New Zealand paralympian buys first Rex Bionics exoskeleton, takes robot walking legs for a spin
May 2, 2011 No Comment
Surely we weren’t the only ones to wonder aloud who would be the first come up with $150,000 for a Rex Bionics robotic exoskeleton when the Auckland-based company introduced it last summer. Of course, no price seems too high for the ability to walk again, but that’s still a lot scratch to get together — and the space has been getting a lot more competitive as of late. The honor went to fellow Kiwi Dave MacCalman, a multiple medal-winning paralympian, who lost the use of his legs after sustaining a spinal cord injury while diving into a river. The 6-foot, 4-inch athlete took his first steps in over 30 years with the use of his newly-purchased robot legs — and from the look on his face, he definitely got his New Zealand dollar’s worth. If you need a quick refresher on exactly what this thing can do, check out the video after the break. Continue reading New Zealand paralympian buys first Rex Bionics exoskeleton, takes robot walking legs for a spin New Zealand paralympian buys first Rex Bionics exoskeleton, takes robot walking legs for a spin originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 11:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Remember the Trim Slice , that Tegra 2-powered nettop that surfaced back in January? Well, it’s finally on sale, but the company would prefer that casual consumers hold off on buying. To recap, the chassis, just six tenths of an inch thick, is home to a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU, GeForce ULP chip, SATA SSD, 1GB of RAM, 802.11n WiFI, Bluetooth, and a cornucopia of I/O ports. It starts at $199 for a model that lacks internal WiFi and storage (you can add these via dongles), and graduates to models with 4GB of microSD storage and a WiFi dongle ($219) and a “Pro” version with a 32GB SSD and wireless and Bluetooth dongles ($319). Whichever iteration you choose, though, you’ll be greeted by a warning that the software remains a work in progress, so you’ll probably want to stay away for now. Unless, of course, you’re a developer — or you really know how to have a good time. Continue reading Compulab’s Trim Slice on sale, for power users only Compulab’s Trim Slice on sale, for power users only originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 11:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Dell’s 17-inch Precision M6600 workstation laptop goes on sale early in the UK
May 2, 2011 No Comment
We were promised we’d get Dell’s latest Precision powerhouses on May 10th , and that may still be the case for the US, but the company’s UK outlet is ready to let you customize and buy an M6600 today. The 17.3-inch laptop offers options for a multitouch display with stylus functionality, a 2.5GHz quad-core Core i7-2920XM CPU, 16GB of DDR3 RAM, up to half a terabyte (2x 256GB) in solid state storage, and NVIDIA Quadro 4000M graphics. Prices start at
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After months of speculation , Time Inc. has finally inked a deal with Apple that will allow print magazine subscribers to access the company’s iPad editions for free. Beginning this week, subscribers to print versions of Sports Illustrated , Fortune , and Time will be able to download the iPad counterparts at no cost, directly within the magazines’ apps. Today’s deal comes just a few months after the company struck a similar arrangement with HP , but iPad users, unlike TouchPad readers, still won’t be able to purchase exclusively digital subscriptions to Time Inc.’s stable of publications. It’s no secret that Time Inc. wants to incorporate digital subscriptions to its iPad model, but negotiations have hit some roadblocks, largely thanks to disputes over how Apple shares subscriber data. Publishers say they need that data to apply the TV Everywhere model to magazines, but Apple thinks subscriber information should only be shared on an opt-in basis. We don’t really expect Apple to budge any time soon, but execs at Time Inc. seem optimistic, telling the Wall Street Journal that today’s deal proves that the two parties are “moving closer” on the issue — apparently not close enough, however, for Apple to comment. Time Inc., Apple to offer free iPad downloads to print magazine subscribers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 10:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Who’s going to get the very first “tablet-optimized” Facebook app ? Why, it’s RIM and the PlayBook ! The Canadian company has today revealed it’s bringing a native Facebook app to its 7-inch, QNX-based slate, which will also be joined by a new Video Chat application. The latter will be available to download on May 3rd, with an over-the-air update dishing it out to current PlayBook owners. Its functionality will be no different from what we’ve come to expect from such clients — both voice and video calls will be available anywhere you can find a a WiFi connection. As to the Facebook app, it’s coming some time later in the month, and will let you view and add your friends, share photos and videos “seamlessly,” access Facebook Chat, and view and interact with the news Feed. Both should be getting extensive demos at BlackBerry World, which is taking place this week, and we’ll be sure to have a gander and report our findings. Skip past the break for the full press releases. Continue reading BlackBerry PlayBook to get Video Chat and Facebook apps in May BlackBerry PlayBook to get Video Chat and Facebook apps in May originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 08:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It’s not over just yet, but Apple has now scored a significant victory in its longstanding dispute with Elan Microelectronics. As those with a long memory for patent-related matters may recall, Elan had claimed that Apple infringed on two of its multitouch-related patents in its various iOS devices, and it asked the ITC to impose an outright ban on the sale of those devices until the matter was settled. That obviously hasn’t happened, and ITC Judge Paul Luckern has now ruled that it shouldn’t happen in the future either, as he found that Apple did not violate the patents in question. That now leaves the final decision in the hands of the full International Trade Commission, which is expected to issue its ruling in August. ITC judge sides with Apple in Elan multitouch patent dispute originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 07:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Nokia announces pink N8 with Symbian Anna, neglects to give us a release date
May 2, 2011 No Comment
It must be hard for Nokia to keep consumer interest in Symbian going while simultaneously developing a whole new ecosystem , so we’ll forgive the unimaginative move to just do a pink version of the N8 . That handset already benefited from the widest set of color options among any smartphone flagships, and will soon be adding a very T-Mobile-friendly shade of light red to its anodized aluminum case. Judging by those curvy icons on its 3.5-inch AMOLED screen, the pink N8 will also feature the latest version of Symbian, dubbed Anna , though Nokia unfortunately fails to tell us when we may expect this mildly refreshed phone to arrive. Then again, we suspect it’ll be pretty hard to miss whenever it does show up. Nokia announces pink N8 with Symbian Anna, neglects to give us a release date originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 06:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Qualcomm shows off MSM8660′s slick video performance on development kit (video)
May 2, 2011 No Comment
If you’ve been closely tracking the development of Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz dual-core MSM8660, you would’ve already seen AnandTech ‘s impressive set of benchmark results back in early April. But of course, it’d be more convincing to actually see this chipset in action, so Qualcomm’s latest videos of its Mobile Development Platform should satisfy your curiosity. As demoed after the break, this Snapdragon’s Adreno 220 is seen effortlessly handling in-page HTML5 video streaming, Flash video streaming, and 1080p playback. And as a sideshow, Qualcomm even put its current-gen single-core QSD8255 head-to-head with a rival dual-core chipset — no doubt a Tegra 2 in an LG Optimus 2x — and easily won the Flash video contest. All of this might lure you into getting the MDP as your next everyday phone, but here’s the bad news: this professional kit will cost you a dear $1,350. So unless you’re feeling very generous, you’d probably want to wait for the consumer devices to arrive in the summer — think EVO 3D , Sensation (with GSM-flavored MSM8260, naturally), Flyer , and TouchPad . Continue reading Qualcomm shows off MSM8660′s slick video performance on development kit (video) Qualcomm shows off MSM8660′s slick video performance on development kit (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 04:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Tactile kiss transmission device finally makes it okay to smooch your computer (video)
May 2, 2011 No Comment
They say the vast majority of communication is done physically rather than verbally, but in the realm of technological advances we seem to have rather neglected the transmission of physical contact. Thankfully, there’s always Japan to provide us with off-the-wall innovations , this latest one being a kiss transmission device that will record, relay, and — if you wish it — replay your finest tongue gymnastics. It’s the height of simplicity at the moment, with a plastic implement taking input from one person’s mouth and conveying it to a second box, intended to be gobbled up by the recipient of this techno-affection, who may respond in kind or just sit back and enjoy the thrill of it. The researchers sagely point out that there’s more to be done, as the sense of taste, manner of breathing, and moistness of the tongue are all important aspects of a kiss that have yet to be recreated. Once they do get their kiss transmitter to v2.0, however, they envision a pretty neat market for it in reselling kiss replays performed by celebrities. For now, you can see a celeb-free video demo after the break. Continue reading Tactile kiss transmission device finally makes it okay to smooch your computer (video) Tactile kiss transmission device finally makes it okay to smooch your computer (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 03:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …HDHomeRun Prime TV tuner passes CableLabs tests, available for preorder on Amazon
May 1, 2011 No Comment
We’ve been waiting for SiliconDust’s CableCARD-compatible HDHomeRun Prime for a little over a year and it seems finally ready to bring its triple tuner TV magic home, having gained CableLabs certification as of April 28th and subsequently showing up for preorder on Amazon. While this is mostly big news for Windows Media Center fans who need a new way to get premium channels on their box it also supports other DVR software like MythTV on Copy Freely-marked content. HTPC builders don’t have to choose between this HDHR3-CC and the (suddenly in abundant supply ) Ceton InfiniTV 4 just yet, since the listing has no shipping date and the last we’d heard from SiliconDust was that preorders would ship around 30 days after it completed certification. Check out our hands-on impressions from CES a few months ago if you’re on the fence, but right now all that’s standing between you and that grey box is a little bit of time… and $207. Gallery: Hands-on with the HDHomeRun Prime [Thanks, Neil] HDHomeRun Prime TV tuner passes CableLabs tests, available for preorder on Amazon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 01:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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