When Palm launched its Pre last week at CES, we were both blown away and pretty overwhelmed. Besides issuing new hardware, the company also demoed a completely original operating system called webOS which incorporates some pretty heady ideas about what a mobile phone can do. Now that we've had a little time to step back, we're taking a more methodic look at the device and its software, and hoping to answer some of those nagging questions you've been asking. Read on for a look at everything we know about the phone right now.

It's certainly an odd beast, but Piaggio's "MP3 Hybrid" scooter / trike / whatsit has itself a ship window and a vague pricetag. Piaggio hopes to start selling the vehicle in the US by Q1 2010, with a price ranging around $8,000 or $9,000. The plug-in hybrid can run off of a standard charge for 40 miles, and has a gas-powered generator (like the Volt) for extra power, with a promised 141 mpg overall. It's packed in with some regenerative breaking, a high-performance battery-boosted mode to make one pretty hot scooter -- if you can get over those looks and the extra wheel.

It's not the first Swiss watchmaker to decide to get into the phone game, but Ulysse Nardin's upcoming Chairman could very well take both the "most like a watch" and "most insanely badass" crowns when it's officially unveiled at Baselworld later this month. Billed as a "hybrid smart phone," the handset -- which, we assure you, you can't afford -- will incorporate a visible, fully-functional kinetic rotor that will apparently assist in providing power, just like you might find in a mechanical wris*censormode*ch. Beyond that, we know that it'll be unlocked, will be limited to just 1,846 pieces, and that Vertu should be feeling the heat right about now. Look for full details around March 26 when Baselworld kicks off, so in the meantime, get to work selling your car, your home, your children, and your soul, but not necessarily in that order. Depends on how deeply you love your car.

Of all the 12.2 megapixel cameras we've seen from General Imaging this week, this is certainly one of them. But that ain't all -- it's waterproof up to 10 feet! Pretty awesome, right? The G3 WP fits in nicely with the rest of the new GE-branded lineup, including 4x optical zoom, auto scene detection, and pan-capture panorama. This guy sports a 2.7-inch LCD and ambient light sensor, with no word yet on price or availability. And to its credit, it does look more like a camera than our other waterproof offering this week. Additional pic and PR after the break.

In this world of netbooks, "mini" this and "pico" that, it's nice to see someone taking things to the opposite extreme. When folks at Puget Systems mentioned that they were working on a "high-end" custom build, Tom's Hardware asked the logical follow-up question: "how high-end are we talkin'?" Let's just say that we'd be hard-pressed find someone who wouldn't be content with this beast: four quad-core 2GHz Opteron processors (that's a lot of cores!), 32GB of memory, two VelociRaptor hard drives in RAID1, and six 1TB hard drives in RAID 5. Of course, this guy generates a lot of heat: the system boasts both liquid cooling and a ginormous side-mounted radiator -- with so much surface area, the fans can be run at a low speed to keep things nice and quiet. Additionally, a Koolance pump and reservoir unit was installed in one of the CD-ROM bays, allowing the user to adjust the pump speed based on desired performance and noise levels. Including Windows Server 2008 Standard, a one-year parts warranty, and a lifetime labor warranty, the machine went for a mere $16,338.89. Go ahead, treat yourself. You deserve nice things too.

News is just breaking across the wires as we speak, but Apple has announced a new Nehalem based Mac Pro with a starting price of $2,499. The new systems feature either a single core 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500, or a dual 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500, start with 3GB of memory, a 640GB hard drive, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of RAM. The PR claims the new systems will be available next week online and in stores, so warm up the credit cards. Full configurations after the break.

You're already buying TVs, washing machines, cheap keyboards and cell phones at Best Buy, why not a $12,000 electric motorcycle? That seems to be the thinking going on at Brammo HQ, where an infusion of cash from Best Buy's investment arm last year has now led to plans to sell the $11,995 Enertia at five West Coast Best Buy stores in May. Okay, sure, but we're way less optimistic about plans to let the Geek Squad handle basic repairs and maintenance -- we don't let those fools near our laptops, god forbid Pimples McUpsell touch something that could actually kill us. Eventually Brammo wants to sell bikes at every Best Buy location around the world, but we'll see how this initial test works out.

There's something undeniably sexy, romantic even, about modern digital rangefinders. Perhaps it's the bevy of tactile controls that stand in such stark contrast to the button-less touchscreen trend infecting consumer electronics. Perhaps it's nostalgia. Whatever it is, the Epson R-D1x just created a momentary pause of reverence amongst Engadget editors. Not much has changed since the R-D1 (followed by the R-D1s) was introduced four years ago: that 6 megapixel APS-C CCD sensor, RAW and JPEG support, and Leica M and L glass compatibility remain. Epson just modernized things a bit by adding a handgrip (model R-D1xG), a bigger 2.5-inch LCD, support for the SDHC card format (up to 32GB), and improved EDiART image processing. But this shooter isn't about the specs, it's about emotion. Ships April 9th for an undisclosed price estimated to be around $2,000.

If you're the type of individual who can never decide between the Cobb salad, the lobster bisque, and the sesame prawns and end up ordering all three, take note -- your phone has arrived. The long-rumored LG Versa lets you have your cake and eat it too by starting life as a full touchscreen slate, and when the time comes for some serious emailing, texting, or notetaking, you just snap on the included cover that includes a full QWERTY keyboard. 

Olympus just joined the pre-PMA pileup with the announcement of its E-620 DSLR for entry-level enthusiasts. The E-620 is a mash-up of Olympus' semi-pro E-30 and entry-level E-520 in a compact body approaching Oly's own E-420 (the world's smallest DSLR when launched). The resulting cam brings a 12.3 megapixel Live MOS image sensor with sensor-shift image stabilization, 7-point AF, TruePic III+ image processor, built-in wireless flash controller, and a fully articulating, 2.7-inch tilt-and-swivel live-view LCD. It also features Olympus' Art Filters which take in-camera image enhancements a bit beyond sepia. Expect the E-620 body to ship in May for about $700; $800 with the 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 lens. Front-side front after the break.