Hasta La Gadget!

Gamers have largely gotten a bad rep for being lazy, slothful people who spend their hours mindlessly pressing buttons. The Wii changed that a bit by getting kids (and their parents… and their parents) up off the couch, but what about giving their brains a workout too? For your family’s little mind freak to-be Mattel is introducing the Mind Flex, a brain-powered game that relies on your mental activity to control the height of a ball suspended in a column of air. Don the headset then start concentrating to make the purple orb rise; relax and it lowers. There are six total game types but all entail getting a ball over, under, and through a variety of hoops and the like, sometimes against a clock so that you can challenge your friends. Sadly you have to actually reach up and turn the dial to move the ball around the course, but in our heads on trial we found the thing to be impressively responsive, gently sinking down when we thought about getting some sleep — then shooting back up again when we pondered the number of posts left to write tonight. It was challenging for sure, and definitely turned a lot of heads, but we’re a little concerned that extended sessions could be headache inducing. Its $80 price tag might cause some temple pain too when the thing releases this fall, but we’ve certainly spent more money on things that were less fun — and mentally stimulating. Video of floaty balls and squinting players below.

Continue reading Video: Mattel Mind Flex hands (and heads) on

Filed under: CES, Gaming, Wearables

Video: Mattel Mind Flex hands (and heads) on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We stopped by Creative’s booth to see what the haps was with the Zii earlier, and… well, there wasn’t a ton going on there, but we wanted to document the experience for you anyway. What we saw didn’t enhance our knowledge of what we learned earlier in the day: the system-on-chip architecture for media applications (the first part being the ZMO5 Media-Rich System-On-Chip which is apparently a newer version of 3DLABS’s DMS-02 chip) is touted as a springboard for commercial applications — and we hear that at least PowerLinux has signed on to use the platform for an advanced video conferencing system. Sounds exhaustingly exciting right? And it was. Creative doesn’t want anyone getting too close to their components — they were all encased in glass — but check the gallery after the break for what we did see.

Filed under: CES, Desktops

Eyes-on the Creative Zii (or parts of it, anyway) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iLuv already dropped a bundle of iPod alarm clock / speaker systems here at CES, so it follows logic for yet another “i” company to dole out a helping of its own. Kicking things off is the iP29 portable speaker case, and stepping up the excitement level from zilch to one is the iP49 rechargeable audio system with alarm clock / FM radio for iPod and iPhone. Lastly, the iHMP5 two-in-one stereo speaker / headphone system enables users to listen in private or enter into “full speaker mode” for the posse to tune in. As with most everything else announced here at CES, pricing and availability have yet to be revealed.

Filed under: CES, Home Entertainment

iHome showcases iP29 / iP49 / iHMP5 iPod speaker systems originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen the Grippity back-typing keyboard move from mere prototype to working, production model, so our interest was definitely piqued when we heard that the developer would be at CES with his one-of-a-kind QWERTY board. Well, he came by with the Grippity, and we got some finger-time with it. The keyboard’s certainly not an immediately comfortable or intuitive typing experience by any means, but it’s got a real charm to it. The designer also kindly did a demo for us, and even he — the creator of the device — wasn’t exactly what we’d call lightning fast on it, but see for yourself in the video (and gallery!) after the break.

P.S.- Yes, that’s the inside of the Engadget double-wide trailer in the video — we promise we’ll have some more pictures as soon as all the real CES news dies down!

Gallery: Grippity keyboard

Continue reading Grippity back-typing keyboard hands-on

Filed under: Peripherals

Grippity back-typing keyboard hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It was just a short year ago that we went to Fulton Innovation’s tiny booth at CES and failed to get a working wireless power demo, but a lot’s happened since then — the company is at CES 2009 in force, with a much larger, swanker booth, partners like Energizer and Motorola demoing working products, and tons of working real-world examples of the tech in action. We were particularly taken with the modded Dish DVR that automatically turned itself on and off when the remote was placed on top of it to charge up — oh, and the remote featured super-capacitors instead of batteries that charge fully in 10 seconds. There were also a ton of cell phones (including a modded iPhone, of course), new cooking demos featuring a blender, and a super cool Leggett & Pratt power tool charging workbench. Extremely impressive, all in all — we’re starting to think that 2009 could be the year that wireless power could really take off. Gallery below, video after the break!

P.S.- We asked if Fulton had anything to do with the Palm Pre’s sexy Touchstone wireless charger, but the guys in the booth didn’t know. We’ll let you know if we find anything out.

Continue reading Fulton Innovation has a wireless power coming out party at CES

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Fulton Innovation has a wireless power coming out party at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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