Hey, there: it’s that time of year again. You or your loved ones will soon be heading back to school (if you haven’t already)

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Engadget’s back to school giveaway, part two: win a lot of awesome gear worth nearly $2,400!

Boy, we’ve gone from rumor to hands-on experience in just a couple of days with this thing. Microsoft’s November 9 -bound Xbox 360 controller refresh couldn’t escape the clutches of Joystiq , who have put together a neat photo gallery and video overview.

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Xbox 360’s transforming D-pad controller gets handled on video

You may never have heard of auto electronics provider Rydeen Mobile, but it certainly knows of you — or more specifically, your desire to obtain a slick new tablet PC — and has thus created an 7-inch Android tablet that integrates the dedicated map functionality of its GPS machines. The “gPad” GCOM701 won’t be a terribly high-end device, mind you, with an 800MHz ARMADA 166 SOC , 256MB of RAM, bring-your-own-microSD-storage and what we’re led to believe is a resistive touchscreen, but it sounds like at least Rydeen isn’t being stingy on the software front.

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Rydeen hopes to cash in on tablet fever with Android-based, Armada-powered PND

Apple’s just announced a brand new, re-designed iPod shuffle . The button is back, and this model’s got up to a 15 hour battery life, is available in five colors, and will run you $49. If you’re in the mood, you can pre-order today, and it’ll ship next week

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Apple announces redesigned iPod shuffle, brings the buttons back

Hot news out of Japan if you’re an eager 3D beaver: a report from Toshiba’s home nation indicates that the company has three models of glasses-free 3D displays in the pipeline, which are being prepared for launch “before Christmas” at prices of “several thousand dollars” each. As you might recall, we got our first inkling about Toshiba Mobile Display’s multi-parallax technique back in April, which is when the above 21-inch panel was being touted along with promises of eliminating eye strain and widening 3D viewing angles.

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Toshiba reportedly prepping glasses-free 3DTV for Q4 launch

There aren’t many unresolved mysteries with Microsoft’s new console by this point — apart from perhaps why it wasn’t named the Stealthbox , like we were suggesting — but one thing that hasn’t been covered in excruciating detail yet is the new 360’s splicing of the CPU and GPU into the same chip. Microsoft has remedied that today, informing us that the 45nm system-on-chip (codenamed Vejle; sorry, Valhalla fans) inside the refreshed Xbox makes do with a relatively minimal 372 million transistors, requiring only 40 percent of the power and less than 50 percent of the die space of its 2005 ancestor

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Microsoft details Vejle, the new Xbox 360’s system-on-chip architecture

Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd.

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Engadget’s back to school guide: E-readers

There were reports as late as this morning that RIM was remaining “defiant” over the looming (and recurring ) BlackBerry ban in India and not willing to cut any “special deals,” but it looks like that may not be the case after all — Reuters is reporting that RIM has assured India that it will provide a ” technical solution” sometime next week. That’s presumably similar to the arrangement RIM recently worked out with Saudi Arabia, but India still isn’t making any final decisions just yet, with a government source simply saying that its ” technical team will evaluate if it works.” Somewhat curiously, the source also mentioned that India had “concerns” about Gmail and Skype, but didn’t offer any further details.

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RIM reportedly working with India to avoid BlackBerry ban

Ready to climb Mount Fuji and see what the next top Japanese TV will look like?

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Toshiba’s latest Cell Regza LCDs are Slim, but don’t go calling them 2D

It’s not like Apple could very well keep it a secret anymore, so today we’re being treated to the official unveiling of the Magic Trackpad . This wireless touch input receptacle — already thoroughly leaked , trademarked , and FCC-approved — has just made its debut in, of all places, Apple’s Store app for iOS 4.

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Apple Magic Trackpad official, shipping now for $69