Archive for October 21st, 2009

See that glowing face? Yep, it’s the super-enthusiastic Roborover from WowWee. We won’t lie: we were a bit stoked by the arrival of this yellow explorer at Engadget’s doorstep. Too bad it didn’t exactly walk all the way from its warehouse, forcing us to go through the painful procedure of cutting up the tapes and untangling the ties of its shipping box. Five minutes later we’ve got a 4-pound robot on our hands, and we’d say overall the build quality is an eight out of ten (the cuts on the plastic parts could do with a finer finish) which is pretty good for a toy. You’ll be pleased to know that those treads are for real and supported by a third mini roller at the back, but the friendly manual does say, “For indoor use only.” Think we’ll skip that page, thank you. Now kids, you might need your daddy’s screwdrivers and some extra cash to feed the Roborover three “C” size batteries, and another three “AAA” ones for the chunky IR remote. All ready to go? Skip along to learn how the Roborover explores the “ancient tombs of your parents’ closet.”

Continue reading Review: WowWee Roborover gets friendly with your furniture

Filed under: Robots

Review: WowWee Roborover gets friendly with your furniture originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, this one’s been years in the making (literally), but it looks like the very first white space network using those newly freed up broadcast TV channels has now been lit up in Claudville, Virginia (population 916), which should just be the first of plenty more rural communities to come. As you might expect, the network was no small undertaking even considering the size of the town, and involved an “experimental license” from the FCC, network infrastructure from Spectrum Bridge, and a slew of equipment that Dell, Microsoft and the TDF Foundation contributed to the local school and computer center. No word on anything like actual speeds just yet, but we’re guessing the Claudville residents will be plenty pleased regardless, as they’ve been stuck with nothing more than dial-up or expensive satellite internet until now.

Filed under: Networking

First ‘white space’ network hits Claudville, Virginia originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our dear colleagues over at Engadget German have had a chance to play with RIM’s just-announced BlackBerry Bold 9700 today, and every indication we’ve gotten is that this thing is a perfect — if not extremely conservative — successor to the first-generation Bold. Interface and network speed are both praised (both the 9700 and the Bold before it feature a 624MHz core, so there’s some magic going on here) and the microSD card is now hot-swappable, meaning that you’ve got a theoretically limitless supply of storage space if you happen to be carrying around a pocketful of 16GB cards. Check out the full gallery below, and naturally, stay tuned for a review of this bad boy just as soon as is humanly possible.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

BlackBerry Bold 9700 gets handled, appreciated for its nuances originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The details of T-Mobile’s mysterious Project Dark definitely seem to be congealing around retooled handset billing and a set of new plans, and it looks like TmoNews might have the first word here on the all-important subject of plan pricing. Even More Plus, which would be contract-free and offer new handset FlexPay over four installments, is apparently tracking for a $79.99 all-you-can-eat package, $69.99 with 1,000 voice minutes, or $49.99 with unlimited voice and no data. Even More meanwhile, which basically amounts to new contract plan branding with traditional hardware subsidies, will come in at $99.99 for unlimited everything (mirroring Sprint’s pricing) or $59.99 for unlimited voice alone. It seems strange that the contract pricing is higher than the prepaid, especially since Even More Plus apparently won’t offer any hardware subsidies whatsoever, but we’re sure we’re going to find out how this all shakes out soon enough. Follow the break for another shot of the pricing grids.

Continue reading T-Mobile’s Project Dark: $99.99 unlimited on Even More, $79.99 on Even More Plus?

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

T-Mobile’s Project Dark: $99.99 unlimited on Even More, $79.99 on Even More Plus? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Following the 5,000 person beta already ongoing, Comcast is apparently ready to deliver the On Demand Online experience to all of its customers by the end of the year, with a few rather significant caveats. At launch one the much hyped placeshifting element of the service will not be live, for the time being you’ll need internet and TV service, and it will only work at home. Still, if queuing up last night’s ep of Mad Men on your laptop is all you’re looking for there should be a decent library of content to choose from with 24 cable networks signed on, and a $0 additional cost for the service. Our excitement level depends mostly on how quickly HD streaming and on the go access becomes a part of the package.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Comcast On Demand Online rolls out fully this year, but stops at the front door originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The FCC may be yet to act on Chairman Genachowski’s proposed net neutrality rules, but the agency’s Canadian counterpart, the CRTC, has made a fairly significant ruling of its own on the matter today, and it seems like it may have manged to disappoint folks on both sides of the debate in the process. The short of it is that the CRTC will allow internet service providers to practice “traffic shaping” (a.k.a. bandwidth throttling), but only as a “last resort,” and only after it has issued a warning that the throttling will take place (30 days in advance for regular users, and 60 days for wholesale customers). What’s more, the CRTC is also recommending that ISPs “give preference to Internet traffic management practices based on economic measures” before cutting into customers downloads — in other words, charge more for extra bandwidth, or offer discounts during non-peak hours.

Read – CRTC ruling
Read – The Globe and Mail, “CRTC sets Web ‘throttling’ rules”

Filed under: Networking

CRTC sets net neutrality rules for Canada, allows throttling as ‘last resort’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s hard to hold the designers of concept cars accountable — so few ever come close to seeing the light of day, and they are, after all — concepts. That said, the eRinGo car is one design we seriously hope never comes to fruition. A two-seater that’s capable of converting back and forth between one and three-wheeled driving, depending on the curves of the road ahead, the eRinGo looks like a half-crushed can of Heineken. Not a good thing, in our opinion. That said, we like the two steering wheel concept — wherein the passenger on either side can take over driving duties — great if your friends are the agreeable sort willing to hand over the keys at any moment. There isn’t much more meat as to how this dude would work, but that’s what your imagination is for, right? There’s one more shot of this bad, bad boy after the break.

Continue reading Three-wheeled eRinGo car concept: no thanks

Filed under: Transportation

Three-wheeled eRinGo car concept: no thanks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A cellphone without an LCD isn’t much of a cellphone. Alright, yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking, LCDs still rule the industry, which makes it a ripe target for nefarious price-fixing schemes to take root — something that LG and Sharp are well-acquainted with coming off a stinging half-billion dollar verdict last year. All the talk of artificially inflated display pricing recently must’ve spooked AT&T, because they’ve gone ahead and filed a lawsuit in San Francisco today alleging that LG, Samsung, Chunghua, AU Optronics, and others all conspired to boost component prices during a period in which the carrier bought some 300 million handsets. That’s a boatload of phones — several times AT&T’s total subscriber base — and we’re guessing the result could be a significant cash outlay if they’re successful with the suit. Does this mean free Mythics for everyone?

[Via Phone Scoop]

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays

AT&T sues LG, Samsung, others alleging LCD price-fixing ‘conspiracy’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

No this isn’t the first Nokia-wielding fictional character or celeb that we’ve seen in this space, but the N96 recently spotted in the hands of our favorite psychopath has us wondering: would Dexter Morgan try N-Gage? And wouldn’t he prefer something with a QWERTY keyboard? Come to think of it, we always thought of him as a BlackBerry guy. Then again, times are tough, and as a new father he has to make… sacrifices.

Update: We originally identified this one as the N81. Thanks to all you raving Nokia fanatics who pointed out the error.

Gallery: Screen Grabs: Nokia N96 preserves the evidence on Dexter

Filed under: Cellphones

Screen Grabs: Nokia N96 preserves the evidence on Dexter originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, picture this. You get the itch to start some chaos at around 3AM local time. You snatch up your stolen shotgun, load a few slugs in there and roll out with a mind to come home in a shiny new vehicle. As fate would have it, you choose to carjack a 2009 Chevy Tahoe, and while everything seems kosher at first (look, there’s even a half-full bottle of Coke Zero over there!), the mighty V8 just seems to be struggling all of a sudden. As the horrifying reality sets in (you know, the one that involves the accelerator not functioning any longer), you’re left with no choice but to curse OnStar’s Stolen Vehicle Slowdown feature, which has just nabbed its first-ever criminal. As the Tahoe slowly grinds to a halt, you make a fruitless dash and topple into a swimming pool before being apprehended soaking wet, and even though OnStar took just 16 minutes to return the vehicle to its rightful owner, at least you’ll go down in history as the first one to fall victim to the system. Here’s to you, unfortunate carjacker — next time, go for a lawnmower. Humiliating video is after the break.

Continue reading OnStar’s Stolen Vehicle Slowdown used to recover carjacked vehicle, baffle carjacker (video)

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

OnStar’s Stolen Vehicle Slowdown used to recover carjacked vehicle, baffle carjacker (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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