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Welcome to Panasonic's first attempt to crack the increasingly competitive world of Android phones outside of Japan. Its efforts have crystallized into a plastic slab that had a curious appeal when we first handled it at Mobile World Congress a few months ago. We were surprised at how comfortable it felt in the hand and while its spec sheet won't cause any jaws to drop, there's plenty of respectable features -- a 4.3-inch AMOLED display, dual-core processor and a very solid, soft-finish shell that protects that delicate Android hardware against dust and water.

Panasonic's not the only Japanese manufacturer looking to branch out from a contracting domestic market, however, and we have a few concerns with whether the Eluga (£370 / $583) can make a dent in European countries dominated by Apple, Samsung and HTC. Will it bring the same awkward Android skins found on several Japan-only Android phones? Is it really all that waterproof? Dive in after the break to see.

Panasonic Eluga review

Have a BMW 3-Series that requires major engine work? Want to convert it to electric and improve performance, ActiveE style? The folks at Electric Motor Werks have you covered. Instead of making purpose-built electric cars, the company -- which showed a converted 3-Series sedan and coupé at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 -- provides affordable and environmentally responsible electric conversion kits for the BMW E46. These are available directly to consumers but Electric Motor Werks is also building a network of installers (via tuner / speed shops) and setting up its own facilities.

We chatted with founder Val Miftakhov who gave us a tour of the prototype kit in the vehicles on display, so head past the break for more information and for our hands-on video.

Electric Motor Werks hands-on

It's really no surprise that we bumped into the legendary Ben Heck at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012. Still, he was kind enough to give us a few minutes of his time. We talked about the Raspberry Pi, robot luggage, portable 3D printers, pinball machines, pretzels and cheese curds -- oh my! Just take a look at our video interview and don't miss the outtakes at the end.

When we first caught word of the gTar, it was a bit of a mystery, with an online presence amounting to little more than a low-res press shot, an enigmatic YouTube teaser and assorted specs coming out of South By Southwest and various investor sites. This week, however, brings TechCrunch Disrupt to town -- and Incident Technologies has braved some unseasonable New York City storms to come along for the ride. We managed to snag some time with the iPhone-docking instrument ahead of its debut on stage this afternoon.

Details are still a little scarce -- but here's what we know: the company is looking for a summer release for the educational instrument. In the meantime, Incident has thrown up a Kickstarter page, so you can get in on the action. A limited number of investors can get their hands on a unit for the low, low donation price of $350, once it goes into production. That's $100 off the estimated $450 retail price point -- not cheap, sure, but there are a couple of things to note here. First, we played with the gTar for a bit and we can say, definitively, that this isn't just some cheap, plasticky toy -- this feels like a real, amateur-level electric guitar. Also, for whatever it's worth, that price also includes a backpack carrying case -- so that's something, right?

Follow along after the break to get some fingers-on impressions.

gTar hands-on

The iCade Arcade Cabinet famously began life as an April Fool's joke, pulling the video game equivalent of Pinocchio by transforming in a real salable product. The $100 arcade machine-shaped iPad enclosure / controller hit the sweet spot between functionality and retro gaming nostalgia, proving successful enough that Ion found itself with a solid reason to expand the line. Notable amongst the new arrivals are the iCade Core, which offers up the same feature set as the original iCade in a more portable joystick form, and the iCade Mobile, a re-imagining of the product as an oversized iPhone case. The Core carries the same price tag as its predecessor, while the Mobile clocks in at $20 less. So, are these additions worthy of the iCade name? Or would the line have been better served as a one-off? Insert a coin and find out after the break.

Ion iCade Mobile and iCade Core review

Update: Unfortunately, we were provided with incorrect information ahead of the review -- the iCade Core is actually priced at $80, same as the iCade Mobile.

This may just be the biggest single giveaway we've held on Engadget yet. We dare you to resist the tempting lure of an 11-inch MacBook Air with 4GB RAM and 128GB hard drive, capable of running Mac OS X and Windows 7! With graduation season upon us, our friends at Parallels are hooking you up with the best senior gift that you could possibly receive. So what's this software all about? Essentially, it allows you to run Windows and OS X apps side-by-side on your Mac without rebooting -- that way, you'll get the best of both worlds.

The MacBook Air will come pre-loaded with Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac, Windows 7 home premium and Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 for Windows. It'll also come with Parallels Mobile app for iOS, which gives you the ability to access and run everything on your Mac via your iPhone or iPad. Not too shabby for the low, low price of one comment. So brush up on the rules, enter to win and good luck!

A robot petting zoo at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012? What could possibly go wrong? Nothing, actually. The kids loved it -- only the robots cowered in fear (of being sat on). MakerBot spent eight weeks building four different species of robots using its Replicator 3D printer -- wheelies (robot chickens), bubble bots, button bots and bumper bots. Judging by the crowds the event was a complete success. We caught up with Michael Curry of MakerBot who told us how the robot petting zoo came to be and walked us through some of the robot specifics -- designs that should appear on the company's Thingiverse website by the end of the week. Next stop: Maker Faire New York. Are you ready for an invasion of cute robots? Find out in our hands-on video after the break.

MakerBot robot petting zoo hands-on

Unless you've been hiding under a rock lately, we're pretty sure you've heard about the Raspberry Pi by now -- a $25 credit-card sized PC that brings ARM/Linux to the Arduino form factor. As a refresher, the system features a 700MHz Broadcom BCM2835 SoC with an ARM11 CPU, a Videocore 4 GPU (which handles HD H.264 video and OpenGL ES 2.0) and 256MB RAM. The board includes an SD card slot, HDMI output, composite video jack, 3.5mm audio socket, micro-USB power connector and GPIO header. Model A ($25) comes with one USB port, while Model B ($35) provides two USB ports and a 100BaseT Ethernet socket. Debian is recommended, but Raspberry Pi can run most ARM-compatible 32-bit OSes.

This past weekend at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 we ran into Eben Upton, Executive Director of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and took the opportunity to spend some quality time with a production board and to discuss this incredible PC. We touched upon the origins of the system (inspired by the BBC Micro, one of the ARM founders' projects), Moore's law, the wonders of simple computers and upcoming products / ideas -- including Adafruit's Pi Plate and Raspberry Pi's prototype camera add-on. On the subject of availability, the company expects that "there will be approximately 200,000 units in the field by the end of June". Take a look at our hands-on gallery below and our video interview after the break.

Raspberry Pi hands-on

Yesterday at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 we visited the Electric Imp booth to chat with the startup's founders and get some hands-on time with the tiny wireless computer. What is the Electric Imp? It's a module containing an ARM Cortex M3 SoC with embedded WiFi that's built into an SD card form factor. While the device looks just like and SD card, it's not pin-compatible with the standard -- the idea is to leverage a reliable and affordable connector for the Electric Imp. The module is not very useful on its own -- it only comes to life when inserted into one of several boards, which provide the Electric Imp with power and access to the real world. In turn the device gives these boards a brain and an Internet connection. Eventually the company hopes that appliance manufacturers will incorporate Electric Imp slots into products to make them network aware.

We talked with CEO Hugo Fiennes (formerly with Apple) about the past, present and future of the Electric Imp so hit the break to read more and to watch our hands-on video.

Electric Imp hands-on

Native Instruments' gear is a must-have for those in the beat making world. We put the cheaper, dinkier Maschine Mikro through its paces and found that while we loved the portability, we weren't so hot on the lack of MIDI ports and absence of knobs for twiddlin'. That said, we weren't able to hate on the compromises that were made to bring it in under $600 and small enough to stow in a backpack, but how about you guys out there? When you've used this gear day in, day out, can you forgive its flaws in exchange for that extra cash in your hand, or do you wish you'd saved up a little more? If you were in NI's position, what would you have done differently?