Lest you weren’t glued to your television sets last night, our own Josh Topolsky raised quite a bit of mayhem on Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night show. After doing the professional thing and showing off the minuscule Apple TV and Roku XDS media streamers, Josh proceeded to power up an AR.Drone quadricopter and fly it around the studio in a decidedly menacing fashion. For video of Jimmy’s courageous reaction and the fallout from this robot invasion, jump past the break. [Thanks, Sonny] Continue reading Josh invades Late Night studio with flying robot army of one (video) Josh invades Late Night studio with flying robot army of one (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 04:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Malata launches a candy-colored educational smartbook, we give it a whirl
October 1, 2010 No Comment
The tablet craze may have pushed smartbooks out of the spotlight , but don’t tell Malata that — the ODM’s launching an ARM-powered mini laptop in China this very week. Spotted at Mobilize 2010, the Malata T9000 is a cute-as-a-button blue and black clamshell with a 10-inch, 1024 x 600 screen and a Marvell Armada 166 inside, running a Chinese version of Linux (on an 8GB SSD) designed for the educational market. It’s most certainly cheap and underpowered, but we weren’t really able to tell, as the UI didn’t actually launch any usable applications when we randomly clicked on the icons strewn about. That said, it’s got a fairly usable, springy little keyboard and a good number of ports, so it might be fun to tinker with, but we won’t shed a tear if the machine never makes it stateside. Gallery: Malata T9000 smartbook, hands-on Malata launches a candy-colored educational smartbook, we give it a whirl originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 21:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes says Apple’s 99-cent rental model threatens sales
September 30, 2010 No Comment
Well, this isn’t going to be surprising to many, but certain executives of certain big studios and networks aren’t wasting anytime letting everybody know what they think of Apple’s new 99-cent rental model for the Apple TV . If you’ve read our review of the tiny new iOS device, you’re already aware that one of Apple’s biggest challenges with the product is getting the content providers on board for such a reduced price — so far, the company’s managed to pull in ABC, Disney, Fox, and the BBC — but Jobs has said that studios will quickly “see the light” and join up. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes seems to disagree, however. “How can you justify renting your first-run TV shows individually for 99 cents an episode and thereby jeopardize the sale of the same shows as a series to branded networks that pay hundreds of millions of dollars and make those shows available to loyal viewers for free?” Bewkes recently asked, joining the now growing chorus of executives to decry the new scheme. Jeff Zucker recently said he thought Apple’s 99-cent rentals “devalue” the content, while Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said the rental model was “not good.” Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes says Apple’s 99-cent rental model threatens sales originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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What’s the first thing you should do when you get the N8 ? Considering it packs the biggest image sensor embedded in a phone yet, Carl Zeiss optics, and an eight-digit pixel count, it seemed obvious to us that the answer was to take it on a picture- and video-taking stroll around London. On our way out we saw our iPhone 4 looking all sad and lonely, so we went ahead and brought it along as well. Below you shall find one gallery of pure, unadulterated N8 sample shots, another interspersed with the iPhone’s results for comparison’s sake, and a final one with side-by-side 100 percent crops from each image taker. Once you’ve digested all of those, we suggest hopping past the break and tucking into some tasty video comparisons for dessert. Naturally, all the images are entirely unretouched (but for our masterly watermarking) and the iPhone 4′s HDR hocus pocus has been left off. We’ve also provided a zip file containing all the full-res imagery shot with the N8 in a link below. A quick note is also merited about the N8′s resolution. The sensor’s display ratio is 4:3, which means that full 12 megapixel shots are only available in those dimensions. The camera software, however, defaults to shooting 9 megapixel snaps at the increasingly popular 16:9 ratio — this is done simply by cropping away the “excess” bars at the top and bottom of the image, meaning that the 9 megapixel images are giving us identical performance as the 12 megapixel ones, they’re just chopped down (from 4000 x 3000 to 4000 x 2248) for the sake of convenience. Now, on with the show! Gallery: Nokia N8 sample photos Gallery: Nokia N8 vs. iPhone 4: cameraphone fight! Gallery: Nokia N8 vs. iPhone 4: full resolution crops Continue reading Nokia N8 vs. iPhone 4: camera showdown Nokia N8 vs. iPhone 4: camera showdown originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 17:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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GoPro releases its budget-friendlier $179 HD Hero 960, teases 3D case for moneybags
September 30, 2010 No Comment
It’s been almost two months since GoPro announced it’d be releasing a cheaper helmet cam, the HD Hero 960 , positioning it beneath the $299 and 1080p HD Hero we enjoyed last year and give those doing professional stunts on amateur budgets a chance to capture their glory. Now here it is, yours for the taking today — if you don’t mind a resolution capped at 1280 x 960 and a deleted “Hero Bus” expansion port, meaning no external displays or batteries. That port is what you’ll need to use the company’s next accessory, a dual camera mount shown off at Interbike (and pictured below) pairing two of the HD Heros to film in 3D. You’ll need to manually stitch the resulting footage together, but there is at least a sync cable included so that the two start and stop at the same time — something sadly lacking on the Tachyon XC 3D . That mount is set to retail for $99, but the requirement for dual $299 cameras will price this out of most budgets. However, the $179 MSRP on the HD Hero 960 makes it a compelling alternative to Contour’s $220 720p ContourHD . [Thanks, Jonathan] Continue reading GoPro releases its budget-friendlier $179 HD Hero 960, teases 3D case for moneybags GoPro releases its budget-friendlier $179 HD Hero 960, teases 3D case for moneybags originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 11:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …First Super Hi-Vision broadcast from UK to Japan is one for the geeklopedia
September 30, 2010 No Comment
Super Hi-Vision is still very experimental, but the BBC and NHK’s first UK-to-Tokyo SHV broadcast trial of a live musical set by the The Charlatans hints it is inching closer to commercial viability. A NHK-developed camera — one of three in existence — made it all possible, and featured a specialized lens and optical data transmitter to handle the retina-confounding 7680 x 4320 pixel signal. This SHV trial was also the first to use a blazingly fast 24Gb/s internet connection to broadcast in lieu of more expensive satellite transmissions used in previous tests . As if the brouhaha wasn’t bleeding-edge enough, a lucky few at the BBC could even view the show on a prototype 103-inch plasma television developed by NHK to see a mere quarter of the signal’s massive resolution. Sure, this may not be the kind of event kids will learn about in class someday, but it certainly makes us feel like giddy little school boys. To learn more, watch a behind the scenes BBC video on the event embedded after the break. Continue reading First Super Hi-Vision broadcast from UK to Japan is one for the geeklopedia First Super Hi-Vision broadcast from UK to Japan is one for the geeklopedia originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 09:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’ve got to give Toshiba a bit of credit here — it’s certainly not trying to sell its new Satellite C660 (and accompanying Satellite Pro model) as something it’s not. Tossing around words like “adequate” and “no-frills,” the company says that the revised Satellite is a “smart and affordable” solution, and it does indeed look like it’ll satisfy those looking for only the basics. That includes a 15.6-inch display, your choice of Intel or AMD processors up to a Core i3 or Athlon II, integrated graphics only, up to 8GB of RAM, up to a 640GB hard drive, and a multitouch trackpad, among other standard fare. The only difference with the Pro model, it seems, is Windows 7 Professional for the OS, a black textured casing, and a “non-reflective” screen. No word on exact pricing just yet, but you can look for this one to at least be available in Europe, the Middle East and Africa sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. Full press release is after the break. Continue reading Toshiba announces ‘no-frills’ Satellite C660 laptop Toshiba announces ‘no-frills’ Satellite C660 laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 04:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Choice is a good thing, and Android users certainly have a lot of choices. Default launcher or Launcher Pro? Fancy animated live wallpaper or static picture of adorable puppies? Stock browser or alternative? It’s that last question that has plagued so many, and to offer some guidance PC World pitted six of the Market’s top choices against each other. The 2.1 and 2.2 stock browsers entered, along with Skyfire 2.0 , Opera Mini , Dolphin HD, and Mozilla Fennec (the pre-beta release of what could bring Firefox to your phone). The winner? Well, you can see the ultimate speed results above, with SkyFire surprisingly trumping Opera Mini, though that one seemingly has ‘em beat when it comes to repeat-visits. However, the full story when it comes to things like page rendering and Flash compatibility is naturally a good bit more complex. For those details you’ll need to click on through. [Thanks, Tim] Six Android browsers enter the ring, only one reigns supreme originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 02:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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