So, everybody has a Facebook page now: your parents, your next door neighbor’s cat, and now even the Queen of England … or more specifically, the British Monarchy. Yes, the Crown of England has launched an official fan page for itself on everybody’s favorite and most hated social network. Apparently, the page managed to rake in over 40,000 likes in its first hour of operation — no small feat considering it took Miley Cyrus something like three days to get that many. Regardless, the Queen is posting tons of candid photos and we’re hoping to get some videos of her getting crazy with the Cheez Whiz any day now; we’ll let you know if / when they appear. The British Monarchy launches official Facebook fan page originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 06:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If the paper trail for this handset wasn’t enough for you, here’s the first official imagery of the Samsung Zeal. It is, as speculated, a dual-hinge, dual-display affair, equipped with an E Ink keyboard that transitions from a four-row QWERTY arrangement to a dialpad depending on orientation. If you’re thinking you’ve seen this before, that might be because you were one of the few to notice Samsung’s Alias 2 , which also called Verizon its home. The Zeal is expected to arrive in stores on November 11th, so you can expect this premature little cameo to be augmented with full specs and a price very soon indeed. Samsung Zeal leaked by Verizon, exposes dual-hinge design originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Bing not meeting your needs? Don’t fret, Google just pushed its Google Search app for Windows Phone 7 live in Marketplace. A move the mirrors the Bing app availability on the Android Market. The Google Search app utilizes your location to provide local search results and features suggestions as your type and a search history to quickly repeat any previous queries. While there’s no way to reassign Google Search to the dedicated search “button” on WP7 devices, you could always pin the app to the Start screen. Unfortunately, we’re still not seeing it populated in the UK Marketplace (search for “Google Search”) but that should be remedied anytime now. Google Search App bungs Bing on Windows Phone 7 Marketplace originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 04:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The quixotic quest for the perfect 3D mouse has a long and storied history, but the German-built “Axsotic” 3D-Spheric-Mouse looks like a pretty good attempt. Axsotic tracks a 40mm ball, which can be twisted, pushed, pulled, lifted, and so forth inside its patent pending, sensor-laden cage. Optical tracking watches for rotation in three axis, while magnets track zoom and pan in three axis of their own. The design gives complete camera control in a 3D app to one hand, while your other hand is free to operate a mouse or other pointing device to actually interact with the 3D object in question. Axsotic actually works driver-free on Mac and Windows, and a plugin is available for popular 3D softwares. No word yet on price or availability. Check out some action videos after the break. Gallery: Axsotic 3D mouse takes a spherical stab at an age-old problem Continue reading Axsotic 3D mouse takes a spherical stab at an age-old problem Axsotic 3D mouse takes a spherical stab at an age-old problem originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 04:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …E Ink shows off Triton color ePaper, touts faster performance, readability in sunlight (video)
November 9, 2010 No Comment
E Ink Triton. That’s the name we should all start getting used to as E Ink Holdings has just officially announced its first color electronic paper display. It was only yesterday that we learned Hanvon would be the first to bring the newly colorized e-reading panels to the market, so today the eponymous E Ink display maker has seen fit to dish out its own press release, catchy title, and even a handy explanatory video. The key points are that the new Triton stuff will offer 20 percent faster performance, sunlight-readable imaging, and up to a month’s battery life. That would suggest there’s almost no sacrifice in endurance relative to E Ink’s monochromatic screens already on offer in things like Amazon’s Kindle , which sounds all kinds of righteous to us. Skip past the break to get better acquainted with the Triton. Continue reading E Ink shows off Triton color ePaper, touts faster performance, readability in sunlight (video) E Ink shows off Triton color ePaper, touts faster performance, readability in sunlight (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 03:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Yves Rossy’s jetpack loops a hot air balloon, looks great doing it (video)
November 9, 2010 No Comment
Looks like Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy is back to the, well, daredeviltry. On November 5, 2010, the self-described Jetman lept off a platform attached to the side of the Esprit Breitling Orbiter hot air balloon and, after reaching an altitude of 2,400 meters (7,874 feet), came back to loop around the thing twice. He was aided in his endeavor by a new, smaller wing (two meters across) with four jets, and executed the maneuvers using only his body movements to steer. Afterward, he deployed his parachute and landed in Denezy, in the Swiss canton of Vaud. We might also add that we tried to get one of these devices for an Engadget Show giveaway, but our lawyers seem to think it’s a terrible idea. Video after the break. Continue reading Yves Rossy’s jetpack loops a hot air balloon, looks great doing it (video) Yves Rossy’s jetpack loops a hot air balloon, looks great doing it (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 02:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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As promised , the boys and girls at Opera have pushed out an Android-flavored beta version of their Opera Mobile 10.1 product today — and considering the company’s track record for making awesome replacement browsers, odds are good that you’re going to want to check it out. Besides pinch-to-zoom and support for location services, you’ll find fan favorites like desktop browser sync and Opera’s Speed Dial, a touchable grid of bookmarks. What’s more, the visual tab management is downright slick (then again, outdoing the tab management in-built to Android doesn’t take much), so you might want to take it for a test drive today — can we suggest engadget.com as a fine starting point? The app’s available from the Android Market right now; follow the break for the press release and an official demo of pinch-to-zoom in action. Or, you know, just download it and do some pinch-to-zooming of your own. Your call. Continue reading Opera Mobile 10.1 for Android hits public beta Opera Mobile 10.1 for Android hits public beta originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 02:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Never mind that November 11 rumor, the Droid 2 Global is available to buy from Verizon right now . The dual-mode CDMA/GSM handset from Moto — equipped with a 1.2GHz processor, don’t forget — is ready to be yours today for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and subject to the usual two-year contractual commitment. If you still need convincing, this new SKU also comes in a sparkling white option… can you really resist a white globetrotting Droid? [Thanks, Anthony] Motorola Droid 2 Global now available at Verizon for $199 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 01:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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A quick refresher: Bobcat is AMD’s low-power Accelerated Processing Unit that can handle both computational and graphical duties, Ontario and Zacate are the chips built upon that core, and Brazos is the overall platform that they’ll be doing their work on. Clear enough? We hope so. AMD has finally allowed a few tech pubs to get their hands on Brazos-based systems and, along with feedback about their experience, the guys have come back with some added spec notes. There’ll be two initial Zacate options, the dual-core E-350 running at 1.6GHz or the single-core E-240 clocked at 1.5GHz, while Ontario will offer 1GHz dual-core and 1.2GHz single-core variants. Let’s not forget that both are intended for netbooks and lithe desktop computers before writing them off as too slow — which would be a mistake anyway as the sites that got a chance to play with the E-350 reported very respectable performance. HardOCP dared to try out Crysis and managed to get it chugging along at a resolution around 720p, whereas Hot Hardware witnessed a 1080p video clip being played back perfectly smoothly alongside an instance of Hyper Pi maxing out the CPU load. Benchmark results will have to wait for another day, but feel free to peruse the links below for a more detailed breakdown of the new architecture. AMD teases Bobcat Fusion APUs again, delivers Atom-busting performance originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 01:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Looks like Kno kept to its “under $1,000″ MSRP promise, after all, and by more than just a penny. The company says its flagship tablet textbook is still on track for release by the end of this year — with limited available, at least — tagged at $899 for the original double-screen model and $599 for the single-screener . Speaking to All Things D , CEO Osman Rashid estimates first-run production “in the thousands” and also claims ten as-of-now unnamed universities will be the first targets for the device. Less than eight weeks to go — just worry about getting through fall semester finals for now. Kno prices tablet textbooks: $599 for single-screen, $899 for double originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 00:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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