For the anti-iPod crowd out there (you know who you are), Microsoft's Zune HD has been a long time comin'. As of September 17th, your excuses for not owning one vanished completely, and for those diehards willing to splurge on Redmond's swankest PMP yet, we know you've been toying with it ever since. Still, the Zune HD hasn't thrived without its fair share of hangups, and we get the impression that at least a smattering of users are still frustrated by this or that. If we just rang your bell, you're in the right place. We're curious to hear what actual, honest-to-goodness Zune HD users have to say about their new toy, and better still, how you would've done things differently if you had any power whatsoever over Sir Ballmer. Drop your rant off in comments below, would you?
Something tells us that whenever we do round two of our Time Square signage Engadget Show, Mitsubishi's modular OLED display will be amongst the highlights. Aimed at outdoor applications (but obviously ready for your living room), the scalable prototype shown here at CEATEC was 155-inches in size. The wild part, however, is that it could grow infinitely larger -- at least in theory. The whole panel that you notice from afar is crafted from smaller OLED blocks that snap together like a puzzle; the more you add, the larger your screen can be. Unfortunately, resolution is still relatively low and longevity is a definite concern, but if you can manage to stand a few feet back, the result is simply stunning. Hop on past the break for a new take on "immersive."
Remember that new and improved reference MID that Elektrobit (better known as EB) announced back at IDF? Yeah, that very device was on hand at Intel's booth at CEATEC, though not a soul was allowed to touch it. The unit was neatly planted beneath freshly Windexed glass alongside three others, two of which certainly put an impressive label on Wistron. We did learn that the EB slate would boast a 3.97-inch capacitive touchscreen with an 800 x 480 resolution, though further details on the lot were scant. Have a peek below to see if EB's take on the niche MID might actually cause you to take notice.
We've already heard first-hand how Yamaha can make surround sound emerge from a single soundbar, and now the outfit's wowing again here at CEATEC. It's latest aural innovation was tucked quietly away within its booth, disguised as an advertorial for the show itself. Essentially, the banner you're peering at above is a one millimeter thick speaker that's made from cloth, and it definitely has the potential to revolution billboards and possibly even portable media devices. As you can clearly hear in the video just past the break, the flat sound waves emitted from the cloth cannot be heard unless you're standing directly in front of it; even separate audio files playing back just a few feet away didn't overlap with what we heard coming directly at us. There's no telling if Yamaha will ever take this public, but if it does, there are about forty billion ad agencies in the greater New York area that would like to speak to it.
The kids at Liliputing got their hands on the Asus Eee Top ET2002 all-in-one recently and were cool enough to both put it through its paces and clue us in on their findings. According to the reviewer the device, which sports a 1.6GHz Dual Core Atom 330 processor, a 20-inch / 1600 x 900 pixel display, 2GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive, was "impressive... in many ways." It easily handles 1080p playback and video games that would cause "most Intel-Atom based PCs to choke." Aside from the ION graphics, unfortunately, this guy comports itself like a "typical" Atom netbook: unzipping large files takes forever, boot times are slow, and the system sometimes felt overtasked when browsing the web. Then again, when you're spending less than $600 on a machine (Amazon's currently selling 'em for $581) you're going to have to make some compromises. Hit the read link to see for yourself.
Street dates are invariably broken somehow, somewhere even when it comes to the biggest products and companies, and Microsoft is certainly no exception, with it now able to chalk up at least one sold copy on the Windows 7 charts thanks to an exceptionally eager college bookstore. While it didn't come in an actual retail box, this does indeed appear to be a legitimate education copy of the OS and, according to our tipster, it has been successfully activated. A little earlier than the usual slip-up to be sure, but we have a sneaking suspicion this won't be the last copy that drops before the big October 22nd date. Feel free to let us know in comments if you happen to come across one.
To steal a line from Las Vegas' tourism board, what happens in the custom install channel has stayed in the custom install channel. While technologies routinely filter down from the enterprise to consumers, products and services that are the province of professional system integrators rarely become something the average consumer can manage, despite their perceived coolness, convenience and, in the case of some electrical and thermostat control, cost benefits. Examples include automated lighting, heating and air conditioning, multi-room video, and surveillance.
But this is starting to change. One capability that has somewhat filtered through recently has been multi-room audio, which had to go wireless with the Sonos music system. While a Sonos system is still a relatively expensive product, but it is a drop in the bucket when compared with systems such as those from Russound. And telepresence may be getting next in line. The recent release of the Avaak Vue lives up to its promise of being a relatively simple and affordable product that extends webcams to walls, allowing consumers to peek in at will at what is going on at their home. Access is from a simple Web site that allows you to view up to 50 cameras around the home by dragging and dropping them onto a Web page.
Purported release dates for the first crop of WIndows Mobile 7 phones have varied in a surprisingly tight range over the past year, slipping from late '09 to the latest we've heard, late 2010, and the latest info we've got here dovetails nicely with that. What you're looking at up above is allegedly a slide out of an Office 2010 deck presented to Microsoft partners, where an updated Office Mobile suite is mentioned in passing alongside a WinMo 7 RTM date of Spring 2010. As Mary Jo Foley points out in a comment on the original post, that would put phones on shelves several months later at the earliest, which leads us back to the fact that this actually fits in very well with the Q4 2010 window we've been getting from other sources in recent memory. Though the screenshots on the slide are seemingly new, they match perfectly with the UI paradigm set by those purported WinMo 7 shots we saw nearly two flippin' years ago, which leads us to the obvious question: is the UI basically finalized? And if so, is it going to feel stale by the time it's released some three years after it first leaked?
It's unclear exactly how MOTOBLUR software might've leaked into the wild, but it's already been repurposed in the best sort of way into a G1-friendly ROM. Despite its beta status it's looking relatively snappy, but there are still some missing elements like WiFi and Bluetooth. If anything it's a testament to how portable and hackable Android is turning out to be so far, and we look forward to the ongoing improvements to Android by diverse manufacturers being disseminated far and wide -- though if Motorola had its way, it'd probably at least happen after the relevant device has hit the market. Video is after the break.
Hey cats and kittens -- just a quick note to let you know that the Show is now available for download via the Zune Marketplace. You can nab the feed here.
If you missed the first two installments, you can see the long show with Jon Rubinstein here, and a short segment on Times Square right here.
Oh, and of course, you can subscribe in iTunes and via standard RSS as well:
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This review has disappointingly little direct, I'm-going-to-go-buy-this-right-now relevance to North American Android fans -- but if you want to keep tabs on the sweet gear our friends over in Europe are now able to buy, head on over to Engadget Mobile where we've got an in-depth review of the Huawei-sourced Pulse for T-Mobile UK. With a 3.5-inch HVGA display, 3.5mm jack, and every spec this side of US 3G, it's a contender -- so if you're in the Old World, go have a look at what you're now able to buy, and if you're on the other side of the Atlantic, go check out another reason to be insanely jealous.
Sure, it may be tough deciding whether to shell out the extra few bucks for a deluxe iTunes LP or not (okay, maybe not that tough), but it looks like that's nothing compared to what record labels are faced with. While Apple itself of course isn't saying anything official on the matter, Gizmodo spoke with the owner of one indie record label who got a bit of information after inquiring about the possibility of making some iTunes LPs himself. Apparently, not only is Apple not currently making iTunes LPs available to indie labels at all, but it's charging the major labels a hefty $10,000 production fee for each one, which no doubt also means they'll be confined to particularly big sellers unless something big changes.
Celebrity Nerds confirms what you always knew, deep in your heart of hearts: that stars are nerds like us. Send in your own confirmations of this fact right here.
Now, we don't have photographic evidence of this one, so Wayne, if you happen to be a reader, feel free to snap a pic of yourself with the console. Either way, we have enough proof to proudly classify Lil' Wayne a... you know, nerd. GTR has published a video of the New Orleans-born rapper having a conversation with KRS-One during which he says he's got an "Xbox that has every game from A-Z, Atari, Nintendo, pong, movies & even porn." Whoa. Where can we get one of those? Wayne claims that the Xbox was a gift... but we bet he hacked it himself. Video is embedded after the break.
When we heard that the National Science Foundation awarded $10 million to Harvard to make a swarm of robot bees, our first thought was: "We could do it for half the price." Then we remembered that the university has been down this path before, including its robot fly program (whatever happened to that thing?) and might be the better choice after all. What does the NSF and Harvard hope to get for all that time and money? Aside from insight into such areas as distributed intelligence, robotic flight, and energy storage, a swarm of these bad boys could be tasked to do anything from battlefield spying to pollination (which might be necessary, with the way that real bees are vanishing at such an alarming rate). The RoboBee project is slated to run for the five years. Video after the break.
The typical Micro Four Thirds review seems to come down to a matter of tradeoffs -- size and convenience for a bit of a drop from the image quality and performance of a real DSLR. The GF1 doesn't break that trend, but it has some pretty nice things to offer for the inquisitive interchangeable lens shopper. The most notable feature when put up against its direct competition, the E-P1, is the GF1's built-in pop-up flash, and the primary drawback of both of these cams versus their regular Micro Four Thirds counterparts is the lack of an eye-level viewfinder, though the GF1 does offer a pricey hot-shoe mounted approximation. As for images PhotographyBLOG says the camera gets "almost everything right," and video doesn't look bad neither -- a couple samples are after the break. The camera is no ultra-compact, but it seems another good proof for the existence of Micro Four Thirds as a DSLR alternative.
With the crazy week of news we've had, never has the ever-insightful, industry-encompassing commentary of the Engadget Podcast been so necessary, so vital, so... vigorous. Sure, you could try to make your way through the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 and an onslaught of Android news all by yourself, but then you'd just be alone and sad. And who would be there to comfort and hold you and tell you how terribly overpriced the VAIO X is and how little Dell revealed about its new Adamo this week? Nobody, that's who. Don't be another statistic, slip on some relatively comfortable earbuds and come on over to the Podcast side.
Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Producer: Trent Wolbe Song: Cyberdelic - Such Great Heights
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace
We know you love widgets, so feast your eyes on this: RIM has just announced a software development kit for creating web-based widgets on the BlackBerry platform. With new APIs that allow access to a everything from email and calendar applications to the GPS, media player, files and documents stored on the smartphone, the handset's push technology and more, hot-to-trot software developers such as yourself can build all kinds of crazy apps for OS 5. What are you waiting for? Hit the read link for everything you need -- including the Smartphone Simulator and BlackBerry Widget SDK beta. And be sure you drop us a line after creating some award-winning apps. PR after the break.
Amazon made a fairly big splash in announcing that the standard-issue Kindle would finally be available in an international edition, but it's now also rather quietly confirmed that the larger Kindle DX will be soon become a bit of a globetrotter as well. Unfortunately, it's also considerably more light on details this time around, although Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener does say that the international Kindle DX will come out "sometime next year," and we can only presume that it'll demand a similar premium to its smaller counterpart (which is $20 more expensive than the US-only version).
The word on the street is that the BlackBerry Bold 2 (aka 9700, aka Onyx) will be heading to T-Mobile -- and, subsequently, into the hands and hearts of the eager American public -- on November 11. This would seem to jibe with talk of AT&T and T-Mobile coming out parties slated for October 21, although we'll have to wait for an official announcement. On the other hand, we have seen enough of this device over the months that it would be a shock if its debut was anything less than imminent. Ms. Yuki must be ecstatic.
Yes, this was only a matter of time, and we're a little surprised we didn't see one earlier. Regardless, this is the Palm Pre knockoff we've been waiting for. Seemingly called just iPhone +QWERTY -- this KIRF is being marketed as just that -- a real business phone with a hybrid identity blending the BlackBerry and the iPhone. And really, that's not too bad of a description for this little dude, we guess. Boasting analog TV, Bluetooth, and an FM radio, it runs the much-loved OPhone operating system, and can be had for 600 RMP (about $88). There are two more shots after the break. Hit the read link for a full peek.
While the Spotify music service continues to tease us US-bound folks from afar, there's word of a Spotify handset now to make us even more jealous. The phone is apparently being built for Swedish provider Telia (Spotify already accounts for 35 percent of digital music sales in Sweden), and according to TechCrunch, INQ is building the phone. Interestingly, the last thing we heard from INQ about future plans was a forthcoming Android handset, and we also have a source that says that Spotify probably wouldn't be placed onto a regular BREW-powered INQ handset, so the optimist in us would like to believe that this Spotify phone could be INQ's big Android play -- there is already an official Spotify Android app to make that whole process seem even more doable. Either way, Telia's Spotify handset should be on the market in a "couple of months."
Not satisfied with a video of the Nokia N900's browser, an in-depth look at its Maemo 5 operation system, or even a glimpse of it playing the odd SNES game? Then fear not, 'cause the device is on the scene at the now-happening Maemo Summit, and it's thankfully been caught on video once again for those not lucky enough to be in attendance. Highlights this time around include a look at the device's 3D gaming capabilities (demoed with a Marble Madness-type game called Bounce Evolution), and a demonstration of the device not only playing YouTube videos in a browser, but within a thumbnail in the Maemo interface -- not exactly the most practical thing in the world, but it sure is impressive on a mobile device. Head on past the break to see the whole thing for yourself.
Today at the Maemo Summit -- which we like to imagine happens in a lavish, remote mountain fortress somewhere in Finland -- Nokia dropped some interesting hints about what we can expect from Maemo 6. Look for both portrait and landscape support, multitouch, capacitive touchscreens, an "iconic user experience and integrated internet services in one aesthetic package" (as opposed to a user experience that lacks icons, integrated internet services, or aesthetics, we suppose), and a desktop significantly larger than the display, which can be navigated either vertically or horizontally: Nokia is calling this "the canvas principle," although we'd call it "possibly quite confusing" unless the design is particularly well implemented. But the designers have plenty of time for that: Maemo 6 probably won't see the light of day until late 2010. Hit the read link for plenty more mind-blowing slides.
Joining the world's shortest list of exciting exclusives, Sprint's HTC Hero is available for purchase to Best Buy Reward Zone members only today, two full days before the October 11 street date. You'll need to be a Reward Zone member as of yesterday to participate, but if no Best Buy clerk has already hard-sold you a Reward Zone card during a particularly momentous purchase of yours, you're clearly not one to be swayed by petty early purchase options anyway.
It's not exactly the Baroque Vocoder we were hoping for, but an Austrian composer has hacked a mechanical piano to recite text -- and recite text it does (even if you need subtitles and some prompting from the voice-over to understand what it's saying). The video itself is a little skint on technical details -- even if the "wow!" factor remains pretty consistent -- but apparently composer Peter Ablinger took a recording of a child reading the Proclamation of the European Environmental Criminal Court and converted the frequency spectrum to MIDI, which he was then able to play back using the chordophone pictured above. The gang at Hack A Day seems to think that the actual conversion was done in the Pure Data software package, and who are we to argue? We're just wondering how Black Moth Super Rainbow will ever fit this thing onto their tour van. See for yourself after the break.
Fashion fans, rejoice. Your two favorite labels have finally come together: Giorgio Armani... and Windows Mobile. Today in Milan, Armani's empire unveiled a new, €700 (or about $1030) smartphone built by Samsung, running Microsoft's latest 6.5 OS iteration. The device -- featuring a full touchscreen and slide-out, landscape QWERTY keyboard -- touts a 3.5-inch AMOLED display, a 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of internal storage, GPS chip, and microSD slot. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who spoke at the launch, says the device is "the most fashionable phone [he's] ever had a chance to talk about." We won't lie, there is something weirdly appealing about the bronze and black device, though we don't see ourselves shelling out that kind of dough on this particular phone. Oh, not because we don't want to, but it doesn't go with our shoes. Check out a couple of videos from the launch after the break, including a short clip with Ballmer.
Okay, sure, ideally your entire roof would be comprised of solar tiles that would meet your entire house's energy demands and would also water your lawn and clean your gutters while they were up there. But, despite pledges of "affordability" something tells us it'll be awhile before your roof starts juicing your gadgets. This solution from MIT looks a little more practical -- and affordable. They're simply tiles that change color based on the temperature, Hypercolor style. In the cold they turn jet black, absorbing the sun's warmth and channeling that into the house. In heat they turn white, reflecting that same light and cutting down on cooling bills. Simple and smart. The MIT team calls the tech Thermeleon, and while early prototypes do change color as designed, it remains to be seen how durable the tech will be, and a leaky roof is no good regardless of how efficient. Asphalt shingles reign supreme for yet another year.
We first caught sight of an N20 MP3 player from iriver way back in 2006, but it looks like the company is now back with another player that shares the same moniker, and thankfully boasts a few improvements over its predecessor. The biggest of those is a new greyscale PMOLED display, which is just big enough to display four lines of information, but small enough to keep the player for expanding beyond its 26 x 55.5 x 13mm dimensions. Otherwise, it looks like you can expect your choice of 2GB or 4GB capacities, a full range of supported audio formats (including FLAC and OGG), and even a built-in FM tuner despite its diminutive size. Still no official word over here, but it looks like folks in China will be able to pick this one up for 649 yuan or 749 yuan depending on the capacity, or roughly $95 or $110.
Sony has a long history of VAIO all-in-one machines, usually taking the party line by offering swank aesthetics combined with slightly cringe-inducing price tags. When we went hands on with its latest, the VAIO L, we found it to look just as good as those earlier ones, but its $1,300 price tag to be rather fair. Built into a 24-inch, 1920 x 1080 (1080p) touchscreen it's meant to serve as both an HDTV and a PC, featuring an HDMI inport where you can plug in your PS3. Yes, that's what mom calls it before she starts rocking out with the kiddos in the video after the break. It has a 500GB drive for your apps and for DVR recordings through Windows 7 Premium, packs a Blu-ray writer, a Core 2 Duo processor, and "loads of RAM." Sure, there are cheaper ways to get an all-in-one, but only one comes standard with an inport.
RealNetworks found itself on the wrong end of a gavel back in August, receiving a court injunction to stop selling its RealDVD software -- curiously flying in the face of an earlier ruling in the favor of Kaleidescape. Perhaps that's why Real isn't done fighting yet. Or, perhaps it's just because it doesn't want to be put out of business. Either way, the company is set to file an appeal and take the show back to court again. Exactly what the basis of their appeal will be remains to be seen -- assuming there is one -- but here's to hoping it's a little more legally sound than their last defense. We're not quite ready to give up on Fair Use just yet ourselves.
NASA's LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite) mission is coming to a glorious end. The mission launched on June 18, 2009 is just minutes away from making dual-impact on the face of the moon. The first impact sees the Centaur craft hitting the surface at a speed of about 1 mile per second ejecting about 350 tons of debris from a crater about 20-30-meters in diameter and 2- to 4-meters deep. A second Shepherding spacecraft will pass through the debris plume 4 minutes later, collecting and relying data back to Earth in real-time before meeting its end. With any luck, we'll know shortly if the moon contains the water-ice theorized by scientists... and cheese. While the obvious use of lunar-based water is to sate the thirst of astronauts, it could also be used be make fuel for off-Earth exploration. Hit the read link for live streaming of the mission from NASA -- first impact occurs at 07:31:19 AM EDT.
Remember gCubik? It's been a few months, but to recap, it's a cube developed by researchers from NICT that features textured surfaces that present you a different view on the "internal" image based on viewing angle, giving the illusion something is physically in the box. Theoretically, at least -- it's pretty low-resolution and in the early stages of development. We stumbled upon the device at the CEATEC showfloor this week and decided to snap some video while there. There were moments when the effect was lost, and getting too close completely blurred what we saw to the point of incomprehension, but again, this shows a whole heap of potential that's fascinating to us. See it for yourself after the break.
You may think that once you've seen one building turned into a massive billboard you've seem them all, but that would mean you probably haven't seen the so-called "Media Facade" now adorning Bayer's former HQ in Leverkusen, Germany. Built by ag4 media facade GmbH and GKD AG, the massive display apparently consists of 5.6 milion LEDs that cover the entire 17,500 square meters of the building, and which can be lit up at will to pump out gigantic advertisements worthy of any science fiction movie. You'll note this is the former Bayer headquarters -- it seems that the promise of 'round the clock ads visible for miles around saved the building from the wrecking ball. Head on past the break for a video of it in action, and a second showing the facade being constructed.
It's back. After a horrendous false start with the promise of iPod touch support and the inclusion of the iPhone App in its £100 price tag, the TomTom Car Kit has returned to the Apple Store. In a big fat disclaimer, TomTom writes:
The TomTom app for iPhone is not included with this TomTom Car Kit. The Car Kit dock is compatible with all iPhone models, but the TomTom app only works with iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.
We only see it in the UK store at the moment but it's likely to pop on your local store anytime now. Ships in 1-2 weeks.
Hey developers, Nokia's got a special treat for you today. It just announced the official port of the community-driven Qt for Maemo project. That means a common framework for writing native applications (and web apps and services thanks to Webkit integration) across Maemo 5 and future Maemo 6 releases, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. That's a broad reach in terms of devices (including the hotly anticipated N900) and marketshare and a smart move by Nokia in an era where devices are differentiated not by hardware and OS but by their ability to run apps and connect to web services. A "technology preview" release is available now and scheduled for final release (based on Qt 4.6) in Q1 of 2010. Click through for a wee taste.
In no uncertain terms, a Barnes & Noble representative at what looks like the CTIA show says that a color (color!) Plastic Logic e-book reader will launch in Spring 2010. Now, we're not sure if Daniel Joresson is authorized to make announcements about its Plastic Logic partner but he did so nonetheless. The Plastic Logic e-reader will feature a color screen about the size of a paperback and runs the "Barnes & Noble e-book reader application." It's not clear, but it sounds like the B&N application will also be available for cellphones including the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android devices. Right, similar to the Kindle app. So how does this jibe with rumors about a 6-inch Barnes & Noble e-reader from Plastic Logic launching as early as next month? Easy, the first version will be grayscale while a new model featuring a color display will launch in Spring. In fact, Plastic Logic's own web site says that its color reader is "around the corner" and expects to be "first to market with a large, flexible color display" -- take that Sony and Amazon with your PVI built E Ink-based displays. Watch the flirtatious B&N reveal after the break.
[Thanks, Tom]
Read -- Plastic Logic FAQ (color reader) Read -- Video
Let's face, most technology these days focus on enhancing our ability to converse without having to physically be near any one another in any way, shape, or form. So it's a bit refreshing to see ALPS try to bring back the personal with its Electric Field Communication model, which essentially takes the TransferJet idea one step further by using the human body as a transference medium between two devices. In the example we saw on the CEATEC floor, one person held a mockup cellphone displaying one of three images. The user held the phone in one hand, picked one of those images, and then placed his or her other hand against a computer panel, whereby that image was displayed on an overhead machine. The use we're really excited for, and one that was proposed in video form only, was two people having devices pocketed and sharing data between the two via hand touching, E.T. style. There isn't any direct product that's reaching consumers with the technology yet, giving us plenty of time to ponder if cybercriminals will figure out a way to hack your mobile simply by bumping into you at the subway, an interesting new spin on the idea of catching a computer virus. A bit confused by what we're talking about? There's a helpful video for you just past the break.
You know things are getting nasty in Shenzhen when even the KIRF supporters of the world are KIRFing one another. We can't say that's exactly what happened here, but Chuwi's "new" P7 sure looks exactly like Teclast's T56. The 1080p-outputting PMP boasts a 5-inch screen, 8GB of internal storage, a format support list to make your iPod weep and a 600MHz ARM processor running the show. There's also an FM tuner, a sleek silver casing and a 699 yuan price tag, which converts to just over a Benjamin here in the US. So, Teclast -- care to price your own now that the thunder has been sufficiently stolen?
If you were lusting after those 43nm drives that Toshiba recently started shipping to OEMs, we found a source for you. If you're in Japan (or comfortable ordering from Japan) ioPLAZA has the 256GB (2.5-inch) SSDs listed for ¥85,800 (about $970). Intrigued? We bet you are. Orders placed now ship later this month. Hit the read link to see for yourself.
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