Mar 31

Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 synthesizer sure to entice Mark Mothersbaugh

Posted in: awesome, Music, Today's Chili

We’ve been thinking about picking up our own little synth lately, so we were pretty stoked to see Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 — even if it’s not near production yet. The pocket-sized synthesizer — which will also double as a controller for a digital workstation — is going to boast eight synth models and eight samplers, effects, a sequencer and an arpeggiator. There’s a built-in mic, speaker, and, excitingly, an FM radio. On the controller side of the device, it’s got transport controls, four rotary encoders, plus 16 quick keys. There’s no word yet on when (if) this thing will hit the market, though they’re taking volunteers for beta testing as of now. Sounds awesome, looks rad: sign us up!

Update: Video of a display test of the OP-1 after the break!

[Via Music Radar]

Continue reading Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 synthesizer sure to entice Mark Mothersbaugh

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Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 synthesizer sure to entice Mark Mothersbaugh originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 31

Dont Shoot In Auto: Built-In Flash

Posted in: dslr, flash, Today's Chili

Thumbnail image for Cause of Flash Illustration.jpgAre the built-in flash units on your DSLR (or any camera) awful? I’ll let Canon, which includes them on its cameras, answer that:

“We’ve all seen it in snapshots we’ve either taken ourselves, or been shown by others: the pupils of your subject’s eyes are lit up in a devilish bright red color, unlike anything we’re used to seeing in real life. And of course, you never saw it in your camera’s viewfinder when you took the picture.”

Red-eye! It’s the bane of amateur photographers worldwide. The pros don’t have the problem, because they move the flash away from the lens so a bolt of light doesn’t illuminate the very red back of your eyeball. But red-eye is only one of the many bad features built into every on-camera flash.

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Mar 31

Engadget’s recession antidote: win a pair of Audioengine A5 speakers!

Posted in: contest, recession, Today's Chili

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn’t want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back — so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We’ll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we’ve got a pair of Audioengine A5 speakers on offer. Read the rules below (no skimming — we’re omniscient and can tell when you’ve skimmed) and get commenting!

Special thanks to Audioengine for providing the gear!

The rules:

  • Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share the name of your favorite pet, that would be cool too (FYI: ours are Salvador and Penny)
  • You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you’ll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
  • If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you’ll be fine.
  • Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
  • Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one pair of Audioengine A5 speakers. Approximate value is $349.
  • If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
  • Entries can be submitted until Tuesday, March 31st, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
  • Full rules can be found here.

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Engadget’s recession antidote: win a pair of Audioengine A5 speakers! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 31

D-Links Brainy, Feature-Packed Router

Posted in: networking, router, Today's Chili, Wireless

dlink.jpg

If you’re looking for a fully loaded wireless router for a competitive price, the D-Link DIR-825 Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router might be exactly what you need. It’s one of the brainiest routers we’ve tested in the PCMag Labs, yet it’s simple enough for home users to set up and use with no problem.

This router has a USB port with 3G wireless capability, simultaneous dual 2.4-GHz- and 5-GHz-band Wi-Fi mixed mode, power-saving green technologies, and a ton of other customizable feature to satisfy even the most demanding personal networks. You get all this for very reasonable $169 (direct). It’s a great choice for heavy duty online gamers and small office users alike. Get the full scoop on this Editor’s Choice router in PCMag’s in-depth review.

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Mar 31

Samsung’s 2009 Blu-ray player lineup officially priced

Posted in: available, blu-ray, now shipping, NowShipping, samsung, Today's Chili

When Samsung’s 2009 Blu-ray player lineup was outed at CES this year, all pricing and release date information was conveniently omitted. At long last, Sammy has pushed out the details we’ve been waiting for at its Spring Fever event in New York City. Granted, the BD-P3600 and BD-P1600 are already on store shelves for $399.99 and $299.99, respectively, but we figured it prudent to pass along those official numbers straight from the source. Of note, we’re also told that the ultrathin BD-P4600 will indeed be coming in April for $499.99, and if Best Buy’s website is to be believed, it’ll be April 19th if we’re talking specifics.

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Samsung’s 2009 Blu-ray player lineup officially priced originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 31

Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi Expands on American Flights

Posted in: Today's Chili, wi-fi

gogo-antenna.jpg

Last August, American Airlines decided to give inflight Wi-Fi a try on 15 domestic aircraft. The trial was successful enough that the airline has announced plans to expand the service, courtesy of Aircell’s Gogo Inflight Internet, to 300 planes by this time in 2011. Gogo turns the inside of the cabin into a hotspot in the air.

American’s trial was on 15 767-200 plans that flew between JFK in New York City and San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami, each day. The plan is to put the Gogo’s system–which uses air-to-ground (ATG) towers sprinkled across the U.S. to talk to tiny EV-DO antennas (pictured) on the plane–in 150 McDonnell Douglas MD-80 planes this year, followed by its 150 Boeing 737-800 planes next year. This will effectively cover almost all of American’s domestic fleet; the rest travel over water, which won’t work with Gogo.

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Mar 31

Samsung YP-Q2 and YP-U5 hands-on

Posted in: Features, hands-on, samsung, Today's Chili

Samsung has rounded out its line of DAPs with the new YP-U5 and YP-Q2, both squarely targeted at what have come to be well-defined DAP categories in recent years. The Q2 (pictured) has a friendly icon-based interface, with familiar touch-sensitive controls below the screen — though we found ourselves futilely tapping at the large bright icons out of habit. The interface is fast, the screen is great, and the feature set builds on Samsung’s typical kitchen sink, now including DNSe 3.0 sound enhancement — though we’d say the 50 hour battery life steals the show. The U5 looks thoroughly dated, though it’s more ergonomically friendly to those athletic types among us than some thumb daps. The teensy black and white OLED screen makes it a bit of a chore to run through the functions, but at least it’s there.

Gallery: Samsung YP-Q2 hands-on

Gallery: Samsung YP-U5 hands-on

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Samsung YP-Q2 and YP-U5 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 31

Dell Studio XPS 13 unboxing and hands-on

Posted in: Features, hands-on, HandsOn, Today's Chili, unboxing

We finally managed to wrestle one of the sleek Studio XPSs from Dell’s mitts, and we’ve got the pics to prove it. At first glance, the 13-inch laptop is striking, with its leather wrapped back and high gloss finish. However, we have a few minor quibbles that make the laptop a little less exciting than we’d hoped. Firstly, the leather is a bit rippled across the top — not a huge deal, but it skews the “design” aspect here. In a similar fashion, the super-glare display is just as distracting as it is on other screens of this type, and there seems to be another slight ripple — or wave — in the plastic (though this isn’t wholly uncommon). Once you open the box, you’re greeted to a matte, low-profile keyboard that feels terrific to the touch, though unfortunately the trackpad is not only minuscule in size, but located to the left of center, which makes no sense to us (especially on something of this size). For hands like ours, we found the experience to be a bit cramped. On the software side, the boot into Vista was certainly speedy, and though we had typical issues (crapware, pop-ups, general bugginess), the system still felt pretty snappy. We’re going to be taking a more in-depth look — especially at the capabilities of that NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G 9500M GPU — but for now, feast your eyes on the gallery below!

Update: Our mistake! We actually have the model with the 9500M GPU. Even better!

Gallery: Dell Studio XPS 13 unboxing and hands-on

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Dell Studio XPS 13 unboxing and hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 31

Samsung shows off new HT-WS1 soundbar

Posted in: samsung, Today's Chili

In addition to that new AS730 HTIB, Samsung’s kicking around a new soundbar audio system, which packages a 260W 2.1 setup (capable of virtual 5.1) with a sizable wireless subwoofer for the passable price of $350. The HT-WS1 is fairly diminutive as far as soundbars go, and is wall mountable if you’re into that. The bar is styled in Samsung’s “Touch of Color” grey and red to match your Samsung TV (you do have a Samsung TV, don’t you?), and the whole kit will be available in April.

Gallery: Samsung shows off new HT-WS1 soundbar

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Samsung shows off new HT-WS1 soundbar originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 31

Researchers develop braille for vibrating touchscreen devices

Posted in: Today's Chili, touchscreen

In braille, a character is made up of six dots laid out on a two by three matrix — not something that can really be conveyed using capacitive touchscreen technology. Working with a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, researchers in Finland have developed a method for piezoelectric touchscreen devices that uses a single pulse of intense vibration to convey a raised dot, and a longer vibration made up of several weaker pulses to represent a missing dot — spelling out letters that can be easily read by touch. It took a while for volunteers to get used to this method, but once they had they were able to read a character in as little as 1.25 seconds. Now that they have letters down, the team is moving on to words and sentences — with an eye towards developing text-to-braille software sometime in the future.

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Researchers develop braille for vibrating touchscreen devices originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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