Earlier this year, NVIDIA teased us all with the promise of its forthcoming Kal-El SoC , indicating an August debut . Well, we’re currently in the thick of that hot and hazy month with no clear sign of an incoming quad-core tablet, but certainly more release gossip. According to Fudzilla , multiple sources have confirmed ASUS’ next Eee Pad Transformer will indeed be first in line to pack four cores, lending credence to Chairman Jonney Shih’s claims the tab would be “impressive.” Concrete launch details for the slate have yet to be announced, but if Shih’s pre-CES timeline pans out, you’ll only have four long months to wait for a Glow Ball hands-on. ASUS’ next gen Eee Pad Transformer to be first Kal-El device? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide ! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we’re settling down with desktops — and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back — at the end of the month we’ll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides — and hit up the hub page right here ! Truth be told, if you only have the money to swing one computer, it should probably be a laptop. Better, we think, to have the option of relocating to the library when your hallmates launch an impromptu game of beer pong as you’re trying to wrap up that 10-pager on Othello . And yet, we can still appreciate why some of you might want to kick it old-school and opt for a desktop instead. Maybe you’re planning on using a netbook or tablet as your day computer, and can afford to leave a desktop parked in the dorm. Or perhaps you’re a gamer, and have long since sworn off mobile GPUs. Whatever your reasons for bucking the trend, we found a selection of towers and all-in-ones aimed at game fanatics, power users and folks trying their darndest to save money and space. Oh, and you haven’t forgotten about all of the other gear you need for the semester, have you? We’re giving away $3,000 worth of stuff to 15 lucky readers, and you can enter to win simply by leaving a comment below. So what are you waiting for, folks? Follow us past the break and see what made the cut. Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide 2011: desktops Engadget’s back to school guide 2011: desktops originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’ve seen a few leaks from HTC lately, and now we’ve got the scoop on two more. And get this: one is being developed just for aspiring hip-hop moguls! Okay, not really… but a couple of new names were filed with the USPTO last week, as it keeps spittin’ game in the mobile marketplace. Four total trademark applications were filed for the HTC Enamor and HTC Rhyme — covering smartphones and tablets along with their hardware and software cohorts. No specs have been revealed (or much else) as of yet, but if you’d like to scope out the particulars for yourself, hit the source links below. HTC files trademarks for Enamor and Rhyme, keeps on hustlin’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If your grandest dream involves HP releasing a Touchstone dock that could stream music over Bluetooth, you probably suffer from the same lack of ambition that caused it to meekly push the Pre 3 , unheralded, into Europe this week . Such a dock has made the rounds at the FCC , and from their documents we can glean that it’s packing a 3.5mm audio-out jack and can broadcast over 6MHz, a capability that was also added to the Pre 3 for an as-yet ambiguous reason. Perhaps we can expect the new dock to arrive in Europe prior to the Pre 3 landing stateside — it’s asking a lot, we know, but crazier miracles have come to pass. HP Touchstone Audio Dock passes FCC on the way to anonymous launch originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …NYC to trial mobile payment parking system, Lovely Rita looks for a new gig
August 17, 2011 No Comment
Tired of burning your hard earned cash on parking fines? You might wanna move to New York City, where the Department of Transportation will soon begin testing a “pay by phone” parking system. The mobile payment technology, which has already been introduced in cities like Washington, DC and Atlanta, essentially allows drivers to pay for their parking spots without ever having to interact with those menacing, metallic meters. After registering online, users would be able to pay for curbside real estate by entering the number of the nearest meter and the amount of time they’d like to purchase into a customized app, or by texting it to the city’s Department of Transportation. The system would also alert users whenever their allotted time is about to expire, allowing them to add more money directly from their handsets, rather than trudge back their cars. At this point, the plan is to roll out the pilot program to some 300 parking spots over the next few months, most likely in outer borough neighborhoods with plenty of commercial outlets and, presumably, automobiles. NYC to trial mobile payment parking system, Lovely Rita looks for a new gig originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 07:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Third generation Smart Fortwo ditches Tesla powertrain, gains two wheeled cousin
August 17, 2011 No Comment
Time and tide wait for no man, folks. Nearly nine months after delivering the first electric Fortwos to snuggie-toting yanks , Daimler’s gone and announced its faster and longer-lasting successor. It’s not an entirely new car mind you, rather an extensive under the hood nip and tuck that replaces the Tesla powertrain with a more potent unit sourced from EM-motive. Up 34 horses from the previous model, the 74 horsepower EV now scoots from 0-60 in a “lively” 13 seconds — a vast improvement over the 23.4 second (!) time of its predecessor. It’s got a larger 17.6kWh battery pack too, which increases range a smidge to 87 miles. And this isn’t another EV trial: it’ll be produced in volume and sold (not leased) in 30 countries at an undisclosed price. Joining the revised city dweller is the matching Smart Ebike. The electrically assisted bicycle gives meat bags a choice of four levels of laziness as it propels them 60 miles between charges. At €2,900 (or around $4,000) it’s no bargain, but you didn’t think transportational color coordination came cheap, did you? Expect more on both come September when they are officially unveiled at IAA Frankfurt , but our friends at Autoblog Green have plenty of pics for your perusal at the source below. Continue reading Third generation Smart Fortwo ditches Tesla powertrain, gains two wheeled cousin Third generation Smart Fortwo ditches Tesla powertrain, gains two wheeled cousin originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 08:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Many SSDs could easily blow away that legacy spinning drive in your notebook, but there’s always room for a performance boost when it comes to tech. Announced last week , Samsung’s 830-series SSD packs up to 512GB of storage, and full support for SATA’s 6Gbps max throughput — a 100 percent boost over Samsung’s previous gen drive . There’s only one problem with last week’s version: it’s only available to OEMs, leaving a DIY upgrade out of the question. Well, today Samsung announced consumer availability for the same drive, letting any Joe Bag O’ PC Upgrades pick one up at retail come October. Drives will be available in 64, 128, 256, and 512GB capacities, with pricing details coming at the official launch this fall. Jump past the break for the full PR, should you care to read all about the drive’s “precision engineered” brushed metal enclosure, with “deep black” highlights and a “stylish and chic exterior” — exactly the features you should be looking for in an SSD. Continue reading Samsung’s 6Gbps SSD gets a consumer label, October release date Samsung’s 6Gbps SSD gets a consumer label, October release date originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …WikiHouse promises printable homes, work for the world’s idle CNC routers
August 17, 2011 No Comment
If you want something done right, do it yourself. That includes building a house, but that’s a project out of reach for many DIYers. Enter WikiHouse, a community for open-source home designs. There you can mix and match architectural plans using Google SketchUp; once you’ve settled on your dream home, just print to your waiting CNC router and start building. That’s the idea, anyway: the site’s still under construction, with the designers planning to debut the first WikiHouse in September during South Korea’s Gwangju Design Biennale 2011. Sure, it certainly won’t be as flashy as Electronic House ‘s Home of the Year , where wall-mounted iPads control the shower temperature, or Sharp’s prototype zero-emission house , with its 180-inch LCD. But does suggest a new, DIY way of thinking about the “home of the future.” WikiHouse promises printable homes, work for the world’s idle CNC routers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’ve just received a fascinating set of photos from a sharp-eyed tipster, who sent along images of what appear to be Motorola’s Droid Bionic and, most alluringly, that rumored handset known as the Droid HD (pictured above). This isn’t the first time we’ve seen leaked images of the Bionic in the wild, but these shots are certainly a lot clearer than any others we’ve come across. Still, there aren’t too many surprises here, with the global-capable handset boasting a TI OMAP 4430 1GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel rear camera, and microUSB / HDMI ports. The real intrigue, however, lies with the Droid HD. Judging from the photos, this device seems to be running Gingerbread, and rocks a 4.5-inch display (presumably with qHD or even 1280×720 resolution, considering the device’s name), an 8 megapixel 1080p rear-facing camera, a front-facing shooter and the usual set of microUSB / HDMI ports. There’s also a pair of side loading SIM and microSD slots on the left side of the device, a volume rocker and what looks like a power button on the right, a slight bump for the camera pod around back (which sports an LED flash and speaker, as well), along with a large, thin battery that appears to be removable. Perhaps most notable about the HD is its seemingly super thin design — we’re guessing it’s between 8.5 and 9mm, which would put it in the same league as Samsung’s Galaxy S II , which measures 8.49mm. We’ll have to wait for more detailed information on this mystery phone, but you can get a closer look in the gallery, below. Myriam Joire contributed to this report. [Thanks, Anonymous] Gallery: Droid Bionic and Droid HD leaked pictures Motorola’s new Droid HD makes cameo alongside Droid Bionic originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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You may have caught wind of one sly fox unofficially popping up over the weekend. Well, as we reported, that fox — specifically Firefox 6 — is now officially ready for your downloading pleasure. If you’re a diehard Mozilla fan, or just an armchair browser expert, you’re probably already hip to the new Firefox rapid refresh cycle that’s seen three releases in the past five months . If not, the folks at Mozilla sent along a couple of nifty graphics (available after the break) to show you how the new timeline works. Alternately, if you’re not interested in how your latest install made its way to your device, feel free to download the real deal at the source links below. Continue reading Mozilla officially releases Firefox 6, wants to show you how it’s done Mozilla officially releases Firefox 6, wants to show you how it’s done originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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