National Geographic shoves every morsel of its collection onto 160GB HDD

Care to get up close and personal with Niihau? How’s about an overview of Tuvalu? Surely you need a helicopter shot of Pakatoa Island to get your morning started right, yeah? If so, and you’re too lazy to hit up the World Wide Web, there’s a better-than-average chance that an older National Geographic magazine has exactly the elixir you’re searching for. Problem is, sifting through every single issue since 1888 takes a fair bit of time — time you’d rather be spending in an obnoxiously long security line as you await your flight to Ushuaia. Thanks to “modern technology” and “storage innovations,” said quandary can now be resolved quite simply. Nat Geo is offering every last piece of information it has ever published on a portable 160GB HDD, and amazingly 100GB is free for you to manually add to the collection. Too bad this $199.95 device wasn’t available before Christmas, but hey, at least you’ve now got something to blow those Santa Bucks on.

National Geographic shoves every morsel of its collection onto 160GB HDD originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s VAIO Bluetooth Laser Mouse pictured in the wild, almost as ugly as last week’s OpenOfficeMouse

While it may not sport the same egregious number of buttons and blue and white aesthetics as last week’s affront to ergonomics, Sony’s VGP-BMS80 VAIO Bluetooth Laser Mouse certainly doesn’t offer much better looks. It does, however, allow for wireless control of either a PC or a PS3 and, with an optical sensor on top, can be used in the air like a trackpad or on a flat surface like a mouse — a place where that “bar of soap” design will surely not do your carpal tunnels any favors. It’s available now at various internet destinations and, if you’re still interested, about $80 will get you into this party.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wireless

Sony’s VAIO Bluetooth Laser Mouse pictured in the wild, almost as ugly as last week’s OpenOfficeMouse originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Esquire’s Augmented Reality issue goes on sale, and we have video to prove it

Continue reading Esquire’s Augmented Reality issue goes on sale, and we have video to prove it

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Esquire’s Augmented Reality issue goes on sale, and we have video to prove it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Adamo XPS image takes a stand

Remember that wild hinge we saw on the Adamo XPS at Dell’s characteristically all-too-brief showing last week? The company’s gone ahead with yet another side pic, this time showing how the hinge pops out. Of course, showing what is actually on both panels would be too much for the company, so we’re left only to guess. A display? A keyboard? Some kind of holographic projector? A hot key for making lolcat pictures? Listen Dell, we get it, you like the slow trickle of teasers, but can we just see the whole body now and move on the part where we wait for scraps of info on the specs?

Filed under: Laptops

New Adamo XPS image takes a stand originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Novatel announces new phase of MiFi Developer Program, Eye-Fi gets a mention

We already know that you love your MiFi — after all, who wouldn’t be into a mobile hotspot that can easily slide into your rear pocket? But are you ready to adore it even more? Novatel Wireless has just announced the second phase of its MiFi Developer Program, which seeks to bring all sorts of apps and added functionality to an already heralded device. As the story goes, the dev program provides a set of APIs and tech support to those interested in expanding the abilities of the MiFi, and while the possibilities are obviously limitless (or close to it), we’re already hearing of a Nomadesk inclusion that will provide a web UI to access cloud storage when online via the MiFi. Then there’s also the Eye-Fi mention, which seems to let you upload photos from your SD card to your hotspot even when a 3G tower is nowhere to be found; once the MiFi gets back in range, it handles the uploading from there. Strangely, we’re seeing reports that all this fanciness won’t work with Sprint or Verizon’s MiFi, though Novatel’s own release says nothing of the sort. Whatever the case, guard your heart here just in case the allegations are true.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless

Novatel announces new phase of MiFi Developer Program, Eye-Fi gets a mention originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tachyon XC 3D helmet cam hands-on

If you’re the sort who does interesting things whilst wearing a helmet, things that you might like to capture on video for friends, family, or strangers to watch, it’s an awfully good time to be a gadget lover. There have never been more helmet camera options than there are today, and one of the most interesting we’ve yet had the opportunity to affix to our lid is the Tachyon XC 3D. It’s a pair of generally pedestrian cameras that, when joined at the hip, combine Voltron-like to do something rather more interesting: capture 3D renderings of your extreme endeavors. But, is an extra dimension worth the $380 price of admission? Read on to find out, and to experience the depth for yourself.

Continue reading Tachyon XC 3D helmet cam hands-on

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Tachyon XC 3D helmet cam hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple seeks to take multitouch where it’s never been before in new patent app

Another month, another compelling Apple patent application that’s just too delectable to ignore. This go ’round, the Cupertino powerhouse has filed a lengthy document that spells out its plans to revolutionize the multitouch game by creating a solution that recognizes both palms and all ten fingers. According to the filing, such a system could provide “unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device,” and when we hear things like “computer input device,” we think of precisely one thing. Of course, the oft-rumored Apple tablet has been spinning for what feels like ages now, and we’ve definitely seen countless applications from the company that have yet to lead to any meaningful developments. Still, a multitouch surface that recognizes all ten digits simultaneously? Slap that on a Palm IIIc and we’d still be interested.

Apple seeks to take multitouch where it’s never been before in new patent app originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fujifilm Finepix REAL 3D W1 now shipping to soon to be disappointed consumers

Well, partner, are you the sort to ignore woefully bad reviews and plunk your hard-earned cash down on expensive gadgets anyway? Buck up, because here’s your chance. Fujifilm’s Finepix REAL 3D W1 may not have impressed the critics — or, really, anyone, apparently — but it’s now shipping into the hands of consumers who can’t be bothered to read such things. MSRP for the camera is $599.95, while the 3D digital viewer will go for $499.95. Finally, if you’re still into the whole prints on paper scene, you’ll have to wait a few weeks until the company’s SeeHere.com goes live, then pay a whopping $6.99 per print. Hey, nobody said the future of imaging would be cheap.

Update: SeeHere.com is indeed live as we speak.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Fujifilm Finepix REAL 3D W1 now shipping to soon to be disappointed consumers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Tao (Sholes) purportedly seen running Android, traversing America

All we’ve got to go on here are a few screen images, but at a cursory glance, they sure match what we expect the Motorola Sholes (or Tao, as it were) to look like. The biggest news is that Android is alive and well, and while we’re still waiting for an official release date, things are looking up for this to be the outfit’s second-ever Google-powered device. Have a peek in the read link for a few more Google Maps shots as well as a glimpse at the 1,390mAh battery, and yes, it’s completely fine if you bookmark the last page of the thread and refresh it continuously until actual hardware shots slip out. Not saying that’s “normal,” but hey…

[Via phoneArena]

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola Tao (Sholes) purportedly seen running Android, traversing America originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba announces first SSD drives using new mini-SATA interface

Netbook SSDs have come in all manner of shapes, sizes, and connectors for a while, but finding the right model for your machine is about to get a lot easier — the SATA-IO working group just announced a new mini-SATA standard called mSATA that should put an end to the mish-mash. Toshiba’s the first out the gate with 32nm drives in 30 and 62GB sizes, but expect to see mSATA drives and machines from a whole host of heavy hitters in the future, like Samsung, Dell, HP, SanDisk, Lenovo, STEC, and Toshiba. That’s pretty good news — now let’s just hope standardization leads to lower prices as well.

Read – SATA-IO announces mini-SATA standard
Read – Toshiba announces first mSATA drives

Filed under: Storage

Toshiba announces first SSD drives using new mini-SATA interface originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seagate 2TB Barracuda XT: world’s first SATA 6Gbps hard drive

Ready for this speed freaks? Seagate just announced the world’s first 2TB disk with full support for the third generation SATA interface pushing data at 6Gbps — double the rate of previous controllers. The 3.5-inch SATA 6Gbps Barracuda XT drive spins 4x 500GB platters at 7200RPM with a big 64MB cache to prevent bottlenecks. It promises a sustained transfer rate of just 140MBps (compared to 600MBps / 4.8Gbps possible), MTBF of 750,000 hours, and carries a five-year warranty. The disk hits retail this week for about $299 list. Then you’ll just need to find SATA 6G controller / MoBo to make the most of your new purchase — fortunately, SATA 6Gbps is backward compatible with SATA 1.5Gbps or 3Gbps rigs until then.

[Via TG Daily]

Filed under: Storage

Seagate 2TB Barracuda XT: world’s first SATA 6Gbps hard drive originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Point Grey puts USB 3.0 into a webcam, along with other telltale signs of over engineering

We kid, we kid. We’re sure it was totally necessary to put SuperSpeed USB 3.0 into this new desktop video camera to push uncompressed 1080p, 60 fps video to a computer. According to Point Grey, that unbridled bandwidth allows the camera to offload compression duties to the computer and allows for spiffy applications like face recognition and a general level of uncompressedness. At the heart of this camera is a 3 megapixel Sony IMX036 CMOS sensor, but we’ll have to wait until IDF next week to get the lowdown on the rest of this camera’s crazy ways — and sure-to-be-crazy price.

[Via TG Daily]

Filed under: HDTV

Point Grey puts USB 3.0 into a webcam, along with other telltale signs of over engineering originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Tachyon XC helmet cam, and its Siamese 3D sibling, now shipping to headgear worldwide

The world is an ever more extreme place — and ever more safety conscious too. That means more helmets per capita and thusly more helmet cams. The Tachyon XC is the latest, shipping in not one but two flavors. First up is the standalone model for $180, which packs a couple of batteries and an SDHC card into a lightweight, durable, fully waterproof case. Rather more interesting is the $380 XC 3D, a pair of the cams joined at the hip that record simultaneously and ship with software to join the fruits of their sensors into one mind blowing segment. 3D footage can be displayed in a variety of formats, including the red/blue standard style that rocked the ’60s or cross-eyed mode, like those magical posters that look like fields of dots but explode into shapely images of naked ladies when you focus right. Sure, gluing two separate cameras together is perhaps a bit of a crude way to enter the third dimension, and strictly VGA recording is decidedly disappointing, but check out the video results below in cross-eyed mode before you write this off as an over-priced novelty.

Continue reading Video: Tachyon XC helmet cam, and its Siamese 3D sibling, now shipping to headgear worldwide

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Video: Tachyon XC helmet cam, and its Siamese 3D sibling, now shipping to headgear worldwide originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AgfaPhoto trots out "size zero" line of ultrathin digiframes

We’d argue that we’ve reached the saturation point when it comes to new digital photo frames, but AgfaPhoto would clearly beg to differ. The outfit famous for cranking out ho hum devices that are easily overshadowed has just introduced seven new ultraslim options, all of which are hoping to see a release prior to the mad rush that is the holiday shopping season. Said to be the “size zero” of digiframes, these measure just 1.3 centimeters thick while shipping in a range of sizes from 7- to 10-inches. As expected, you’ll find 1GB of internal storage alongside a multicard reader, and when not flicking through a slideshow of last year’s Valentine’s bash at the corporate headquarters, it can also play back risque videos from the afterparty. Don’t expect these to ship stateside anytime soon, but those across the pond can reportedly snap ‘em up for between £49.99 ($83) to £129.99 ($216) later this year.

Filed under: Displays

AgfaPhoto trots out “size zero” line of ultrathin digiframes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rock Band Stage Kit won’t smoke and strobe with The Beatles

We get the feeling that few Rock Band Stage Kits were sold to begin with, but those who proudly plunked down a Benjamin on this when it originally shipped were probably stoked to use it with The Beatles: Rock Band. Unfortunately for “those people,” such a scenario won’t ever be possible… at least, not without some serious DIY tinkering on the user end. Harmonix has confirmed to our pals over at Joystiq that a compatibility patch won’t ever be produced for the newest RB title, and when pressed about compatibility with future titles, the rep simply stated that the company “hasn’t announced any future titles at this time.” Looks like this party’s over, folks.

Filed under: Gaming

Rock Band Stage Kit won’t smoke and strobe with The Beatles originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia Erdos: a shiny specter, or an OLED-equipped reality?

We’re in no position to say that Nokia’s so-called Erdos — which was recently caught lookin’ pretty in the video down in the read link — is anything more than a fanatical mockup, but we’re fully ready to be believers. To be frank, we’ve a hard time understanding why Nokia wouldn’t showcase this gem at its recent Nokia World expo if it were indeed nearing release, but whatever the case, we’ve received a number of tips suggested that the OLED-packin’ handset could be formally introduced as early as next month. Falling within the 8xxx series, this ultrathin, ultra-shiny slider boasts a stainless steel design, A-GPS, 3G support, a 2.4-inch QVGA (320 x 240) display, WiFi, USB, 5 megapixel camera (with video recording) and 8GB of internal storage. Feel free to have a look for yourself, but just in case this all proves to be nothing more than a figment of some guy’s imagination, you should probably fall in love with the X6 as well.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia Erdos: a shiny specter, or an OLED-equipped reality? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS TS mini home server makes its blurrycam debut

If these China-borne blurrycam photos are to believed, ASUS is following Acer into the home server market with the TS mini. Along with the images came some alleged specs, conveniently sized up with its rival’s easyStore Home Server, showing it to be lighter, taller, and half the width, but also having room for only two 3.5-inch SATA drives versus four in the Acer version. It’s all run by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 with 2GB RAM, an ethernet port, and storage expansion options including six USB 2.0 and two eSATA ports. What’s that, you want price and release date? It seems no one can confirm this device has even gone beyond the prototype stages, so don’t pencil this into your holiday wish list just yet.

[Via We Got Served]

Filed under: Storage

ASUS TS mini home server makes its blurrycam debut originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LiMo Foundation could be close to bearing fruit for Samsung, Vodafone in a big way

The LiMo Foundation’s platform is far from vaporware — countless Japanese domestic market handsets run it in one form or another, which makes sense considering that NTT DoCoMo, NEC, and Panasonic are all counted among its founding members — but outside the land of the rising sun, LiMo’s had very little end-user impact even as it’s collected big-name members and released several rounds of specs and whitepapers over the last year and a half. To a certain extent, that’s by design; unlike Android, LiMo is as much about creating synergies for manufacturers and carriers as it is about giving subscribers flashy user interfaces, but a new Samsung for Vodafone leaked on Boy Genius Report today suggests that we might be getting flashy UIs nonetheless. We don’t know what this phone will ultimately be called, but it doesn’t take more than a couple glances to pick up on the fact that it’s relatively high-end, equipped with an 8 megapixel cam and full AMOLED touhscreen. The social-oriented interface looks seriously tricked out with faces (hopefully of people the user knows) moving in and out in three dimensions — usability is an open question, but at least it’s pretty to stare at, which is really what a good phone’s all about anyway, right? Word on the street is that this might be announced at a London event on the 24th, but here’s our question: where’s Verizon in all this?

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

LiMo Foundation could be close to bearing fruit for Samsung, Vodafone in a big way originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Engadget Podcast will be live… tomorrow

Hey everyone, just a quick note to say that the podcast will be slightly delayed this week — not only are we swamped with news, but Nilay’s traveling to NYC for The Engadget Show. Fear not, though — we’ll be live tomorrow at 4PM EST, and the regular podcast will go up on Saturday. See you then!

Filed under: Podcasts

The Engadget Podcast will be live… tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola’s USBw 200 WiMAX adapter takes less power, packs more drivers

If you’re inhabiting one of the few but increasingly common localities with WiMAX internets beaming through the airwaves, you’re probably looking for the least bulky and most efficient way to get connected. Motorola’s latest doesn’t look particularly more svelte than its previous USBw 100, but the USBw 200 is more efficient, requiring less than 1.5 watts of power despite the new “power boost” mode to connect more quickly to networks. Like its predecessor, it supports 2.3, 2.5, and 3.5GHz bands, and now includes Windows XP and Vista drivers on the device itself, so no pesky installation CD is required. No word on pricing or availability, but those figures will be largely be left to the discretion of wireless providers anyhow.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Filed under: Wireless

Motorola’s USBw 200 WiMAX adapter takes less power, packs more drivers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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