Archive for September 28th, 2009

There’s an unfortunate lack of details on this one at the moment (official or otherwise), but it looks like Philips has a new PMP in the works that seems set to join the growing ranks of HD-capable players out there. Like those other recently-announced players, this new SA075 model includes a suitably high res touchscreen (800 x 480) on the device itself and, perhaps more importantly, an HDMI out port for true HD video playback on your TV (although it’s not clear if that means 720p or full 1080p). And, well, that’s about all that’s known about it right now — more on this one as we get it.

[Via Cloned in China]

Filed under: Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Philips SA075 PMP joins the HD-capable crowd originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The tips are flooding in — webOS 1.2.0 has just been released, and downloads are starting all over. Obviously the big new features is support for app purchases in the Catalog, but we’ve heard there are a ton of little fixes and improvements in addition — we’re checking it out now, let us know how it goes for you in comments!

Here are some major changes listed by Palm:

• Search is now available in the email app, allowing you to find by subject, from, to, or CC fields (no message search yet).
• The web browser now supports cut, copy, and paste within a webpage (text only).
• Music purchases via Amazon can now be done over EV-DO. It’s not clear if they mean that you can download the tracks, or just queue them (that would be lame, however). Anyone test this yet?
• A new gesture has been added which allows you to swipe down from the top of the screen to open the application or connection menu — which should be a huge help to everyone missing those small targets!
• You can now download files from within the browser, and Palm has created an easy method to open a link in a new card.

Update: We haven’t tested it yet, but the Media Sync section of the release notes doesn’t make any mention of restoring iTunes compatibility — looks like Palm’s not going to poke at the USB-IF any more than it has to.

Update 2: Tested. Don’t expect to sync with iTunes, everyone — it ain’t happening.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones

webOS 1.2 now available, brings support for app purchases originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading TomTom car kit for iPhone will run $120

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Peripherals

TomTom car kit for iPhone will run $120 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Upstart toymaker Robonica has been making promises about its Robini-i programmable robot for a little while now, but it looks like it’s now not only managed to get the bot out the door, but land it on the cover of the new Hammacher Schlemmer holiday catalog as well. Headed up by a former Hasbro exec, the company is clearly taking aim at the likes of WowWee, but hopes to one-up them by also letting its robot with a “serious attitude” become an avatar in an MMO of sorts when it’s not tormenting your pets. What’s more, the Robini-i can also apparently interact with other bots both online and in person, and the more adventuresome folks out there can also take advantage of some basic programming capabilities provided by the included software (Windows only, for the time being). Slightly less entry-level, however, is the $299.95 that Hammacher Schlemmer is charging for the kit, although it appears that could drop to $250 as it rolls out to other retailers.

Read – Hammacher Schlemmer
Read – Xconomy, “Robonica President, an Ex-Hasbro Exec, Hopes to Put Boston Back on Toy Industry Map with Rolling Robots”

[Via IEEE Spectrum, thanks Ken R.]

Filed under: Robots

Robonica Roboni-i rolling robot takes aim at WowWee, holiday shoppers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We hope by now you’ve seen the video of Microsoft’s Kudo Tsunoda demoing the latest software to undergo the Project Natal treatment — Beautiful Katamari and Space Invaders Extreme. If you haven’t, you really should, because there’s nothing quite like seeing a man gesticulate wildly for seemingly no reason. In that post, a commenter of ours — aardWolf — made the genius suggestion that people do their own “demo” videos of Project Natal. We think that’s a grand, grand idea… and we’re going one better. If you make those videos, we’ll put them together in a segment for The Engadget Show. Here’s what we want from you, the reader:

• Film yourself “playing” a game “with” Project Natal
• Upload the video to YouTube, Viddler, or the video site of your choice tagged with “engadget natal contest” (with quotes, at least on Viddler), and specify exactly what game you’re playing. Feel free to give details.
• Email us at engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com with “natal video” in the subject, as well as the link and any pertinent info you’d like to provide (or you can just leave a link in comments)
• Lather, rinse, repeat

Once we get some good entries, we’ll cut the whole shebang together in a segment for The Engadget Show (provided you guys aren’t super boring or something — though we don’t think that will be an issue). It goes without saying that by submitting a video you’re granting us the rights to use it on the Show and in any Show promotional materials we might produce. Don’t worry, we won’t sell you into slavery or anything. Probably. In case your memory is super bad, we’ve included the clip of Kudo after the break.

Continue reading Challenge: Make your own Natal demo video, get yourself on The Engadget Show

Filed under: Announcements

Challenge: Make your own Natal demo video, get yourself on The Engadget Show originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG’s BL20 Chocolate — the younger sibling of the insane BL40 Chocolate Touch — has recently been making a real splash around these parts. Ever since we got our hands on it, we’ve been wondering when we’d hear some official pricing and launch information, and the wait seems to be coming to an end. It looks like the slider is going to run in the neighborhood of about €269, according to LG’s own website, which has also thrown up a few never-before-seen shots of the handset. That’s about all the news for now, but hit the read link to check out a few more snaps of this beauty, and be sure to have a gander at our own hands-on gallery below.

Gallery: LG BL20 hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones

LG’s BL20 Chocolate gets official with €269 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve never thought the Kindle DX was ideal for serious studying, and it sounds like the students and teachers in Princeton’s pilot program agree with us — after two weeks of use in three classes, the Daily Princetonian reports many are “dissatisfied and uncomfortable” with their e-readers, with one student calling it “a poor excuse of an academic tool.” Most of the criticisms center around the Kindle’s weak annotation features, which make things like highlighting and margin notes almost impossible to use, but even a simple thing like the lack of true page numbers has caused problems, since allowing students to cite the Kindle’s location numbers in their papers is “meaningless for anyone working from analog books.” That’s all led to word that Princeton won’t be bringing the Kindle back to school next year, but we’ll see if Amazon — or anyone else — can address all these complaints before that decision is made final.

[Thanks, Tom]

Filed under: Handhelds

Kindle DX called “poor excuse of an academic tool” in Princeton pilot program originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already seen AT&T’s 3G MicroCell picked up by a few desperate Charlotteans, but for those residing in North Carolina’s only city to own a professional sports championship (sorry, Panthers), their time has finally come to secure what just might be the most anticipated femtocell debut in the states. You heard right — Raleigh, NC has become AT&T’s second test market for the device you’re peering at above, and starting today, those in and around the Triangle can procure one from their local store. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance to give the unit a go, so feel free to hop on past the break if you’re on the hunt for a few more impressions.

Continue reading AT&T 3G MicroCell unboxing and impressions

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

AT&T 3G MicroCell unboxing and impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a long wait since NVIDIA and Adobe announced their plans for GPU-accelerated Flash video back in January of this year, but it looks like the pair now finally have something to show for themselves. While it’s not quite clear how official it is just yet, the folks at NotebookJournal have nonetheless published a video that shows 720p Flash video running smoothly on a netbook (an ION-powered HP Mini 311, to be specific). Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll still have to wait until sometime in the first half of 2010 to see the technology become publicly available (at least if the slides in the video are any indication), but you can now check out the demo for yourself after the break. Just be sure to stick with it for a while or skip ahead to the 1:20 mark — they show a non-accelerated video at the beginning for an all too painful comparison.

[Via Liliputing]

Continue reading GPU-accelerated 720p Flash video gets demoed on a netbook (smoothly)

Filed under: Laptops

GPU-accelerated 720p Flash video gets demoed on a netbook (smoothly) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Keepin’ it real fake, part CCXXXV: TigerG3 looks like a Hero, doesn’t act like one originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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