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Google's incoming 32GB Nexus 7 may be one of its worst kept secrets, with most estimates (and those leaks) pointing to a $249 price tag and a launch date later this week. However, it also appears that the 16GB model will drop its price down to $199, according to leaked images from both Office Depot and GameStop -- great news for anyone who's so far held off from grabbing the first Nexus tablet. While an official announcement's been delayed by the forces of nature, we expect to hear more from Google sooner rather than later.

Barnes & Noble's arrival in the UK has been so well-telegraphed, you might be surprised to learn that today's the day the units actually launch. You'll be able to pick up a Nook Simple Touch or awkwardly-titled Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight from retailers such as John Lewis, Sainsbury's and on the company's new Nook.co.uk site. Access to Barnes & Noble's 2.5 million title e-book library will set you back £79 for the base model and £109 for the glow-in-the-dark version.

Right on schedule (ahem), Valve has begun requesting applications for the first Steam for Linux beta test. There are only 1,000 spots available, but the company is looking for "experienced Linux users" only -- presumably, ones that will be better at debugging than spilling zombie brains. So, if you've got a rig running Ubuntu 12.04 or above and decent Linux knowledge, head to the source link to register your interest.

Cray's Jaguar (or XK7) supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been loaded up with the first shipping NVIDIA Telsa K20 GPUs and renamed Titan. Loaded with 18,688 of the Kepler-based K20s, Titan's peak performance is more than 20 petaflops. Sure, the machine has an equal number of 16-core AMD Opteron 6274 processors as it does GPUs, but the Tesla hardware packs 90 percent of the entire processing punch. Titan is roughly ten times faster and five times more energy efficient than it was before the name change, yet it fits into the same 200 cabinets as its predecessor. Now that it's complete, the rig will analyze data and create simulations for scientific projects ranging from topics including climate change to nuclear energy. The hardware behind Titan isn't meant to power your gaming sessions, but the NVIDIA says lessons learned from supercomputer GPU development trickle back down to consumer-grade cards. For the full lowdown on the beefed-up supercomputer, hit the jump for a pair of press releases.

If you're aiming to get your hands on one of the many Windows Phone 8 devices launching later today, it would be nice to be able to sync it with your Windows 8 PC, no? Redmond has you covered in the nick of time, as it's just released the free Windows Phone app to its Windows Store. That'll let you get music, photos, or video over to your computer and back, use Windows 8 apps to share things like searches, automatically save photos or videos taken with your phone to your PC and check your phone's storage to see how it's being used. It'll also let allow you to download phone apps and learn more about your device, while pulling off a trick we've saw first with Apple, then WP7 -- letting you track down your smartphone if it goes missing. You can grab it at the source, then all you'll need is a WP8 (or 7.8) handset -- so stay tuned for our liveblog at 10:00 am PST / 1:00 pm EST to see when that might happen.

The Pulse pen couldn't do it. The more recent Echo couldn't manage it either. But sending notes and linked audio wirelessly is what Livescribe's latest digital pen is all about. Branded the Sky WiFi Smartpen, it works with proprietary physical notebooks to preserve your handwritten notes and linked audio files on a minimum of 2GB of onboard storage, and then it sends them directly to your Evernote account via WiFi -- from where you can access them on pretty much any PC, tablet or smartphone. If you're wondering a how the pen selects the right network and enters a password, then it's actually pretty straightforward: Livescribe's new stationery is printed with connection buttons that, in conjunction with the OLED display on the pen itself, guide you through the procedure in a few seconds. The latest notebooks also have buttons for sending your captured thoughts to Google Drive, Dropbox and Facebook, although those services won't be activated until early next year.

The basic 2GB Sky pen will arrive in stores on November 1st, priced substantially higher than its predecessor, the Echo (which will be phased out at the end of next year). The new base model will cost $170, with 4GB and 8GB varieties priced at $200 and $250. Arguably, the reliance on wireless cloud storage means that the amount of onboard memory isn't so important any more, but if you do decide to opt for the most expensive model then you'll also get a year's subscription to Evernote Premium, which is worth $45. There's a short explanatory video after the break, and as you'll see from the gallery below we've already got the Sky pen in our clutches, so expect a full review in short order.

Livescribe Sky WiFi Smartpen hands-on

We know tomorrow's Windows Phone 8 event will finally answer all of those burning mysteries that we've been yearning to hear more about since Microsoft first announced the new OS in June. After all, the company has kept its upcoming platform under tight wraps, preventing its hardware partners from showing it off to the press. So what else will the folks from Redmond have up their sleeves? Stay tuned here as we bring you all of the revelations live in San Francisco, tomorrow at 1PM ET!

In the ever-shrinking world of tech, for a company to release a jumbo-sized variant of a product is something of a novelty. Jawbone's Big Jambox has taken a few courses of steroids, with natty design language and 15-plus hours of battery life. We were certainly fans of the unit, although its audio can get a bit on the shaky side when you turn it up to 11, but that was just in the confines of our review. What's it been like to use this thing on a regular basis for the last six months? We're asking you to place yourselves in the stylish shoes of designer Yves Behar and tell us what you'd have done differently.

If you're hip to repurposing old tech for new inventions, Invisible is right up your alley. The Greensboro-based unit calls themselves a "mechanical music museum" and "a reverse engineered folk science daydream" when describing their elaborate set of sound-making contraptions and recycled video equipment. The outfit's effort The New Obsolete was part of the Moogfest happenings this weekend, and our curiosity was immediately piqued. This particular performance is labeled as "an exploded view of the strange romance between humans and technology."

Among all of the self-constructed instruments is the Selectric Piano: a typewriter that uses both computer and piano parts to control a keyboard. Each keystroke by the typist corresponds to a note added to collective soundscape and a mounted video camera allows the audience to keep tabs on the textual component. The project also showcases an object known as Elsewhere's Roof. The device controls a set of drum and percussion tools with water dropping into a few rather hi-tech Mason jars. In addition to arsenal of noise makers, multi-channel video and library of collected audio (via tape decks and turntables, of course) rounds out the lot. We were able to catch one of the stellar showings, so hit the gallery below for a look at the wares while a snippet of the action awaits beyond the break.

Invisible: The New Obsolete

This week saw the debut of two ARM-powered tablets by old rivals. One eschews traditional desktop input methods; the other embraces them. One occupies the high end of pricing in its class; the other is competitive with the market leader. One had the engineering goal of fitting in one hand; the other comes with a kickstand for being set on a desk or table. But perhaps the biggest contrast between the iPad mini and the Surface RT approaches is how well they take advantage of the hardware and software momentum of their predecessors.

If you like the idea of the Boxee TV, you'll be glad to hear that Boxee is handing units out like so much Halloween candy... as long as you live in the right areas, that is. Those who've signed up for product notifications and live in the cloud DVR coverage areas of Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, DC can get a free Boxee TV just by filling out a survey. They'll even have the privilege of getting their units ahead of everyone else. Boxee hasn't said if any new sign-ups will qualify, though it can't hurt to try the source link and potentially get a welcome treat.

In one of the week's biggest green architecture stories, Inhabitat reported that Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill unveiled plans for Chengdu Tianfu District Great City, China's first self-sufficient, carless city. Singapore also unveiled the world's first commercial vertical farm, Facebook's green cred got a boost when it was announced that its Prineville Data Center in Oregon achieved LEED Gold status, and architecture firm HNTB won a contest to redesign Los Angeles' Sixth Street Viaduct with a gorgeous high-flying ribbon bridge that promises to be one of the hottest new pieces of urban infrastructure in the US. In another exciting West Coast development, the San Francisco Planning Commission signed off on Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects' 61-story Transbay Tower. And at Madison Square Park in New York, Leo Villareal created a 30-foot-tall "BUCKYBALL" geodesic dome sculpture with pulsing LED lights.

Advances in unmanned military tools and vehicles have come on leaps and bounds, but, until now, we haven't seen a weapon firing drone operating in the seas. A recent test taking part offshore near Maryland saw several missiles launched from a new remote-controlled inflatable-hulled ship. While the Navy has used drones before for mine clearing and other defensive tasks, the small boat (similar to that pictured above) is the first experiment to involve true offensive capabilities. The almost zodiac-like craft has been an ongoing project over recent years, and contains a fully automated system which the Navy calls a "Precision Engagement Module" which uses an Mk-49 mounting with a dual missile launcher manufactured by Rafael. The hope is that such vehicles could patrol the coastline, or serve as a first defense against pirates, and other such small, fast-moving seafaring dangers. If you want to catch it in action, head past the break for the video, but don't be fooled. While it might look like a series of misses, the Navy claims this is just a trick of the camera angle, with all six missiles apparently making contact.

We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, then here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from Benjamin, who feels a little let down by the most recent changes to Evernote's image-sharing software. If you're looking to ask one of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

"Hi guys. I'm a graphic designer who, until recently, used a desktop app called Skitch to quickly share images with clients. I loved being able to just click and drag a portion of my desktop, click "share" and have it uploaded in a seconds. Of course, Evernote has screwed with it, so now it won't default to keeping my pictures private (not so good for the clients, or my reputation) and the new layout hides the sharing feature in a stupid drop-down menu. Frankly, a really useful piece of software has been ruined, so can you suggest a replacement?"

We feel your pain Benjamin, even if we did have to slice out your more colorful descriptions of Evernote from your e-mail. A site favorite has been ruined by the changes, and as such we're on the hunt for an alternative.

• Jing, from TechSmith lets you share screenshots and even record video on your desktop.
• Slingshot is a Mac exclusive that'll set you back $3, but uses the cloud service of your choice (Dropbox, Imgur etc)

Of course, this is the moment where we turn it over to our amazing commenters, who we hope will share the skinny. You never know, maybe some enterprising indie dev has already created the program to replace that hole in our lives -- friends, head down below, grab the candle and bang on.

Oh, Carphone Warehouse -- it just can't seem to keep what it knows about the LG / Google Nexus 4 under lock and key. Just days after briefly listing the phone on its website, purported in-store displays for the yet unannounced device have leaked out to Android Authority. While essentially of the details are the same as what we saw last (1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 SoC, 8MP cam, 12-hour talk time rating, etc.), the listing reveals that the "sim-free" phone itself will sell for £390 (about $504) -- previously we'd only seen the per-month pricing at £31, which is also found here. There's no mention of that October 30th sale date this time, and it would seem unlikely now given that Google's had to indefinitely postpone its NYC-based Android event for the 29th due to hurricane Sandy. For now, you can get more details from the source link below.

Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.

If, like us, you struggle to read the front of the Corn Flakes box of a morning, you likely gave up any hope of cracking ancient codes long ago. If you didn't, however, then your time might be now -- as one of the oldest scripts know to man is still up for grabs. Prefer just to observe? No problem, as we've got super-Earth-searching satellites, military mice and vertical farms, all for your viewing reading pleasure. If you hadn't guessed already, this is alt-week

If you'd rather not let your Nexus 7 live out its life as a Jelly Bean-toting device, Canonical's freshly minted Ubuntu Nexus 7 Desktop Installer can help. Instead of allowing Ubuntu to ride shotgun with Android, the installer requires unlocking the device's bootloader, which wipes the slate clean. Once the Nexus 7 is unlocked, started in fastboot mode and connected to an Ubuntu machine, the one-click installation software takes care of the rest. Roughly 10 to 15 minutes later, your tablet will be running full-blown Ubuntu. Since development is currently focused on getting the core of the desktop OS up and running, there's no tablet-specific Unity UI to see here. However, Raring Ringtail is set to flesh out the mobile experience with an emphasis on sensors, memory footprint and battery life, among other features. Those who regret ousting Google's confection-themed operating system can simply reload their device with stock Android. For the entire walk through, hit the first source link below.

[Thanks, Keith]