You can toss it on a plane. You can toss it on a train. You can toss it in a car. You can toss it near and far. Kiloo’s new Frisbee(R) app for iOS gives geeks a safe environment to toss the disc (so no more broken windows or dents in the lawn). We managed to keep that little blue saucer parallel to the ground for several seconds during our hands-on. It even flew through one or two of those enormous black and white hoops (enormous relative to the finger-nail-size frisbee). Many of the interface elements feel like they were borrowed from Angry Birds , from buttons and other graphics, to the way you progress through levels. This brought a certain familiarity to the game, though gently sliding a Frisbee(R) across the screen is arguably much less addictive than catapulting feathered fowl to their explosive deaths. We tossed (or flicked) the disc on an iPhone, but if you’re ready to step up to the big leagues, the free app is available for iPad (and iPod touch) as well. Jump up and catch it at the source link. Frisbee Forever app hits your iPhone screen, doesn’t crack it originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 May 2011 02:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …You can toss it on a plane. You can toss it on a train. You can toss it in a car. You can toss it near and far. Kiloo’s new Frisbee(R) app for iOS gives geeks a safe environment to toss the disc (so no more broken windows or dents in the lawn). We managed to keep that little blue saucer parallel to the ground for several seconds during our hands-on. It even flew through one or two of those enormous black and white hoops (enormous relative to the finger-nail-size frisbee). Many of the interface elements feel like they were borrowed from Angry Birds , from buttons and other graphics, to the way you progress through levels. This brought a certain familiarity to the game, though gently sliding a Frisbee(R) across the screen is arguably much less addictive than catapulting feathered fowl to their explosive deaths. We tossed (or flicked) the disc on an iPhone, but if you’re ready to step up to the big leagues, the free app is available for iPad (and iPod touch) as well. Jump up and catch it at the source link. Frisbee Forever app hits your iPhone screen, doesn’t crack it originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 May 2011 02:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The iPad’s music player hasn’t changed much since its debut, and unlike its desktop counterpart, it also lacks a built-in music visualizer for your mesmerization. Luckily, for the folks who are seeking ways to spice up their iPad music experience, you now have a new option: Planetary, by Bloom Studio. As you can tell by the name and the screenshot above, what we have here is a visually compelling app for exploring your tablet’s music library. It’s very straightforward: each artist or band is shown as a star, surrounded by albums in the form of orbiting planets, and then you have individual tracks displayed as moons orbiting each album. During playback, each track leaves behind a trail on its orbit to indicate its play time, though you can hide the orbit lines (and labels) if you them too distracting. To choose other albums or artists, the good old pinch-to-zoom or the simple tapping on other 3D objects will move you between the moons and constellations, or you can just tap on the bottom-center button to jump straight to the letter selector for artists. Obviously, the former’s more fun within the first few hours, but after awhile we found ourselves preferring the quicker option to skip the mellow animation. Head past the break for our full impression and demo video. Gallery: App review: Planetary for iPad Continue reading App review: Planetary for iPad App review: Planetary for iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 15:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget inquiry is coming to us from Gaurav, who can’t seem to contain his excitement for cord-free audio. And we can’t blame him. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com . “Pretty simple: I am looking to purchase a small stereo system which can fit on a side table, and can connect to AirPort Express. Something stylish, but more importantly, reliable. Thanks!” Any of you kitchen thrashers care to spill the beans on your preferred system? If so, comments are welcoming one and all down below. Ask Engadget: best mini stereo for use with AirPort Express originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 22:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Assuming you own a Sensefly Swinglet CAM or some other high-res camera-equipped UAV, you could be just minutes away from turning your plain old 2D aerial photos into comprehensive 3D maps. Pix4D, a new software program coming out of EPFL — the same institute that brought us this race of altruistic robots — takes images shot using an aerial drone to render 3D maps in the cloud in just 30 minutes. Users upload images taken with their flying machines, at which point Pix4D kicks into action, defining high contrast points in the phots and pasting them together based on those points. It then renders a 3D model, overlays the graphics, and spits out a Google Earth-style map. So what’s with this 4D business? Well, its developers claim that users can easily see the progression of any model by deploying their Sensefly drone whenever they see fit, throwing the added layer of time into the mix. You can see the fruits of Pix4D’s labor in the video after the break. Continue reading Pix4D turns your 2D aerial photographs into 3D maps on the fly (video) Pix4D turns your 2D aerial photographs into 3D maps on the fly (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 May 2011 00:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Johnny Depp’s eccentricities extend beyond a propensity to show up at British elementary schools dressed in pirate garb. The actor is part of a small segment of the population that can’t process three-dimensional effects in movies, a malady he refers to by its formal name: “weird eye.” In fact, he’s likely to skip tomorrow’s global premiere for the fourth Pirates installment (aka Stranger Tides ), which was filmed in 3D. A pity, since shooting films with multiple cameras (a prerequisite for 3D) reportedly makes nailing shots all the more challenging. At least he can take comfort in the fact that he’ll never suffer the pangs of a 3D-induced headache while watching his bank account swell. Johnny Depp, star of 3D ‘Pirates’ movie, can only see 2D originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 19:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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What’s this? A listing for an unreleased Intel chip on eBay? This purported eight-core, hyper-threaded Sandy Bridge E-series processor is apparently a third party tester unit, hence the cloak and dagger “Intel Confidential” stamped in the middle of the thing. The $1,360 dollar piece of near-future tech was posted with a strict no refund / return policy, and not surprisingly, the sale has been shutdown prematurely. Whether it was pulled by the seller or at the strong urging of Intel will have to remain a mystery for now, as will those blazingly fast speeds we’ve read so much about — at least until it pops up again on Craigslist. [Thanks, Lars] Continue reading Eight-core Intel Sandy Bridge E chips listed on, pulled from eBay Eight-core Intel Sandy Bridge E chips listed on, pulled from eBay originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 21:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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You’ve already seen Android activations mapped around the globe over time, now how about some Google search volumes? Using WebGL and different color crayons for each language, the coders at Mountain View have put together the above Search Globe, which presents a single day’s worth of Google queries in a beautiful, skyscraper-infused visualization. Jacking yourself into the source link below (your browser can handle WebGL, right?) will let you twist and turn the model world for a closer exploration of global Google use. And if you get tired of that, there’s an alternative map showing world populations over 1990s — that’s available at the second link. Visualized: Google searches around the globe originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 19:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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You may recall from yesterday that early adopters were having a variety of issues after activating (or attempting to activate) Sprint’s new Google Voice integration feature. Well, a full day has passed, and we’ve had several calls with GV lead Vincent Paquet as well as Brian Smith, Sprint’s director of product development. Both executives have said that their respective companies have been hard at work on resolutions to each of the issues we outlined Thursday night, and some customers we spoke to yesterday are now back online. Jump past the break for a quick summary of what’s been fixed, and what remains on the to-do list. Continue reading Google and Sprint respond to Google Voice integration issues Google and Sprint respond to Google Voice integration issues originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 17:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Comcast teamed up with Clearwire to bring WiMAX to the masses a couple of years ago , and now the company is jumping on the bandwidth-sharing bandwagon by offering a mobile hotspot. It’s the same Novatel 3G/4G MiFi from Sprint that’s been putting internet access in our pockets for a month, only this one sports an Xfinity badge and cheaper price tag. While the Now Network version costs $80, Comcast’s Internet 2go customers get the device for $25 on a one-year contract. Plus service is only $40 a month for the same Clearwire coverage that costs $50 from Sprint. Sounds like a winning WiMAX combination to us. Continue reading Comcast launches Xfinity 3G / 4G MiFi for $25 Comcast launches Xfinity 3G / 4G MiFi for $25 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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