BlueAnt branches out from Bluetooth, puts its wired Embrace headphones up for pre-order
July 6, 2011 No Comment
We suppose it’s not every company that can stake their reputations on Bluetooth headsets alone. BlueAnt , a brand best known for its voice-controlled earpieces, is getting ready to ship a headset of the wired persuasion. What you see up there is the Embrace, a pair of comfy-looking on-ear headphones with leather pads, an integrated mic, and iPhone-compatible controls that let you make calls and play, pause, and skip audio tracks. It has a 69-inch cable, and comes with a handy 3.5mm-to-6.3mm adapter and faux-leather case, but mostly, we have a sweet spot for headsets that fold flat. The company doesn’t expect them to ship for a few weeks, which gives you a bit of time to start saving up the requisite $199. BlueAnt branches out from Bluetooth, puts its wired Embrace headphones up for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 20:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Snails with benefits ? Our salt shaker might disagree. But some enterprising engineers over at Japan’s Chuo University managed to turn this garden-variety pest into fodder for mechatronic inspiration. Based on the gastropod’s preferred method of ‘galloping’ — wherein waves of foot-to-head muscle contractions propel it forward — researchers at the Mechatronics Lab created TORo II, an omnidirectional robot that could make its way to a hospital near you. Why’s that? Well, the bot’s large gripped surface area makes it ideal for narrow, slippery environments — so it won’t budge if knocked into (though you might wind up on the emergency room floor). Although the unique movement technique has been used to create other mecha-mollusks in the past, the team behind this project made sure to create some of their own ceiling and wall-climbing critters — suction definitely included. We admit, we kind of feel guilty about the sodium chloride transgressions of our youth. And now that we know snails can be useful, it’s only a matter of time before the bedbug gets repurposed. Full omnidirectional video awesomeness after the break. Continue reading Japanese TORo II gallops ahead at a mechanical snail’s pace (video) Japanese TORo II gallops ahead at a mechanical snail’s pace (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 21:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Earlier this afternoon, Google pushed Maps v5.7 to the Android Market . The app’s Transit Navigation (beta) feature brings GPS stop-by-stop nav to public transit systems in over 400 cities around the world, helping you find the subway or bus stop, then letting you know exactly when to get off as you ride. There are obvious benefits to using this in a foreign city, where alert-enabled (English!) directions could potentially save you hours of frustration. We left our office to brave the daylight in NYC, walking a block to the nearest subway station en-route to Times Square. The app worked well up until we reached the bottom of the first staircase, where it lost cell reception and its GPS fix. Jump past the break to see how it fared above ground, and check out our hands-on video for a Google Maps -led adventure through New York City’s public transit system. Continue reading Google Maps Transit Navigation beta for Android hands-on (video) Google Maps Transit Navigation beta for Android hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Amazon Cloud Player hits iPad, adds unlimited storage, scoffs at constrained competition
July 6, 2011 No Comment
20,000 songs ? Not nearly enough. $24.99 a year ? Way too spendy. Unlimited and $20 a year? That’s a little better, at least, and that’s what Amazon just moved to. Taking a step up from its previous $20 for 20GB plan, the former bookseller is now letting new subscribers get any amount of storage they want for that price — unlimited for .mp3 and .m4a files, anyway. Naturally this means any songs purchased through Amazon MP3 will also be stored for to an infinite extent, not counting against your all-important quota. This is a “limited time” kind of deal, so if you’ve been on the fence now’s the time to click that cart, but there’s another new feature that isn’t going away: Cloud Player for Web on iPad. This lets you play your cloud tunes through Safari and that, combined with the whole unlimited storage thing, should ease any nagging feelings of regret you’ve been suffering since budgetary pressures talked you into the 16GB model. Continue reading Amazon Cloud Player hits iPad, adds unlimited storage, scoffs at constrained competition Amazon Cloud Player hits iPad, adds unlimited storage, scoffs at constrained competition originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com . It’s been a long time coming but after years of cataloging various gadgets in TV and movies, we finally got our own starring role on the small screen. Our HTML code stood in for the usual computer gibberish pretending to be a dangerous hacking program on an episode of the French / Canadian TV series XIII and was spotted by a keen-eyed (and HDTV-equipped) reader as seen above. US viewers might recognize the title since it was also the source of a videogame in 2003 and a miniseries that aired on NBC in 2009; in its current iteration, the tale of a conspiracy in the US government airs strictly outside our borders. A clip of the scene is included after the break, check for the “5 years old, highly encrypted source code” at about 1:29. Nice job Prodigy Pictures, but next time we expect a speaking role, two scenes with co-star Aisha Tyler , a trailer and a bowl of M&Ms — but only the green ones. Have your people talk to our people, we’ve been looking for a new career . [Thanks, Dennis] Gallery: Engadget on XIII Continue reading Screen Grabs: Engadget makes its prime time TV debut on XIII Screen Grabs: Engadget makes its prime time TV debut on XIII originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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How’s hog-tying search terms sound as an alternative to plain old cut and paste? Well, according to Microsoft, it sounds mighty fine. The software giant just announced Lasso, a new touch-friendly search tool for the Bing iPad app that allows you to rope in your internet queries by circling a word or phrase. Once you’ve drawn the circle, Bing automatically generates a search using the selected words. No word on how this will work out for us chubby-fingered searchers, but if you’ve given it a go ’round the ole corral, let us know how it’s treating you in the comments. Bing introduces Lasso for iPad app, does cut and paste the cowboy way originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …New Commodore C64 gets stacked against the original, deemed a worthy successor (video)
July 6, 2011 No Comment
We know a few of you have been waiting with bated breath for the retooled Commodore C64 to arrive, so we’re not at all surprised that the first people to claim one are wasting no time putting its tactile keys through its paces. In that clip you see below, YouTube user “EternalPtah” places the three decades-old original next to its Atom-powered successor, comparing everything from the beige color to the height of the function keys. All told, he reassures us, the twenty-first century iteration is a worthy follow-up to the vintage model, even if it does replace the power light with a button. If you’ve got four minutes to spare, hit play for what will probably be the most nostalgic hands-on you see this week. [Thanks, Ian ] Continue reading New Commodore C64 gets stacked against the original, deemed a worthy successor (video) New Commodore C64 gets stacked against the original, deemed a worthy successor (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It’s happening. The music streaming service that has won over the collective heart of Europe is finally making the puddle jump that we’ve been waiting for . Spotify just threw up a US landing spot, inviting eager Americans to jump in line for a table at the party. Meanwhile, we just received confirmation on our own end that things are finalizing for testing here in the States, and we’ll be sure to report back just as soon as our credentials clear. We should note, however, that there’s still no definitive time table to report, but it’s fairly obvious that those final record deals are close enough to done to call this thing a victory. Now, the real question: are you signing up in the source link below, or are any of those other guys still tugging at your heartstrings? Spotify is coming to the US, invites are open now originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Boxee users on PC and Mac should no longer feel ignored, with promises of updated software on the way and now the option to use a Boxee Box remote from D-Link. The two sided QWERTY design is unchanged and the included RF dongle means your HTPC can stay safely out of sight while you enjoy some branded remote control action without selling out for a one-size-fits-all box. The roll your own media player crowd can pick up the remote at a penny under $50 at a variety of online retailers right now, the long awaited software update is still due this fall. Continue reading D-Link brings the Boxee Box remote to PC, Mac users D-Link brings the Boxee Box remote to PC, Mac users originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Spotify , the Rhapsody of Europe, may still be an unfamiliar brand stateside , but the service just inked a deal with Virgin Media to bring streaming music to Virgin’s broadband customers, set-top boxes, and mobile phones in the UK. The deal will bundle Unlimited (
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