Hasta La Gadget!

Sony’s OLED Walkman is something else. Literally. In many ways, it’s Sony’s first formidable iPod rival to emerge in quite some time, and with its striking OLED panel, tastefully appointed graphite casing and absolutely amazing audio quality, it’s certainly worth a look. For those of you around the world that have picked one up, we’re curious to see if you think you made the right decision. For many, anything sans an Apple logo is the right choice, but we’re wondering if the UI, design and value here were up to snuff in your mind. Are you digging the overall look and feel? Do you mind not having an App Store? Are you floored with audio / video performance? Have at it in comments below — don’t hold back now, okay?

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

How would you change Sony’s OLED Walkman? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By now, you’re no doubt well acquainted with the Albert Hubo Einstein robot developed by the mad scientists at KAIST, but some researchers at the University of California, San Diego has also been working on their own Einstein bot for the past little while, and they’ve now managed to teach it some new tricks. While the bot has previously been able to display a full range of expressions through some pre-programmed facial movements, it’s now able to teach itself how to smile or display other emotions thanks to a new trial-and-error technique dubbed “body babble.” That apparently works by comparing Einstein’s attempts at an expression with some facial recognition software, which provides Al with some positive feedback each time he manages an actual expression. Did we mention there’s a video? Check it out after the break.

[Via Switched]

Continue reading Einstein robot learns to smile, teaches us how to feel

Filed under: Robots

Einstein robot learns to smile, teaches us how to feel originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DSLR video demystified and expressing your inner flower children.

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Episode 54

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Originally posted at Indecent Exposure Podcast

You don’t have to look far past Palm’s Synergy tech for webOS and smaller-scale operations like INQ to understand that social internetworking — an intelligent aggregation of every corner of your life — is the wave of the mobile future, and Google’s going on record saying that it understands. At a T-Mobile- and Google-sponsored event in San Francisco earlier today, Andy Rubin (you know, the Android dude) discussed upcoming releases in Android’s pipeline starting with Donut, which we’ve already heard mentioned, but then progressing to “Eclair” and “Flan” without mentioning specific timelines. He didn’t bust out any comprehensive roadmaps, but he waxed poetic about some of the social-centric possibilities — for example, being kept abreast of a contact’s Facebook photo and latest update every time they call — and mentioned that developers will soon have additional options for charging for apps (presently, Google Checkout is the only way to handle it, but carrier billing is coming soon).

He also reiterated that the hardware pipeline for Android is staggeringly massive, with 15 to 20 phones coming this year alone. One manufacturer actually had the stones to show him eighteen Android-powered devices in a recent meeting — sounds like a very Samsung-esque thing to do, but whether it’s Samsung, HTC, or someone else, we’re happy to hear once again that the Magic, Hero, Dream, and Galaxy won’t be the only games in town for long.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Rubin: Android getting more social features; Donut, Eclair, and Flan all in the oven originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If I won a contest that let me go on a shopping spree at any retailer of my choice, hands down I’d choose Amazon. Where else can you get organic cereal, a couch, makeup, ebooks, and a laptop in one place–without ever having to leave your home?

As you may already know, Amazon is constantly offering a number of different deals on products across all categories. There’s Gold Box (new deals every day), Ongoing Best Deals, a Friday Sale, Deals & Bargains, and Warehouse Deals. Recently, Amazon slashed the price of its Kindle 2 e-book reader, from $359 to $299.

In today’s TechSaver Test, I’m challenging Amazon to a savings duel. First to battle with me is the Apple MacBook Air 13.3-inch laptop. Then it’s the Sennheiser PX100 headphones, followed by the BlackBerry Storm 9530, the BlueAnt Red Z9i speakerphone, and the Hitachi 1TB internal hard drive. Which ones will draw blood and which will be leave unscathed? Find out, after the jump.