You’ve seen it before and now you’re seeing it again. The Droid X2 that Motorola seems unwilling to announce has made another unsanctioned appearance in the wild. It’s still rocking Android 2.2 and there’s sadly no indication of any LTE goodness for it, but we suspect the changes that justify the 2 in its name will be happening under the hood. The 8 megapixel camera round the back comes with the same dual-LED flash array and HD Video label as the original Droid X, once again giving us no hint of what exactly Motorola’s upgraded. Then again, what’s the fun in knowing everything in advance? Droid X2 reappears in the wild, still indistinguishable from Droid X originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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“Investigators say they’ve never dealt with a naked man attacking a robot before.” So starts perhaps the most insane local news story we’ve ever heard. According to an ABC affiliate in Florida, a disgruntled man, sporting nothing more than his birthday suit and an AK-47, opened fire on a robot last week, after threatening to shoot himself and anyone who crossed the threshold of his home. The $65,000 SWAT bot was sent in to investigate, and captured every inch of the man on video before being pumped full of bullets. Deputies say the man eventually surrendered fully-clothed and was taken for a mental evaluation. No word yet on when or if the footage will be released in a Robo COPS: Disrobed and Dangerous Special Edition . For now, you can check out video at the source link below. Naked Florida man opens fire on SWAT bot with AK-47, no kidding originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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You still can’t play them with an iCade cabinet just yet — though that’s coming, in June — but Atari has now delivered quite a present to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners. The company has just released its Greatest Hits collection for iOS devices, which includes 18 classic arcade games and 82 Atari 2600 games — those available either in 25 separate packs for $0.99 apiece, or in one massive time sink bundle for $14.99 (Pong comes free with the app itself). As you can see, you’ll also get things like the original box art and arcade cabinets for each game, and some of the titles will even let you play head-to-head with a friend over Bluetooth. Ready to get started? You know where to find it. Atari’s Greatest Hits collection brings 100 classic games to iOS devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Musical duo Bluebrain has taken the guesswork out of listening to music — their latest album dictates where you can listen to it, what songs it plays, and when it plays them. Take that , playlists ! The album, titled The National Mall , will be available only as an iPhone app and the band is calling it the first location-aware album. The app… er, album, uses your phone’s GPS to track one’s proximity to hundreds of tagged zones spread throughout the landmarks of the Washington DC National Mall, dynamically tweaking the rhythm, melody, instrumentation, and pace of the music as you go. Despite this fancy smartphone integration, Bluebrain stresses that this is still an album, not a toy or augmented reality application. The experience is strictly location specific, no user input necessary, or available. Want to hear a new melody or arrangement? Walk to a different monument. The project’s location-specific nature means that fans outside of the DC area are out of luck for now. The band says two more GPS-powered albums are on the way — one designed for Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, and another spanning the entire length of California’s Highway 1. Music, measured in miles — neat, but Hwy. 1 manages just fine on its own, wouldn’t you say? Location-aware album gives Washington DC dynamically modified soundtrack originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Musical duo Bluebrain has taken the guesswork out of listening to music — their latest album dictates where you can listen to it, what songs it plays, and when it plays them. Take that , playlists ! The album, titled The National Mall , will be available only as an iPhone app and the band is calling it the first location-aware album. The app… er, album, uses your phone’s GPS to track one’s proximity to hundreds of tagged zones spread throughout the landmarks of the Washington DC National Mall, dynamically tweaking the rhythm, melody, instrumentation, and pace of the music as you go. Despite this fancy smartphone integration, Bluebrain stresses that this is still an album, not a toy or augmented reality application. The experience is strictly location specific, no user input necessary, or available. Want to hear a new melody or arrangement? Walk to a different monument. The project’s location-specific nature means that fans outside of the DC area are out of luck for now. The band says two more GPS-powered albums are on the way — one designed for Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, and another spanning the entire length of California’s Highway 1. Music, measured in miles — neat, but Hwy. 1 manages just fine on its own, wouldn’t you say? Location-aware album gives Washington DC dynamically modified soundtrack originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Well, well. Android Central got a hold of a leaked document revealing that T-Mobile’s 4G Mobile Hotspot , the first of its kind for the carrier, is slated to go on sale April 13th. We’re inclined to believe it, since T-Mo just confirmed that the LG G2X, also named in the doc, will indeed go on sale April 15th. Alas, if you’ve been waiting for more info about the pricey , Honeycomb-powered T-Mobile LG G-Slate , you can keep holding your breath: all we know is that it’s coming “soon.” T-Mobile’s 4G Mobile Hotspot going on sale April 13? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Google adding touchscreen-friendly tweaks to Chrome OS, still has tablets on its mind
April 7, 2011 No Comment
When a tablet version of Chrome OS was teased back in February of last year, we found it a legitimately exciting proposition. Now that we have Android’s Honeycomb iteration designed specifically for slates, however, we’re having to wonder just why Google’s still chasing that keyboard-less dream with its web-centric OS. CNET has been doing some snooping in and around the latest iterations of Chrome OS, where it’s discovered numerous pieces of circumstantial evidence, such as a new onscreen keyboard, suggesting tablets are still very much on the menu. Chrome OS kicked off life on the development device known as Cr-48 and will resume availability this summer courtesy of Acer and Samsung, though we’d kind of assumed it would stick to notebooks now that Android’s making a sincere effort on devices bigger than an EVO . Mountain View has responded to CNET ‘s queries with a pretty inconclusive statement, saying only that “We are engaging in early open-source work for the tablet form factor, but we have nothing new to announce at this time.” Check out last year’s concept video after the break. Continue reading Google adding touchscreen-friendly tweaks to Chrome OS, still has tablets on its mind Google adding touchscreen-friendly tweaks to Chrome OS, still has tablets on its mind originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Tobii PCEye brings hands-free control to any PC, can’t see eye-to-eye with Macs
April 7, 2011 No Comment
We were kind of shocked at just how well the Lenovo prototype laptop with Tobii eye tracking worked at CEBIT this year. It was, frankly, really good, and we’re happy to say you no longer have to break into Lenovo HQ to try it for yourself. Tobii has released its PCEye, a USB device that uses a VESA mount to hang below LCDs sized between 15- to 20-inches. After a little calibration, it enables full eye control — on Windows. Mac users will have to keep buying batteries for their Magic Mice because there’s sadly no compatibility there. The main idea here is to help those who, due to stroke or other impairment, have lost some or all motor control, enabling them to compute just as well as anybody. However, we who are lucky enough to still have full control over all appendages can’t wait to get one of these and play through every level in World of Goo without reaching for the mouse once. We will, however, have to reach for our wallets — Tobii doesn’t quote a price for the PCEye, which is rarely a good sign. Gallery: Tobii PCEye Continue reading Tobii PCEye brings hands-free control to any PC, can’t see eye-to-eye with Macs Tobii PCEye brings hands-free control to any PC, can’t see eye-to-eye with Macs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 08:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Samsung refutes talk of Galaxy S II delays, promises April launch in at least some places
April 7, 2011 No Comment
So yesterday we learned that Samsung’s planning to speed up the dual-core Exynos processor inside its Galaxy S II to 1.2GHz , but there was also word that the handset may suffer a setback in terms of release date. Today, the company has tweeted out a two-part notice assuring us that that will not be the case and things are proceeding “as planned.” April will see the first retail appearance of the 8.5mm-thick Android phone, though Samsung does advise that “it will be gradually rolled out in each market according to the local launch timetable.” That sounds to us like whatever April availability we get will be in the highest priority markets and / or limited in quantity, but we’ll take whatever we can get. [Thanks, Erik ] Continue reading Samsung refutes talk of Galaxy S II delays, promises April launch in at least some places Samsung refutes talk of Galaxy S II delays, promises April launch in at least some places originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Gartner: Android grabbing over 38 percent of smartphone market in 2011 on Symbian’s demise
April 7, 2011 No Comment
We like, ok, love poking fun at analysts’ long term forecasts given the volatility of the smartphone market. Nobody, neither Gartner nor IDC, predicted the meteoric rise of Android and iOS, thus making their four-year projections (measured to a decimal point) laughable , to say the least. Shorten that timeline to the end of the year, however, and the accuracy of these forecasts tends to increase dramatically. Gartner just released its smartphone projections that align very closely with the numbers released by IDC a few weeks ago. Both research firms see Nokia hemorrhaging its smartphone dominance in 2011 after announcing plans to adopt the Windows Phone platform. Gartner sees Symbian pulling in a remarkably low 19.2 percent (down from 37.6 percent in 2010 or an impressive 46.9 percent share held back in 2009) regardless of Nokia’s insistence that it still has some 150 million Symbian handsets to ship — IDC, as you’ll recall, was a bit more gracious with a 20.9 percent projection for Symbian in 2011. Like IDC, Gartner sees Microsoft making a dramatic comeback just as soon as Nokia can flood its global channels with mid-tier handsets by the end of 2012 with the Windows Phone operating system ultimately rising to the number two spot in global marketshare (Gartner says 19.5 percent to IDC’s 20.9 percent) by, eh hem, 2015. Gartner expects the iOS smartphone slice to peak with a 19.4 percent share (to IDC’s 15.7 percent) in 2011 before dipping a bit under the strain of an Android juggernaut and Apple’s reluctance to sacrifice margins (and profits) for market share. Gartner expects Android increase the 22.7 market share it enjoyed in 2010 to a 38.5 percent market share in 2011 (compared to the IDC’s slightly more aggressive 39.5 percent share) on the way to dominating the market with a 49.2 percent share in 2012. Bringing up the rear then is RIM with an estimated chunk of just 13.4 percent in 2011 (compared to 16 percent in 2010) with further declines through 2015 even after the BlackBerry maker migrates to QNX in 2012. Ouch. Continue reading Gartner: Android grabbing over 38 percent of smartphone market in 2011 on Symbian’s demise Gartner: Android grabbing over 38 percent of smartphone market in 2011 on Symbian’s demise originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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