Thanko’s Laptop Table Bag stores your laptop, hides a table, saves your lap
November 2, 2010 No Comment
We’ve all ready the scary reports of what happens when a laptop makes your lap top a little too toasty . The solution? Buying a desk, obviously, and now Thanko has one that you can take with you. It’s called the Laptop Table Bag and it looks like a surprisingly normal, if decidedly corporate-issue, laptop bag. But, out of the bottom pivots four legs to hold your mobile device at what may or may not be a comfortable height. The 5980 yen ($75) contraption weighs about six pounds empty, making it a poor companion for your ultralight, but if your machine is more of a luggable — or if your manservant does the carrying for you — you may not even notice the extra heft. Gallery: Thanko Laptop Table Bag Thanko’s Laptop Table Bag stores your laptop, hides a table, saves your lap originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 23:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …LaserMotive’s unnamed quadrocopter hovers for 12 solid hours using lasers alone
November 2, 2010 No Comment
Protip: $900,000 goes a long way, particularly when you’re dumping practically all of it into a single investment ( Hello Kitty lap warmers notwithstanding). LaserMotive, the company lauded for bringing home nearly a million bucks in the 2009 NASA-sponsored Space Elevator Games, has just broken an endurance record for laser-powered hovering with its unnamed Pelican. This here quadrocopter is designed to get energized by converting beams into power via a set of photovoltaic panels on its underside, and in a recent test, lasers were able to keep it afloat for over 12 hours. It never hovered much higher than 30 feet, and it barely moved from left to right while in the air, but we’re guessing it was marginally more interesting than watching paint dry. All jesting aside, the milestone makes it a lot more feasible for the company to get this technology into UAVs used in the miliary — “for example, laser-powered copters could perform on-the-road reconnaissance missions when convoys travel through a combat zone.” And if you’re looking to take home something similar on a far smaller scale, there’s always the AR.Drone . Continue reading LaserMotive’s unnamed quadrocopter hovers for 12 solid hours using lasers alone LaserMotive’s unnamed quadrocopter hovers for 12 solid hours using lasers alone originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 22:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Nissan New Mobility Concept EV seats two, looks to a more sustainable future (video)
November 2, 2010 No Comment
Nissan’s Leaf may be the company’s one-size-fits-all EV play for the mainstream market, but the company is apparently not content with just the one horse in its electric stable. Unveiled today at its Yokohama HQ, the Nissan New Mobility Concept is a teeny tiny two-person transporter that aims to solve the problems of commuting in high-density urban and tourist environments. You’ll notice there’s only one seat in the image above and videos after the break, but we’re still talking about a proposed design here rather than the finished article. Range is set at 100km (62 miles) and maximum speed is 75kph (47mph), both of which should betray the little doorless vehicle’s humble ambitions. Skip past the break to see it gliding around soundlessly inside Nissan’s vast halls. Continue reading Nissan New Mobility Concept EV seats two, looks to a more sustainable future (video) Nissan New Mobility Concept EV seats two, looks to a more sustainable future (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 22:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Sure, we just spent the last four or five years chiding Microsoft for its anachronistic Windows CE interface, a UI which was holding Windows Mobile back in a post-stylus world, but now that Windows Phone 7 is here we get to start feeling all nostalgic, right? The ongoing Liberate project for the Zune HD , which just hit version 1.5.1, strips away that flashy Zune veneer and boots the device to Microsoft’s stock CE 6.0 copy of explorer.exe. Notably, the latest version adds an onscreen keyboard and better right click support. Folks are using the freedom of CE to run applications like Foxit Reader, Opera Mini and Pocket Word, and with support for GDI, DirectDraw, and OpenGL ES 2.0 there’s hope of gaming ports as well. [Thanks, David R.] ‘Liberate’ for the Zune HD unlocks hidden Windows CE potential originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 20:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Li-ion Motors INIZIO: all-electric supercar hitting 170 mph next year, all yours for $139k
November 2, 2010 No Comment
Tesla , schmesla. This , friends, is the electric vehicle that your garage has been waiting for. Designed by North Carolina’s own Li-ion Motors, the downright stunning INIZIO is being hailed as the world’s first all American-made electric supercar, and while the Roadster is definitely peppy, it ain’t got nothing on this. Using the company’s own lithium-ion battery technology and management system, the car can purportedly cruise for up to 250 miles on electricity alone, and it can hit a top speed of 170 miles per hour without breaking a sweat. Naturally, you won’t (legally) fit more than two humans into this thing at once, but those two individuals will enjoy adjustable, leather / suede Recaro seating with heating and cooling features, an inbuilt 12-inch subwoofer, digital surround sound system, integrated navigation system, DVD player and rotational doors that raise on a 90-degree angle. Oh, and they’ll probably drool a little after racing from zero to sixty in 3.4 face-numbing seconds. The company also adds that it emits no carbon emissions, can be recharged over 2,500 times and can go from drained to rejuvenated after just eight hours on the plug. It’s expected to launch in mid-2011 with a starting price of $139,000, or just a few pennies more than the current value of the wretched Carolina Panthers franchise. Continue reading Li-ion Motors INIZIO: all-electric supercar hitting 170 mph next year, all yours for $139k Li-ion Motors INIZIO: all-electric supercar hitting 170 mph next year, all yours for $139k originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 20:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Gibson ‘s been riding the wave of tech for quite a while now — launching several “robot” guitars featuring things such as a fully automated tuning system. For that, we give them credit: guitar purists are a tough bunch, and one that is most definitely resistant to change. So we can’t help but welcome (on principle alone) the Firebird X, even if our standard Firebird is way, way better looking. The Firebird X — which will retail for about $5,500 when it launches in December — features the robo-tuning head found on the Dark Fire , and a seriously sick range of vuilt-in effects, including modulation, echo, reverb, compression, EQ, and distortion. Hey, purists may grimace at that non-Firebird headstock, but let them: you’ll be jamming with some sweet effects. Gibson announces $5,500 Firebird X robot guitar originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Sprint will apparently be offering preorders of its HTC 7 Pro — the only CDMA Windows Phone 7 device to be announced so far — in just a few days’ time on November 8th, but there’s a fairly big catch: you’ve got to be a Microsoft employee to get in on the action. Redmond has been great about seeding WP7 models to its staff so far , so it’s definitely possible that Sprint is working with Microsoft in some capacity to get 7 Pros to its folks a little early in an effort to smooth out last-minute bugs and get feedback… either that, or it’s just doing them a solid by letting ‘em preorder a few days before everyone else. Last we’d heard, the 7 Pro won’t be coming until 2011 (despite the fact that there’s already an FCC certification ready to roll), so if we were to see a few of the things floating around campus before January, we certainly wouldn’t be surprised. Pricing is yet to be announced. HTC 7 Pro going on preorder for Microsoft employees November 8th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Well, in Canada at least. Sammy’s QX410 is listed as “backordered” on America’s Best Buy portal, but it’s bound to make its online debut in short order — in fact, we’re hearing that they’re already popping up on retail shelves. For those in need of a refresher , this 14.1-incher ships with a silver lining (and enclosure, too), 2.53GHz Core i5 processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 640GB hard drive, dual-layer DVD burner, SD / SDHC / SDXC card reader, NVIDIA’s 512MB GeForce 310M GPU ( Optimus enabled) and an inbuilt webcam. You’ll also find gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, three USB 2.0 ports and a battery that’s supposedly good for up to seven hours. Oh, and did we mention it includes a WiMAX model for tapping into Sprint’s widening 4G network? Best Buy’s US site is estimating a ship date of “one to two weeks,” and you can pre-order now if you’re sold already for $829.99. [Thanks, B.S.] Gallery: Samsung’s 14.1-inch QX410 laptop Samsung’s 14.1-inch QX410 laptop now on sale at Best Buy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
If you frequent small house parties like us, chances are you would’ve witnessed the many occasions where guests take turns to hook up their iDevices to the speakers ; if not, just picture yourself fighting your flatmates over your communal HiFi system — Altec Lansing claims that on average there are 2.2 portable audio devices per household, and they’re most likely iPods . Naturally, a dual-docking speaker — which is nothing new — would somewhat ease domestic tension and reduce interruption to the tunes, but think smarter: what if you could let music alternate between the devices, as well as having the ability to instantly change the amount of play time on both persons’ music libraries? Better yet, what if the speaker doubles up as an alarm clock? These are pretty much what Altec’s offering with its $99.95 Octiv Duo (or Octiv 202 outside the US), with a little help from its two free iOS apps: Music Mix and Alarm Rock. You know the drill — read on to find out whether this new box would end your little social crisis once and for all. Gallery: Altec Lansing Octiv Duo speaker dock review Continue reading Altec Lansing Octiv Duo (202) speaker dock review Altec Lansing Octiv Duo (202) speaker dock review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
See, you were hoping this would end with something like “…and they’ll be the exclusive retailers of the white iPhone 4 .” Yeah, no — just the standard-issue iPhone 3GS and black iPhone 4 here, coming to Target Mobile locations nestled within some 846 Targets across the country starting on November 7 with the same pricing as everywhere else. Guess we can officially declare shortages totally, completely dead, huh? Well, except for that white model, of course. Follow the break for the press release. Continue reading Target offering iPhone 4, 3GS starting November 7th Target offering iPhone 4, 3GS starting November 7th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …