Leica M7 Edition Hermes drops this December at a price you can’t afford

Continue reading Leica M7 Edition Hermes drops this December at a price you can’t afford

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Leica M7 Edition Hermes drops this December at a price you can’t afford originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Black Friday deals bonanza round up

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Black Friday deals bonanza round up originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chumby One review

Let’s be honest: it’s really hard to dislike Chumby. In fact, you feel almost compelled to root for any company bold enough to put out a product as unapologetically wacky as the original Chumby, a device that somehow managed to marry a soft, cuddly vinyl sphere with WiFi and a touchscreen. It didn’t make a lot of sense, and as far as we can tell, the company didn’t really intend it to — they basically threw it out there and said, “hey, so we’ve got this… uh, thing… now let’s see what you can do with it.” It was an open platform, Chumby encouraged hackers to dig in and understand the guts, and over time, a small-but-vibrant community of users and developers emerged with several hundred widgets capable of doing everything from showing the time to cracking a few Chuck Norris jokes.

A quirky, overpriced alarm clock without broad market appeal can only take you so far, though — someone’s eventually got to pay the bills. Enter the $100 Chumby One, Chumby’s first attempt to grow up and produce an affordable device that loses a little bit of the Chumby Classic’s insanity while carefully staying true to the company’s roots. Will this be Chumby’s ticket out of the geek niche and into mainstream living rooms and offices?

Continue reading Chumby One review

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Chumby One review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:00:00 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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Digital ‘Cloud’ could form over London for the 2012 Olympics

Continue reading Digital ‘Cloud’ could form over London for the 2012 Olympics

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Digital ‘Cloud’ could form over London for the 2012 Olympics originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:45:00 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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HP Create Amazing ad tilt-shifts our hearts

Okay, so we’re total suckers for tilt-shift perspective manipulation, and since we’ve run a fair number of snippy attack ads lately, we thought we’d try and clear the air with this impressive new spot from HP. Part of the relatively-new “Create Amazing” campaign, it’s a miniaturized international tour through Shanghai, New York, Santorini, London, Istanbul, and some custom office sets built in L.A., and, well, we’re in love. Watch the video below, maybe have a second glance at Michael Gartenberg’s Entelligence column on gadget-fan unity from yesterday, and let’s all agree to agree for once in this crazy world.

[Via The Daily Dish]

Continue reading HP Create Amazing ad tilt-shifts our hearts

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

HP Create Amazing ad tilt-shifts our hearts originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GoSpeak! Pro fold-out speakers give on-the-go presenters plenty of joy

NXT’s flat-panel speaker technology doesn’t get an awful lot of love these days in the high-end audio realm, but that’s not to say some outfits aren’t putting it to good use. Take SMK-Link Electronics, for instance, who just pushed out the most spectacular must-have product ever for the traveling salesperson in your life. The five-pound GoSpeak! Pro is little more than a fold-out speaker system, which is slim enough to slide easily into any briefcase yet potent enough to project PowerPoint audio to some 200 listeners (yes, 201 actually is impossible). As expected, you can also hook up a wireless microphone to let your voice project through it as well, but with a base price of $399, you might consider just yelling really, really loudly.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

GoSpeak! Pro fold-out speakers give on-the-go presenters plenty of joy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget logo now a thrilla in Manila

Even though your company might be based in Croatia, Malaysia, or scattered throughout US airports we’re all linked together by a single common thread: Google image search and a penchant for the Engadget logo. The latest infringer of our beloved IP is E-pins Corporation, a self-described telecommunications contractor employing some 500 people in the Philippines. With staff like that you’d think they could hire their own graphic designer.

[Thanks, Jeffrey S.]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Engadget logo now a thrilla in Manila originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DocuPen X hits earth for all your pen scanner needs

Thinking maybe you can’t live another day without finally breaking down and purchasing a pen scanner? We can sympathize. There are plenty on the market, but the newly hatched DocuPen X Series is mildly more interesting than most out there. They’ve managed to cram 64MB of memory, Bluetooth, a tiny OLED screen and a lithium ion battery all in that tiny package, and if you’re the sunflower seed-eating, alien-hunting type, you probably want one of these for scanning your files at up to 600 dots per inch. DocuPen’s teensy X Series scanners start at $370.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

DocuPen X hits earth for all your pen scanner needs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fluidic Energy promises better, cheaper metal-air batteries, wins DoE grant

It’s not the only company working on metal-air batteries, but Scottsdale, Arizona-based Fluidic Energy may be in a better position to deliver on its promises than most, as it’s just managed to snag a $5.13 million research grant from the US Department of Energy to further develop the “breakthrough” technology. While that word’s thrown around quite a bit these, in the case, it may actually live up to the hype, considering that breakthrough in question would be a battery that’s able to deliver eleven times the energy density of the best lithium-ion batteries for less than one-third of the cost. The key to that, it seems, is the battery’s use of an ionic liquid as its electrolyte, which is described as a “wonder fluid” since it’s able to last significantly longer than other fluids because drying out isn’t a problem, and because it brings with it a significant boost in energy density. Of course, the company still apparently doesn’t have an actual battery to back up its claims just yet, and it’s not making any promises about when it might deliver one either.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Fluidic Energy promises better, cheaper metal-air batteries, wins DoE grant originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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‘Secret Knock’ Door Lock defends home from rhythmically-impaired perps (video)

The Arduino board has been the engine of many wild and wacky projects over the years, from bakery tweeting to various musical instruments. For its next trick, our man Steve Hoefer has taken his microcontroller and, along with a piezoelectric speaker, a gear reduction motor, and some PVC pipe, programmed it to listen for a preset sequence of knocks — a secret knock, if you will — and unlock the deadbolt upon hearing the right combination. Although this might not be the security system you want to put in place for your home, this definitely looks like a fun weekend project. Check out the read link for instructions and schematics, but not before you see the video of the thing in action. It’s after the break.

[Via Hacked Gadgets]

Continue reading ‘Secret Knock’ Door Lock defends home from rhythmically-impaired perps (video)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

‘Secret Knock’ Door Lock defends home from rhythmically-impaired perps (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Josh is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight!

He’s back, folks. Our main dude Josh Topolsky will be infiltrating America’s minds directly from the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this evening — and it’s been an absolutely huge few weeks in gadgets, so trust us when we say JT’s well-stocked with hot new gear to show off. Tune in on your local NBC station at the times listed below, let us know how he’s doing in comments, and make sure to include #joshtops in your tweets!

P.S.- In case you missed Josh and Jimmy goofing around with the iPhone 3GS in June or the Pre back in March, we’ve got videos after the break.

Showtimes:
12:37AM Eastern
11:37PM Central
11:37PM Mountain
12:37AM Pacific

Continue reading Josh is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Josh is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ex-AMD CEO Hector Ruiz steps down as Globalfoundries chairman amid insider trading scandal

We won’t dive back into all the backstory that led to former AMD CEO Hector Ruiz’s current troubles as the chariman of AMD spin-off Globalfoundaries, but let’s just say that when your name is in the same sentence as “insider trading scandal” and “hedge fund probe,” you’re probably in a pretty bad way. While this story is obviously still far from over, it looks like Ruiz has at least realized the gravity of his predicament, and announced today that he’s taking a “voluntary leave of absence” before formally resigning from the company on January 4th, 2010. He’ll be replaced immediately by former Broadcom CEO Alan “Lanny” Ross, who will serve as interim chairman until the company’s board appoints a permanent chairman.

[Via GigaOM]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Ex-AMD CEO Hector Ruiz steps down as Globalfoundries chairman amid insider trading scandal originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Print your own circuit boards with an Inkjet (and a modicum of skill)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Print your own circuit boards with an Inkjet (and a modicum of skill) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sears Black Friday ad revealed, we’ll be sleeping off our tryptophan hangovers

Woe betide the Black Friday bargain hunter; where once there were stellar deals on giant televisions and hard disk drives now there are slight discounts on underwear and handbags. Sears’ ad for this year has been unearthed and, while it naturally has an eclectic selection of goodies on sale ranging from power tools to KitchenAid mixers (and that’s just on the front page), from a gadgety perspective we’re not finding anything quite worth lining up at 3:00am in November for. There’s a 40-inch Samsung 1080p LCD for $599, about $50 than we can find it for online, and a similar Sony model for $664 — a whole $10 less than Amazon is asking for a comparable model with free shipping and no uncomfortable small talk with other half-frozen shopaholics. A raft of cheap but mediocre games and movies will be available, some soon to be obsolete GPS devices, and lots of other random things stuffed into the PDF scan linked below. Not into the whole hunting for deals thing? The other link has everything listed out, making for easy text searching — and for guilt-free snoozing the day after Turkey Day.

Read – PDF scan of Sears 2009 Black Friday ad
Read – Listing of Sears 2009 Black Friday deals

Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets

Sears Black Friday ad revealed, we’ll be sleeping off our tryptophan hangovers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rechargeable zinc-air batteries promise a lot, we’ll see if they deliver in 2010

Is there any other field of technology that promises as many revolutionary innovations as battery makers do yet delivers so few? We’ve heard of battery life being made four times, eight times, even twelve times better… and seen pretty much none of it pan out in any sort of meaningful way. Zinc-air batteries are also nothing new, but now some whizkids up in Norway have figured out how to make them rechargeable and set up an entire company, ReVolt, for their commercialization. With more than double the energy density of regular Lithium-Ion batteries, safer operation, lower cost of production, and environmentally friendlier ingredients, ReVolt’s tech sounds as sweet as anything, but we’d advise waiting for the pudding-based proof before getting excited. Plans are for small hearing aid and cellphone batteries to show up in 2010, and if all goes well there, larger cells for electric vehicles could also follow. Sure.

[Via PhysOrg]

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc. Gadgets, Handhelds, Laptops

Rechargeable zinc-air batteries promise a lot, we’ll see if they deliver in 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Elmo and Nokia join forces, meld kids’ books with teleconferencing for Storyplay (video)

Whether you love Elmo for his ability to make your kids sit quietly or hate him for his voice that’s about two steps away from fingernails on chalkboards, there’s no denying his popularity. His latest appearance is in this maple-stained electronic reader from Nokia called Storyplay. In these days of electronic ink and Kindle competitors, Espoo has taken something of a different tact here, designed to help kids and adults read together even when far apart. It has room in the middle for a removable paper book with magnets on each page to identify which is being shown, then on the top are two screens. One is continual footage of that most ticklish of Sesame Street characters, the other a live video stream from a remote parent, grandparent, or other floating head who can read along. The video below shows it all in action and, while the tech is compelling, it’s hard to see much of a market outside of parents with a wallet full of platinum frequent flier cards. Then again, we didn’t think the Booklet 3G would find success, so this will probably be the best selling thing ever.

Continue reading Elmo and Nokia join forces, meld kids’ books with teleconferencing for Storyplay (video)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Elmo and Nokia join forces, meld kids’ books with teleconferencing for Storyplay (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AlterG’s M300 treadmill: same ‘anti-gravity’ vibe, now ‘only’ $24,500

We’ve always heard that holiday calories “don’t count,” but disregarding urban legend for a minute, we’d say AlterG’s timing here is nothing short of impeccable. Nearly 1.5 years after the outfit’s P200 series was a-okay’d by the FCC, an all new walking machine has entered the fray. The M300 treadmill brings along the same “anti-gravity” feel (useful for rehabilitation and athletic training), but in a machine that’s a third of the price and way, way sleeker. The idea here is to reduce the strain on joints and muscles as one exercises, and while that’s certainly commendable, we’re still thinking it’ll take one or two more iterations to get one priced for the everyman. You know, unless you consider $24,500+ (or $499+ per month for the rest of your Earthly life) “affordable.”

[Via MedGadget]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household

AlterG’s M300 treadmill: same ‘anti-gravity’ vibe, now ‘only’ $24,500 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Korg Nanokey controller repurposed into MIDI foot pedal

Korg’s Nanokey MIDI controller is pretty awesome in its own right, but using it with your feet gets a little difficult under “normal” conditions. We can’t say for certain why Marc Fischer decided to convert his perfectly good control board into a MIDI foot pedal, but frankly, that’s beside the point. The point is he did it, and he did it with just a bit of ingenuity, some wooden blocks for risers and a bit of Plexiglas to cover up the missing keys. Hit the read link if you’re interested in doing something similar, and feel free to ask the man himself where that gorgeous shag carpet came from. Kinky!

[Via MAKE]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Korg Nanokey controller repurposed into MIDI foot pedal originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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