Motorola may only be offering the Xoom in basic black to the general public, but it’s cooked up something a little extra special for the Oscars this Sunday. It will be handing out these limited edition gold Xooms — complete with a custom leather envelope case — to the hosts and the nominees in the Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director categories. Guess stars aren’t just like us after all. Motorola hands out gold Xooms to Oscar hosts, nominees originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Samsung creates first full-color quantum dot display, threatens to make Dippin’ Dots obsolete
February 22, 2011 No Comment
We haven’t been serving up quantum dots news for quite as long as we’ve been regaling you with tales of quantum computers , which is just as good because we’re about to tell you the technology is still at least three years away from showing up in something you can buy. But, it is getting closer, with Samsung demonstrating a four-inch quantum dot display with full color. Quantum dots are nanocrystals that emit light when they get excited, perhaps on Christmas morning or when waiting for the list of school cancellations on a snowy morn. The size of the crystal dictates the wavelength of light emitted, and by laying precise grids of different sized crystals Samsung creates RGB pixels of the sort needed to make a display. Pixels can be applied directly to glass or to a flexible surface, and in theory they’ll be far more efficient than an LCD while brighter and longer-lasting than OLED. Right now, however, they don’t achieve any of those benchmarks, which is unfortunately where we circle back to the whole “three years away” thing. Samsung creates first full-color quantum dot display, threatens to make Dippin’ Dots obsolete originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Well, it’s not the promised thinner and lighter replacement for the XPS 14, but Dell has just announced two other new XPS laptops: updated versions of it XPS 15 and XPS 17. Both of those are available today in a whole range of different configurations, including your choice of Sandy Bridge or Huron River processors, NVIDIA GPU options up to a GT 540M on the XPS 15 or GT555M on the XPS 17, up to 8GB or 16GB of RAM, and even an optional 3D-capable panel on the XPS 17. As usual, prices vary widely depending on the configuration, but things start at just $899 for a basic XPS 17 or $1049 for the XPS 15 — hit up the link below to check out all the options available. Dell rolls out updated XPS 15, XPS 17 laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Adobe promises Flash Player 10.2 for Honeycomb tablets ‘in a few weeks,’ Xoom gets namechecked
February 22, 2011 No Comment
We found out yesterday that Motorola’s Xoom would be shipping sans Flash support on Verizon Wireless, and while Big Red claimed that an update would be doled out this spring, the folks at Adobe are pointing to a far more specific time frame. In a new post over at the Flash Platform Blog, Adobe has confirmed that “Flash Player 10.2 [will be] pre-installed on some tablets and as an OTA download on others within a few weeks of Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) devices becoming available, the first of which is expected to be the Motorola Xoom.” We’re guessing that the company’s going public with a statement like this to fend off fears that the Xoom may be waiting an eternity for Flash, in essence removing a bit of fear from hesitant early adopters. Either way, it’s excellent news for those eying a Honeycomb tablet of any flavor, and we’re going to take the liberty of taking “a few weeks” to mean “a fortnight.” Cool, Adobe? Adobe promises Flash Player 10.2 for Honeycomb tablets ‘in a few weeks,’ Xoom gets namechecked originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …V-Moda’s Crossfade LP Custom headphones drop the Beat, make you the superstar
February 22, 2011 No Comment
Why break Dr. Dre , Justin Bieber , 50 Cent or Ludacris off a ‘lil somethin’ somethin’ when you can endorse yourself? That’s a question that the engineers at V-Moda have found themselves centered on the past few months, and now they’ve got a solution: the Crossfade LP Customs. They’re half gimmick, half hilarious, and 100 percent awesome . $199.99 nets you a customized set of cans, with seven plate colors to choose from and the option to add up to 11 characters of text. You know — plenty of room for “BEATZ BY ME.” Get at ‘em in the source link below, but be prepared to wait two to three weeks for delivery. What, you expecting VIP treatment or something? Gallery: V-Moda’s Crossfade LP Custom headphones V-Moda’s Crossfade LP Custom headphones drop the Beat, make you the superstar originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Engadget’s next reader meetup is this Friday, February 25th in San Francisco!
February 22, 2011 No Comment
That’s right human beings — it’s happening again! The Engadget crew is getting together their best party outfits and shipping out west for another installment of our fabulous reader meetups. Our last event in NYC drew loads of people and was an all around blast, and the San Francisco installment is sure to be just as explosive (or maybe more? c’mon… show us what you’ve got). This time around we’re partnering with Sprint , as well as Sony PlayStation , Motorola , HP , Roku , Samsung , VUDU , RIM , Sling , Sonos , HTC , Corning , Sphero , OnLive , Plantronics , Snapstick, and more to bring you a night of gadget geeking , giveaways , delicious foodstuffs , and some awesome music (provided by none other than our podcast producer, Trent Wolbe). Also, a whole mess of the Engadget editors will be on hand to entertain and inform, so if you have any pressing questions — jot them down! The all ages shindig will take place at City View at The Metreon , which is located conveniently in downtown SF. If you’re a nerd in the city, you most likely already know what we’re talking about. The doors will open at 6:30PM , and capacity is limited to 1200 people — so if you want to get inside, get there early! Update: Whoops! Looks like the previously mentioned sweepstakes have ended (a trip for two to the event). Congrats to the winners! Don’t stress though, there should be plenty of room for everyone (provided it’s no more than 1200 humans). Continue reading Engadget’s next reader meetup is this Friday, February 25th in San Francisco! Engadget’s next reader meetup is this Friday, February 25th in San Francisco! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The results are in, and well over 100,000 of you voted in the 2010 Engadget Awards . We’ll have our own Editors’ picks later this week, but for now, head on after the break to see who won our Readers’ Choice awards. You can check out the voting results right here . Continue reading The winners of the 2010 Engadget Awards — Readers’ Choice The winners of the 2010 Engadget Awards — Readers’ Choice originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Windows 7 SP1 (and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1) now available for public download
February 22, 2011 No Comment
Microsoft told us to clear our pipes for a hefty download on the 22nd of February, and sure enough, the software giant is delivering. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 is now available for public consumption, with the company also confirming that 7601.17514.101119-1850 is the final RTM. We’d bother telling you more, but we know you’ve already dug into the source link in order to get your download a-hoppin’. Just make sure you uninstall any pre-releases of SP1 before doing the deed with this one, and if you’re updating just a single PC, you’re probably better off waiting for everything to flow through Windows Update. Your call, though. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Windows 7 SP1 (and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1) now available for public download originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’re all hotly expecting new MacBook Pros on Thursday , but it sounds like Apple might have an even bigger announcement soon: Kara Swisher at All Things Digital says the iPad 2 will be revealed on March 2 in San Francisco. That lines up with some of the rumblings we’ve heard, but we haven’t gotten an official invite yet, so things could change — we’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything definite. Apple holding iPad 2 event next week? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the NaviSurfer II , but for those patiently awaiting the update of this commuter computer, VIC Ltd. has just given the thing a pretty hefty overhaul. The new NaviSurfer II UBU-3G runs on an auto-specific Ubuntu 10.10 and sports a 7-inch touchscreen, 250GB hard drive, 2GB DDR2 RAM, 3G HSDPA modem, and three USB 2.0 ports. Possibly the most useful upgrade of all, however, is the inclusion of a built-in GPS receiver, rocking a Navit navigation system. Unfortunately for those lacking in the dashboard department, this sucker’s Double DIN, or about twice the size of the standard car radio, but if you’ve got room for the thing, the NaviSurfer runs €300 (about $400). VIC Ltd NaviSurfer II UBU-3G in-car PC gets built-in GPS — finally originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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