and seats may not be available on all flights. Travel may be capacity controlled and space is limited. Certain restrictions and blackout dates may apply, which may include a Saturday night stay, all of which are subject to change at the sole discretion of JetBlue Airways. Schedules are subject to change without notice. JetBlue is not liable for any expenses incurred as a consequence of a flight cancellation or flight delay. Passengers are solely responsible for obtaining all necessary documentation, travel authorizations, and travel insurance, if any. JetBlue reserves the right to deny boarding to passengers without the proper documentation. Passengers are solely responsible for any applicable fees, service charges, surcharges or passenger facility charges, and all insurance, federal, state and local taxes, if any, and any other unspecified expenses associated with acceptance or use of Travel Certificates, including without limitation all meals, air and ground transportation, personal incidentals, and gratuities. Travel Certificates are transferable prior to ticketing but are not redeemable for cash, and may not be sold, bartered, traded, or otherwise exchanged for value, including but not limited to in transactions on eBay or other online auction websites. Redemption of Travel Certificates at any of JetBlue’s airport ticket counters is not allowed. Loss of Travel Certificate authorization number and/or PIN cannot be replaced. Redeemed travel is not eligible for TrueBlue points and may not be used toward the purchase of a JetBlue Getaways Vacation Package or a JetBlue Cruise. TrueBlue is JetBlue’s flight gratitude program. Passengers using Travel Certificates are subject and entitled to all provisions of the JetBlue’s Contract of Carriage, except denied boarding compensation and the Passenger Bill of Rights. The JetBlue’s Contract of Carriage is posted on the Sponsor’s website at http://www.jetblue.com/p/jetblue_coc.pdf. Use of Travel Certificates is subject to additional terms and conditions, and other restrictions may apply.

We hate to get all teary, but we’re going to miss 2007. All things considered, it was kind of a monumental year for personal technology (and maybe even for us Engadget editors, too). But as it draws to a close it’s about time for our favorite moment of the year, where we pay tribute to the all the new devices we love and loathe. Welcome to the fourth annual Engadget awards!

This year we’ve got 22 categories up for grabs, with 44 total awards to be decided. All finalists for Engadget Awards are reader-nominated, and the editors of Engadget will then select the best of those nominations (usually somewhere between 4-6 devices or technologies) as finalists.

There are two awards per category, Reader’s Choice (voted on by you!), and Editors’ Choice (selected by us). The vote will take place in January (as soon as CES and Macworld finish up), and winners will be announced later that month.

You’ve got until 11:59PM ET on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 to get your entries in. Now, go nominate!

• Gadget of the Year
• Worst Gadget of the Year
• Most Anticipated Gadget of 2008
• Cellphone of the Year
• Smartphone of the Year
• Desktop of the Year
• Digital Camera of the Year
• Display of the Year
• Game Console of the Year
• Game Device of the Year
• GPS Device of the Year
• Handheld of the Year
• HDTV of the Year
• Home Entertainment Device of the Year
• Laptop of the Year
• Peripheral of the Year
• Portable Media Device of the Year
• Robot of the Year
• Storage Device or Technology of the Year
• Tablet PC of the Year
• Wearable Device of the Year
• Wireless Device or Technology of the Year

Good luck!

See also the 2004, 2005, and 2006 Engadget Awards winners.

We added avatars to our comment redesign this week, how delightful! Did you get the full skinny? Check it out:

Read - New design, now with avatars!
Read - How to edit your user profile

We know, our site totally just hooked up comments circa 2004, but we’ve finally added avatars! We also gave the comments a slicker new look, and made it possible to reply to a comment by clicking anywhere in the reply-to bar, not just on the word “Reply”. (It’s the little things, you know?)

We know it’s not what you’ve REALLY been asking for (persistent user logins, comment editing, etc.), but we’re working hard on all this stuff, so bear with us. It’s all hand built by our insanely talented (and tiny) team of developers — much love to Matt and the ‘Stoph here!

Oh, yeah, default avatars are the Engadget mascot, Gadgie. The part you wanted to know, how to change your avatar, is here in our guide to modifying your user profile.

P.S. -Yes, these will also work on Engadget Mobile and Engadget HD’s comments, which have also been updated.

P.P.S. -Avatars are moderated like comments — if you have an inappropriate avatar you may be deleted or banned, so keep it safe for work and all that stuff, ok?

Our gadgets may be getting slowly greener, but consumer technology is still one of the world’s dirtier, more pollutant industries, and it’s about time we all rounded up some electronics heavyweights and had a chit chat. Thankfully, Jill Fehrenbacher of Inhabitat (disclaimer: as many of you know, Jill is wife to Engadget co-founder and editor-at-large Peter Rojas) and Marc Alt of Marc Alt and Partners have stepped up to the plate, and are launching the Greener Gadgets conference. We’ll be there participating in the discussion, as well as execs and environmental technologists from OLPC, HP, Nokia, and Sony. It all goes down on February 1st in New York, hopefully we’ll see you there!