(Credit: Apple Records)For this week’s installment of the weekly Crave giveaway, we’re offering up something everybody seems to want these days–the entire collection of newly remastered Beatles CDs. While the picture you see above is of the boxset, you’re not actually getting the stereo boxset, but …
We even have a photograph from the actual iPhone supposedly snapped while Steve Ballmer was brandishing it overhead. We can’t say for sure if it’s real, in fact, that could be the guy from Lost. See it after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones
CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part LXII: Steve Ballmer publicly ridicules Microsoft employee with iPhone, threatens to smash it originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sharp mostly re-announced stuff we’re already seen at CEDIA today, but it did have a new soundbar for us — the $349 3.1-channel HT-SB500, which adds a center speaker to the usual stereo setup. Sharp says the bar can use Dolby Virtual Speaker to simulate 5.1 audio from DTS, Dolby Digital, and Pro Logic II sources, which is almost but not quite extremely interesting. There are also two new iPod docks, the $189 DK-AP8P and the $129 DK-AP7P, both of which should do a fine job of providing adequate audio on the go, with batteries that last up to six hours at a clip — and the cheaper one apparently folds up into itself, so that’s very fancy.
P.S.- That’s a picture of the older HT-SB300 up there — the SB500 has a redesigned control panel, but Sharp hasn’t released images yet.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Sharp announces HT-SB500 soundbar at CEDIA, some iPod docks too originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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There’s nothing we like better than putting on Europe’s The Final Countdown and listening to it over and over and yes, over again. The 80’s “rock” anthem is so damn catchy and just happens to be the theme music behind Microsoft’s (first?) Windows 7 television commercial. The bit brings back Kylie who has cast aside Vista and other childish things for Microsoft’s latest OS. It’s “snappy and re-pon-ki-ser,” says the 5 year old. Aww, shucks. Let the cute wash over you in the videos (new and old) after the break.
Continue reading Video: Microsoft’s Windows 7 ad punishes Kylie with Swedish “rock”
Filed under: Software
Video: Microsoft’s Windows 7 ad punishes Kylie with Swedish “rock” originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You should already have a pretty good idea of what extra sauce Mad Catz will be bringing to Modern Warfare 2’s November 10 release, but here are some up close and personal snaps of the hardware anyway. Monochromatic camo patterns — all the rage in that war-torn near-future world — are evident throughout and will cost you a cent under $50 for either of the Xbox 360 or PS3 Combat Controllers, the Combat Keyboard or Sniper Mouse, or a cool hundred for the Elite Keyboard with a blood-red backlight. And if you want to spruce up your current hardware, gamepad faceplates and Xbox 360 Skinz will be available for $15 and $30, respectively. Feeling like a badass comes as a free extra.
[Via Joystiq]
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
Mad Catz Modern Warfare 2 peripherals break cover, reveal pricing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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After we cheekily offered a how-to on making knock-offs of Dave Honl’s small-flash light modifiers, The Company got in touch. And surprise, they didn’t want to break our knees, or even our fingers. Instead, the folks sent over one of everything so we could try them out and compare to our rather excellent home-made solutions.
The Honl gear is a set of light-shaping tools for speedlights. Off-camera, small-light flash is a section of the camera market that has taken off in the last couple of years, thanks in part to the Strobist community and also, presumably, because the instant-replay on our digital cameras takes away the terrifying uncertainties of using lights too fast to really see. This popularity in turn has brought a demand for add-ons, but these have historically been for studio lights, or crazy expensive. The Honl range isn’t dirt cheap, but in the realms of photo gear it is a steal.
We checked out a gobo (or go-between, which blocks part of the light), a snoot (a fabric tube which lets you point light in a very tight beam), a speed grid (another directional tool which resembles a wad of plastic drinking straws in a box) and a set of color correcting filters. All of these are attached to the flash unit with Velcro, and here is the heart of the system: the Speed Strap, a semi-rubberized strap which wraps around the head and offers soft fuzzy velcro to the hard hooks on the accessories.
It works great. Above you see a picture taken as the sun was going down using a Nikon SB900 sitting on the ground and fired wirelessly using the Nikon D700’s built-in flash. The light is colored using a half CTO gel (CTO stands for color temperature orange — it warms up the flash light). The gels supplied come pre-cut and have velcro on two edges. When the sun is sinking you have to work fast and although the SB900 comes with colored gels and a holder, they’re all too fiddly. With the Honl gear you stick and rip, and it’s fast enough to keep up. In fact, if you leave the straps on the flashes, you pretty much don’t need to think about using the gear, which is the goal of any technology.
The snoots, gobos and grids are all perfectly competent. In fact, they’re probably no better at shaping light than what you could make yourself. The twist is that they are so reasonably priced that most people won’t bother with a trip to the hardware store. They are also sturdy. I’m no pro photographer, but neither do I pamper my gear. The review units are looking a little worn, but are holding up fine.
The real winner though, is the Speed Strap. A simple idea that makes swapping out light modifiers a breeze. Can you make your own? Hell yeah. We did, and we love the results. But if you just can’t be bothered, or if you want to just buy something that’ll work, the Honl gear will do the trick.
Product page [Honl]
See Also:
Photo: Charlie Sorrel
Western Digital’s My Passport portable hard drives have long hit the sweet spot in the price/size/looks triumvirate. Cheap, small, and plain but good-looking, I have a few around as backups and for general storage.
With the latest update, WD has managed not only to squeeze in more bytes (one whole terabyte) to the USB-powered enclosure, it has actually managed to shrink the box and at the same time smooth off some of the sharper corners. This has been achieved by tossing the SATA to USB interface and just hooking the drive right into USB.
Another bonus, one increasingly useful with these portable drives, is hardware encryption, which will still keep things safe if the drive is pulled and put into a different box. The 1TB Passport Essential SE will cost $250 when it makes it into stores, and the basic 320GB My Passport Essential will be $100.
Product page [Western Digital]
You probably already have your Home Theater situation well sorted, so the gang at Pioneer (lovely chaps) have brought some slightly less robust devices to CEDIA for that other room in your house. First off, the iPod docks: in case you didn’t see them in Europe where they first made the scene a week or so ago, both new XW models pack 2.1 surround sound, 60W output, and Bluetooth connectivity into a single unit. The splashier of the two is the XW-NAS5, which is available in multiple colors, features a radio, and includes some sort of built-in ambient sound player for fans of relaxation, sleep, or hypnosis. If you’re not feeling quite as ostentatious, the XW-NAS3 comes in white and features iPod support — and nothing else. If PMP dockery isn’t your bag, you might want to check out the HTP-SB300 soundbar. Featuring 3.1-channels, 250W of power, dual HDMI ins, and support for DTS, Dolby Digital PLUS and Dolby TrueHD audio, it’s the perfect compliment to your wall-mounted 32-37-inch display. Both are available this Winter, for a price TBA. PR after the break.
[Via SlashGear]
Continue reading Pioneer’s new soundbar and iPod docks coming this Winter
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio
Pioneer’s new soundbar and iPod docks coming this Winter originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Gallery: AirPaper50T e-reader
[Via Engadget Chinese]
Filed under: Handhelds
China Mobile to offer subsidized e-ink reader originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You, Gadget Lab reader, love cranes. Of course you do — they can either rear majestically into the sky, balancing on a single flamingo-like leg, or offer the satisfaction of seeing a badly parked BMW lifted and towed off to an expensive overnight facility.
But unless you have stopped to watch a construction crane under, well, construction, you probably wonder just how the tall, slim structure gets up there in the first place. The answer is, of course, another crane, which puts us into a chicken and egg situation.
The above video will answer your questions (warning: hit mute before pressing play). There are a few tricks. The first is that the crane is actually rather short when the boom is put on, short enough that hanging one side before the other doesn’t tip the whole thing over. The second is that the huge concrete counter weights aren’t added until there is some weight to counter (obvious, really, when you think about it). And third, there is a lift system for adding vertical sections, meaning that the crane can be raised in place as the building grows.
The video was put onto YouTube by San Marco Cranes, an Italian company that sells around the world, and which also has a fascinating video demo of a self-erecting crane on its Canadian site. Also, did you know that a self-erecting crane costs $10,000 a month to rent, before adding any other costs? Were you aware of it?
Tower Crane Assembly with Climber Demo [YouTube via Noquedanblogs]
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
