|  |  |  | | | | | Engadget | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Panasonic just outed the availability for its 2012 HDTVs, so it's no surprise the company would roll out its home theater and audio component pricing as well. Remember those high-end home theater 3D Blu-ray players that made their debut at CES packing WiFi, DLNA and Viera Connect? Well, if you want to pick them up when they go on sale in April, the SC-BTT490 will set you back $500, while the SC-BTT195 and 190 models will cost $400 and $300, respectively. Meanwhile, the micro sound systems we saw in Vegas also got priced -- the elegant SC-AP01 packing AirPlay debuts in June for $170, while its hockey puck-sized and Bluetooth-powered cousin, the SC-MC07, can be had for $70 a month later. Panny's also letting loose a trio of HTB series home theater systems ranging from $230 - $400 that offer Bluetooth for streaming music from your phone and wireless subwoofers to cut down on living room cord clutter. Don't believe us? Well, head on past the break to get your fill of model numbers, price points and feature sets straight from the horse's mouth. Continue reading Panasonic prices its 2012 home theater and audio offerings Panasonic prices its 2012 home theater and audio offerings originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The digital exploits of Little Whinging's most famous lightning-scarred resident is belatedly exiting beta next month. The six-month delay was prompted because the server platform couldn't handle the load of the million pottermaniacs who had early access. This led to the team behind the site summoning up a whole new backbone without the aid of accio. As well as the audio and e-book versions of the seven novels, the site's general opening will herald a fiery goblet of exclusive content, features and sounds. It'll be open to everyone, unless of course, you've tasted the blood of a unicorn -- then the only thing you can look forward to is being condemned to a half-life, a cursed life. Pottermore departing beta from platform nine (and three quarters) in April originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 23:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  The Guardian |  Pottermore | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The White House hasn't wasted any time replacing the vacancy left by Aneesh Chopra, who recently stepped down as our nation's first appointed Chief Technology Officer. Following in his well-accomplished footsteps is Todd Park, a federal employee who's no stranger to the position at hand given his former role as CTO of the US Department of Health and Services. Park is credited with the launch of HealthCare.gov and is now tasked with "applying the newest technology and latest advances to make the Federal government work better for the American people." While we're sure those tasks don't include setting up Sasha and Malia's personal Pinterest accounts, he certainly has a long road ahead, dragging 'ol Pennsylvania Avenue kicking and screaming into our digital age. White House appoints Todd Park as new Chief Technology Officer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Mashable | White House | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | All work and no play makes even the hottest smartphone downright dull. It's with this in mind that Samsung is showcasing Rovio's latest creation, Angry Birds Space, running on the Galaxy Note at SXSW in Austin, Texas. We took a moment to get our feisty paws on the demo, which showcases the weightless, space-like trajectories that players must contend with in the game. Exclusive to the Galaxy Note, users will find a bonus level of play, in addition to the free Danger Zone add-on -- a collection of 30 levels that'll be available to the masses as an in-app purchase. If you haven't been keeping score, the game will make its official debut on March 22nd. So what're you waiting for? Hop the break for the PR and watch as we take revenge on those fiendish pigs!
Myriam Joire contributed to this report.
Continue reading Hands-on with Angry Birds Space at SXSW (video) Hands-on with Angry Birds Space at SXSW (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  GDC might be winding down, but we'd be remiss if we didn't catch up with Forth Dimension Displays, the Kopin subsidiary responsible for all those little microdisplays inside your camcorders and, we're told, specialized military gear. While neither of those are terribly exciting to consumers, the outfit's latest concept is. Similar to last year's E3 demo, the company's new rig is built to highlight the kinds of use cases it would like OEMs to build using its microdisplays. The above jury-rigged setup above consists of a helmet rocking two of the company's SXGA (1280 x 1024) microdisplays which are in turn connected to back-mounted drivers which are then connected to your run-of-the-mill gaming PC. But unlike last year's when head-tracking happened in the helmet, this year we've got a plastic gun stuffed with an air mouse which controls onscreen movement. It's admittedly hacked together and certainly not flawless -- the cursor tended to bob upwards in our time with it -- yet very immersive and an amazing way to frag combine soldiers in the trenches of Half Life 2. But don't take our word for it, ogle at the gallery below, or watch a video of it in all its glory after the break. Continue reading Forth Dimension's second Replicating Reality concept stuffs Half-Life 2 into a virtual reality headset (video) Forth Dimension's second Replicating Reality concept stuffs Half-Life 2 into a virtual reality headset (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | With both its 1D and 5D-series models already confirmed for 2012, today's Canon teaser hints at something slightly different -- and, according to our sources, a major announcement. The event is set for April 15th -- during the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas -- further confirming that whatever imaging device we'll see will likely be geared towards the motion picture and television communities. So, what could it be? A new Cinema EOS cam with a 1D form-factor? A lower-priced model poised to compete with the RED Scarlet? We have but a month to wait for confirmation, so if you haven't already placed your C300 order, it might not be a bad idea to hang tight until after Canon's Tax Day reveal. Canon teases 'exclusive screening' in Las Vegas, new Cinema EOS products coming at NAB? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We're still not sure how iTether temporarily snuck into the App Store the first time around, but the developers behind that software have returned with a new version that skirts Apple's guidelines entirely. While Tether.com has standard apps available for BlackBerry and Android users, the new approach on iOS relies on creating an ad-hoc network from a PC, and then visiting the appropriate webpage on the iPhone. Log in to the website, and the company's "patent-pending" software does the job of tying the two connections together wirelessly through the magic of HTML5, no jailbreaking or other hackery needed. The cost for the service is $30 a year, although it's currently available for the first year at $15 -- no free trials, and of course what happens to your data plan is between you and your carrier. Check out the video above for a demonstration or hit the company's website for more details. Tether for iPhone returns as an HTML5-powered subscription service (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Tether | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Consumer Reports splashed out $107,850 to buy its own Fisker Karma, but before the car had traveled 200 miles, it had broken down. Partway through calibration testing on the CR Track, the car's dashboard began issuing warnings, but when tester Tom Mutchler pulled over to identify the issue, it wouldn't get going again. Mutchler was forced to call the dealership, located 100 miles away, to collect it on a flatbed for repair. It's the first time in memory that the testing organization can recall a vehicle breaking down partway through testing, but when it comes to the Karma, you can only be sure that nothing's too calamitous. Continue reading Fisker Karma breaks down CR test, risks that 'recommended' rating (video) Fisker Karma breaks down CR test, risks that 'recommended' rating (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink autoblog.green | Consumer Reports | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | If you were keeping score during Apple's iPad keynote on Wednesday, you noticed AT&T and Verizon listed amongst the carriers that will get the new iPad, but what about Sprint? It's going to be rockin' LTE in the not-too-distant future, after all. Well, if our eyes dost not deceive us, what we're seeing above (and below) may help put friends of the Now Network at ease: the new iPad for Sprint has arrived in Best Buy's internal inventory system. Does this mean we're going to see the devices magically show up next week at the electronic megastore? Eh, we wouldn't count on it showing up that soon. But is it possible that Sprint will have Apple's iconic tablet ready to go alongside the Samsung Galaxy Nexus when it launches its multi-billion-dollar 4G investment? If that's part of the strategy, then nicely played, Dan. Nicely played. [Thanks, Anonymous] Continue reading Exclusive: Sprint iPad shows up in Best Buy's database Exclusive: Sprint iPad shows up in Best Buy's database originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Did you wait too long to pull the trigger on a pre-order for Apple's newest iPad? Well, it looks like you'll have to join the rest of the US-based iStragglers and settle for a later ship date. The Cupertino-born slate, initially set for a March 16th release, now appears to have been pushed back to the 19th, forcing prospective online buyers to seek out any remaining stock at brick and mortar outlets on launch day. While this is by no means an indication that the company's sold out of its third-generation tablet wares, consider it a last call for the early adopter train. Apple's new iPad ship date slips to March 19th in the US originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | TheNextWeb | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Looks like SXSW isn't the only thing happening in Austin. The Apple machine is rolling in, but this time it's not the Cupertino outfit filling us in on the deets. Outspoken Texas Governor Rick Perry says that one of Apple's next creations will be a $304 million campus in his state's capital, which will include a $21 million investment over a decade from the Texas Enterprise Fund. Apple's not exactly a newcomer to the south, though, since it currently holds a customer support base in the area and, if all goes according to plan, the new addition could create up to 3600 more jobs. After all, bigger is better in Texas, right? Apple building $304 million campus in Austin, Texas, Rick Perry approves this message originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Austin Business Journal | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cupertino would like to formally thank you for your interest in iWork.com, but before the summer's through, it's hoping you'll be stuck with your head firmly in the iCloud. Apple sent an email notice out this week, letting iWork.com users know that, as of July 31st, it'll no longer let users publish or share documents through the service. Moving ahead, the company's focused on making iCloud the document sharing iService of choice. For more information on how to tie up those iWork.com loose ends as the deadline draws near, click on the source link below. Apple shuttering iWork.com document sharing, hopes you'll embrace the iCloud originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Mac Rumors | Apple | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Motorola Droid RAZR fans were left out in the cold when Google decided to pull the wraps off its revamped content hub. The new Play Store app didn't seem to bond too well with Motorola's Blur OS skin, leaving phones scanning desperately for a non-existent Android Market and trapping users out of the app version of the store. Google's got on it quickly though, with a new Google Play update out now, righting what was once wrong. According to Droid Life, wiping the new hub's application data in settings should coax the update out instantly. And you'd think the two would talk about these things. Google hastily updates Play Store, fixes broken Market on Motorola devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Droid Life | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Perhaps it's to help it keep that start-up vibe but, for whatever reason, on the eve of its tenth birthday MythTV is about to release version 0.25. That's right, it's the two bit anniversary of one of our favorite open source HTPC programs. So, what's new in this edition? A lot. In fact, for full details you'll have to hit up the changelog at the source. But, we can guarantee that the new MythTV Services API will open up a whole new frontier to devs. If you're looking for more, well, don't worry -- the creators have also added support for IPv6, AirPlay, HTTP Live Streaming, and DirectX acceleration. For more details and to download the beta for yourself, hit up the source link. MythTV turns 0.25, is actually ten in human years originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | MythTV | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Happy March! We're back, and boy have we got an amazing show for you. Tim and Brian head to Las Vegas to push the latest GoPro and Contour rugged camcorders to their limit, including small plane air combat in the skies above Nevada and some Polaris RZR four wheel driving in a sand storm. We'll give you a tour of this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and swing by iRobot's Bedford, Massachusetts headquarters, to check out the company's latest consumer and military 'bots. Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff will be swinging by the studio to discuss his book, Program or be Programmed. We'll sit down with Sony Electronics president Phil Molyneux and, as always, take a look at the month's hottest new gadgets. Best of all, if you're in New York City, you can be a part of the live show -- just fire off an email to engadgetshow [at] engadget.com. Here are the deets: o. The event is all ages. o. We'll open doors and begin seating at 5:15pm on March 16th, and the taping begins at 6:00PM. We'll be closing the doors at 5:50PM. o. A limited number of tickets are available, first come first serve. We will also have a limited stand-by list available. o. Please bring a photo ID with you to the taping. o. The show length is around an hour. 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). [ Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [ RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. The Engadget Show returns Friday, March 16th with Douglas Rushkoff, Sony, iRobot, MWC and air combat originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | For anyone that's dabbled long enough with Sony's dual-screen tablet as-is, we've got good news. The device can now be rooted and -- better still -- it's not all that difficult. Pocketables forum member RayIczr goes over the method, which requires an ADB installer and a Sony Tablet Root program. Add in some allowances for the USB debug mode and unknown program sources and you'll soon arrive at an unrooted Tablet P. More details and due praise can be found at the source below.
[Thanks Jenn]Sony Tablet P gets rooted, does it effortlessly originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Pocketables | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | At this point, we're sure you've heard all about Cupertino's new slate. But, if for any reason the Retina display, iSight camera and A5X chip aren't enough to make you unload the $500+, Apple may have something for you. Quietly hiding in the online store's left corner is the special deals section, where a plethora of "Apple Certified Refurbished" devices await shoppers who don't mind a rejuvenated unit. For $299 you can virtually walk out with a WiFi, 16GB OG iPad, 150 bucks more gets you a second-gen with the same storage capacity and, if premium is your middle name, you could snag a 64GB WiFi / 3G iPad 2 for $679. It's also worth noting that all of them include a one-year warranty. Now, if that's still not budget-friendly enough, we hear there's a $129 tablet willing to take your cash. Apple clearing out the old to make way for the new, selling iPad refurbs starting at $299 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Apple Store | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Nielsen is out with its annual survey of video game use in the US today, and it's found that gaming continues to be on the rise across the board. That includes a seven percent increase in total gaming time compared to the previous year (apparently due largely to increases in mobile and tablet gaming), and an increase in modern console ownership from 50 percent of households to 56 percent; that includes so-called 7th generation consoles like the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It also found the number of cross-platform gamers be on the upswing, with 24 percent responding that they play on two or more of a console, PC, tablet or mobile device (compared to 17 percent previously). Looking at mobile gaming, specifically, Nieslen found that while iOS gaming tended to be distributed fairly evenly across all age groups, Android gaming proved to be far more popular among those aged 25-34 than any other group. A few other tidbits: 65 percent of consoles are located in the living room, online shopping for games is up while other channels continue to decline, and streaming video continues to be a growing secondary use for game consoles (particularly on the Wii, where it accounts for 33 percent of console usage, compared to roughly 15 percent on both the Xbox 360 and PS3). Nielsen report finds 56 percent of US households have a modern game console, total gaming time up seven percent originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Nielsen Wire | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Yes, there was big news this week, but was it really even that big? Come with us as we succinctly discuss and the impact of an iterative, non-surprising upgrade to the world's most important piece of hardware in less than a half hour, and then move on to more interesting items. It's the Engadget Podcast, always grasping for the next level of Interestingness.
Host: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater, Dana Wollman
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Orbital - Never
00:01:42 - The new iPad is official, with Retina display, LTE and A5X CPU. Available March 16th
00:06:41 - Apple new iPad hands-on (update: video!)
00:08:35 - Apple TV (2012) hands-on!
00:12:41 - The new iPad vs. iPad 2: what's changed?
00:17:00 - Siri sort-of comes to the new iPad, does voice dictation only
00:27:45 - Lytro camera review
00:36:23 - Google Play replaces Android Market, new source for apps, books, movies and music (video)
00:39:24 - Dell XPS 13 review
00:50:58 - Intel Ivy Bridge touchscreen Ultrabook reference design hands-on (video)
00:53:22 - Archos Arnova 7-inch Child Pad hands-on (video)
01:01:05 - Samsung confirms pink Galaxy Note coming soon, we go hands-on (video)
Hear the podcast Subscribe to the podcast [ 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. Filed under: Podcasts Engadget Podcast 284 - 03.09.2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Too busy multitasking to make any important decisions? You might want to bookmark this post, then, because Panasonic just spat out a wallop of a press release outlining US availability (but not pricing) details for 25 of its 2012 HDTVs. Starting with those Infinite Black Ultra plasmas we saw at CES, the 65-inch VT50 is coming later this month, but you'll have to wait until April for the 50-inch GT50. If you can settle for a set with an Infinite Black Pro panel, though, the ST50 series is available now in 50- and 55-inch sizes, with the 60- and 65-inchers coming this month and in April, respectively. Moving down the 3D Plasma totem pole, the UT50 series will start tricking out this month in 42- and 50-inch flavors, with 55- and 60-inch counterparts following in April and May. The most affordable of the models listed, the 50-inch XT50 series, will go on sale before the month's end. Had your heart set on an LED number? If you recall, Panasonic announced a boatload of those at CES, and this press release doesn't even mention all of them, but so far we know the E5 series (32 and 37 inches), the E50 series (42, 47 and 55 inches), the lower-end X5 series (32 inches) and the 47-inch TC-L47DT50 (part of the high-end DT50 series) will all be available this month. Want the best and the biggest? Panasonic is shipping its 3D-capable, 55-inch DT50- and WT50-series sets in May. Rounding out the list, there's Panasonic's first polarized 3D TVs, which will be available later this month in 47- and 55-inch flavors, with a 42-incher following in April. Got it? Good. You sure? In case you need a moment to digest all those dates and model numbers, tap the source link below to find detailed specs, along with confirmed pricing -- something you won't see anywhere in that extensive press release. Continue reading Panasonic details US availability for 25 of its 2012 HDTVs Panasonic details US availability for 25 of its 2012 HDTVs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Panasonic | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Let's say you've just landed on home soil and happened to meet a charming partner during your stay abroad -- yet your unrequited love is separated by a nasty language barrier. Sure, it didn't seem to matter in the moment, but now that you've moved onto -- you know -- communication, you could use a bit of an assist. Thankfully, the folks at MyLanguage seem to have a worthwhile solution with the new Vocre 2.0 app for iOS. The software allows two individuals to engage in video chats in their native tongues, and the app removes the language barrier by providing translations (both text and spoken) on-the-fly. While Vocre 2.0 is currently in private beta, it'll debut as a free, ad-supported application. Further, users may take advantage of paid, premium services that include on-demand human translation. You can follow a similar story of two young lovers in a video after the break. Think it'll work out for 'em? Continue reading Vocre 2.0 for iOS brings live translation to video calls Vocre 2.0 for iOS brings live translation to video calls originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | At this point, every time NPD releases its numbers, the video game industry collectively holds its breath. The last couple of months have not been kind, as hardware sales continued to drop. But, in February there was finally some good news -- console sales were 87 percent over January. More impressively, that jump only falls to 62 percent if you exclude the Vita. Still, after so many disappointing months, even that stratospheric jump left sales 18 percent lower than the same period last year. Even when taking software into account sales were down 20 percent -- with the industry as a whole raking in just $1.06 billion last month, down from the $1.33 billion the previous February. Individually there was good news for companies, though. Nintendo saw Super Mario Galaxy cross the five million mark, while all of its consoles (the DS, 3DS and Wii) all saw more than 50 percent spikes in their sales compared to January. Meanwhile, Microsoft held on to its number one slot by moving 426,000 Xbox 360s. Hit up the various source links for more info. February's gaming sales a mixed bag: up for the month, down for the year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Joystiq 1, 2, Microsoft | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Put away the matches, finally there's an eco-friendly way to get rid of those ill-thought photocopy pranks. Toshiba Tech has developed a toner that can be erased, letting you use a sheet of paper up to five times. Unlike similar solutions, you don't need special paper, but you will need one of the compatible copiers. The idea is similar to Pilot's erasable ball-point pen system, but uses heat instead of friction. As you'll see in the video over the break, a trace of the erased image remains slightly visible, so you'll still want the shredder for those sensitive documents. A built-in scanner means you can archive documents and also lets the machine sort paper into what can and can't be reused automatically. At the minute, you can only print in blue, but Toshiba Tech promises more options are on the way, and a full-color version is in the pipes. While the price is still undecided at this time, the creators hope that with the long-term paper savings, it'll only be the toner, not your budget, doing the disappearing. Continue reading Toshiba Tech's erasable toner lets you photo-uncopy (video) Toshiba Tech's erasable toner lets you photo-uncopy (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | DigInfo | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  iRobot's Bedford, Massachusetts headquarters is literally crawling (well, rolling) with robots of all shapes and sizes, from friendlier household fare like Scoobas and Roombas, to the 450-pound Warrior battlefield 'bot, which patrols the perimeter, looking for mock IEDs. The highlight of our trip this week, however, had to be the time we spent with 110 FirstLook. Sure, durability is job number one, when you're building products for the military, but the plucky little robot takes things to a whole new level. At five pounds, you can pick the thing up and toss it -- in fact, the company encourages such action. The FirstLook was built to be thrown into dangerous areas, and it's rugged enough to smash through plate glass windows to get there. The 'bot has a patch of skateboard-like grip tape on its top, opposite the bendable antenna, so you can easily grab it with single hand. You toss the FirstLook side arm, like a frisbee, and no matter what side it lands on, the rubber treads will cushion the blow a bit. If it happens to hit the ground upside down (with the antenna on the bottom), the triangle wings on either side can be slowly extended in either direction to right the robot. Same goes for when it bounces down a flight of stairs, unharmed. Continue reading iRobot 110 FirstLook hands-on (video) iRobot 110 FirstLook hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  To celebrate Bell Canada's improved Mobile TV service -- which is particularly nice on a large display -- we could think of no better way than to gift a Samsung Galaxy Note to some lucky Canadian. So how do you win the Note with its beautiful 5.3-inch Super AMOLED display and crazy fast LTE? All it takes to enter is a comment posted below, the ability to follow the rules outlined in this article and that you're a Canadian. Yeah, that's right, our first Canada-only contest -- and no we're not hating on anybody, them's just the rules this time. So apply northern friends and good luck! - Leave a comment below. Any comment will do. Duplicate entries will be filtered out and discarded, so adding additional comments won't increase your likelihood of winning.
- Contest is open to all residents of Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
- Winners will be chosen randomly. One winner will receive one Bell Canada Samsung Galaxy Note.
- If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
- This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Bell Canada service will NOT be included. Also, Samsung, Bell and Engadget are not held liable to honor warranties or customer service.
- The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
- Entries can be submitted until March 10, 2012 at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Engadget Giveaway: win a Samsung Galaxy Note, courtesy of Bell Canada originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | These estimates are always to be taken with a grain of salt but, if UBM TechInsights is to be believed, Apple is cutting into its precious profit margins to keep the price of the iPad flat. According to the research firm, the total cost of components in the 16GB 4G model is around $310 -- not including assembly and shipping. With a final price of $629, Cupertino is pulling in about a 51 percent profit, a sizable drop from the estimated 56 percent profit margin on the similarly specced iPad 2 at launch. A large chunk of that increased cost of production is made up by the new retina display, which is estimated to cost around $70, and the LTE chipset, which UBM priced at $21. In contrast, current pricing on the panel in the iPad 2 and its 3G radio rest at around $50 and $10, respectively. We're sure Tim Cook isn't losing any sleep though, there are plenty of other ways to make up that lost dough -- like selling more iPads. Early estimates say new iPad cuts Apple's profit margins originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Phone Arena | Wall Street Journal, Electronista | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Real-time media streamer Plex has been refreshed on Google TV, following the smart TV's own recent firmware upgrade. The UI now looks easier to navigate with quicker access to recently added content. When it comes to the streaming media itself, you'll still need to have a Plex server setup on a separate PC or Mac but the app still supports your dedicated myPlex content and your friends' shared files. Plex's latest Media Server update also solves some iOS app problems alongside a handful of other stability and compatibility issues. The new Google TV version of the catch-all media platform isn't live just yet, but you can grab last month's version at the source and gird yourself for the incoming update. Plex Media Server upgraded, Google TV app gets a reboot originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Plex for Google TV (Google Play), Google TV blog, Plex | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Wondering how those Medfield handsets stack up to their ARM-powered competition? Well, we can't promise a full suite of benchmarks just yet, but we do have a peek at a pair of browser-centric tests. The German Caschys Blog managed to get a hold of Orange's upcoming Santa Clara device at CeBit and ran Qualcomm's Vellamo and Rightware's BrowserMark on the Atom handset. In both metrics the Z2460 more than holds its own, scoring an 89,180 on the web-based BrowserMark -- putting it just ahead of the iPhone 4S which clocks in at 87,801, but well behind the Galaxy Nexus' 98,272. Things look just as promising on the slightly more hardware-intensive Vellamo where it trounced the latest Nexus and was hot on the heels of the Xiaomi Mi-One Plus and Transformer Prime. Of course, neither of these tests really tax the CPU or measure 3D graphics performance. We're not even sure what the clock speed on chip inside the handset is. We were originally led to believe 1.6GHz, though, Caschy is reporting the model he manhandled was running at just 1.4GHz. Then, there's perhaps the biggest question of all -- battery life. For that, we'll just have to wait and see. Orange's Santa Clara Medfield phone gets benchmarked, well, the browser does originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Netbooknews, The Verge | Caschys Blog (translated) | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Stephen Wolfram may now be best known as the creator of Wolfram Alpha, but he's been involved with data in one way or another for decades, and it turns out he's been collecting plenty of data about himself all that time. Now, he's taken things one step further and made some of that data public, offering a detailed analysis on his blog of his daily email and phone use, and even things like steps, keystrokes, and the occurrence of years in the 230,000 odd pages of documents he's scanned. What's perhaps most interesting, though, is that Wolfram only sees this as the beginning of personal analytics. He eventually hopes to be able to ask Wolfram Alpha all sorts of things about his life, with it not only able to "act as an adjunct to my personal memory," he says, "but also to be able to do automatic computational history -- explaining how and why things happened -- and then making projections and predictions." Interested in doing the same thing yourself one day? Better start hanging onto all that data. Stephen Wolfram reveals the personal analytics of his life originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Stephen Wolfram Blog | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We somehow missed this retro-styled gem at back at CES, but no matter -- Fujifilm's X100 Black Premium Edition is now shipping and available for purchase. This is exactly the same 12.3-megapixel camera that's been pleasing photographers for nearly a year, albeit in a darker, single-tone finish that's limited to a run of 10,000 units worldwide. Priced at $1,700, the black X100 is 500 more bones than the standard-issue variant and features the same 23mm fixed lens, but it comes with a lens hood, leather case, clear lens filter and an adapter ring; all of which are all painted to match. We'd say this blacked-out shooter gives the NEX-7 a run for its money in the dapper looks department, but you can decide for yourself at the source link below. Full press release past the break. Continue reading FujiFilm's $1,700 X100 Black Edition now shipping, limited to 10K units worldwide FujiFilm's $1,700 X100 Black Edition now shipping, limited to 10K units worldwide originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 08:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Fujifilm | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | In the face of increasing competition from movie services like Lovefilm, Knowhow Movies and iTunes, Sky has reportedly decided to reinvent Box Office as Sky Store. Rather than the limited number of pay-per-view titles each month, it'll be repositioned as an online movie library with over 1,000 titles to view on your set-top-box, desktop or mobile device. New releases will be priced at £3.50 in standard-definition or £4.00 ($6.30) in HD. Back-catalogue titles will be priced at £1.99, with discounts on that figure on an infrequent basis. Sadly the service is only available to the five million or so subscribers with Anytime+, those who currently remain using SD services will get to keep the old-school Box Office. Sky Store replaces Sky Box Office in the war against everyone else originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Pocket-lint | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Things are different on Planet Intel. Over there, Thunderbolt drives and peripherals are as cheap and abundant as artificial intelligences in a Culture novel, so the population's attention has already turned to what comes next. Some are prepared to wait for a promised 50Gbps optical interconnect by 2015, but an impatient few are trying to make Thunderbolt exploit the new PCI-Express 3.0 standard for more immediate thrills. PCWorld claims the latest form of PCI-Express found in Sandy Bridge E, Ivy Bridge and Xeon E5 chipsets could make 10Gbps Thunderbolt run "significantly faster", thanks to a 60 percent speed boost over PCIe 2.0. Maybe they're right, but back on this planet we're still 33 percent of the way through transferring The Best of Leo Sayer to our USB 2.0-equipped Xperia S. Thunderbolt is everywhere, now let's make it faster with PCI-Express 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 06:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | PCWorld | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
The PlayStation Vita's current augmented reality mini-games may be anchored to a handful of marker cards, but it doesn't have to be that way. Front and center at Sony's GDC booth was "Magnet," a developer tech demo that shows off the next generation handheld's markerless chops. The application maps out the texture and patterns to create its own marker, which would allow developers to create more natural AR experiences that won't burden players with the hassle of carrying around marker cards. Sony says the tech demo won't be evolving into a full game, but hopes it will inspire developers to build something new and exciting for the handheld. Although staff on hand couldn't say for sure that this is an off-shoot of Sony's SmartAR technology, we think it looks awfully familiar. Sony shows off PlayStation Vita's augmented reality chops at GDC, leaves the AR marker cards at home originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 06:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | PaidContent is claiming the BBC has some pretty advanced plans to launch a video market, one meant to compete directly with the iTunes of the world. According to its source, the British Broadcasting Corporation plans to offer its vast back catalog of movies, TV shows and specials as £1.89 downloads. Though much of its newer material is already licensed through BBC Worldwide, older content is not. The idea is to make all of that material available digitally and through its own branded service. The public broadcaster even plans to offer producers a larger chunk of the profits (roughly £0.40 per episode) in an effort to get a leg up on its potential competitors. Of course, these plans could still collapse if negotiations with independent producers fall through. Or, the plans could be less grand and far more preliminary than we've been led to believe. Still, don't be shocked it the iPlayer starts telling you to buy old episodes for a couple of quid in the next few months. Is the BBC the next contestant in the quest to take on iTunes? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 04:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | paidContent | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The X-37B was only meant to stay up in space for a gestational nine months, but a full year has now passed since launch and the US Air Force apparently has little interest in bringing its baby home. On the contrary: according to Space.com, the plan is to send up another unmanned space plane to keep the X-37B company on its [CLASSIFIED] missions. Whatever it's getting up to in that airless playground, it must be doing something right. Air Force Lt. Col. Tom McIntyre says the craft is "setting the standard for a reusable space plane and, on this one-year orbital milestone, has returned great value on the experimental investment." Which is a fine way of saying [STILL CLASSIFIED]. Happy Biiiirthday Mr USAF X-37B Robot Space Plane originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Space.com | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
Verizon and the FCC have been 
