The
T-Mobile G1, the world's very first commercially available Android-based handset, ushered in a new era of mobile computing when it launched earlier this year. The
long-awaited Googlephone had finally come to fruition, and it managed to warm the hearts of just about everyone that touched it. But like any phone, it wasn't without its flaws, some of which are still being worked out today. For those of you who decided to pull the trigger, you've had the past few months to see how it stacks up. The question is, how
does it stack up? What are you hoping for in the next firmware update? Are you completely satisfied with the hardware? Are you longing for a capacitive touchscreen and and a slightly less noticeable chin? It's okay to criticize your dear G1 -- it's all in the name of love, after all.
Filed under: Cellphones
How would you change the T-Mobile G1? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Alright, it's that moment you may or may have not been waiting for! The Engadget Holiday Party / Reader meetup / NY snow-in is officially underway, with folks streaming in as we speak. We'll do our best to give you live updates from the show, with an Ovi slideshow, live fed by a few lucky ninjas equipped with some Nokia-provided N96, N85 and N79 handsets, and a no-guarantees Ustream.TV feed fed lovingly to the internet by an Engadget editor's very own harried laptop -- all after the break.
Continue reading Live from the Engadget Holiday Party!
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Live from the Engadget Holiday Party! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Voltaic's
Generator solar bag first hit the scene at CES 2008, and it has just now begun to filter out to deep-pocketed, environmentally-friendly laptop owners. The crew over at
Laptop Mag was able to take it for a spin, and overall, they seemed a bit perturbed by the whole thing. It was not particularly ergonomic, it always fell over on itself when sitting idly on the floor and it was just too heavy to be lugged around with any level of comfort. Furthermore, there aren't enough options for laptop connectivity, meaning that lots of people will probably be left in the cold due to the limited support for notebook models. Reviewers felt that $499 was simply too much to ask for such a cumbersome device, and if two hours of extra life is worth that much to you, you're probably better off buying another battery and donating the rest to a green cause.
Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals
Solar-powered Voltaic Generator laptop bag gets reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments No, seriously -- you have to digest this quote. According to Gesten Technologies President Jeffrey Gesten: "If you listen to loud music through earbuds, then you are risking long term hearing damage; if you listen while you are jogging or bicycle riding, then you are risking your hearing... and your life!" Hear that kids? If you use any
product other than the
ridiculous looking iCap, you're practically playing Russian Roulette with Dr. Death. Speaking of the cap at hand, said wearable packs a 1GB MP3 player, an FM tuner, a voice recorder (really?) and a microSD slot for carrying around even more
Boyz II Men tracks on your dome. It also touts external speakers, which should totally freak out any other jogger you happen to pass by. Those with enough fundage to buy something purely for comedic purposes can hand over $119.95 and begin to chuckle right now.
Filed under: Portable Audio, Wearables
iCap MP3 player can save your hearing / life, not your dignity originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Okay, we had no idea we'd have to liveblog this, but we're setting up for the meetup tonight and there are already six people in line. Four hours early. In the rain and snow. In other words --
yeah, this sucker is still on, and we're going to rock it. We'll be updating as company reps get here and start setting up, check it out after the break, along with all the info you need to brave the elements and party with us tonight.
Update: We're working on setting up the Ovi slideshow, peep the last set of line pics after the break and check back in a few for the live streaming action!
Continue reading Engadget Holiday Party / Reader meetup lineblog!
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Engadget Holiday Party / Reader meetup lineblog! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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NVIDIA has announced that it'll now offer laptop GPU drivers directly via its website -- long overdue, if you ask us. These drivers have traditionally been offered through the computer manufacturers since most mobile GPUs are customized to be compatible with the devices' specific hotkeys and suspend / resume functionality -- NVIDIA said it has found a way around with a new modular architecture. First on the menu are beta drivers for GeForce 8M and 9M series as well as Quadro NVS-series laptops that add
CUDA and
PhysX support, with Windows-certified drivers for all GeForce 7, 8 and 9 series and Quadro NVS series are due out early next year. Now, if only we could download hugs...
[Via
Notebook Review]
Filed under: Gaming, Laptops
NVIDIA now offering laptop drivers directly through website originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft and Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs in Cambridge, Massachusetts -- the cats that brought us
LucidTouch a while ago -- are back with NanoTouch, a further refinement of the technology aimed at making UIs practical on tiny devices. Utilizing a 2.4-inch screen with a touch pad on the back, users can select or drag items from the underside -- meaning that the entire screen is visible at all times. According to researchers, targets as little as 1.8mm (less than half the size of, say, the buttons on an iPhone) are easily hit using this method -- bringing the advantages of touchscreens to smaller form factors, with a number of possible applications including electronic jewelry, wearable computers, and virtual finger puppets. Video after the break.
Continue reading NanoTouch: like your parent's LucidTouch, but now with more nano!
Filed under: Displays
NanoTouch: like your parent's LucidTouch, but now with more nano! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments There's nothing that screams "end of the world" quite like a 49-foot
ASIMO towering over a forest, but we'd prefer to ignore inevitable doom long enough to imagine what exactly a 49-foot ASIMO would scream.
Thomas: "Dance I said! Dance!"
Chris: "Hey, did we remember to fix that bug where he
falls down stairs?"
Joe: "Where's Arthur Murray when we need him the most?"
Darren: "Wait,
Dancing With The Stars said what? No pimp canes? That's a deal-breaker."
Paul: "In his musical debut, 'ASIMO Takes the Stairs,' the eponymous star provides a surprisingly self-deprecating reenactment of the moments leading up to his infamous tumble. Music by Elton John."
Nilay: "Not to be outdone, iRobot later sucked the entire city of Pasadena into a football field-sized Roomba."
Don: "After years of toiling away at two-bit trade shows, ASIMO finally realized his dream project: Mr. Peanut: The Musical."
Ross: "Having been turned down by both Ultrazoid and Voltron, the giant ASIMO checked his RAM for a dance number he could do solo."
Josh T.: "Moments later, running ASIMO's 'Jazz Hands' script sent dancers flying hundreds of feet to their grizzly deaths."
Josh F.: "I'm crushing your head! I'm crushing your head!"
Cesar (from Zune): "I for one welcome our inflatable robot overlords. With a dance!"
Filed under: Robots
Caption Contest: 49-foot ASIMO makes trees, dancers look tiny originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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So, there's good news and bad news, and per tradition, we'll be starting with the latter. Three of four undersea cables that route internet traffic from Asia to North America have inexplicably been cut, meaning that your international Quake III server may be a bit slow this evening. The good news is that this fiasco clearly hasn't affected you yet. The AP has confirmed via Egypt's communications ministry that the cables have indeed been severed, causing massive outages in select portions of the world. Oddly, no suspicions of subterfuge have been mentioned, but we have all ideas rumors will start to swirl if another gets snipped. So, tell us readers -- are you still online? Wait, don't answer that.
[Via ZDNet]
Filed under: Networking
Three of four undersea internet cables get cut, hasn't affected you yet originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The folks at Lumicure have been talking up OLEDs as a potential tool to treat skin cancer for a few years now and, while they still don't exactly have a whole lot to show for themselves, they're now claiming that they're making "excellent progress," and that they actually hope to have a product on the market by the fourth quarter of 2009. That progress is apparently due in large part to the $5 million in funding they received earlier this year although, again, they don't seem to be saying how that money is being put to use. The basic technology, first shown off more than two years ago, consists of a band-aid-type device that's connected to a battery, which lets the patient wear the device all day long, and is apparently more cost-effective and less painful than other methods of treatment. Apparently, the company is so pleased with its progress that it's already starting to focus on its next target: acne.
[Via OLED-Info.com, image courtesy LEDs Magazine]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Lumicure claims to be making progress in using OLEDs to treat skin cancer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Although G1 users have that sweet compass-based Street View implementation, we haven't heard much about turn-by-turn nav on Android until now -- AndNav2 is a new alpha app that uses OpenStreetMap data to get you where you're going. It's currently supported in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, France, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy -- apparently the folks at AndNav don't have server enough for a Stateside implementation, although they hope to have this remedied in the future. In the meantime, it looks like Americans hoping to get from one place to another will have to either continue to rely on their superior sense of direction or, more likely, their
Knight Rider GPS.
[Via
Googleandblog]
Continue reading AndNav2 brings turn-by-turn navigation to the European Android jet set
Filed under: Cellphones
AndNav2 brings turn-by-turn navigation to the European Android jet set originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments As hard as it might be for you wizened, Atari-era gamers to understand, there are plenty of people out there who think that today's gaming controllers need even more inputs; even more buttons. That's largely thanks to the inclusion of in-game messaging on most platforms, and, for those whose platform of choice is the PlayStation 3, Sony has introduced the QWERTY
Wireless Keypad clip-on. It works as advertised, making text entry much easier and including some bonus touchpad functionality too, but along with those new buttons comes a few new headaches, and we're not entirely sure they're all worthwhile.
Continue reading PlayStation 3 Wireless Keypad review
Filed under: Gaming
PlayStation 3 Wireless Keypad review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Although we've seen some interesting demos, wireless power systems have mostly been a novelty -- apart from a couple gaming accessories, the most notable thing a wireless company has done so far is declare bankruptcy. That's hopefully about to change, however: a new group called the Wireless Power Consortium plans to introduce a series of charging standards aimed at making sure all this magical tech plays nice with each other. The eight-company group includes Logitech, Philips, Sanyo (and now Panasonic, we'd suppose), TI, National Semiconductor, ConvenientPower, and Fulton Innovation -- which demoed that wireless hamburger for us, you'll recall. The group plans to first release a five-watt standard targeted at mobile phones, after which it'll take aim at laptops and other more power-hungry devices. Based on the flood of wireless-related PR we've been getting as CES gets closer, we're expecting some big things to happen in this space -- it sounds like Energizer is also going to get involved, which could be interesting. We'll see how it plays out -- hopefully this is the year we finally cut that power cord.
Read - PC World article
Read - WIreless Power Consortium website
Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless
Wireless Power Consortium to create universal wireless charging standard, insist that it's like magic originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
Well, it looks like the ol' softies and
TRENDnet have finally found a way to liven up the family photo slideshow a bit: 'round the clock security camera footage! To make that possible, the company's new 7-inch TV-M7 photo frame connects to your home network and is able to detect any wireless TRENDnet security cameras also connected to the network, which can be displayed on their own or four at a time on the screen. Otherwise, the device looks to be a fairly standard photo frame, with it packing 512MB of built-in storage and a memory card slot for further expansion, along with a remote control, a built-in speaker, and all the usual media playback functionality. As you might expect, however, you won't get this one for the price of your usual 7-inch photo frame, with it running a somewhat hefty $262.99.
[Via
Chip Chick]
Filed under: Displays
TRENDnet rolls out 7-inch digital photo frame / camera monitor originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Use a Palm phone? Like the idea of
Nova? We hope so, because the company revealed in its earnings call yesterday that it'd be transitioning its entire lineup over to the new, homegrown platform, though it'll continue to market Windows Mobile-based devices like the
Treo Pro to businesses. Speaking of the Treo Pro, Palm mentioned that it'd be bringing its top-of-the-line WinMo device to a US carrier this quarter --
we think we know which one -- but the big news is unquestionably Nova, which will be released on a range of all-new hardware starting in the first half of '09. It claims that carriers who've seen the platform are "unversally excited" about it, which we suppose is a good start -- but the real trick, of course, is to get consumers universally excited about it as well.
[Via
Phone Scoop]
Update: Sascha Seagan of PC Magazine wrote in to let us know that Nova's unveiling at CES wasn't actually confirmed on the call -- but in light of the buzz they've been drumming up, it seems certain that it'll happen. What Palm
did reveal is that Nova is already in the hands of some of its development partners (anyone want to send us pictures?) and that traditional non-phone PDAs -- that is, the foundation upon which Palm was built -- will not continue to be developed as Nova comes into play. We still love the Palm V after all these years, don't you?
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
UPDATED: Palm doesn't confirm Nova launch at CES, but they may as well have originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This is it! The Engadget reader meetup / holiday party is happening tonight in New York City! All of the information you need is below, but we'd like to stress a few points:
- The venue capacity has a limit, so make sure you get there early, and plan to wait in a bit of a line.
- It is snowing like crazy in New York -- so please bundle up and come prepared for the elements! We'll do everything we can to move people inside as quickly as possible, and there's a coat check at the venue for your heavier gear.
- Bring your ID! Without it, you can't get in!
And the rest of the details about the event:
- We're giving away tens of thousands of dollars in gear! Including...
- SanDisk 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB microSD cards for the first 200 people through the door!
- Free food, and free drink tickets for the first 500 people
- Live Q&A session with Engadget editors
- Music for the evening will be provided by Justin VanDerVolgen (of !!! and Outhud)
- The event is 18 TO ENTER / 21 TO DRINK, AND YOU MUST BRING AN ID. ADMISSION IS FREE. Sorry younger readers, but we'll do a follow-up all ages event soon!
- The venue capacity tops out at a tiny bit over 1000, so you if you're coming, be sure to get there early!
When:
Friday, December 19th, 7:00PM to 12:00AM
Where:
Hiro Ballroom, 371 W. 16th St., New York, NY. 10011You can discuss plans for the event on
Facebook here.
For media interested in attending, please ping us at: nycreadermeetup [at] gmail [dot] com
Note: space for media is very limited as this is a reader event. Readers, you're all set -- no need to email us.Filed under: Announcements
Engadget's NYC reader meetup / holiday party is tonight! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments AOC has been slowly but surely delivering solid, cost-efficient HDTVs / displays in the run-up to CES 2009, and while the
2230Fm HD3 and
2230Fh that it'll be showcasing aren't entirely new, the V22 Verfino (pictured) definitely is. All three of the aforementioned units are part of the outfit's new Gamer Certified displays series, with the newest of the bunch packing a LED-backlit 22-inch panel (1,680 x 1,050), 100,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, a 2-millisecond response time and an HDMI input to boot. There's no price set just yet on the early 2009-bound screen, but judging by AOC's history, we'd wager that it'll be priced attractively. Full release and specifications are after the break.
Continue reading AOC takes wraps off of 22-inch LED-backlit V22 Verfino display
Filed under: Displays
AOC takes wraps off of 22-inch LED-backlit V22 Verfino display originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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