Archive for February, 2010

Well, here’s a bit of a twist on the ever popular DIY Twitter gadget. Rather than controlling a device via Twitter, or having a device simply display or read tweets aloud, the folks behind this LED-stuffed table have taken a slightly more artistic approach by relying on the tweeting masses to generate patterns of light on the table. That’s done with a combination of a hashtag and a specific format for entering colors and coordinates, which head first for a MacBook Pro before being transmitted to the table via Bluetooth. Not content to leave it there, the table’s creators have even set up a live USTREAM feed to let you see the results of your tweet. Hit up the link below to try it out for yourself.

Twitter-enabled LED table lets you get your Lite-Brite on from afar originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink SlashGear  |  sourceMacetech, USTREAM feed  | Email this | Comments

No leaks or release date rumors this time, a mere 39MB download is all that separates your Sprint, O2 or Movistar connected Pre from video recording, Flash, enhanced message notifications and much-desired performance and battery life improvements. Verizon, Bell and Telcel customers are unfortunately still waiting for their day in the sun, only specified by the official Palm blog as “soon.” Check out Palm’s trailer for the new features and the full webOS 1.4 changelog after the break, after queueing up the download of course.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Palm’s webOS 1.4 update now available for Sprint, O2 and Movistar phones

Palm’s webOS 1.4 update now available for Sprint, O2 and Movistar phones originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Western Digital has yet to actively market its “advanced format” hard drives — in fact, there’s a decent chance you’ve no idea what we’re talking about if you weren’t tuned in on December 11th. In short, it’s a technology that alters a hard drive’s sector size from 512 bytes (the standard for the past three decades) to 4096K, which enables the ECC data to be stored in a more efficient manner. Just recently, WD began to ship Advanced Format Caviar Green hard drives, and the benchmarking gurus over at Hot Hardware strapped one in to see exactly how much of the hype was warranted. For starters, they debunked the thought that Advanced Format drives offered more usable space; Windows reported 931GB of free space on both AF and non-AF 1TB drives. They also go on to explain how to make AF drives play nice with Windows XP, and on the testing front, they found that an aligned AF Caviar Green drive could (mostly) hang with the higher end (and more expensive) Caviar Black. Pop that source link for the full skinny, particularly if you’re a WinXP user looking to snag a new drive.

WD’s ‘Advanced Format’ Caviar Green HDD gets benchmarked, minor benefits found originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceHot Hardware  | Email this | Comments

It hasn’t quite been out (in public hands, anyway) for two months, but Google’s Nexus One has managed to grab the world’s attention and focus it squarely on Android. Specs wise, it’s not the superphone that many had expected, but it’s certainly delightful in its own right. For those who have sprung for one, we’re bubbling over in anticipation to hear how you’d change it. Would you have snuck an overclocked processor in there? Would you have ditched the trackball for a sensor pad? Do you wish it were available on more carriers? Is the call quality up to snuff? Look — there’s a better-than-decent chance that you threw down some serious bills on this, so don’t hold back. The Nexus Two just won’t be the same without your pair of pennies.

How would you change Google’s Nexus One? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You might have the vaguest of memories seeing this piece before — it made a cameo in an Engadget Show segment — but here we are with a much clearer picture of Adafruit Industries’ Monochron clock, now also on sale! As is its modus operandi, the timepiece is open source… but should you plan on sticking to default, you’ll be gifted with a great retro-style Table Tennis for two. The best part? The time changes whenever the clock “loses” — something tells us that gives one side at least a 59-to-1 advantage. See for yourself after the break.

Continue reading Adafruit’s Monochron retro clock now on sale, changes time with every match point

Adafruit’s Monochron retro clock now on sale, changes time with every match point originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAdafruit Industries  | Email this | Comments

You might have the vaguest of memories seeing this piece before — it made a cameo in an Engadget Show segment — but here we are with a much clearer picture of Adafruit Industries’ Monochron clock, now also on sale! As is its modus operandi, the timepiece is open source… but should you plan on sticking to default, you’ll be gifted with a great retro-style Table Tennis for two. The best part? The time changes whenever the clock “loses” — something tells us that gives one side at least a 59-to-1 advantage. See for yourself after the break.

Continue reading Adafruit’s Monochron retro clock now on sale, changes time with every match point

Adafruit’s Monochron retro clock now on sale, changes time with every match point originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAdafruit Industries  | Email this | Comments

We’ve all been there before — you’re an investigative journalist and you need some hidden camera footage of a rave or male model convention. Of course, we’ve seen plenty of wearable camcorders in the past, but none with that special something — until now. This unnamed concept design by William Gerwin (and sponsored by Kodak) puts a 10.1 megapixel webcam, pico projector, and WiFi right where you never knew you needed ‘em — on your head. The designer envisions wireless connectivity and P2P support for the thing, but as of right now it looks like little more than a couple pieces of hardware super-glued to a nicer than most pair of headphones. If this thing ever becomes real, we’ll let you know — in the meantime, hit the source link to get a closer look.

Continue reading Head-mounted webcam gets, records funny looks

Head-mounted webcam gets, records funny looks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmodo  |  sourceYanko Design  | Email this | Comments

We’ve all been there before — you’re an investigative journalist and you need some hidden camera footage of a rave or male model convention. Of course, we’ve seen plenty of wearable camcorders in the past, but none with that special something — until now. This unnamed concept design by William Gerwin (and sponsored by Kodak) puts a 10.1 megapixel webcam, pico projector, and WiFi right where you never knew you needed ‘em — on your head. The designer envisions wireless connectivity and P2P support for the thing, but as of right now it looks like little more than a couple pieces of hardware super-glued to a nicer than most pair of headphones. If this thing ever becomes real, we’ll let you know — in the meantime, hit the source link to get a closer look.

Continue reading Head-mounted webcam gets, records funny looks

Head-mounted webcam gets, records funny looks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmodo  |  sourceYanko Design  | Email this | Comments

Entelligence: Windows Phone 7 Series

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

It’s been a rough year for Microsoft in mobile. Despite the launch of impressive products such as the HTC HD2, the company has faced some harsh criticism: “except for gaming, it’s ‘game over’ for Microsoft in the consumer market” was just one of the choicer comments from the past year. Personally, I’d disagree, and I’d actually argue that Windows Mobile 6.5 is underrated in the mobile arena — almost as much as Android is overrated. But no matter. Whether last year’s mobile platforms are good enough or not is irrelevant; no platform from 2009 is good enough for 2010 and beyond, and every mobile platform will need to evolve this year. Last week in Barcelona, we saw the first part of Microsoft’s revamped mobile strategy, and while there are many questions that will need to be answered, there’s a lot to like about what we saw.

First, it’s important to look at the velocity of the mobile space. The tech industry is largely governed by Moore’s Law, which predicts a doubling of semi-conductor density roughly every eighteen months, but the mobile space is moving at a rate of change that’s closer to every eighteen minutes. What happened yesterday simply doesn’t matter nearly as much as it once might have. Just look at two of the hottest companies in mobile, Apple and Google. Just a few years ago, neither would have been part of the conversation, much less at the center of it.

Continue reading Entelligence: Windows Phone 7 Series

Entelligence: Windows Phone 7 Series originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don’t count on your navigation unit seeing a sudden improvement anytime soon, but Raytheon has announced that it’s landed an massive $886 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to develop a new element of GPS called the advanced control segment (or OCX, somehow). Once complete, that promises to not only provide a range of enhancements for military GPS use (including anti-jam capabilities and improved security), but improved accuracy and reliability for civil GPS users as well. Details are otherwise a bit light, and this contract only represents the first of two development blocks, but it looks like GLONASS and Galileo may have to step up their game a bit further if they want to stay competitive in the great sat-nav race.

Raytheon scores $886 million contract to improve GPS capabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePR Newswire  | Email this | Comments

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