Lenovo ThinkCentre A70z review The hallowed
Think branding finally spread out to the land of AIOs earlier this year and we just had to wrap our paws around some of that signature matte black plastic to see what's what. The
ThinkCentre A70z represents Lenovo's most direct assault on the eco-conscious office manager's checkbook, coming as it does with minimal packaging, built out of recycled and recyclable materials, and significant energy savings relative to orthodox desktops. In our time with it, we found the A70z to be a well built and capable little rig, but the question you most probably want answered is whether the premium branding we associate with the tank-like
ThinkPads can be trusted to deliver a similar superiority in hardware and construction in the all-in-one arena. Click past the break for the answer.
Continue reading Lenovo ThinkCentre A70z review
Lenovo ThinkCentre A70z review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Rumor mill says Nintendo DS2 might be headed for E3 unveiling Hot on the heels of the recent
DSi XL appearance, rumors are swirling that
Nintendo is preparing to announce a second version of the DS --
the DS2, if you will -- at E3 in June. Over on
RPad they're spilling the beans about the supposed device, including the fact that it'll boast two larger, higher resolutions screens, an accelerometer, and it will also supposedly run on an NVIDIA Tegra chip. Finally,
RPad is also reporting that they spoke with developers who say their games will be finished by the end of the year... leading us all to speculate the the unannounced successor could, possibly, be announced at E3, then available by the end of the year. Of course, this info's all 100 percent unofficial, so take everything with a grain of salt, relax, and we'll let you know as soon as we hear something more solid.
Rumor mill says Nintendo DS2 might be headed for E3 unveiling originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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AirStash brings the WiFi, neglects the storage, for a cent under $100 When we last saw
the AirStash, it was keeping its mystique about it and refusing to disclose any salient details beyond the fact that it'll function as a wireless SD/SDHC card reader. Today, the fog of war is lifted with the news that the AirStash is now officially on sale for $99.99, and will come with a battery good for five hours of continuous data streaming. Marketed primarily at iPhone OS devices, it creates a wireless network that allows
any WiFi and browser-equipped computer to access the storage cards within it. The UI is built around HTML5 and recharging is done via a USB connection, which also turns the AirStash into a simple SDHC card adapter when plugged in. Check out our hands-on with it from CES
over here and look for a full review coming up shortly. We do care so very deeply our portable storage.
AirStash brings the WiFi, neglects the storage, for a cent under $100 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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World's first portable Sega Saturn has a face only a gamer could love We'll start by saying that this perhaps the most aesthetically challenged
portable console we've ever seen, and while it is a bit more slim than that
"portable" GameCube we spied a few years back, it too is hardly pocketable. So why cover it? Because it's the first and only legitimate way to get your Fighters Megamix fix while on the go. (No, the Game.com version does not count). It was created by a modder who goes by the handle Evil Nod over at the
benheck.com forums and contains what looks to be a full-sized console re-skinned and surrounded by a one of the system's optional analog controllers split in two. There's a 7-inch screen front and center and a nine volt battery 'round he back. The result ain't pretty, but we'd let it spin our Panzer Dragoon collection anytime.
[Thanks, ttsgeb]
World's first portable Sega Saturn has a face only a gamer could love originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sanyo surrounds Tokyo with Eneloop charging stations and bikes to match Renting a bike in most urban areas of the US is a difficult proposition. In Japan not only can you easily rent a bike, you can now rent an electric bike -- a
solar powered electric bike to boot.
Sanyo has dropped Eneloop stations on three locations around the Setagaya ward of Tokyo, each having 100 of the company's
electric rides on offer for passers by to borrow (for a sadly undisclosed fee). When the bikes aren't being pedaled around town they'll sit in the station, being recharged by 46 square meters of solar panels that not only juice up batteries but also provide LED lighting for the station itself. While Sanyo does offer some solar stations for Eneloop owners, these look to be for renters only, meaning those who've bought their own will have to take themselves and their little baskets somewhere else.
Sanyo surrounds Tokyo with Eneloop charging stations and bikes to match originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mac virtualization face-off: VMware Fusion 3 vs. Parallels Desktop 5 (video) With Steam officially hitting Mac in just
a few weeks many Apple gamers have suddenly lost their need to emulate. But, for those who are hoping to get busy in a little
Command & Conquer 4 under Snow Leopard this week -- or any of the other myriad of PC-only gaming options -- virtualization is the only way to go -- short of rebooting into Boot Camp, of course.
Parallels is the most commonly used solution, but how does
VMware's Fusion 3 stack up for gaming? Not too well, as it turns out.
MacTech sat the two down together on matching Mac hardware and ran them through a number of benchmarks, including 3DMark. The results of that test fall heavily in the favor of Parallels, offering better framerates and far more consistent visuals, which you can see for yourself in a video below. Most of the many, many other tests run favor that option as well, but we won't spoil all eight pages worth of results just waiting for you on the other end of that source link.
Continue reading Mac virtualization face-off: VMware Fusion 3 vs. Parallels Desktop 5 (video)
Mac virtualization face-off: VMware Fusion 3 vs. Parallels Desktop 5 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Cowon J3 PMP looks cool in its brushed metal case Hot on the heels of giving our opinion on
Cowon's (relatively) big-screened
V5 media player we have some news on the next player in line from the company. It's called the J3 and, while Cowon has officially acknowledged its existence, its specifications have only been unveiled thanks to what looks to be an internationally coordinated effort on behalf of gadget lovers everywhere. The J3 is said to have a 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 480 x 272, pulling content from 4, 8, or 16GB of internal storage -- content that can also be routed to a TV. There'll be Bluetooth to pump tunes wirelessly and a new metal case that's said to improve the quality feel of the player. That, of course, we won't know about until we can feel one of the things, and according to the company some folks will be able to do just that before the month is through.
Cowon J3 PMP looks cool in its brushed metal case originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Cynergy's magazine kiosk concept serves up digital content a la carte (video) Not that we've never seen
Surface-like
touch tables interacting with mobile devices before, but now that the whole thing is being repackaged as "the magazine stand of the future" and those trendy tablets are involved, we might as well have a look. Cynergy is demonstrating a seamless method for purchasing digital content from one of these kiosks using your e-reader or tablet pc. It's just a matter of plopping your device -- which already knows your identity and available credit -- atop the display table and then flicking the particular magazine or newspaper you want onto your storage. It looks effortless and all, but it also requires that you have the "custom designed and built" software from Cynergy, which you'll have to pump funds into in order to get the seamlessness going. We don't know how we feel about yet another proprietary ecosystem floating about, but you can make your own mind up after watching the video after the break.
Continue reading Cynergy's magazine kiosk concept serves up digital content a la carte (video)
Cynergy's magazine kiosk concept serves up digital content a la carte (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Spring Design Alex finally up for pre-order, Borders eBook store launching in June Well it's about time, Spring Design! After missing its
February ship date, the company is finally ready for you to whip out the plastic and pre-order its Alex -- that dual-screen,
Android-based ereader we
liked so much at CES. While you can shell out the $399 today, you'll still have to wait until mid-April for the mailman to drop off the package. We'd like to say the wait stops there, but we've also learned that early buyers won't have access to the promised
Borders eBook store until June. When we chatted with Spring Design CEO Priscilla Lu last week she confirmed that Borders will officially launch its store in the "June time frame," which will be around the very same time that the 3G version of the Alex will be ready to hit the market -- at least there's access to Google Books and an micro-SD card slot for sideloading in the meantime. With so much coming down the pike it may be worth waiting a bit more time for this one, but our own Alex arrived just last night so no matter what it'd behoove you to wait a few days for our review before you hit the source link to pre-order.
Update: Well, this is odd. Even though this news hit the wires today, the shop page on Spring Design's website is definitely non-functional right now. Instead, you'll see a message to check back soon. We'll keep doing just that until we see signs of life... or hear otherwise.
Spring Design Alex finally up for pre-order, Borders eBook store launching in June originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Cabestan's Nostromo watch is geared for success You might think, given our recent bout of attentiveness toward
wristwear, that we're starting to develop an En
watchet subsection, but that's not entirely accurate. It's just that when we come across such
wild and
quirky designs, there's nothing to be done but share them with the world. Case in point: the Cabestan Nostromo watch, inspired by the ship from the
Alien movie. In the words of its own designers, the Nostromo combines traditional watchmaking with "retro-futuristic audacity," and when we gaze upon its exposed vertical mechanics, we can't exactly argue otherwise. With a titanium case, Superluminova phosphorescent coating for dusky situations, and
side windows (see them after the break), this is as appealing a watch as any geek can dare to imagine. Sure, you could probably buy a sports car for less than the 150,000 Swiss Francs ($141,400 in American currency) asking price, but it's not like you can strap a Porsche to your wrist, now is it?
Continue reading Cabestan's Nostromo watch is geared for success
Cabestan's Nostromo watch is geared for success originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nokia: MeeGo "door is not closed" on N900 Now that we have clarity with regard to a Windows Phone 7 update on the HD2 (
sorry, folks), let's move on to the next contentious platform: Nokia's N900 and MeeGo. As Nokia's only Cortex-A8 handset, there's plenty of hope that Nokia sees fit to upgrade the N900 to MeeGo once the
unified Maemo and Moblin OS is ready for consumers. Hope all but crushed yesterday after
CNET reported the following from an unnamed, but apparently official Nokia source:
"Maemo on Nokia N900 is not upgradeable to MeeGo."
We ran this past Ray Haddow, Senior Manager within Nokia Communications who took the quote back to the project team in Finland. According to Ray, the "the door is not closed" with regard to MeeGo on the N900 -- a final decision has not been made. This also echos the words of Valtteri Halla when he announced the
MeeGo repository in early March. In response to questions at the time, this one-bodied half of the MeeGo Technical Steering Group had this to day:
"N900 is a natural tool for Nokia to drive MeeGo support for our designs and for the ARM CPU architecture in general. We want to have baseline HW that is powerful, easily available for anyone and form-factor stuff so that one HW works for most platform and application development needs.
That said, please do not take this yet as a commitment to fully productise MeeGo on N900. I am quite confident that we will end up having a really good developer distro for N900 already but committing to stabilise a consumer-grade MeeGo 1.0 (first half this year) for N900 is another story. That is a product business decision beyond my scope. Also, we do not yet know about MeeGo 1 release content. I am not yet sure if I would be personally ready to let my Maemo5 go for the first MeeGo release in my daily N900 use. Let's see."
So, looks like another long game of wait and see, eh?
Nokia: MeeGo "door is not closed" on N900 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Chinese manufacturer sticks IP webcam on robot vacuum, calls it a day WiFi-controlled sentry robots have been our playthings for a few years now, but sure as Sunday morning, they don't help us get much work done. Why would you, when you can discreetly spy on your house, kids and neighbors from the convenience of a web browser? That's what we thought. But now, there's a robot to assuade your guilty conscience: the G182, a complete VoIP
webcam system built on top of a pseudo-
Roomba. Sure, a Roomba-cam
isn't really anything new, but while you wait for the real deal to
shake off its economic funk (if it ever does), this yellow disc is the next best thing. For the low, low price of $500, you can once again feel like you're accomplishing something -- vacuuming floors and yelling at the kids to do chores -- while dodging the daily grind. Full specs and loads more pics at the source link.
Chinese manufacturer sticks IP webcam on robot vacuum, calls it a day originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple vs. Google gets personal: 'Steve Jobs simply hates Eric Schmidt' (video) Image Credit: Daniel Adel, New York Times
Nothing sells papers (or ads) like turning a little corporate competition into something personal. Case in point, a
New York Times piece from the weekend titled "Apple's Spat With Google Is Getting Personal," that opened with this rather ominous, one-sentence paragraph:
"It looked like the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Cue the orchestra. The lengthy piece chronicling the relationship between the Silicon Valley titans was formed by two dozen interviews with industry watchers, investors, and current and former employees covering a timeline spread that began with Google and Apple working in harmony to prevent Microsoft's domination of online services and mobile devices. It ends with Apple's patent lawsuit against HTC that reeks of a
proxy battle against Android and Google. According to the
NYT then, the heart of the dispute is betrayal, or Jobs' belief that Schmidt (a former Apple board member) "picked his pocket" by developing cellphones that "physically, technologically and spiritually resembled the iPhone." Here's how one especially feisty encounter is described:
"At one particularly heated meeting in 2008 on Google's campus, Mr. Jobs angrily told Google executives that if they deployed a version of multitouch - the popular iPhone feature that allows users to control their devices with flicks of their fingers - he would sue. Two people briefed on the meeting described it as "fierce" and "heated.""
And that's just the beginning. Read the rest after the break.
Continue reading Apple vs. Google gets personal: 'Steve Jobs simply hates Eric Schmidt' (video)
Apple vs. Google gets personal: 'Steve Jobs simply hates Eric Schmidt' (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Kingston's 2,400MHz HyperX memory kit offers the world's fastest Intel-certified RAM For those among us finding it hard to decide what blisteringly fast
DDR3 sticks to pair with their Core i7, Intel has decided to do its own compatibility certification list (see link below). And since the happiest memory maker is usually the one atop the pile, we have to imagine
Kingston is feeling pretty sunny right now, as its 2.4GHz HyperX memory kit has scooped the top spot away from
Corsair's 2.33GHz offering. Running at 1.65 volts and offering 9-11-9-27-2 timings, this is now officially
the RAM to own if you're after headline-grabbing stock speeds. We also love the fact Kingston acknowledges "benchmarkers" as a distinct group alongside gamers and enthusiasts -- finally some appreciation for those misunderstood souls. Whatever you describe yourself as, you'll be able to get on the latest speed bandwagon in the second quarter of this year. Full PR after the break.
Continue reading Kingston's 2,400MHz HyperX memory kit offers the world's fastest Intel-certified RAM
Kingston's 2,400MHz HyperX memory kit offers the world's fastest Intel-certified RAM originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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AUO's 65-inch 3D HDTV panel headed for the conveyer belt in 2H 2010, boasts polarized specs While it might have been a pipe dream
back in '09, Taiwanese display manufacturer AU Optronics is firmly committed to blasting our eyeballs in 2010, with a monstrous 65-inch HD LCD panel ready for all the 3D and pseudo-3D content (we're looking at you,
G-Force) you have on offer. AUO isn't hedging its bets on this one, either; at FPD China 2010, the company announced that they're using a
polarized solution with cheap, $2 to 3 glasses to generate the 3D effect. Sure, polarized is the
preferred method for most theatres, but it's often more expensive than
active shutter tech for an in-home user -- and can come with some serious visual tradeoffs like permanent ghosting or
halved vertical resolution. We won't know for sure until we get hands-on, but either way, expect to see AUO's panels in a branded 3D HDTV near you early next year, or just a few months before HDI drops a
103-inch monster of its own.
AUO's 65-inch 3D HDTV panel headed for the conveyer belt in 2H 2010, boasts polarized specs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sky TV buys 15,000 3DTVs from LG for live sports broadcasts in public venues LG is today proudly boasting that it has sealed the biggest sale of 3D television sets so far, thanks to its partnership with UK broadcaster
BSkyB. Following a
surprisingly successful trial run of broadcasting the Arsenal versus Man United match in 3D
this January, Sky clearly sees its future through polarizing glasses and has ordered up the big batch of tubes so that it can provide weekly 3D broadcasts of Premier League games. The plan is for a rapid rollout this spring -- which is right about now -- meaning that your local pub should be getting all glitzed up just in time for the end of season excitement. It remains to be seen whether Brits will swarm to the new tech or lose interest once the novelty wears off, but judging from the size of this investment, it would seem the bigwigs in charge of our entertainment are already convinced that 3D will be a win.
Sky TV buys 15,000 3DTVs from LG for live sports broadcasts in public venues originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Droid Eris rooted to 2.1, but look before you leap
Tired of
waiting for Verizon and dissatisfied with a series of recent
buggy leaks, the fine folks at
XDA Developers were determined to trade their Cupcake-laden Droid Eris for a more toothsome Eclair on their own terms. Yesterday evening, it seems they finally achieved their goal, though not without a caveat or three. If you're still running the stock Android 1.5, it's a simple matter of dropping a ZIP file onto your SD card and restarting your phone; if not, you're completely out of luck. Rooters warn that the hack won't work on phones that have already been flashed to that aforementioned Eris 2.1 leak, and that they haven't yet figured out a way to restore
any non-1.5 phones back to factory default. If hacking isn't your daily bread, proceed with caution --
Sense UI may be fancy and all, but chaining your phone forevermore to an unsupported OS just ain't worth it. See what an Eris Eclair looks like after the break.
Continue reading Droid Eris rooted to 2.1, but look before you leap
Droid Eris rooted to 2.1, but look before you leap originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Homegrown Wacom Cintiq LCD tablet comes to life through prefab DIY enclosure Dropped a stack of change on a premium
Wacom drawing tablet, only to find yourself with
Cintiq envy? Got an old laptop handy? If so, odds are good that you've occasionally (or persistently, for that matter) thought about hacking together an LCD tablet of your very own. Problem is,
the mods we've seen require some serious shop time -- building a custom enclosure isn't for the lighthearted, you know? But if you're in possession of a sizable Wacom
Intuos and roughly $220 of post-tax cheddar,
TabletMod.com has a purpose-built, laser-cut acrylic enclosure with your name on it. You'll still need an LCD controller kit and CCFL extenders, and there's still a chance you'll be paying more for the whole kit and caboodle than if you just got a low-end $1,000 Cintiq 12WX to begin with -- but if you've already got half the parts lying around (or you're just dying to scratch another DIY itch), this project might be worth your while. Cheapskates like us, however, will continue to wait for the
Bamboo variety, though you can certainly dabble in the source link if you're scouting some instructional videos.
Homegrown Wacom Cintiq LCD tablet comes to life through prefab DIY enclosure originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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First Data and Tyfone announce partnership for NFC payments by microSD card
We've already seen Visa
team up with DeviceFidelity to deliver NFC payments via microSD card, and it looks like they now have some company from First Data and Tyfone, who have just announced a partnership of their own to help bring the technology to the cellphone-toting masses. At the heart of their system is Tyfone's SideTap card made by NXP Semiconductors (pictured after the break), which is not only able to function as an actual memory card in addition to a NFC payment device, but should cost about the same as a regular memory card of the same capacity as well. Using a microSD card instead of a phone with built-in NFC technology also cuts out the need for carriers or phone manufacturers to be involved, which is apparently where First Data comes in, as it will responsible for bringing the cards to consumers (in addition to dealing with retailers, carriers and financial institutions). Complete details on a rollout still seem to be a bit up in the air, but the two companies are promising that it will hit the market in the second half of 2010, with trials slated to begin mid-year.
Continue reading First Data and Tyfone announce partnership for NFC payments by microSD card
First Data and Tyfone announce partnership for NFC payments by microSD card originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Olé, Contoso: Windows Phone Marketplace will integrate carrier-branded stores So we noticed this odd "Contoso" label on Microsoft's
Windows Phone Marketplace press image earlier today, and we finally got to the bottom of it: Microsoft's Todd Biggs says it's a placeholder entry for a carrier-branded section of the store -- instead of having a separate portal and / or store, Verizon or AT&T or whoever can simply sell their content to customers directly through Marketplace. So why Contoso? Todd says it's a random trademark owned by Microsoft used in place of carrier names that doesn't actually mean anything, although we think it suggests adventure, white roadsters, and finely-groomed mustachios. And now you know.
Olé, Contoso: Windows Phone Marketplace will integrate carrier-branded stores originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Canon EOS 5D Mark II firmware 2.0.3 arrives at last to free us from frame rate hell It's been obvious from day one that it was possible, but after a couple of years of oh-so-painful 30 FPS recording on the
EOS 5D Mark II, Canon is finally coming through with its
long-promised 2.0.3 update that brings 29.97 FPS and 24 FPS (23.976, to be precise) 1080p recording at last. Even the VGA mode has been swapped to a 29.97 actual rate, and PAL mode has a flat 25 FPS and 23.976 FPS as well. Additional tweaks include a manual volume adjustment (as opposed to the automatic gain the cameras usually employ), a brightness or RGB histogram display (this function, like some of these other features, has been available for a while as a hack), shutter and aperture priority modes have been added for movie shooting, and the audio sampling ramp has been bumped from 44.1KHz to 48KHz. The bad news: now you don't have any excuses for not shooting that heartwrenching mumblecore masterpiece you've been telling everyone you're working on. Hit up the source link for the download instructions.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Canon EOS 5D Mark II firmware 2.0.3 arrives at last to free us from frame rate hell originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dell joins dog pile, sues five LCD makers over price-fixing allegations
Looks like Dell is getting itself a membership in a club of which
AT&T,
Nokia, and the
US Department of Justice are none too pleased to say they're members. The company has filed suit in a San Francisco court today against four Japanese LCD makers - Sharp, Hitachi, Toshiba, and Seiko Epson - and Taiwan-based HannStar. The crime at hand? None other than the much-chronicled LCD price fixing cartel. At least two of the aforementioned companies (
Sharp and
Hitachi) have already come forth to admit involvement and pay fines elsewhere, and now it looks like the troubles are still coming for them and others. If only there was
some way the companies could band together to increase profits and help pay for these suits... oh, wait.
Dell joins dog pile, sues five LCD makers over price-fixing allegations originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Earthquake detection software gains foothold in California Stanford's Quake-Catcher Network has been up and running since early 2008, but it looks like it's just now starting to reach the critical mass of users that's essential for its success. As you may be aware, the software takes advantage of the accelerometers built into many new laptops to watch for any signs of shaking or vibration, which it then compares with data from other laptops in the same area -- if they're all shaking at the same time, that's a pretty good indication there's an earthquake happening. Until recently, however, there hasn't been enough users in any particular area to produce reliable data, but Stanford now counts more than 450 users in California alone, which has provided it with its first truly viable testbed. Of course, more users would be even better, and you can sign up and download the software at the link below if you're interested in helping out.
Earthquake detection software gains foothold in California originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft's Game Room for Xbox 'rewinds' the hits in our hands-on demo Microsoft showed off its new retro-tastic
Game Room UI for Xbox 360 in playable form at GDC last week. While the "make a virtual representation of a gaming space" idea might seem ripped straight from
Sony's Home, there aren't really any actual similarities -- outside of the fact they're both in 3D, at least. You dive disembodied through the different game rooms pretty intuitively, with different company collections on the bottom "level" of the mall-like UI, and upper levels set aside for your own collections of the games. Unfortunately, once you actually select an arcade cabinet, the UI gets rather overly complex, with all sorts of modes you can play the game in, sorts of scores to be tracked and an indecipherable menu tree that makes it a real chore to exit a game. We're sure arcade fanatics, ready to pit their scores against the best of them and looking for truly in-depth functionality are going to love all this, but for us poor simpletons it's a little much to take in all at once. Luckily, Microsoft saved the best for the actual gameplay. Not only does it nicely emulate inserting coins and even entering in codes on a virtual keypad, but when playing games in the non-ranked classic mode there's a "rewind" function accessible at any time with the tug of the left trigger. The screen gets those VHS-style wavey lines and you can mend your errors instead of losing a valuable life or having to start from the beginning. It's perfect for patching over the quarter-munching difficulty of some of these games, and it might even be enough to pull us away from our polygon-drenched gorefests now and then to don an inexplicable bear avatar and spelunk some
Crystal Castles. Check out a video of Game Room after the break, and stand by for a launch of the service on March 24.
Continue reading Microsoft's Game Room for Xbox 'rewinds' the hits in our hands-on demo
Microsoft's Game Room for Xbox 'rewinds' the hits in our hands-on demo originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comcast will beat DirecTV to the punch by broadcasting the Masters Tournament in 3D April 7-11
Very cagey way to play it
Comcast. While
DirecTV,
ESPN and
Discovery were first to say they would have 3DTV broadcasts back at CES, the cable company will actually be the first to deliver it, starting with the
Masters Tournament (but why not the 3D broadcast of the
Final Four?) April 7-11. That's right, the first "live next-generation 3D broadcast of a major sporting event on TV, the first live simulcast of a next-gen 3D event online, and the industry's first live multi-camera next-gen 3D production" will be on cable (& internet), not satellite or telco. Again, that's right, if you don't have a 3D television set up yet, it will also be streamed at Masters.com (
no word whether this is a Comcast only or if it will be open to all) for all those with a 3D setup on their PC. We'll temper our expectations until we see
what kind of quality is able to
squeeze through Comcast's fiber backbone and down our neighborhood coax wires, but this should certainly blow away the
anaglyph stuff currently offered on VOD. Of course, the old school HD streams will still be broadcast on ESPN and CBS, but if Tiger really does make his comeback at Augusta this should give us a better view of the course (and any residual damage from that "car accident") than ever before.
[Thanks, Simon]
Comcast will beat DirecTV to the punch by broadcasting the Masters Tournament in 3D April 7-11 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Three Windows Phone 7 Series devices, all in a row Well, there they are, the only three confirmed
Windows Phone 7 Series prototype devices that currently exist. From left, we have the new Samsung slate that
debuted today, the just-for-demos unbranded Asus unit that was the star of MWC, and the LG slider that we got
cozy with at the Engadget Show. We're still hoping for more time with the Samsung -- and we're pushing for more detailed specs on all of these -- but check out some high-res crops in the gallery below.
Three Windows Phone 7 Series devices, all in a row originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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GigaPan Epic Pro robotic camera mount shipping in April We found GigaPan's Epic 100 robotic camera mount to be an impressive if not entirely practical solution when we got
our hands on it back in May of last year, but it's unfortunately of little use with a full-size DSLR. GigaPan is set to fill that gap with its new Epic Pro model, which it's just announced will be available in April. This model will accommodate DSLR and lens combinations up to ten pounds, and give you a 7.2V, 4300mAH rechargeable battery (as opposed to the AAs used in the smaller models), along with a few new features like a multiple triggering option to take multiple shots at each image position. Of course, the Pro model also comes with a pro-minded price -- $895, to be specific.
GigaPan Epic Pro robotic camera mount shipping in April originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft confirms accuracy of old, pre-'reboot' Windows Mobile 7 leaks Remember those
old, allegedly leaked Windows Mobile 7 screen shots from way back in 2008? You know -- those ones that look absolutely nothing like the so-called Metro UI that
Windows Phone 7 Series is actually using? Well, Microsoft's Albert Shum -- one of WP7S' chief designers who we had the pleasure of meeting back at MWC -- just confirmed the accuracy of those leaks in a session here at
MIX10. Discussing the reboot of the WinMo 7 program that happened inside Microsoft about a year ago, Shum flashed a slide showing eight of those infamous shots featuring those crazy bottom-aligned battery and signal meters along with WinMo 6.x-ish ID oozing from every nook and cranny. Needless to say, a clean-slate approach was sorely needed, and that's exactly where Metro ended up coming into play -- but be honest: is there anyone out there that would've still preferred the old leak in a production device?
Microsoft confirms accuracy of old, pre-'reboot' Windows Mobile 7 leaks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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NPD: Mac sales up 39 percent in January and Febuary as iPod sales rebound Well, it looks like it's not just iPad pre-orders that are possibly be
beating a few expectations -- according to
NPD, sales of Macs and iPods were also up over some estimates in January and February. Citing the report, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says that sales of Macs were up 39% year over year for the two months (ahead of estimates of 22%), which should translate to sales of between 2.8 to 2.9 million Macs for the full quarter, while iPod sales were up 7% during the same period, suggesting total iPod sales of between nine and ten million for the first quarter. That latter number may actually be the more impressive of the two, as it marks the first time iPod sales have rebounded into positive territory in a full sixteen months -- although that trend could just as easily be reversed again if, say, Apple rolls out a new iPhone that cuts into iPod sales.
NPD: Mac sales up 39 percent in January and Febuary as iPod sales rebound originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Windows Phone 7 Series targeted at 38 year-old 'life maximizers' Here's a fun tidbit we just learned from Microsoft's Joe Belfiore: in order to focus
Windows Phone 7 Series on the idea of best serving end users, the team actually created two fictional targets consumers named "Miles" and "Anna," a pair of married 38-year old "life maximizers" who demand the most from their devices. Yes, it's a little strange and hilariously specific on the surface -- Anna just scaled back her PR job to part-time so she can take care of the kids! Miles like to take pictures and use Facebook to share them with his parents in Europe! -- but it makes a certain amount of sense: Microsoft says it's trying to create a device that appeals to someone with both a work Exchange account and personal Gmail account, someone who needs to get work done but also wants to play 3D games, and it thinks that if Miles and Anna are happy, chances are a lot of other customer segments will satisfied as well. Of course, this is almost exactly the same message we've heard from Palm
about the Pre, but at least Microsoft's ideal users aren't a
creepy alien lady or a
mom from the 50s -- and they have a much better reason to
Bing their way through the WP7S UI.
Continue reading Windows Phone 7 Series targeted at 38 year-old 'life maximizers'
Windows Phone 7 Series targeted at 38 year-old 'life maximizers' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Confirmed: HTC HD2 will not be upgraded to Windows Phone 7 series Bad news, HTC HD2 owners: Microsoft has finally come right out and
confirmed our suspicions that the mighty HTC HD2 won't be upgraded to Windows Phone 7 Series. Joe Belfiore just told us that the HD2 is "not compliant with the Windows Phone 7 Series
hardware specifications," which should end any of the lingering doubt that's
clouded this issue since MWC. That certainly puts a damper on the HD2's
upcoming launch on T-Mobile, but hey -- every Microsoft employee here at MIX is carrying one, so it's clearly the WinMo handset to get until it's eclipsed by 7 late in the year. Pour one out for the king, friends.
Confirmed: HTC HD2 will not be upgraded to Windows Phone 7 series originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Windows Phone 7 Series will be WVGA only at launch, HVGA later Microsoft's driving home the point that developers are going to know exactly what kind of hardware they're targeting as they whip up
Windows Phone 7 Series apps -- and naturally, a biggie is screen resolution since that affects how UI elements are going to be placed, how cool they can look, and how small they can realistically be. In a session at
MIX10, Microsoft's Charlie Kindel has laid down the law that WP7S will be 800 x 480 --
just 800 x 480 -- at launch, a message
we heard at MWC last month, but the new tidbit here is that there'll be 480 x 320 in the pipe for an unannounced later date. All devices will have precisely the same amount of available RAM and the same capacitive touch capability, and as we've already know, manufacturers will be able to tack on a keyboard if they like.
Windows Phone 7 Series will be WVGA only at launch, HVGA later originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ballmer's visage evoked for 'developers, developers, developers' demo app on Windows Phone 7 Series You could argue that Steve Ballmer's classic "developers, developers, developers" mantra is more important to the success of
Windows Phone 7 Series than of any other product in recent Microsoft history, so it comes as no surprise that he's pulled it out of his hat
one more time for
MIX10 today. Demoing how easy it is to take advantage of the platform's many rapid-development features, the team showed off a gangly
Silverlight version of the big guy in lieu of the real deal (apparently he had a scheduling conflict and couldn't be around for the event). Ballmer actually recorded a "developers, developers, developers!" rant just for the app, which the visage chants incessantly; you can adjust voice pitch and throw the doll around with a few flicks of the hand. Scary? Yes, yet somehow, we'd pay $0.99 for it. Follow the break for video.
Continue reading Ballmer's visage evoked for 'developers, developers, developers' demo app on Windows Phone 7 Series
Ballmer's visage evoked for 'developers, developers, developers' demo app on Windows Phone 7 Series originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Engadget Show returns this Saturday, March 20th with Nicholas Negroponte and PlayStation Move!
It's that time again -- the Engadget Show returns
this Saturday, March 20th at 5pm! We'll be joined by
Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the
MIT Media Lab and
OLPC project for what's sure to be a rousing conversation. What's more, we'll have Joystiq's
Chris Grant on hand and Sony's Senior Researcher
Dr. Richard Marks will be showing off the
PlayStation Move... and we'll be letting some lucky audience members demo it live on the show! You'll be meeting our new investigative correspondent Rick Karr and we'll have more of the classic Engadget Show shenanigans that you love so much. You can also look forward to some chiptune goodness from
minusbaby, as well as visuals from
notendo. We'll be streaming the whole thing direct to you via the internet, but we'll be doing some
major giveaways at the live show only, so make the trek and join us at
The Times Center in person if you can. If for some reason you live in not-New York, hit up the stream and tweet comments directly to the show!
The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the
Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Here's all the info you need:
- There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free
- The event is all ages
- Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2:30PM on Saturday, doors will open for seating at 4:30PM, and the show begins at 5PM
- You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket
- Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full
- The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break)
- The show length is around an hour
Sprint is also offering
50 guaranteed tickets to the Engadget Show taping to the first 50 entrants who text "ENGADGET" to 467467 or enter online. Standard text messaging rates apply.
Click here for the Official Rules and see how to enter online.
If you're a
member of the media who wishes to attend, please
contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other
non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.
Subscribe to the Show:[
iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
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Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V).
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RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
Continue reading The Engadget Show returns this Saturday, March 20th with Nicholas Negroponte and PlayStation Move!
The Engadget Show returns this Saturday, March 20th with Nicholas Negroponte and PlayStation Move! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung Windows Phone 7 Series handset makes the scene Here's a fun little surprise: Microsoft's Joe Belfiore just ran through a Windows Phone 7 Series demo on an as-yet unannounced Samsung device here at
MIX. Apart from hints at an OLED screen, we don't much about the specific hardware, but Joe also showed off a slide of the WP7S minimum requirements, so we can tell you it has at least 256MB of RAM and 8GB of flash, as well as DirectX9 acceleration. We're due to meet with Joe in just a few, so we'll obviously dig for more -- stay tuned!
Continue reading Samsung Windows Phone 7 Series handset makes the scene
Samsung Windows Phone 7 Series handset makes the scene originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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FCC submits National Broadband Plan to Congress: at least 100M US homes with access to 100Mbps download speeds Right on schedule, the FCC has submitted its National Broadband Plan. There's a lot to go through -- note the calls for
broadband benchmarking and pricing reports -- and we're still combing, but here's what we've noticed so far. The six goals set out for "the next decade" propose that every American have the affordable access (the key, oft-repeated phrase) to "robust broadband services," and, more specifically, at least 100 million US homes with affordable access to at least 100MBps down / 50Mbps up speeds. All communities should have at their disposal
1Gbps service, every first responder should have "access to a nationwide, wireless interoperable broadband public safety network," and here's an interesting one: every citizen should be able to use broadband to "track and manage
real-time [home] energy consumption."
The appeal to our taxpaying wallets comes in the form of the FCC expecting the "vast majority of recommendations [to] not require new government funding", and that the
500MHz of spectrum going on auction is "likely to offset the potential costs." The plan, as the paper itself says, is in beta and be perennially in flux. Set aside 15 minutes of your day and hit up the PDF for all the details, or 25 if you're having to download over dial-up.
Update: Here's a friendly reminder to keep the discussion friendly and on topic -- that is, about the broadband proposal itself. All other comments will get deleted and the respective users run the risk of being banned.
FCC submits National Broadband Plan to Congress: at least 100M US homes with access to 100Mbps download speeds originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Inhabitat's Week in Green: skyscrapers, combustible ice, and coffee-powered carsThe Week in Green is a new item from our friends at Inhabitat, recapping the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us.
This week Inhabitat took a peek into the future of our built environment by showcasing the most incredible designs from the 2010 eVolo Skyscraper Competition. From
water purifying buildings to
cities stacked on stilts and self-sufficient
underwater skyscrapers, there's no shortage of futuristic thinking on tap.
Alternative energy was also a hot topic this week as China launched plans to tap "
combustible ice" as an energy source and researchers at MIT discovered a new way to produce electricity by sending
thermopower waves through carbon nanotubes.
We also saw several exciting advances in efficient transportation as South Korea rolled out an
EV that is recharged by electrified roads and researchers at UT Dallas revealed a
heat-scavenging tailpipe that may one day help power cars. And if you think your Prius gets good mileage, get a load of this
super-efficient gas engine that gets 98 MPG. Finally, if you rely on that morning cup of coffee to get your engine running, you won't want to miss this
coffee-powered car that gets 56 espressos per mileInhabitat's Week in Green: skyscrapers, combustible ice, and coffee-powered cars originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Confirmed: Marketplace will be the only way to get apps on Windows Phone 7 Series We just got out of a meeting with Microsoft's Todd Biggs, who dropped a little bombshell on us: the only official way to get apps on a Windows Phone 7 Series device will be to download them from the
just-detailed Windows Phone Marketplace. That means developers will have to abide by Microsoft's technical and content guidelines in order to make it in, with the very real possibility of rejection -- sound familiar? Todd told us Microsoft plans to avoid Apple-style submission headaches by making the process transparent and predictable, with a group of Microsoft execs regularly meeting to examine edge cases and refine the guidelines as needed, but even the best intentions can be led astray by a sexy app or two. We also got some additional details on Marketplace and how it's going to work, catch the highlights after the break.
Update: Microsoft wanted us to clarify that enterprise customers will be able to deploy apps to employees outside the consumer-facing Marketplace -- details on that will be released in the future.
Continue reading Confirmed: Marketplace will be the only way to get apps on Windows Phone 7 Series
Confirmed: Marketplace will be the only way to get apps on Windows Phone 7 Series originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Lensbaby Composer, Fisheye and Soft Focus review: creativity abounds Lensbaby
lenses have been out and about for a long while now, but we were just recently able to sit down with a few of the company's best and brightest in order to form our own opinions of the (admittedly overlooked) creative devices. For those unaware, Lensbaby makes a handful of lenses and optics that help users engage in selective focus photography, and frankly, create all sorts of wild images that would be otherwise difficult or impossible to create within Photoshop. There's no question that these are hobby lenses through and through -- you wouldn't want to hinge your business on these -- but are they worth the comparatively low asking prices? Read on to find out.
Continue reading Lensbaby Composer, Fisheye and Soft Focus review: creativity abounds
Lensbaby Composer, Fisheye and Soft Focus review: creativity abounds originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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AMD lays out Open Stereo 3D Initiative at GDC NVIDIA has certainly been
more active in 3D than
ATI/
AMD has as of late, but it looks like the situation may be starting to change, as AMD has taken advantage of the just concluded GDC to lay out its new Open Stereo 3D Initiative. While the company isn't yet drumming up too much fanfare about it (or even issuing a press release), it does seem to have gotten things started on an ambitious note, with the initiative promising to provide consumers with "more choice, more innovation, and lower cost." In the nearer term, that will apparently translate to products like 3D-enabled
ATI Eyefinity technology, 120Hz displays, stereo 3D notebooks, and various bundled solutions and shutter glasses. Of course, any actual product announcements are still a little ways off, but it looks like AMD does already have quite a few partners lined up.
AMD lays out Open Stereo 3D Initiative at GDC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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