Razer Orochi crafted from oil and glycerin, scrubs your bod between frag sessions
December 10, 2010 No Comment
When we first got wind of Etsy seller Digitalsoaps in early 2009, she had but a humble NES gamepad and a couple of other controllers to her name — fast forward to today, and you’ll find the bubbly entrepreneur doing a brisk business in all sorts of wonderfully geeky soap shapes. This $10 Razer Orochi mouse is the latest, and as you can see it’s close enough to the real thing to trick your buds at the next LAN party. Sadly, this particular soap is a limited-time offer — and moving fast — but the seller also deals in a painstakingly detailed Xbox 360 controller, caffeinated shampoo soda bottles, and sudsy replicas of any classic Nintendo cartridge you care to name. Razer Orochi crafted from oil and glycerin, scrubs your bod between frag sessions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Oh, you too, T-Mobile? Without delving into details, T-Mobile USA has gone tit-for-tat with Sprint by dropping the knowledge that it’ll be adding tablets (other than the Tab , of course) to its product portfolio in 2011 — and as you might expect, they’ll be using the network T-Mobile has taken to calling “4G.” Though it doesn’t meet any technical definition of 4G, the company’s ever-expanding HSPA+ network is definitely hanging with the big boys running WiMAX and LTE right now, delivering downlink speeds of 10Mbps or more in some areas if you’re lucky — and that’s just the kind of special sauce you’re going to want when you’ve got a big touchscreen to consume content. No word on brand or platform, but we’ve no doubt some of that Honeycomb noise will be in the mix. Here’s the full statement: “T-Mobile is working closely with the majority of our OEM partners to deliver 4G products by integrating HSPA+ into roadmaps in 2011 as the dominant global standard. Consumers will continue to see HSPA+ fuel future innovation in a variety of mobile consumer electronics from smartphones and tablets to emerging devices. T-Mobile will continue to be at the forefront of wireless innovation, delivering an aggressive 4G product lineup in 2011, including 4G tablets.” T-Mobile says it’ll launch ’4G’ tablets in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Smartphones aren’t the only mobile devices caught up in patent warfare , it seems: Novatel’s just sued ZTE and Franklin over five patents related to the “key architecture and functionality” of its MiFi series of mobile hotspots. What’s interesting is that Verizon carries the MiFi and ZTE-built Fivespot , while Sprint’s MiFi lives alongside the ZTE Peel and carrier-branded Franklin modems, so we’re curious to see if any of the carriers step in to mediate the dispute. We also took a quick skim of the complaint, and it looks like the five patents in question are broad enough to cover WiFi tethering from phones, so we’ve got a feeling this suit could affect more than ZTE and Franklin — we’ll see what happens. Novatel sues ZTE and Franklin over MiFi-related patents originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Been wondering about what impact Motorola’s January split into two distinct entities will have on your humble consumption of consumer electronics? Well, after attending Moto’s big Christmas do in London, we seem to have uncovered one of the biggies: the Droid maker is switching to a crimson new brand identity from the start of the new year. They won’t tell us much more than that, but we can only surmise that the slight chromatic deviation will be in an effort to distinguish between the Mobility arm, which will make all the pocketable things we know and love, and the Solutions group in charge of the less glamorous business hardware. We’re sure there’ll be some reshuffling of middle management and other structural reorganizations taking place, but we’ve got the big story right here: the stationery, it is a-changing. Motorola’s new logo: it’s red originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Smartphone buyer’s guide: the best phones for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and more!
December 10, 2010 No Comment
It’s true, picking a smartphone is incredibly difficult these days. Gone is the time when your options were limited and your choices simply between the lesser-of-evils. The market has exploded, and the decision-making process of finding the best device for your cash can be one of the most daunting tasks you’ll ever undertake. Android , iOS , webOS , and Windows Phone are all better than they’ve ever been before, carrier lineups are bigger, and even choosing a plan can be a daunting process if you don’t know what you’re looking for. But hey, don’t let the stress of deciding between a Droid X and a Droid Incredible put a damper on the excitement of getting a truly awesome gadget — we’ve got your back! We’ve broken the choices down into two groups for each major carrier in the US after the break — the top pick when money is no object, and the thriftier budget choice. We’ve also included our top selections for some of the smaller carriers throughout the US, and our ultimate pick if cost and carrier don’t stand in your way. In putting together the list, we were shocked to see just how many Android devices made it, but that’s a testament to the openness of the platform (and voracious consumer adoption of smartphones). 2011 is going to be a crazy year, but if you’re in the market right now, the options are amazing — so read on to see our picks. Continue reading Smartphone buyer’s guide: the best phones for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and more! Smartphone buyer’s guide: the best phones for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and more! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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This week at GigaOM ‘s NetWork 2010 conference in San Francisco, we briefly mingled with our robot overlords and survived to tell the tale. Anybots was letting its $15,000 QB telepresence robot decimate roam the crowd, and we were invited to interact with one and then take another for a spin by way of remote control. The experience was entertaining but still rather impersonal, mostly due to the lack of two-way video, something that’s billed as “coming soon.” There’s no word on whether the robots — which are starting to (literally) roll off the assembly line — were amused or not. Based on our abysmal remote-control skills, we can only assume our lives were spared for one reason: to write this post. Take a look at our videos after the break! Gallery: Anybots QB hands-on Continue reading Anybots QB hands-on Anybots QB hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Motorola Android tablet specs and Honeycomb home screen leaked in Taiwan?
December 10, 2010 No Comment
Turns out Andy Rubin might not be the only fella who’s been showing off the elusive Motorola Android tablet. Earlier this week, some lucky guy from Taiwan claims to have stumbled upon the same Honeycomb device, and was kind enough to share the above 3D live wallpaper screenshot as well as some thoughts on his one-hour hands-on. We’re told that there’ll be a 7-inch version as well as a 10-inch version (the latter appears to be what Rubin had), and the one we’re looking at here has a 1280 x 800 display of unknown size, NVIDIA Tegra 2 T20 dual-core chip, gyroscope, a 5 megapixel main camera, and a 2 megapixel front camera. Memory-wise it has a 32GB embedded MMC and a microSD slot. The poster reckons the hardware — which is “pretty light” — is all ready for launch, but Honeycomb still needs some final fine-tuning. Sadly, he hasn’t got a date, but said device will apparently be priced like the current Motorola high-end phones, and will be available in three flavors: UMTS, CDMA, and LTE (which we heard about a little while back). Well, only time will tell whether this guy really does have a good friend at Motorola, or that he’s been talking to some unicorns. [Thanks, Samson] Motorola Android tablet specs and Honeycomb home screen leaked in Taiwan? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Reebok sets sights on flexible computing sportswear, partners with startup team
December 10, 2010 No Comment
Science has prototyped flexible versions of just about everything a ever-loving geek needs: displays , memory , batteries , LEDs , speakers and an input device or three . Now, Reebok’s looking to put some of that computing power up our sleeves. The apparel manufacturer’s teamed up with MC10 — a startup founded by our old friend John Rogers, who helped pioneer the field — with the intent to build “conformable electronics” into high-performance clothing for athletes over the next couple of years. Though the company told MIT Technology Review the devices typically consist of thin silicon strips printed onto flexible materials, and that they might they might measure metabolism and performance using embedded sensors, hard details are few — the only thing we know for sure is that a flexible tech scientist just scored a partnership with a major company, and we’re hopeful they’ll make something neat. PR after the break. Continue reading Reebok sets sights on flexible computing sportswear, partners with startup team Reebok sets sights on flexible computing sportswear, partners with startup team originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Your average SSD fits in a laptop friendly 2.5-inch slot and does so meekly, not calling too much attention to itself. RunCore ‘s next SSD powerhouse, however, is a little more bodacious. It takes up a desktop standard 3.5-inch slot and is said to rely on “substantial” sized PCBs on both sides of its cool, cerulean silicon. It’s an SATA III drive offering a similarly substantial 1TB of storage, even fronting dual SandForce SF-1222 controllers for integrated RAID 0 performance. The result? 500MB/s speed, meaning this hippo does that tutu right. No pricing has been announced yet, but expect an appropriately large MSRP when it is fully announced at CeBIT in March. RunCore’s 1TB SATA III SSD is 3.5-inches and 1TB big, 500MB/s fast originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Signal. You can never get enough signal. Got full bars on your laptop? Something will come up, cause you to move, and then you’ll be down to three, and then two, and before you know it your downloads will be failing and you’ll be holding your device up and waving it around, hoping the fickle gods Micro and Wave will smile upon your plaintive dance while everyone else in the coffee shop sneers over mochas. You could avoid this scene with a BearExtender PC, a $45 device that will give you signal enough to curse them all and work out on the patio if you feel like it. Read on to see if it’s worth it. Gallery: BearExtender PC Continue reading BearExtender PC review BearExtender PC review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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