Archive for April 11th, 2009

It’s been a mystery for ages, but at long last, it seems a simple DIYer has found a solution. We all know that the best beers are the ones brewed at home, but after a given amount of “test sips,” things can easily get a little out of control. In order to simplify the homebrewing process, the brilliant BrewTroller was concocted during a short stint with sobriety. In essence, the system utilizes a Sanguino microcontroller platform which was inspired by the tried-and-true Arduino in order to give brewers complete control over temperature and the like. When connected to a simple menu-driven display, it removes the need to bang out a paragraph of code while tipsy in order to tweak the flavor ever so slightly. Hit up the read link to have a look at the progress, but make sure you strap on those Beer Goggles first.

[Via HackedGadgets]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

BrewTroller simplifies homebrewing, makes it doable while inebriated originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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C’mon, don’t even front here — you can’t deny the frisson in taking one look at the masterpiece above. We know, there’s a never-ending stream of NES-related doodads flowing from every possible direction, but it’s not everyday that you get the opportunity to actually purchase one of these amazingly beautiful creations. Designer inhope has clearly and definitively one-upped that other NES purse with the Nintendo Controller Purse, and you can be the proud owner of one for just $39.99. An irrefutable bargain, we say.

[Via technabob]

Filed under: Gaming, Wearables

Homemade NES purse is so voguish, so for sale originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that you’ve had a few months a stream all manners of media throughout your home and backup your small cadre of computers via one of HP’s new MediaSmart Servers, we’re interested in seeing just how you’d change this bad boy. HP popped in a faster processor and a bit more RAM in order to make sure these, um, actually worked as advertised, but we’re certain even that hasn’t satisfied the hardcore critics in attendance. Have you been totally satisfied with your ex485 / ex487? Has the server handled all the Windows Home Server functions with ease? Are you noticing any lag? Are you happy with the file support, heat output and overall styling? Feel free to rant uncontrollably in comments below — just keep it under control.

Filed under: Storage, Networking

How would you change HP’s MediaSmart Server ex485 / ex487? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer-owned Packard Bell is taking Acer’s latest and greatest netbooks and rebadging them for the European market. The 10.1-inch DOT S swipes most of its specs from the Acer Aspire One D250, while the DOT M (pictured) goes for the 11.6-inch Aspire One‘s guts. There do seem to be a few aesthetic differences, however, with a fancy textured palm rest, silver touches to the trackpads and a tweaked lid. The DOT S will be available this week for 299 Euros, while the DOT M hits at the end of this month for 399 Euros.

Filed under: Laptops

Packard Bell’s new DOT S and DOT M netbooks for Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know what really gets on our nerves? When we’re listening to Van der Graaf Generator (look it up!) on our newfangled iPod Shuffle and it pronounces the band’s name wrong. Seriously, this is an important function. Without it working flawlessly, how are we going to know the names of the tracks we purchased on the iTunes store and placed on the device ourselves? Thankfully, someone at Apple has heard our prayers, and as of today the VoiceOver Kit 1.0.1 is available via Mac OS X software update (we’re assuming that it’ll pop up on the company’s website at some point). The 17MB download corrects pronunciations for several artist names, as well as correcting a few “minor bugs.” What bugs? Apple hasn’t said. They also haven’t said which names will now be pronounced correctly in that cold, robotic voice, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that Klaatu is among them. Remember Klaatu? They were pretty sweet.

Apple releases iPod Shuffle VoiceOver Kit 1.0.1 upgrade originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With raging success, you can always count on one thing: copycats and rivals. Okay, so maybe that’s two, but you catch the drift here. Not long after Amazon launched its Kindle 2 to much fanfare, Hearst confessed that it was looking to produce a competitor with a screen that was about the size of a standard sheet of paper. In a presumed effort to keep up with the Joneses, The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Amazon is looking to develop yet another Kindle (something we’ve definitely heard before) with “a larger screen,” which would obviously help it appeal to newspaper companies looking to easily transition their content to a large form factor e-reader. Not surprisingly, Amazon refused to comment on the “speculation,” but the report did note that there was at least some chance that the newfangled device would debut before the 2009 holiday season.

[Thanks, bo3of]

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Is Amazon developing a larger screen Kindle? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case you missed it (we all have our off days, it’s fine) we got our hands on a mess of leaked CrunchPad photos yesterday, and we have to say — the device looks pretty damn good. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, a certain Michael Arrington has shed a little light into what’s going on over there at CrunchGear HQ. He says that the “significant step forward” for the device has been in regards to the software stack — it’s now entirely customized, including the (Linux) OS and browser. It also sports an Intel Atom chip; previously, the device has been running Ubuntu on a VIA chipset. “The total software footprint is around 100 MB,” he writes, “which is a solid achievement.” And last but not least, the industrial design and hardware for this bad boy is being done by an outfit in Singapore called Fusion Garage. It looks like the project is in good hands. But anything beyond that — including, sadly, a timeframe — is still anyone’s guess.

Filed under: Handhelds

Michael Arrington drops science on CrunchPad, still won’t sell us one originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eager to get a few more dirty details on the heretofore elusive Samsung NX Series camera? Sorry, bub. Now that we’ve destroyed your wildest dreams, ruined your Friday and infuriated you beyond description, we will point out that Sammy has a new teaser video of the camera for all to view, and it’s looking mighty special. The curvaceous cam is seen behind glass on an endlessly rotating platform, complete with a fairly large lens, a fairly large rear LCD monitor and… not much else. There’s no audio to speak of (or hear, for that matter), but it’s still a mesmerizing watch. Peek after the break if you’re sitting squarely in the “yes Jim, tell me more!” camp.

[Via 1001 Noisy Cameras]

Continue reading Video: Samsung NX outfitted with massive lens, teased on rotating platform

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Video: Samsung NX outfitted with massive lens, teased on rotating platform originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Uh. Looks like something is happening — big time — in Zune land. We present what might possibly be your first look at, yes… the Zune HD. In the gallery below, you can see images from what appears to be a forthcoming marketing campaign for Microsoft’s new PMP. We don’t have any word on specs right now, though we’ve got a sneaking suspicion this will have an HD display.

Update: Based on discussions with sources, it’s looking very likely that the device in these images is — in fact — a new Zune on its way to market.

[Thanks, Anonymous tipster]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Is this the Zune HD? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s hardly the first netbook battery comparison to appear in the Thunderdome that is the internet, but this latest thirteen-strong round-up from Australia’s NetbookReview is one of the more comprehensive to emerge as of late, with it only slightly compromised by a few netbooks that aren’t available in the site’s home country. Not surprisingly, the netbooks equipped with six-cell batteries came out well ahead of their less well off counterparts, with the MSI Wind U115 Hybrid leading the way with an impressive time of 6:56. That was obviously aided in no small part by the netbook’s dual SSD / hard drive setup, and by a less commonly used 5100mAh six-cell battery, as opposed to the 6600mAh version used in the second and third place Eee PCs (which each clocked in around the four-hour mark). Bringing up the rear were the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 and Dell Mini 12, neither of which were able to eek out even two hours of use. As you might expect, however, all of the tests involved a worst-case scenario, so you can expect to get a good deal more juice from all of ‘em if you’re not spending every waking hour watching WMV files.

Filed under: Laptops

Exhaustive netbook battery comparison finds a clear winner, no victims originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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