See there? It really fits in a wine glass, which means this
diminutive PJ is well suited for any random surveillance initiatives you've got rolling around in the back of your mind. The LCoS-driven beamer can only output in VGA (640 x 480) and packs just ten lumens of brightness, but with a shell this small, we're willing to forgive most of the obvious drawbacks. You'll find an obligatory AV input as well as built-in speakers, but there's no mention of a price just yet. In fact, call us when you've managed to get 1080p out of something this size -- then you'll have our full, undivided attention.
[Via
FarEastGizmos]
Filed under: Displays
Castrade's CV-MP01 LCoS VGA projector fits in a wine glass originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments While the engineers at Cupertino may or may not be toiling away on a
3D operating system, the gurus at Spatial View definitely are... in a manner of speaking, anyway. The company, which prides itself on making products "for creating 3D effects," is bringing a new trio to MacWorld 2009. First up is the Wazabee 3DeeShell, which is detailed as "a special protective skin with an integrated removable lens that can display 3D content on the Apple iPhone." On deck is the 3DeeFlector, an "autostereoscopic overlay for the MacBook Air and other 13.3-inch notebooks," which supposedly brings eye-popping visuals (and headaches, we'd imagine) to your ultraportable without the need for humiliating glasses. Finally, the Wazabee 19-inch Gaming Display will probably go head-to-head with the
IZ3D, though a frighteningly light amount of details are currently available. One's things for sure out of all this --
three-dee is the future, y'all.
Filed under: Displays, Wearables
Wazabee autostereoscopic overlays bring glasses-free 3D to iPhone, ultraportables originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments 
It's not every day that we see gear aimed at "forward-thinking and discerning social elites" -- if anything, it seems that the most high-falutin' types are looking for ways to stay out of our orbit. Then again, our idea of security usually involves
Lego safes and
Nintendo deadbolt hacks. When we learned that "true peace of mind" could be ours once we had our hot little hands on the BioMirage Coffer -- a 16.4 x 10.6 x 5.8-inch, 10.4 lb strong box featuring biometric fingerprint authorization and a USB key -- our ears perked up. We're not sure what this thing's made of (or that it couldn't be smashed open if you were so inclined), but who wouldn't want to own a gadget that "epitomizes symbiotic interactions between people and technology?" Wait... this thing's $579? We'll pass.
Filed under: Household
BioMirage Coffer offers biometric security for people with money to waste originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments Remember that
Type N700 train that became Japan's fastest in mid-2007? Yeah, well it's about to get a lot more fun to ride. Starting next year, passengers on the ultra-quick bullet trains will be able to hit up their favorite blogs and banter about aimlessly via email / IM at 270 kilometers per hour (that's 167 miles per hour for you Yanks). The service will reportedly be an extension of NTT Communications' HotSpot service, and we're told that download speeds should reach around 2Mbps. As for cost, the fees will be at the usual HotSpot rate, which runs from ¥500 ($5.73) per day to ¥1,680 ($19.25) per month, or in other words, rates you'll totally pay to stay connected on the brisk runs from Osaka to Tokyo.
Filed under: Transportation, Wireless
NTT Communications bringing WiFi to Japanese bullet trains in 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments It's been
released,
unboxed, and adored by many. But, like
other eagerly anticipated bodies from Canon, the
5D Mark II hasn't been entirely trouble-free for the early adopters. The company is at least stepping forward and confirming that the new model's two most commonly reported problems do indeed exist -- but isn't going so far as to fix them just yet. The first issue is called the "Black dot" phenomenon, where bright point light sources (like streetlights at a distance) result in a grouping of dark pixels immediately to their right, as seen above. The second issue is ugly vertical banding, apparently appearing only in sRAW1 mode. Canon has no advice on the first problem, but says you can avoid the other one simply by not shooting in sRAW1. Surely millions of photogs are wondering why they didn't think of that.
[Via
Digital Photography Review, image courtesy of
Stephan Hörold]
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Canon acknowledges, doesn't fix black dot and band problems on 5D Mark II originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments From our perspective, it appears that we've reached a tipping point with regards to interest in the electric / hybrid automobile. No wonder considering the environmental and national security risks presented by a continuation of an oil-only approach. Unfortunately for the troubled US automotive industry (and economy), the single biggest money generator from a global fleet of electronic vehicles -- the lithium-ion battery cell -- is
likely to be manufactured in Asia along side the lithium ion batteries found in our consumer electronics. According to the Wall Street Journal, "More than four dozen advanced battery factories are being built in China but none, currently, in the U.S." That could change, however, with a little determination, private investment, and a government willing to clear the way for manufacturing of this highly toxic contributor to the US infrastructure. Already, we've seen that
Intel is being coaxed into building electric car batteries. Now, a group of 14 firms (including 3M and Johnson Controls-Saft) have stepped up to form an alliance with a US government laboratory. The National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture is modeled after SEMATECH, a public-private venture from the 80s that helped restore US prominence in computer semiconductor technology. The goal is to create a shared-cost, "open foundry" for members to perfect and ultimately produce automotive batteries. Problem is, they need upwards of $2 billion to build a plant to manufacture batteries that no one has ordered. Of course, that's a pittance when compared to the
bailout requests made by the Big 3. Hmm, jobs and an industry dominating money machine... hey Obama, you listening?
[Via
Ars Technica]
Filed under: Transportation
US alliance to wrestle electric car batteries away from Asia originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments It's been a busy couple of months for the mobile
PowerVR gurus at Imagination Technologies. First the company got
picked to handle the polygon-shuffling duties in Sony's PSP2 (which
may or
may not be actually happening), and has now received a $5 million cash infusion from Apple -- in exchange for a measly 3.6 percent of its soul. What does it all mean? As much as we'd love to fling out crazy speculation about an Apple / Sony hybrid iPSP or hardware support for a mobile
3D operating system, we're putting our money on the most sensible explanation: a next-gen iPhone with
even more emphasis on games. Place your bets now, folks.
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds
Apple buys a little Imagination -- 3.6 percent to be exact originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments Dr. Priya Narasimhan, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, doesn't intend to put a single
NFL referee out of work, but there's no doubt that the technology she's tinkering with could indeed have that effect. The prof and her students are developing sensor-laden footballs and gloves, both of which could eventually tell in real-time whether a ball bounced off the ground before being caught or whether a player actually had possession of a ball whilst being piled upon after a fumble. Currently, she's had zero luck persuading a college or professional team to help her experiment further, and we can sort of see why. We mean, it's nice to get
every call right in theory, but what fun would sport be without the all-important "Ref, you suck!" chant?
[Thanks, Freddy]
Sensor-laden footballs / gloves could run referees right out of work originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments 
Feeling the hurt of endlessly dying batteries on your BlackBerry (or iPhone, if that's what you're into)? Atif Shamim, a PhD student at Canada's Carleton University might have the medicine for that pain of yours. He's cleverly hacked such devices, removing all the wires that connect the electrical circuits to the antenna, and developed a module for the connection to operate wirelessly. The result, he estimates, is that his modified devices use almost 12 times less power than they normally do -- which of course means longer battery life. A paper about the device has won an award at the European Wireless Technology Conference, and Shamin has filed for a patent in both the US and Canada. There's no indication of when we might start to see tech like this on actual commercial devices, but we're pretty sure plenty of companies are going to want to get a hold of this technology like, yesterday.
Filed under: Cellphones
Student's tech promises 12x the battery life in your iPhone, BlackBerry originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments While Microsoft won't be handing it out as an update for your WinMo 6 device, ROM cookers are making
Internet Explorer Mobile 6 available now. Paul over at MoDaCo has built a custom ROM for the HTC
Touch HD that includes IE Mobile 6 -- that's "6 on 6" as they say. Unfortunately, it's only available as a ROM update, not as an invdividual application installer. If you recall,
Microsoft said that IE Mobile 6 won't be offered for download, because "the rich media experiences that IE Mobile 6 enables require more powerful, advanced devices." Perhaps in salty salute, Paul's ROM also sets the default explorer search engine to Google. Instructions and tales of caution just beyond the read link.
[Via
GadgetMix]
Filed under: Cellphones
IE Mobile 6 cooked into custom ROM for HTC Touch HD originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments No need for a gargantuan home theater-styled
soundbar? Then have a gander at
iLuv's latest, the iSP200. Hailed as a 2.1-channel speaker system for "laptops and desktops," we view this more as just an easy-to-tote sound system that ought to outperform most of those weak iPod docks. The system packs 32-watts of power, SRS-XT "surround technology," master / bass / treble audio controls, an inbuilt 3-port USB 2.0 hub and 3.5-millimeter auxiliary input. You'll even notice that the speakers are detachable from the main unit, though the biggest knock is the omission of a rechargeable battery for true mobility. Still, not too shabby for a penny under a Benjamin; full release is after the break.
Continue reading iLuv reveals iSP200 2.1-channel portable soundbar
Filed under: Portable Audio
iLuv reveals iSP200 2.1-channel portable soundbar originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments It's mildly amusing that up until now, your only option when buying
IZ3D's 22-inch 3D LCD monitor was to buy it on a decidedly 2D website. At long last, the
recently cheapened (now $399) display has hit the brick and mortar realm, with both Fry's Electronics and Micro Center agreeing to carry it. The move is just one more in the inevitable push to get
3D in the home, and we have all ideas that it'll be joined by a number of others after CES '09 is all wrapped up. Feel free to drop by one of the aforesaid retailers to check this thing out in person, but we'll warn you, those frightened by 3D glasses need not apply. Full release (including specs) is after the break.
Continue reading IZ3D's 22-inch 3D LCD monitor finally hits the B&M scene
Filed under: Displays
IZ3D's 22-inch 3D LCD monitor finally hits the B&M scene originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments When you retard fair use with
pointless DRM and then sue anonymous children for illegally downloading music while
ignoring those of the execs at the top of the music industry, well, you're asking for a public relations nightmare. Now, with more than 35,000 lawsuits to its credit, the
RIAA says it will finally end the legal assault against consumers that began back in 2003. The Recording Industry Association of America will instead, focus its anti-piracy efforts with ISPs. Under the new plan, the RIAA will contact ISPs when illegal uploading is detected. The ISP will then contact the customer with a notice that would ultimately be followed by a reduction or cessation of service. As you'd expect, the RIAA is not commenting on which ISPs they are in cahoots with. The RIAA also says that it won't require ISPs to reveal the identities of individuals but could, of course, go after individuals who are heavy uploaders or repeat offenders. For the moment though, it appears that
single-mothers are in the clear.
Filed under: Portable Audio
RIAA finds its soul, will stop suing individuals downloading music originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments Without a doubt, 2009 is destined to be the year of
The Android. Samsung just announced its ticket to the party with a Q2 launch of its Android phones on both Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile in the US. Apparently, the touch-screen device will be an adaptation of the
Omnia (Korea's
800 x 480 pixel version please) and
Instinct. In other words, a rectangle with a full-screen display and minimal set of buttons just like every other touchscreen device out there. In case you missed it, this game is no longer about the hardware.
[Via
ModMyGphone, thanks Neerhaj]
Filed under: Cellphones
Samsung's Android phone hitting Sprint and T-Mobile by June originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments Polaroid may have defeated Kodak in the instant camera business, but it can't beat a sagging economy. Polaroid (or Polaroid Corp to be precise) just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in 7 years. Of course, the new Polaroid Corporation is really just a holding company for the Polaroid name -- a brand that has been thoroughly diluted by its application to
sub-standard TVs, vile
portable DVD players, and gimmicky
PoGo digital cameras. Polaroid says, "We expect to continue our operations as normal during the reorganization and are planning for new product launches in 2009." That a threat?
[Thanks JideOsan, image courtesy of
Jerkwithacamera]
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Polaroid files for chapter 11 bankruptcy, again originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments 
Despite what your significant other may tell you, there's really one woman that's even more important. Yup, we're talking about ma bear. And with the holidays just around the corner, Kevin's looking to make sure his mum gets exactly what she wants / needs.
"I'm looking for a digital camera for my mom, who probably would appreciate simplicity over features, and use it a few times a week at most. Ideally, it would have fewer buttons, settings, and dials, since she could easily change a setting and have no idea what she did and how to set it back. Alkaline batteries are preferred, since she often forgets to charge her cellphone. I need something with at least decent image quality, and the price tag needs to at or under $150 if possible. Help!"
Don't worry Kev, we won't let you ruin the holidays for your mother. Surely these readers will dish out a few helpful recommendations out of the kindness of their hearts. And if you're really in the giving mood, give us a question of your own to ponder at ask at engadget dawt com.
Ask Engadget: Best simple camera for my mother? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments Had we known that eliminating those frustrating, potentially dangerous hard clamshell packages would simply take a nudge, we would've picketed for action years ago. Shortly after Amazon
took and stand and announced its own initiative to cut back on wasteful, hard-to-open packaging, Sony has confirmed
earlier reports that it will indeed be working towards something better. On a recent post to the outfit's blog, the company noted that it should "have a new alternative to announce soon." No need to reinvent the wheel, Sony -- the hard work has
already been done. Check the totally corny vid promoting the change after the break.
Continue reading Sony joins the bandwagon, declares death to annoying clamshell packaging
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Sony joins the bandwagon, declares death to annoying clamshell packaging originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments 
It's not clear what has changed at this point, but a brand spankin' new firmware for the Storm versioned 4.7.0.83 has just leaked out onto the interwebs. The good news is that -- if our math is right, anyway -- 83 is a considerably higher number than 76, so we're hoping that this cut incorporates all the changes in 4.7.0.76 that didn't make it into 75, the upgrade officially released by Verizon not long ago. If you're bold enough (pun intended) to give it a go, let us know how it treats you, alright?
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Leaked 4.7.0.83 firmware for BlackBerry Storm is .08 higher than .75 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments Never mind those eBay prices for the
Kindle, and don't pay any attention to the $399 sticker attached to Sony's
Reader -- instead, feast your eyes on this gem. The $259 eSlick is expected to arrive courtesy of Foxit this January, and if you jump in early, you'll be able to get it for just $229. Sure, it doesn't include that fancy connectivity like on the Kindle, but we suspect you'll get over the lack of subscriptions pretty quick given all the coin you'll save up front. The unit is said to be around the size "of a medium paperback," checking in at 0.4-inches think and featuring a 6-inch 800 x 600 resolution display. The panel itself is made by the same firm that provides panels for Amazon, and it'll ship with 128MB of inbuilt memory along with a 2GB SD card. As for longevity, you can expect to get about 8,000 turns before it caves from exhaustion, and if your eyes tire, the unit can double as an MP3 player. Lookie here -- we just found you the perfect device to spend your holiday card money on. You're welcome.
[Via
PC World]
Filed under: Displays, Handhelds
Foxit takes on the eBook world with low(er) cost eSlick originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments You may have noticed that comments on the
recent Storm post have been turned off. If you're wondering why that's the case, it's because a handful of folks posting on that story are being rude, disrespectful, reactionary jerks.
To be clear, we can do that on any and all posts. Commenting on this site is a privilege, not a right -- and this is an exercise to demonstrate that. Lately we've noticed a lot of belligerent commenters acting like they own the place (the place being Engadget). News flash -- you don't. We love the participation and input from our commenters --
the readers of this site are what make it so great -- but when the normally intelligent discussion devolves into nasty, hate-filled rants... well, we have our limits of tolerance. If those commenters who wish to keep up this childish garbage continue, we'll just switch all the comments off. All the comments. Off.
So think before you type, and try to be mindful that the people who work here are human beings trying to do their job, not lightning rods for your bad vibes.
Filed under: Announcements
A note on comments originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments Thanks to a totally amazing Engadget source, we've gotten our hands on photos of the absolutely sick Dell Studio XPS 13, and some new info about the company's forthcoming
Adamo. First off, the photos in the gallery are of that Studio XPS we caught wind of
way back in August. The pics we saw back then don't really do the laptop justice, as you can tell by these snaps. Meanwhile, that rumored Adamo is very much real, and very much like what we've been hearing. Apparently the device -- which the company plans to market as the "world's thinnest laptop" -- was slated to be released this month, but has been pushed back till at least February. The Adamo will sport a black and silver color scheme similar to the system you see here, but is "different," and we're told that it's most definitely Dell's play to nab some of that MacBook Air marketshare. We're working on some photos of that, but until those come through, enjoy the gallery below!
Dell Studio XPS 13 leather-wrapped laptop revealed, Adamo info leaked! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments 
Things may not be looking all that great for GM at the moment, but the automaker is vowing to meet its promised launch date for the
Volt, even it doesn't receive the government aid it's been
seeking, and despite the fact that some of the plants that should be making parts for the car are currently closed. According to
The Wall Street Journal, while GM isn't saying specifically how it'll get the car built on time, it could possibly make it a top-priority project in the event the company's forced into bankruptcy protection and use what little funding it has left, or it could import the necessary parts from overseas. Needless to say, some folks remain unconvinced, but as AutoblogGreen points out, GM has really gone out on a limb with the Volt, and it can't exactly afford to start backtracking now.
[Via
AutoblogGreen]
Filed under: Transportation
GM promises to deliver Volt on time no matter what originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments You received this email because you are subscribed to the real_time feed for http://www.engadget.com/rss.xml. To change your subscription settings, please log into RSSFWD.
