Archive for April 30th, 2009

We’ve seen iPod hacks run the gamut, from the useful to the just plain absurd, but no matter how rough around the edges such a project may seem, we always get a kick out of the ingenuity and hard work involved. Today’s DIY wonder comes from a cat named Benjamin Kokes, who’s using his engineering chops to put together a GPS peripheral for the iPod nano. As the project stands right now, he’s taken a reference board sporting a Nemerix GPS and written a screen driver for it, allowing it to do its thing on the handheld. Apparently, all this bad boy is capable of doing right now is finding a satellite and displaying your latitude and longitude — but we’d like to see your old nano do that! Hit the read link for the whole, sordid tale in geek-tastic detail, or to speak with the developer if you’d like to give this a shot your own self. Tell him Engadget sent you.

[Via Technabob]

Filed under: GPS, Portable Audio

iPod nano GPS hack ensures that you and your MP3s make it home safely originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good ol’ Nokla, with its punny branding and utter shameless, has taken upon itself to build the touchscreen N98, based on a sketchy Nokia concept that was making the rounds last year and never materialized. There’s a 3-inch QVGA screen and dual-sim support, but things lean into the realm of Nokia parody with the complete lack of 3G or EDGE data. The worst part is that this phone actually looks kind of nice. All this unintentional humor can be yours for a mere $78.

[Via SlashGear]

Filed under: Cellphones

Keepin’ it real fake, part CCIV: Nokla beats Nokia to the touchscreen N98 punch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You might think the future of surround audio lies in sophisticated DSP-driven single-box soundbars or even crazy wireless headphones, but Audyssey Labs knows the truth: what you really need is more speakers. Up to 11 of ‘em, to be exact, as part of the company’s new Dynamic Surround Expansion system. Like the 9.1 channel Dolby Pro Logic IIz, DSX focuses more on the audio in front of you, since that’s what your ears are tuned to differentiate the best — in addition to the left, right, and center channels, DSX includes two speakers mounted up high at a 45-degree angle, and two speakers placed farther out to each side to create width. Add in the two surround back channels from a traditional 7.1 rig and presto — you’re up to 11. Yep, that’s a lot of speakers, especially if your loved ones already think a standard 5.1 system is an eyesore. On the other hand — 11 freaking speakers. DSX-enabled receivers are expected to arrive by summer, just in time to close the shades and spend all day indoors watching movies.

[Via Sound and Vision; thanks Will]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Audyssey DSX surround sound takes the speaker-count war to 11 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh sure, you could already get your paws around the Archos 2 flash-based PMP if you really, really wanted to, but we’re still thrilled to see the company come clean and begin offering it up on its own website. As of now, prospective buyers in the United States of America can “soon” select the 8GB version in black or white for $59.99, while the 16GB model arrives in the same color options for $40 more. In related news, ArchosLounge has shots of a new blue model, though there’s obviously no way to procure that bad boy just yet. Then again, there’s always Colorware…

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Archos 2 gets official in US, new color leaks out originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We already caught sight of Fujitsu’s new 10.1-inch LOOX M netbook in Japan earlier this month, and it looks like the company has now gotten official with the seemingly identical M2010 model for some other markets, although it still hasn’t made it all the way over here. The netbook itself is about as standard as can be, and includes a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and built-in Bluetooth, among other not at all surprising specs — although you will apparently get a bundled DVD burner and wireless mouse with it, which makes the nearly $650 price tag at least a tad more reasonable. What’s more, while they didn’t get ton of time to spend with it, our pals at Engadget Chinese did manage to snap a few hands-on pics at the launch event, which you can check out by hitting up the link below.

[Via Engadget Chinese]

Filed under: Laptops

Fujitsu gets official with M2010 netbook, Engadget Chinese goes hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, so first things first — we all know the world’s on track to end in 2012, so it’s not like this really matters. But if, just if it manages to survive (à la Y2K), you can pretty much bank on a mass reversal of culture as we all push aside our netbooks and return to the playground. According to some “research” slated to be fully published “later this year,” PCs and laptops are apt to “operate at a much reduced speed, rendering the internet an unreliable toy” from 2012 onward. The reason? Massive growth in internet demand, which is undoubtedly on pace to crush existing infrastructure that can’t ever be improved upon by anyone, regardless of their market capitalization or determination to expand. It’s noted that the internet itself will somehow survive, but that users will begin to see “brownouts,” which are described as “a combination of temporary freezing and computers being reduced to a slow speed.” Thank heavens for FinallyFast, right?

Psst… the solution to all of this is just past the break.

[Thanks, Colin]

Continue reading Doomsday alert: internet to become an “unreliable toy” in 2012

Filed under: Networking

Doomsday alert: internet to become an “unreliable toy” in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Luxeed‘s got a fine history of making the keyboard a fantastical piece of wonder, and its newest offering is not exception. The U5 LED keyboard has pretty much everything one could ask for in a colorful peripheral — programmable, patterned LEDs which are guaranteed to brighten up your day. It boasts support for Windows, Linux and Mac (previous versions were Windows only), so if it’s ever made available outside of Korea, we can guarantee you we’ll be getting one for every member of our dance posse. They’re available for pre-order in Korea now for KRW 99,000 (about $77 USD). One more mountain-moving shot after the break.

[Via Technabob]

Continue reading Color changing Luxeed U5 LED keyboard is a rave at your fingertips

Filed under: Peripherals

Color changing Luxeed U5 LED keyboard is a rave at your fingertips originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Man, that was fast. Really fast. Not like we’re shocked at all to hear that T-Mobile customers weren’t really digging the idea of paying ten bones per month to keep a digital photo frame alive, but hey — it was worth a shot, right? As of today, T-Mobile’s quickly forgotten Cameo connected digiframe has dropped from $99.99 to $39.99 up front, while the recurring charge to keep the media flowin’ has nearly vanished by going from $9.99 per month to just $1.99 per month. Reviewers over at ZDNet seemed to be quite pleased with the value proposition at the new price point, noting that it was perfect for technologically illiterate family members who yearned to see digital images of you and yours. Sadly, you still have to walk into a T-Mobile retail store to actually buy one, but at least it’s finally worth your while to do so.

Filed under: Displays, Wireless

T-Mobile’s connected Cameo digiframe plummets in price, gets reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It won’t exactly provide an Ion-level boost in performance, but it looks like the GMABooster app that’s been floating around for a little while does indeed deliver on its promise of providing a small helping hand to the stock Intel GMA 950 graphics found in the majority of netbooks out there. More specifically, the application boosts the clock speed from the standard 133MHz or 166MHz to a full 400MHz, or the same as the non-low voltage chipset found on standard laptops. According to the folks at UMPC Portal, that translates to about a 20% gain in Crystal Mark benchmarks, although you can also unsurprisingly expect to take a slight hit in battery performance as a result. Better still, the app is even available for OS X and in addition to Windows and Linux, so folks that have already been busy tweaking their netbooks in other areas aren’t out of luck.

[Via TweakTown]

Filed under: Laptops

GMABooster gives your netbook’s integrated graphics a nudge originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready for some totally prototypical corporate non-answers regarding the alleged release of Android 1.5 on T-Mobile USA’s G1s? Good. Here you go:

“T-Mobile USA will confirm details of Android 1.5 availability for our T-Mobile G1 customers in the near future.”

Doesn’t mean much to us — and it’s hard to tell from that alone whether 1.5′s actually begun over-the-air distribution — but at any rate, it seems like they’re not ready to talk about it yet. Don’t keep us waiting long, guys.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

T-Mobile neither confirms nor denies Android 1.5 availability for G1 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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