Activision and Sega show off Wappy Dog dogbot / Nintento DS game at Toy Fair 2011
February 21, 2011 No Comment
Toy Fair 2011 isn’t quite as big a deal as say, CES or MWC , but it still has its fair share of nifty plaything gadgets. One jewel of the show is Sega’s Wappy Dog toy that interfaces with with Activision’s Nintendo DS title of the same name. In what amounts to the logical evolutionary conclusion of the artist formerly known as Tamagotchi , Wappy Dog allows folks to communicate with their digital pets not only via the DS, but also by playing with and training their pooch’s robotic doppelg
Continue reading …Zune Insider reminds that Zune isn’t dead, announces Zune HD launch in Canada
February 21, 2011 No Comment
We still have only an official non-denial from Microsoft about the continued livelihood of the name ” Zune ” as a brand, but now we have Zune Insider saying “Zune is not dead.” Indeed we already knew that, but the question is what’s coming in the future with Windows Phone seemingly getting all the company’s attention of late. The future we still don’t know about, but we do have some news about the present for Canadians: the Zune HD ! Yes, our friendly neighbors to the north need no longer look south to purchase Microsoft’s latest entry to the Zune series — though “latest” is a somewhat sad designation for hardware that was released in 2009 . However, there’s still no Marketplace available: it’ll strictly be a BYO tunage affair for now. Zune Insider reminds that Zune isn’t dead, announces Zune HD launch in Canada originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 18:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …ASUS’ 24.1-inch PA246Q P-IPS LCD now covering 98 percent of Adobe RGB, on sale for $500
February 21, 2011 No Comment
This here monitor surfaced months ago, but it looks as if ASUS has just now started to ship it stateside. As far as 24-inch monitors go, this one’s fairly well specced, and it’s got a mighty tempting price tag to boot. The PA246Q is a 24.1-inch P-IPS LCD, complete with a six millisecond response time, tilt / swivel stand, a pair of USB sockets, an integrated 7-in-1 card reader, 400 nits of brightness and a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. It’s also capable of covering 98 percent of the Adobe RGB spectrum, so all but the most particular of creative professionals should be duly satisfied with color reproduction. You’ll also get a native 1,920 x 1,200 screen resolution, 178 degree viewing angles, DVI / HDMI / DisplayPort / VGA inputs and support for a VESA wall mount. She’s all yours for $499.99 — hit the source link if you just can’t resist. Continue reading ASUS’ 24.1-inch PA246Q P-IPS LCD now covering 98 percent of Adobe RGB, on sale for $500 ASUS’ 24.1-inch PA246Q P-IPS LCD now covering 98 percent of Adobe RGB, on sale for $500 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 18:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …The eCRP 1.4 electric race bike revealed, captured screaming around the track (video)
February 21, 2011 No Comment
Another tasty electric race bike has been unveiled, this one with a lovely promo video — and an opportunity for you to ride one. It’s the eCRP 1.4, an evolution of the company’s 2010 eCRP 1.2 and poised for entry in the all-electric TTXGP series. This new bike offers two motors pumping out a combined 70hp and 89 lb-ft of torque and making a lovely sound you can hear for yourself in the video below. More interestingly you can rent one and hear it for yourself, hanging on for dear life around some of the best tracks the world has to offer. Cost? That’s between you and eCRP, of course, but we’re guessing it won’t be surprisingly affordable. Gallery: eCRP 1.4 Continue reading The eCRP 1.4 electric race bike revealed, captured screaming around the track (video) The eCRP 1.4 electric race bike revealed, captured screaming around the track (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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While AMD’s Zacate E-350 APU has managed to find its way into a number of laptops, it’s not exactly simple to find a desktop based on Fusion right now. Thankfully, Zotac was champing at the bit to be one of the first, and its Zbox AD03 / AD03 Plus has just hit the test bench over at Hot Hardware . All told, the results were fairly predictable, with the Fusion APU running laps around the prior Atom-based version . Of course, “laps” is a relative term, and while it hasn’t single-handedly redefined the SFF PC sector, it has provided a real alternative to Intel’s stable of underwhelming nettop chips. Across the board, the Zacate E-350 managed to hold its own, with the only real issue being “lackluster Flash video acceleration.” We’re told that updated drivers are expected to remedy that, however, so there’s really little to gripe about from a numbers standpoint. As for value proposition? The AD03 Plus (ringing up at $529.99) seems like a worse deal with its skimpy 2GB of RAM and (comparatively sluggish) 250GB HDD, while the barebones AD03 (which lists for $439.99) could be turned into quite the powerhouse with 4GB of memory and a speedy SSD. Head on down to the source link to get your nerd on, but only if you’re interested in scratching that DIY itch that’s been so bothersome of late. Zotac’s Fusion-based Zbox AD03 Blu-ray HTPC gets reviewed, smiled upon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Sure, you’ve probably seen plenty of the Motorola Xoom by now, but have you seen a stack of them being rolled into a Best Buy? Didn’t think so. Well, you can now rest assured that they are indeed arriving in stores ahead of the big Thursday launch date , thanks to the helpful tipster who sent us this image. Unfortunately, it seems that a few pieces fell off the truck on the road to retail. Visualized: Motorola Xoom rolls into Best Buy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Sprint tweet makes February 24th launch sound like Windows Phone 7 — is the HTC 7 Pro ready?
February 21, 2011 No Comment
Announced late last year, Sprint’s version of the HTC 7 Pro has been stuck in a holding pattern (along with Verizon’s Trophy ) while waiting for Microsoft to wrap up its first big software update for Windows Phone 7 , which includes copy and paste functionality along with — you guessed it — CDMA support. Steve Ballmer’s keynote address at MWC last week nailed down said update for launch in the first part of March, which means that there shouldn’t be much else holding up Sprint and Verizon from getting their first WP7 devices out of the door. A follow-up tweet to an earlier teaser posted on Sprint’s official Twitter account says that a device being announced on February 24th “will have a hub for gaming, music, pictures, and video,” which sounds an awful lot like Windows Phone 7′s hubs to us — and we’re not aware of anything but the 7 Pro in Sprint’s Microsoft-flavored pipeline, so it’s starting to feel like a lock. Who’s buying? Sprint tweet makes February 24th launch sound like Windows Phone 7 — is the HTC 7 Pro ready? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Ford Focus Electric confirmed to not support fast charging, EV fragmentation looms large
February 21, 2011 No Comment
Thought that fragmentation was reserved for the mobile OS realm? Think again. With the first (and second) waves of electric vehicles dribbling out to the streets, an obvious problem is becoming even more obvious. The city of Chicago is fixing to install 73 fast-charging EV stations by the end of the year, but two of the most commonly driven ones won’t be able to take advantage. Chevy’s Volt and Ford’s Focus Electric will only support the slower Level 2 charging, leaving those faster ones for Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i MiEV owners to enjoy. As if that weren’t headache-inducing enough, a slew of other automakers are reportedly planning to “sign on to a new standard for fast charging that would be incompatible with Chicago’s infrastructure,” and if you think the Windy City is alone in this mess, you’re wrong. We’ve already heard of similar issues in the nation’s capitol , and Jack Pokrzywa, manager of global ground vehicle standards for SAE International, still doesn’t seem convinced that auto producers are really ready and willing to commit to a single fast-charging standard. HD DVD vs. Blu-ray was one thing, but thousands of vehicle chargers crowding up our cities once they become obsolete in a year? That’s so not green. Ford Focus Electric confirmed to not support fast charging, EV fragmentation looms large originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus displays dispense of maligned PenTile pixel configuration
February 21, 2011 No Comment
As crisp and vibrant as AMOLED and Super AMOLED smartphone displays are, they roll off the assembly lines with a pretty big design compromise: most of the components in the marketplace right now make use of a little visual trickery called PenTile whereby green subpixels are shared amongst multiple whole RGB pixels. Meanwhile, traditional displays (CRT, LCD, plasma, you name it) typically use one red, one green, and one blue subpixel per pixel, and the end result is that AMOLEDs tend to be a little grainier by comparison at a given resolution. OLED-Info points out that Sammy’s new Super AMOLED Plus displays appear to have solved the PenTile problem, instead using something called Real-Stripe — effectively meaning honest-to-goodness RGB pixels, which explains the company’s claim back at CES of a 50 percent boost in subpixel count. Interestingly, Real-Stripe requires more space per pixel, which could be why the Galaxy S II and Infuse 4G are 4.3 and 4.5 inches, respectively, a pretty healthy hike from the 4-inch mark they’d settled on with last year’s original Galaxy S models. ‘Course, none of this puts us close to the 7 or 10 inches we’d need to make a tablet work — but we know they’re cranking on that already . Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus displays dispense of maligned PenTile pixel configuration originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Apple’s new subscription policy has already drawn plenty of criticism — not to mention the eye of the FTC and DOJ – but that doesn’t make the missive issued by Readability today any less pointed. As you may be aware, Readability’s technology is used the Reader feature recently added to Safari , and the company also provides a subscription-based service of its own that allows you to pay for the convenience of reading articles that have been stripped down to nothing but text — something they’re able to get away with because they pay 70 percent of that subscription fee back to the publishers. Not surprisingly, Readability recently decided to expand with an iOS app, and that’s where things got dicey. Apple rejected the app on the grounds that it relies on a separate subscription — one where Apple doesn’t get a 30 percent cut. In a post on its blog, the company says that 30 percent “drastically undermines a key premise of how Readability works,” and that, frankly, Apple’s new subscription policy as a whole “smacks of greed.” Obviously, that leaves Readability in something of a bind at the moment, as the nature of its business doesn’t give it the leeway to agree to Apple’s terms, but it does have a suggestion. It says it’ll gladly deliver a Readability app for iOS with in-app purchasing if Apple agrees to pay 70 percent of the 30 percent fee it collects to writers and publishers, just like it does. Hit up the source link below for the company’s complete letter. Readability: Apple’s new subscription policy ‘smacks of greed’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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