Fanatec Porsche 911 GT2 racing wheel steers its way into online availability
December 17, 2010 No Comment
For some of you, it wouldn’t be Gran Turismo 5 unless there’s a force-feedback steering wheel at the helm, but which one to choose? If history’s any judge , that depends on how just how badly you want to feel like you’re driving a Porsche. $250 buys you the Fanatec Porsche 911 GT2, another officially-licensed Xbox 360 wireless wheel, which features fourteen hidden buttons, a 900
Continue reading …Dungeon Defenders: First Wave brings Unreal Engine to Android this month
December 17, 2010 No Comment
Along with Rage HD , Infinity Blade has been one of the titles to really solidify iOS’ position as the leader in mobile gaming right now, but that’s not to say Android isn’t in hot pursuit: besides this Zeus we have on the horizon, Gingerbread improves gaming support on the API level — and now we’re seeing our first Unreal Engine 3-based title make the leap. Dungeon Defenders: First Wave, which just launched on iOS, is coming to Android 2.1 and above on December 23rd bringing with it an online, multiplayer tower defense gaming experience. Of course, one problem these guys have now is that Android hardware is all over the map, so they actually need to publish a long list of minimum requirements — just like PC titles — and in this case you need 512MB of RAM, an 800MHz or better SOC with support for OpenGL ES 2.0, and at least 400MB of free storage. Apart from the myTouch 4G (which has some occasional “stability issues”), most recent mid- to high-end handsets seem to be ready to roll, including “all Tegra 2 based devices” like the Optimus 2X that was just announced. Follow the break for some video action and the full press release. Continue reading Dungeon Defenders: First Wave brings Unreal Engine to Android this month Dungeon Defenders: First Wave brings Unreal Engine to Android this month originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide ! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today’s bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the holiday season. You didn’t think we’d let the holiday season go by without an official Engadget Tablet Gift Guide did you? Hey, give us more credit — we know it’s not 2009 anymore! The past year has seen an explosion in the tablet category , and while the iPad may still be the market leader, there’s no shortage of Android and Windows 7 alternatives out there that let you surf the web, read books, and watch videos with just a flick of a finger. Sure, more are on the way , and all signs point to Apple updating the iPad in early 2011, but if you’ve got to have a touchscreen slab before the end of the year, we’re here to lend a helping hand. Hit the break for a rundown of the best choices by price category. Continue reading Engadget’s Holiday Gift Guide: Tablets Engadget’s Holiday Gift Guide: Tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Home automation and jetpacks are surprisingly similar in that both of these space-age technologies have, for decades, been over promised and under delivered. Who here wouldn’t love to tap a single button when exiting the house to activate the alarm, shut off the lights in the kids’ rooms, lower the thermostat, and lock all the doors? That’s the convenience, the promise left unfilled as we say goodbye to 2010. We live on a planet that still requires humans to manually close the blinds at the end of the day and flip on a light switch some 90 years since the commercial introduction of the incandescent light bulb. How primitive. And it’s downright criminal in ecological and financial terms that we still can’t easily monitor and control the power usage in our homes let alone the trickle or wattage vampired off the individual electrical sockets feeding our greedy horde of household electronics. How is this possible given all the advances we’re seen? Wireless and sensor technology has advanced far beyond what’s required to automate a home. Just look at smartphones, for example, that now ship standard with 3G (and even 4G) data, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS radios in addition to sensors for motion, temperature, moisture, proximity, and even direction. We don’t have the answer to home automation’s dilema — to dig into that topic we’d require a few thousand more words, at least. All we know for sure is that the biggie consumer electronics companies are reluctant to sort it out. As such, dozens of small companies are left to deal with a mess created by an industry incapable of coalescing around a set of interoperable home automation standards. One such company is Mi Casa Verde. A tiny startup that launched its linux-based Vera home automation server back in 2008 with a renewed promise to make home automation setup and control as easy for novices as it is robust for techies and enthusiasts. We’ve been using a recently launched second generation Vera 2 for a few weeks now. Sure, we haven’t quite reached one-button nirvana, but as home automation newbies we’re proud to say that we’ve automated a few helpful in-home lighting situations while skirting the clutches of the Dark Angel sequestered within our fuse box. Better yet, we can control it all from an iPhone — including the Christmas tree. Click through to see how we did it. Gallery: Mi Casa Verde Vera Review Continue reading Mi Casa Verde Vera review: Home automation, simplified Mi Casa Verde Vera review: Home automation, simplified originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Self-sterilizing door handle looks perfect for hypochondriacs, is as real as their ailments
December 17, 2010 No Comment
The world of concepts is quite the wonderful place to behold, it’s filled with electric supercars , cameras that only ever need one lens , beautiful BlackBerrys , and now… a self-cleaning door handle. The product of one Choi Bomi’s hyperactive imagination, this gatekeeper continuously sterilizes itself with a UV light, only taking a break when you actually use it. A clandestine switch in the handle’s frame is what toggles the sanitizing illumination on and off, a spark of cleverness that’s earned the design a Red Dot award . That’s great, now who hands out the awards for making economically viable, mass producible devices? Self-sterilizing door handle looks perfect for hypochondriacs, is as real as their ailments originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Still in disbelief that Big Red will one day be home to Palm’s Pre 2 ? Can’t say we blame you, but the evidence is certainly building. Just three months after taking a peek at inside information hinting at the smartphone’s arrival on Verizon, along comes an eBay auction for a nondescript P102EWW — known amongst the FCC hounds as a CDMA Palm Pre 2 . After the folks at Pre Central started questioning the seller, the auction was mysteriously yanked, possibly due to worry from the sudden stroke of enlightenment. It’s obviously impossible to know if the phone up for sale was indeed an early build meant for America’s largest carrier, but the photos capped before the auction was pulled sure are hard to discredit. So, can we just get this out in the open now, or what? Verizon’s Palm Pre 2 shown briefly in pulled eBay auction? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Minimal Studios iPod nano watch kits raise a million dollars on Kickstarter, yes, a million dollars
December 17, 2010 No Comment
Well that didn’t take long. Less than a month after we reported on the TikTok and LunaTik concept iPod nano watches hitting Kickstarter the company behind them, Minimal Studios, has met its goal — and then some. Way then some. The project has clocked in nearly $1,000,000 in funding, helped in large part by a $25 pledge getting you first in line for a $35 MSRP TikTok watch kit, while $50 scored you the metallic LunaTik, which will go for $70. If you missed your chance to pile on the money you can now pre-order officially, with an expected shipment date in January. Again we’re not particularly keen on the whole nano as a watch thing, but obviously ya’ll have your own ideas, and we say more power to you — and to Minimal Studios founder Scott Wilson. Minimal Studios iPod nano watch kits raise a million dollars on Kickstarter, yes, a million dollars originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 10:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Researchers find weak point in lithium-ion batteries, suggest better nanowires could be the answer
December 17, 2010 No Comment
We’ve seen countless attempts to build a better lithium-ion battery , but there’s been far fewer research efforts devoted solely to figuring out why lithium-ion batteries don’t last longer. A team of scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have been doing just that, however, and they’re now sharing some of their findings. The main culprit, they say, are the nano-sized wires made of bulk tin oxide used in the batteries, which can expand and deform considerably over time, eventually rendering the battery useless. What’s more, while the research was focused primarily on examining the cause of battery aging, the researchers do naturally have a few suggestions on how to improve them — namely, to replace those wires made of bulk tin oxide with finer tin oxide nanowires. As lead scientist Chongmin Wang explains, that would effectively amount to winding together “thinner wires rather than making one thick rope,” which is of course easier said than done. Head on past the break for the complete press release. Continue reading Researchers find weak point in lithium-ion batteries, suggest better nanowires could be the answer Researchers find weak point in lithium-ion batteries, suggest better nanowires could be the answer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 09:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …LaCie Float concept combines external HDD with trackpad, ingenuity with fantasy
December 17, 2010 No Comment
How do you freshen up the typically unexciting external storage unit ? You slap a multitouch trackpad on the top of it, of course. And since you’re dreaming up wild concepts, make that top out of carbon fiber, provide a base made out of glass and insert some LEDs next to it to provide ambient illumination — with an integrated light sensor adjusting their brightness on the fly, obviously. Yes, Andr
Continue reading …Yahoo! Messenger and ooVoo Mobile do video chat on Android, but only for a lucky few
December 17, 2010 No Comment
Two video chats enter the ring, only one comes out. In this corner it’s ooVoo Mobile, a portable version of the (somewhat) popular desktop video chat application that will let up to six users simultaneously swap bitrate over 3G, 4G, or WiFi — but only if you have an HTC Evo or Samsung Epic . In the other corner it’s Yahoo! Messenger, with version 1.3 adding video calls and similarly limited device support, though this time it’s the myTouch 4G and the Evo getting the nod. So, Android owners, which of these is going to reign supreme? Or, are you going to tap out and stay cozy with Qik ? Hit the Android Market now and place your bets. Continue reading Yahoo! Messenger and ooVoo Mobile do video chat on Android, but only for a lucky few Yahoo! Messenger and ooVoo Mobile do video chat on Android, but only for a lucky few originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 09:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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