The AS220 Drawbot kit includes a laser-cut wooden box, engraved with the same pattern the Drawbot is programmed to create.
(Credit: AS220)
I don’t care how much money you spend on a piece of hoity-toity artwork–eventually you’re going to get sick of looking at it. To keep things …
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has launched Free Spirit, a Web site dedicated to keeping track of the agency’s efforts to free the stuck rover on the surface of Mars, Space.com reports. NASA currently has an entire team of engineers working to simulate the rover’s predicament using a test rover and several tons of simulated Mars dirt.
“People really like the whole ‘free Spirit,’ idea and we thought we should make it really easy for people to find updates,” said Veronica McGregor, a NASA spokesperson at JPL, in the article. “In a way, we’re trying to make it a campaign that everyone can get involved in.”
The team is still working on the problem of a big rock situated beneath the rover’s stomach, though it appears that it isn’t touching quite enough to become a huge problem. Still, the situation remains precarious. “This is a
very tough situation and we’re not sure we can get Spirit out,” McGregor said in the report. There’s lots more, including a video showing the spinning wheel in the dirt, so head on over to the Free Spirit Web site at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/freespirit/. (Image credit: NASA/JPL)
Ready for even more rumors about Windows Mobile 7 and Microsoft’s mysterious “Pink” smartphone project? Good, cause we’ve got a few — and the first is potentially huge. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley says her best understanding of “Pink” is now that it’s a Microsoft-branded phone running a custom UI on top of Windows Mobile 7, developed by what’s left of the Danger team and targeted at the Sidekick market. Yep, Microsoft-branded — as in, the exact thing Microsoft has been denying for ages now. What’s more, Redmond wouldn’t be letting third parties use this new UI — Pink would be manufactured only by Sharp or Motorola, who’ve made Sidekicks in the past. It all makes sense, even if it does feel a bit like MS is knifing its partners in the back — companies like HTC and Samsung have been equally aggressive in layering their own UIs like TouchFLO 3D and TouchWiz on top of WinMo, but it’s another thing entirely to compete against Microsoft itself, especially now that AdWeek says Microsoft’s selected an agency to develop a Pink ad campaign. Yeah, things are starting to get a little wild — we haven’t even mentioned the open questions of whether the Zune HD is running Tegra because it’s based on Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1, or whether Pink will launch on Verizon, or whether Zune will appear on other phones, or… you get the idea. Hey Microsoft — you want to clear any of this up by shipping some products?
Filed under: Cellphones
Microsoft’s “Pink” smartphone to be Microsoft-branded? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
(Credit: Firebox)Rainy days are good for only one activity: sleeping in.
Unfortunately for those who still have to earn their keep, there’s the weather to deal with. Which is why we’re big fans of high-tech brollies here at Crave. They keep us (relatively) dry and make the …
It goes without saying that we’ve been pretty excited about the Olympus E-P1 (or “digital Pen”) since we first laid eyes on the prototype the company was showing off. The Micro Four Thirds camera just seems to breed gadget lust amongst the staff, combining the best of modern tech with a throwback retro style that is somewhat irresistible. Of course, no one wants to drop $800 on a digicam unless it’s actually capable of taking a decent shot — so we thought we’d put the E-P1 through some basic paces to see if this guy is worth unloading nearly a grand on. Read on for some of our first impressions and observations.
Gallery: Olympus E-P1 hands-on
Continue reading Olympus E-P1 hands-on, test shots, and mini-review
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Olympus E-P1 hands-on, test shots, and mini-review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
(Credit: Sanyo)Sanyo is turning to LED light technology, a hot new area for experimentation, to squeeze three uses out of a single lamp. The company’s new Eneloop Lamp is a desk light that can also work as an emergency flashlight and even send some healing energy your way–or …
Apple’s iPod Touch is one of highest-rated MP3 players on CNET, but it’s also one of the most expensive, starting at $230. That’s a lot of money to drop on …
Originally posted at MP3 Insider
As quickly as gadgets evolve, their knockoffs do, too. Take a gander at some of the new counterfeit iPhones, which sport an uncanny resemblance to Apple’s proud creation.
iPhone knockoffs have come a long way in a short amount of time. Compare the image at top of a new iPhone clone to the image below of a HiPhone, a shoddy counterfeit iPhone we regretfully purchased in November. The older one is obviously fake — even to those who don’t own an iPhone. But the new copycat looks pretty impressive, doesn’t it?
New iPhone knockoffs are making their way onto eBay and Craigslist, reports Cult of Mac’s Leander Kahney. And they look so close to the real thing that the only warning sign is when the price is too good to be true.
MacMedics posted a video featuring a fake iPhone that a client purchased off eBay. Check it out below the jump.
See Also:
Photos: Steven Fernandez/Flickr, Brian X. Chen/Wired.com
When Ryan Block (our former Editor-in-chief) and Peter Rojas (founder of Engadget, Gizmodo, and RCRD LBL) announced last year that they were embarking on a new project together, alarm bells went off across the interblogs. Following nearly 12 months of rampant speculation, the duo’s hard work is finally revealed. Combining the best of social networking, forums, news aggregation, and wiki-based sites, gdgt presents a fairly awe-inspiring range of tools for the hardcore gadget lover.
Imagine if Facebook, Wikipedia, your favorite forum, and Google Reader all got mashed into one gigantic, delicious smoothie, and you might begin to get the idea of gdgt. Instead of retreading territory in which they’ve already blazed a path, Ryan and Peter present a logical step forward for the gadget community — a place where you can discuss, dissect, and grow your passion with other like minded individuals. It’s an ambitious project with lots of really cool stuff to discover, like product comparison tools, the ability to track gadgets you own (or used to own, or want), news from top gadget sites (wink wink), and embeddable widgets.
Look, we’ve found the best way in life to learn about something is to scuttle the user manual and dive right in — we highly suggest you do the same and take gdgt out for a spin. We think you’ll like what you find.
Congrats Peter and Ryan!
Filed under: Meta
Peter Rojas and Ryan Block launch gdgt — the Swiss Army knife of tech sites originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’ve seen interesting 3D peripherals like the Novint Falcon combine multi-axis movement and force feedback to create immersive experiences in the past, but a new research project called the H.VR Editor takes the idea to the next level, allowing you to “touch” and interact with CGI objects. Objects respond according to a pre-programmed graph of hardness values, and the system is capable of simulating texture and events like button presses. That should make the system a hit with product developers everywhere, but we’re waiting to see if the folks at DeviceAnywhere pick this up to build the ultimate cellphone testing lab. Video after the break.
Continue reading Force feedback controller allows you to “touch” CGI objects
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Peripherals
Force feedback controller allows you to “touch” CGI objects originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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