Archive for December, 2006
« Previous EntriesThanko makes the best even better, updates hand-warming mouse
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Thanko, not just content with keeping our feet warm this season, has released an update to its USB hand-warming mouse as well.The new device, though, seems to be nothing more than a redesign, as all the specs have remained the same. For those unfamiliar with this toasty gadget, the mouse can reach a maximum temperature of 45°C and has an 800dpi resolution. It claims to only support Windows NT/ME/2000/XP, but since it’s driver-less, we’re sure that it won’t leave Mac users out in the cold. While we enjoy the bump in aesthetics it got, we think we’ll take our chances with frost bite and hold out for the third version, when perhaps it will have a higher resolution and a few extra buttons.
[Via Book of Joe, thanks David B.]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Olympus M:Robe finally finds its calling: running Linux
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Filed under: Portable Audio
While hackers eagerly work on getting Tux onto their Zunes, M:Robe fans can rejoice as their wait is finally over. After cracking the firmware, crafty “Shirour” has managed a great feat in not only getting his media player to run Linux kernel 2.6.15, but also in creating a touchscreen driver for it and putting together a serial interface to make those “wasted job hours” more productive. If you’re interested in taking advantage of the fruits of his labor, the modified Linux files are available for download, allowing you to breathe some new life into your favorite (or not so favorite) discontinued music player. Just remember, those of you who opted for the extended warranties, any damages incurred during the course of this hack will undoubtedly void it.
[Thanks, Daniel P]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
First “Googlephone” ends up being Samsung’s Ultra Edition 13.8 (Z720)
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless
Contrary to previous beliefs, it looks like neither Orange nor HTC will have a part in producing the first “Googlephone,” and instead it seems that Samsung is slipping in the back door to steal the limelight. When the Ultra Edition 13.8 (formerly known as the Z720) got official a few days back, we noticed the relatively unexpected suite of Google apps swarming the mobile’s innards, and aside from the handset not exactly abiding by the Opera agreement that is supposedly falling into place, it seems a good fit for the first Google-infused mobile. Of course, the programs that come loaded are all available as free downloads on supported handsets, but it seems the European-bound 13.8 will be numero uno in what’s likely to be quite a lengthy list of Googled mobiles.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
FCC approves $87b AT&T + BellSouth merger: now what?
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Ok, quick refresher: in 1984 the government splits up AT&T into the Baby Bells; through a series of mergers and acquisitions, most of the original AT&T is reformed into a new company with the old brand, spearheaded by the business formerly known as SBC. SBC’s new AT&T owns in whole or in part: Cingular, AT&T Wireless, AT&T — and now its closest ally in business (and co-owner of Cingular), BellSouth. That is, after months of deliberation and delays (we won’t bore you with the political details as to why — if you want to know more, check here), the $87 billion merger (hey, that went up 20 billion!) was finally given the greenlight by the FCC and SEC, as you may or may not have heard. So what does that mean customers can expect from the newly reformed AT&T? Here’s a taste:
- The Cingular brand eventually will die and actually become AT&T Wireless — the very brand it paid billions to acquire.
- AT&T has agreed to maintain net neutrality for up to two years; after that, we’re of what happens. This concession can be overturned if Congress passes anti-net neutrality laws, which we’re all hoping, of course, that it doesn’t.
- AT&T has agreed to sell “naked” DSL for $20 a month as a standard package.
- AT&T is likely also to strive for more aggressive triple (or quadruple) play packages, as it rolls out U-Verse-based IPTV. In some regions, customers can expect to get TV, DSL, phone, and cellphone service all under the AT&T brand.
- Baby Bell remnants still competing with AT&T in one vertical or another: Verizon, Qwest, Cincinnati Bell.
For more info on how AT&T was broken down and reformed, check out The Engadget Guide to AT&T Wireless/Cingular/SBC/AT&T merger mania.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
iPod owners report whining sound emanating from 2G nanos
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Filed under: Portable Audio
In a thread over at the Apple Discussions forums, dozens of iPod owners are reporting high-pitching whining and / or buzzing sounds emanating from their 2nd Generation iPod nanos. Many of the owners cite that their units are fully functional despite the whining, although the volume of the unwanted sound varies between each report; for example, russgra states that the whining sound was the first thing he noticed after picking up his 8GB nano, although Energie claims that he wouldn’t have noticed had he not seen the problem popping up in forums. There doesn’t seem to be any correlation to any particular model within the range either, with 2, 4, and 8GB owners all reporting the annoyance — notably, none of the reports notice any sound on their previous generation nanos, leading some to suggest that it’s caused by a new or upgraded component such as the backlight or battery. In the interests of investigating the problem ourselves, we commandeered a nearby 2GB nano — although we could hear a faint whining sound once pressed to our ear (which oddly changed tone after we shook it), we found the whine to be inaudible unless we practically lodged it in our ear. Could it be that this encounter is simply a reverberation of the post-Consumermas hangovers, or is this scenario a repeat of the whining problems with the MacBook? If the latter case is true, then it’s worth noting that Apple was relatively quick to fix the problem and silence the buzz, along with the vocal minority of people who had brought the issue to the attention of everyone else.
[Thanks, David B.]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
The 2006 Engadget Awards
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Filed under: Announcements, Features, Misc. Gadgets
Well, we’re all about to wave 2006 a very fond goodbye, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a moment to reflect on all of this year’s best (and worst) devices — the very tech plunder we’ll be using well into 2007. Welcome to the third annual Engadget awards!
We’ve set up 21 categories — including most of our regular product categories, as well as best and worst gadget of 2006, and the most anticipated gadget of 2007 — for you to cast your nominations. Here’s how nominating works:
- Leave a comment as you normally would with what you’re nominating in each category (remember, comments must be validated!).
- Don’t include your reasons for nominating it or any of that stuff, just leaving the name is fine.
- Limit your nominations only to devices (or technologies) that were introduced and sold for the first time in 2006 (which means no concept devices or prototypes, although we will allow updated versions of previous products).
- Nominations only need be made once to be in the running, so make a quick scan to see if someone’s already beat you to your suggestion (i.e., don’t nominate anything more than once!).
- We’ll keep the nominations open until 11:59PM EST on Saturday, January 6th
The editors of Engadget will then round up the best nominations, and pick the finalists for each category. These will then be voted on for the Reader’s Choice Awards — we’ll also select our own winners for the Engadget Editors’ Awards (i.e. each category will have two awards). The vote will take place in January (probably after CES), and winners will be announced later that month.
Here are the different categories, please post your nominations on each page!
- Gadget of the Year
- Worst Gadget of the Year
- Most Anticipated Gadget of 2007
- Cellphone of the Year
- Smartphone of the Year
- Desktop of the Year
- Digital Camera of the Year
- Display of the Year
- Game Console of the Year
- GPS Device of the Year
- Handheld of the Year
- HDTV of the Year
- Home Entertainment Device of the Year
- Laptop of the Year
- Peripheral of the Year
- Portable Media Device of the Year
- Robot of the Year
- Storage Device or Technology of the Year
- Tablet PC of the Year
- Wearable Device of the Year
- Wireless Device or Technology of the Year
Good luck!
See also: 2004 and 2005 Engadget Award winners.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Proton’s 42- and 47-inch Premium LCD HDTVs gets official
Sunday, December 31st, 2006
Proton’s no stranger to taking the wraps off new products in lively Las Vegas, and this year it looks like those yet-to-be-named LCD HDTVs we’ve been hearing about will finally be getting a model number and a full list of specs to boot. Dubbed the first two sets in the company’s “premium” LED-backlit lineup, the 42-inch P42D5 and 47-inch P47D5 both sport a newly designed aluminum enclosure, 176-degree viewing angle, and a “Puriti” processing engine that purportedly helps to eliminate jaggies among other color enhancements. Aside from the full blown 1080p support, built-in digital / analog tuners, PIP, and HDMI inputs on both sets, the P47D5 also features a 1200:1 contrast ratio, 500 cd/m2 brightness, 8-millisecond response time, and a pair of integrated 5-watt speakers. Both sets should be on display at next month’s CES, and while the 42-incher will sell for $1,999, the flagship 47-inch model will demand $2,999.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Head and Shoulders alerts public to dandruff threat with ceiling cams
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Filed under: Digital Cameras
You may have seen or heard of marketing campaigns that are annoying or even offensive in their own right, but it’s not very often that you’ll see one that aims to notify the viewer of a personal annoyance: in this case, that they’re suffering from a socially unacceptable hair-based ailment. That’s not to say that Head and Shoulders’ photo booth-based dandruff detecting campaign is an entirely benevolent one, but we appreciate the thought nonetheless. Saatchi & Saatchi was the agent behind the idea of placing a camera into the ceiling of British photo booths in order to deposit a photo of the recipient’s hairline, with the obvious intention of selling their client more shampoo. Although the British may be used to 24/7 surveillance nearly everywhere they travel, at least in those cases they can fool themselves into believing that the only eyes on the other end are those of a bored security guard. With the dandruff detector, the suspicion is far more personal: how is an innocent Briton to know that information on their bald patch won’t be surreptitiously stored and resurface years later in the form of anti-balding marketing leaflets through their door? Yes, that was a joke, but we’re sure there are still going to be people that won’t take lightly to being told by a photo booth that they should wash their hair more often. As they’ll no doubt argue, isn’t getting a photo of one’s face traumatic enough? Personally, we know exactly what to bring if we ever had to visit one of these — that tin foil hat hasn’t failed us yet.
[Via Core77]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
When good toys go bad II: toy cellphone botches “six”
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Filed under: Cellphones
There’s acceptable ways to drop the H-Bomb and F-Bomb, and there’s “when good toys go bad.” Presumably turning a joyous, thrilling Christmas morning into one giant moment of awkwardness, a South Carolina mum was aghast when her son’s toy phone, which was purchased from K-Mart as an innocent symbol of motherly love, vocalized “profanity” (mmkay?) instead of “the number six” when pressed. The phone reportedly shouts out numbers when the respective keys are mashed, but unfortunately for Brandy Cunningham, “six” didn’t exactly turn out like it should have. Leading to eventual embarrassment, she claims her son has repeated the taboo vocabulary in places like “church” and “the grocery store,” leaving the parent in quite a predicament. She even purchased yet another one just in case the phone was a one-time mishap, but found that not to be the case. A spokeperson for Sears / K-Mart has assured everyone that the company is investigating the incident and the toy itself, as it doesn’t “intend to sell children’s products that contain profanity.” It’s just a hunch and all, but we think somebody in the manufacturing line is going to have a little explaining to do if all this proves accurate.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Heat-sensitive spoons designed for better cooking
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Filed under: Household
Who among us has not been thwarted by the microwave at some point — constantly having to heat and reheat, trying to get our food at that perfect temperature. While some take the smart appliance approach, those who enjoy a low-tech aesthetic might be interested in The Added Touch’s color changing spoons. Each one is heat-sensitive and adjusts hue when your food reaches 120 degrees F, indicating that it is ready. While being the only color changing spoon we have seen that didn’t come in a cereal box, it might also be the only one in our dish rack that doesn’t melt or get to sparking when left in the ol’ nuker.
[Via Core77]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
