Droid Charge update brings personal hotspot back in time, adds improvements
June 12, 2011 No Comment
Boy, it sure has been a fun ride for Samsung Droid Charge fans. Since the beginning of this month, said LTE phone’s been plagued by a rather silly bug: its mobile hotspot feature only works if you set the date to some time in May. Thankfully, Verizon has now released an update that’ll bring the device back in time for some hassle-free hotspot action, so that TARDIS of yours can be stowed away for now. Also added in the package is a whole stash of enhancements here and there, including boosted battery life during voice calls, better browser performance, new email folder structure, improved GPS performance, and many more goodies. As usual, anticipating owners can keep an eye out for the OTA update notification, but feel free to chill in May if you’re enjoying the vacation. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Droid Charge update brings personal hotspot back in time, adds improvements originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jun 2011 23:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Acer actually popped out its Revo RL100 media center right around six months ago , but for those unable to make the trip to Asia, today’s the day for getting jovial. Said player is now shipping to the US of A, hailed as a “digital hub” and outfitted with a dual-mode wireless touchpad / keyboard as well as the company’s own clear.fi streaming solution. A pair of models will be available — one with Blu-ray and one without — with the entire box measuring just 1- x 11.81- x 7.09-inches. As expected, an HDMI port ’round back will handle the bulk of the data transmissions, and an internal NVIDIA Ion graphics chip will be responsible for 1080p video playback. Within, you’ll get a 1.3GHz AMD Athlon II K325 CPU, 750GB SATA hard drive, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, three USB 2.0 ports, a multi-card reader, 802.11b/g/n WiFi and an Ethernet socket. Windows 7 Home Premium will be the OS of choice, and it can be yours for the tidy sum of $499.99 (or $569.99 if you’re looking to add BD capabilities). Gallery: Acer Revo RL100 HTPC press gallery Continue reading Acer ships AMD-powered Revo RL100 HTPC to Americans: $499 and up Acer ships AMD-powered Revo RL100 HTPC to Americans: $499 and up originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for a growing robot — it’s also an easy and relatively quick way to lull a group of scientists into a false sense of security. Now, we’re not saying that James and Rosie here had an ulterior motive when they put together a breakfast of Bavarian sausage and baguettes for a group of researchers at Munich’s CoTeSys lab — as far as robotic couples go, they seem very nice. James, a US-designed PR2 robot, sliced the bread, while German-designed Rosie boiled up some sausages, as some hungry roboticists looked on patiently. Oddly, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a robot prepare a morning meal — it’s nice to know, however, that after the robot apocalypse , at least we’ll all still be well fed. Super sped up video of cooking robots after the break. Continue reading Robots make breakfast for scientists, bide time (video) Robots make breakfast for scientists, bide time (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jun 2011 22:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Marco Tempest calls himself a “technoillusionist” — he combines magic tricks with the technological artistry (and occasionally the black-turtlenecked panache) of Steve Jobs. We last saw him hacking through an augmented reality illusion ; this time he’s using three iPods to enable his trickery, as he offers a video essay on deception, lies, and magic. It’s sort of like his take on F For Fake , with more touchscreens: see him call out liars, declare himself an honest magician, and lift a smiley face out of the display and into real life, all in the video above. Marco Tempest’s magic show uses iPods to deceive and delight originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Inhabitat’s Week in Green: solar train tunnels, refillable battery goop, and the world’s first 3D-printed bikini
June 12, 2011 No Comment
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green. This week green transportation left fossil fuels in the dust as Inhabitat reported that a record-breaking electric VW Bug rocketed from 0-60 in 1.6 seconds and Team Steam unveiled a space age vehicle that is vying for the title of “fastest steam car on earth.” We also spotted the world’s first natural gas-powered supercar , while a team of Cambridge students unveiled a sleek solar racer that will attempt to travel 1,800 miles in the World Solar Challenge. Oil fuels also lost more luster as GM’s CEO called for a $1 gas tax increase in the US, while MIT unveiled a new type of liquid flow battery that could refuel electric vehicles in a snap. As the summer sun hits its stride groundbreaking solar power projects are lighting up left and right – this week Google unveiled a new solar patent that could make solar energy cheaper than coal, while QSolar rolled out an array of rainbow-hued Kristal panels that can replace windows and walls. Photovoltaic gadgets also had their moment in the sun as Pixel Qi pulled back the curtain on a cheap, efficient solar-powered tablet and a wave and sun-powered seafaring robot received $22 million in funding. Speaking of solar power, this week we applauded the opening of a two-mile-long photovoltaic train tunnel that will provide power to the Paris-Amsterdam high-speed rail line. We were also wowed by Steve Jobs’ vision for Apple’s new spaceship-shaped clean energy campus , and our Bright Ideas Lighting Design Competition is really heating up, so be sure to vote for your favorite green lamp before the contest ends next week. Finally, we shared 6 great green Father’s Day gifts for tech-savvy dads, and as summer gets set to begin we brought you exclusive photos of the recently opened section 2 of New York’s High Line park , a beautiful suspended swimmer’s oasis in Denmark, and the world’s first 3D-printed bikini . Inhabitat’s Week in Green: solar train tunnels, refillable battery goop, and the world’s first 3D-printed bikini originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On , a column about consumer technology. It is hard to believe that Apple has been trying its hand at the Internet services space since the year 2000, when it launched iTools. Like nearly all of iCloud , with which it shares its trademark vowel prefix, iTools was free. Unlike iCloud, though, its collection of services was all over the map, ranging from Web page creation to greeting cards. iCloud marks the third reboot of Apple’s Web services suite since that foray. In the intervening years, we’ve seen .Mac (essentially a subscription version of most iTools features), and MobileMe, which paved the way for the contact and calendar synchronization that will be free as part of iCloud. Modern-day Apple has shown an appreciation for seamless network access since the launch of the iMac in 1998, which eschewed floppy drives in favor of network-based sharing. One can even trace a belief in the power of the network further back to eWorld, AppleLink, and even the Mac’s early, simple networking technologies, AppleTalk and LocalTalk. Internet services are clearly complementary to advanced devices running sophisticated software — two areas where Apple excels. So why has the cloud rained on Apple? Continue reading Switched On: Apple’s cloud conundrum Switched On: Apple’s cloud conundrum originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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MacRumors was digging through the latest developer beta of Mac OS X Lion when it found a rather intriguing new option — if you choose “Restart to Safari” on the user lock screen, the computer will reboot into a mode which consists entirely of the web browser. If that sounds familiar, perhaps you’ve heard of Google’s Chrome OS , a partially-fledged operating system that runs within the browser itself… but we haven’t heard Apple express a desire for any such thing. Now, certainly we’ve seen a number of Windows desktops and laptops ship with a secondary, browser-centric OS like Splashtop in order to have an instant-on mode, but if you have to boot and reboot the computer to get to Safari, that doesn’t sound like much of an improvement. Perhaps it’s a way to let guests (or children) entertain themselves without giving them access to your files? All we know for certain is that it’s a most mysterious option. Mac OS X Lion beta reveals “Restart to Safari” browser-only mode originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …TiVo Premiere Q, Preview boxes bring quad-tuner or non-DVR options to the lineup
June 12, 2011 No Comment
In an early preview of TiVo’s plans for The Cable Show this week in Chicago, TMCNet has posted information on two new set-top boxes that will be offered by cable operators RCN and Suddenlink. As suggested by recent surveys and forum posts , the Premiere Q is a quad-tuner DVR with multiroom streaming of up to three HD feeds via MoCA or Ethernet, while the Preview is TiVo’s first box without a hard drive and serves as a client to the main box. Another revelation is news that an updated version of TiVo’s iPad app will include be able to browse cable VOD , allowing users to select it on the tablet and then “flick” it to their box where it starts playing. If the information holds up the new hardware seems competitive and modern enough, but we’re wondering if TiVo will continue to serve end users who prefer to buy equipment instead of lease and are waiting for things like the new DirecTiVo or software updates that enhance performance on the Premiere and finish off its HD menu system. [Thanks, @ BrennokBob ] TiVo Premiere Q, Preview boxes bring quad-tuner or non-DVR options to the lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …SceneTap app analyzes pubs and clubs in real-time, probably won’t score you a Jersey Shore cameo
June 12, 2011 No Comment
So, here’s the skinny — when SceneTap launches in a month or so, it’ll provide Android and iOS users with a frightening amount of analysis before you hit the town. As the story goes, the startup will be tapping into an infrastructure of cameras spread across an untold quantity of bars. The goal? To provide a real-time snapshot of what the demographics are at any location on any given night. According to the company, demographic information, social commentary and “other comprehensive features” will be shown, all of which will help people decide where they’d like to go. For the privacy freaks, they’ll (hopefully) be comforted by the fact that no actual recording is going on, and each person is tracked anonymously. Hailed as a “new type of social network,” SceneTap will initially cover 50 clubs, and of course, there’s no DUI checkpoint feature for those hoping to do something as impractical as drink and drive afterwards. Head on past the break for the rest of the deets, and be sure to ping the company if you’re hoping for a Snooki Sighting push alert in version 2.0. Continue reading SceneTap app analyzes pubs and clubs in real-time, probably won’t score you a Jersey Shore cameo SceneTap app analyzes pubs and clubs in real-time, probably won’t score you a Jersey Shore cameo originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Hard to say if there’s any real connection between the thing you see getting washed up in the image above and the Dirty South , but does it really matter? The OutCast 3.4 multi-room, multi-source wireless speaker might not be the sexiest driver in the shed, but given that it goes where the party goes, we’re willing to bestow forgiveness. We’re told that it’s capable of shedding at some amount of water (obviously), and the unit itself touts an integrated subwoofer, internal battery pack (good for 10 to 20 hours) and a backlit top-panel keypad. Mum’s the word on pricing, but the rest of the skinny is embedded just after the break. Ya heard? Continue reading Soundcast’s OutCast 3.4 multi-room speaker is so fresh and so clean, clean Soundcast’s OutCast 3.4 multi-room speaker is so fresh and so clean, clean originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jun 2011 14:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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