The A8’s Multi Media Interface (a fancy name for a nav unit with media player attached) is already a pretty sophisticated piece of tech, but Audi has opted against resting on those laurels and has pushed out a new feature for the lu xury saloon’s next iteration. The 2011 A8 (available in Spring 2010 — crazy, we know) will benefit from the same handwriting recognition as promised for the next-gen R8, wherein the use r is able to scribble his destination all John Hancock- like and then use the touchscreen to complete his instructions. With Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean character support, this could be a particular boon for gadget lovers of a more Eastern persuasion. And just in case you’re fretting that the rest of your gear won’t get as much love, there are further plans afoot for connecting the car via UMTS and distributing W iFi goodness to the devices inside it. The only thing this is miss ing is a Snoop Dogg voiceover for the ultimate in convergence tech. Video after the break.

If you’ve got a Dell Mini 10v and you’ve been hankering to take Chrome OS for a spin in its proper environment — a n etbook, that is — today just got a lot more interesting. One helpful tinkerer over at Dell has hacked up a USB-bootable version of the as-yet unfinished (and still quite rough) Chromium iteration of Google’s OS with a working WiFi component. As you’ll recall, in our tests wireless wasn’t happening, but that’s all changed now… for 10v owners at the very least. It looks like there are still some kinks to be worked out, and you’ll be cruising into the OS on a D ell Gmail account, but at least you’ll be able to walk around your house while sc reaming “I’m using Chrome OS!” unburdened by pesky w ires or meddlesome sanity. Check out all the info at the source, and prepare for a crazy Friday night of netbooking.

You know what’s annoying? Having to get up and walk all the way to your iPod dock to pick a song. Sure, there’s the good old remote control these days, but you’d st ill need to squint at the tiny screen from afar if you want any modicum of song control. The couch potatoes at Ci gnias probably felt the same p ain and thus came up with the free MusicNAO app for the iPhone, iPod Touch and BlackBerry, allowing you to control and browse content over WiFi on the iPod docked on NAO Symphony speakers. It doesn’t end there: you can also stream music from the latest iPhone OS devices over Bluetooth, and the same goes for BlackBerry phones but with the addition of WiFi streaming. There’s no word on the sound quality yet, but the adventurous among you can pre-order a NAO Symphony for $249 ahead of its Dece mber 1st launch.

Even though Broadcom, Atheros, and Qualcomm have all been sampling phone-ready draft 802.11n chipsets for some time now, you’re still not seeing the tech swiftly overtake 802.11g in the mobile arena — in fact, we dar e you to find a single phone in your carrier’s store that can do it. Odds are you can’t, but HTC HD2 owners can win a few quid off their skeptical (non-Engadget-reading) friends by enabling s upport after the fact. Looks like draft-n support got buried in the compan y’s WinMo monster — a fitting device to add such a rare display of raw, savage wireless power, if we do say so ourselves — but it got turned off in the shipping firmware for some reason, possibly concerns over increased battery draw, flakiness, or a stark realizat ion that the benefits of 802.1 1n might not be fully appreciated in a device hamstrung more by a crappy browser than by slow WiFi. If you want to live on the edge anyway and flip the switch, xda-developers has the registry hack you need — and if you’re using an HD2 in the States without 3G right now, let’s be honest: you kinda need all the speed-boosting wireless hacks you can dig up.

The iPhone officially went on sale yesterday from China’s Unicom.  While they lacked the same frenzied fans as the US – that was during the initial Gen 1 launch – a few lines did form leaving queued customers in the rain for up to 7 hours.  The first owner of an official iPhone in China – they’ve long been available on the gray market – is Zhi Xianzhong.

Price for the handset with a 3 year, yes 3 year contract starts at 4,999 yuan (about $732) for the 8GB 3G model or 6,999 yuan (about $1,025) for the 32GB 3GS version.  Oh, and that price doesn’t even include WiFi, which has been left out of the handsets due to government oversight.

The success of the Chinese iPhone will be relatively limited given the price which will drop, but probably never enough for the majority to afford it.

Available next month, GM’s AutoNet will let you literally install a WiFi hotspot in your car.  The unit plus installation will cost $500 and there will be a monthly charge of $30 for a 1GB cap.  There is also a 5GB cap offered but no price is known as of now.

The range will last up to a radius of 150 feet away from you car and would be great for camping, tailgating, and beyond.  You could even have traveling video game competitions in your SUV while you drive from Inglewood to Compton.  Anybody like this product?