Hasta La Gadget!

Seriously, who told manufacturers that we’re in love with garish LED status lights?ASUS has strapped a glowing orb of unnecessariness around the volume knob of the Cine5 — an otherwise perfectly acceptable and appreciably diminutive PC soundbar. With an array of speaker drivers integrated into that curvy body, ASUS claims the Cine5 produces realistic multidirectional surround sound, but does admit it’s mostly intended for smaller spaces such as study rooms. The announcement also includes a nod to FPS gamers, with claims that the improved positional audio on offer will benefit both gameplay immersion and accuracy when identifying a sound source, though we reckon the biggest boon will still be the elimination of the extra cables and speakers one usually needs to get one’s surround sound on. Price and availability have not yet been made public, but knowing ASUS both should be in the reasonable range of the market.

ASUS Cine5 is ‘world’s most compact’ five-channel speaker, doesn’t forget the blue LEDs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google has added an iPad-friendly version of its RSS aggregator, called Google Reader Play. According to the official Google Reader blog, the new full-screen slideshow is for people who “aren’t interested in taking the time to get Reader set up.” It is also perfect for viewing on tablet PCs, including the upcoming iPad.

Navigate to the new page (part of Google Labs, but open to everyone) and you’ll see a black screen with a row of thumbnails along the bottom and the content of the news item up top. If you have ever used a Flickr slideshow, you’ll be instantly at home. One news item is shown at a time. You can navigate with the arrow keys, or by clicking or touching the arrows and thumbnails onscreen. It works on the iPhone, but you can’t yet swipe to flip to the next item, and the view is way too small.

Google Reader Play recommends items to you based on what you mark as a liked or disliked. If you are logged into your Google account, it will pull from your own recommended items and also articles shared by contacts. And if you already use Google Reader, there is a new option when you click the arrow on one of your feed-folders to “View in Reader Play.”

It’s a great way to quickly flip through the news, and you don’t need to have ever touched an RSS subscription to do it. If you also consider that pretty much every Gmail user now has contacts due to Google Buzz, then Play should get pretty accurate, pretty soon. And of course, while it’s neato on the desktop, it’s tailor-made for tablets, especially as it doesn’t use Flash which can easily slow down these often underpowered machines. We fully expect to see an iPad-optimized version very soon.

And Now for Something Completely Different [Google Reader Blog]

Google Reader Play [Google]

Before the iPad and before the Slate, the most exciting touchy tablety thing in our lives was Toshiba’s JournE multimedia tablet. Now that the Japanese compu-maker has seen what the competition has on offer, it’s proudly proclaimed itself back in the running with an entire family of slate devices it’s planning to introduce near the end of 2010 or in early 2011. “It has proved to be a mistake to underestimate these new categories” is the word from Toshiba’s Jeff Barney, which indicates that not even he sees that much potential in the form factor, but his company is pushing ahead with its plans for fear of being left behind. Also quoted in the Fortune piece is ASUS’ inimitable Jonney Shih, who makes sure to remind us that without multitasking, Flash support, or a webcam for videoconferencing, the iPad leaves plenty of room for devices richer in features to grab market share. All we know for certain is that the major players are falling in line to make 2010 truly the year of tablet — whether or not consumers will place their stamp of approval on this vendor-driven craze, though, remains to be seen.

Toshiba will have its own family of slates by this time next year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Isn’t Italy a place of contrast? After the country’s judiciary slammed Google for failing to keep a tight enough leash on user-uploaded content, we’re now hearing that its local version of Wired magazine is putting forward the internet as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its contributions to “helping advance dialogue, debate and consensus.” Right then. Just in case you think this is all a bit silly — and you should — we’re also hearing Nicholas Negroponte and 2003 Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi are both in support of the idea, which has been described as “a Nobel for each and every one of us” by Internet for Peace, an organization set up specifically to promote the web’s candidacy. That’s a pretty succinct way of putting it, but it also shows what’s wrong with the idea: nothing devalues a prize’s worth and meaning quite like handing it out to everyone. Just imagine icanhascheezburger.com slapping a legitimate Nobel laureate badge up on its homepage and you’ll know what we mean.

The internet earns a nomination for 2010 Nobel Prize originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PocketWizard, the off-camera flash-triggering company, has finally begun testing prototypes of its Nikon FlexTT5 units.

Normally, Nikon cameras communicate with the strobes via bursts of light, coded flashes which chatter back and forth in the moments before the photo is taken. The problem is that the range is limited, and you need line of site. That’s where PocketWizard comes in. The FlexTT5 sends these signals via long-range, corner-proof radio waves. Previously, these were manual only, and after some teething problems, PocketWizard successfully added an auto mode to it’s radio-powered flash Canon triggers.

The new prototypes, seen in the video above, are still far from production, but Nikon-shooting flash-freaks should be getting excited already. The Nikon CLS system is pretty close to magic already, letting you get great flash-shots with little effort. These new PocketWizards should make the experience even better.

If you just can’t wait, try to track down some RadioPoppers, a rival product which already works with Canon and Nikon and is cheaper: The PocketWizards are around $220 each, and you’ll need two. The RadioPoppers are $180 each for the TTL versions. The problem is that the RadioPoppers are selling so well it’s hard to get ahold of one.

Video: PocketWizard + Nikon – first look [Snap Factory]

First FlexTT5 Nikon Prototype Test [PocketWizard via Photography Bay]

RadioPopper page [RadioPopper]

See Also:

• Radipopper: Smart, Remote Control Flash Photography
• Pocket Wizard Fixes Reliability Issues With Tin-Foil Hats
• TTL 'Poverty Wizard' Flash Triggers