Hasta La Gadget!

Company brings its older cards into the high-capacity, high-speed X2 era, and adds ATT Wi-Fi hot spots to its free uploading locations.

BlueAnt’s been slinking along in the shadows of the (thankfully) dwindling Bluetooth headset market for years now, and aside from that one voice-controlled V1 that popped two years ago, we haven’t seen much from the outfit that really got our juices flowing. Until today, naturally. The rugged, May-bound T1 headset ($79.99) doesn’t look drastically different (or smaller) than the aforesaid V1, but it’s the firm’s first to feature Wind Armour Technology — something that’s engineered to “deliver clear audio in wind speeds up to 22mph.” It’s also built to withstand the occasional drop and bout with dust / moisture, and in case that’s not enough, it’ll also audibly announce who’s calling so long as they’re in your address book. As you’d expect, A2DP streaming audio is fully supported, as is multipoint (which allows it to remain connected to two phones at once and respond to whichever rings first). In related news, the company also announced its new Q1 app for Android (due April 1st), which helps Q1 headset users by reading text messages aloud to you via a presumably flawed text-to-speech system. Hit up the source links for the fully skinny on each, or just hop on past the break for a pair of superbly informative videos.

Continue reading BlueAnt intros rugged T1 Bluetooth headset, sophisticated Android app

BlueAnt intros rugged T1 Bluetooth headset, sophisticated Android app originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FLORENCE, Italy — Volkswagen completely redesigned the VW Touareg SUV for 2011, offering a host of technology features and hybrid, gasoline, and diesel engines. Every model should be more efficient with better engines and the loss of 440 pounds of road-hugging weight over the first generation Touareg of 2003. The diesel model gets more than 30 mpg. The 2011 Touareg is also nicer inside and that makes it a solid contender against the ubiquitous Lexus RX350, the dominant midsize SUV. The only concerns about the new model are whether VW will make the smart decision on including as standard important safety (Bluetooth) and convenience (iPod adapter) items in the version coming to the U.S. this fall, and whether VW is the name you think of when you’re shopping for luxury SUVs

The Area View four-camera system on the 2011 Volkswagen Touareg offers views front, side, and back, plus a combined overhead view, all on the big 8-inch navigation screen. At the Touareg press introduction, VW touted the SUV’s ablity to tow 7,000 pound loads and the backup camera view (above) that shows you the trailer hitch. At the press conference overview, the English translation of the overview speech (in German) we heard was that the driver will find the rear camera “helpful for coupling.”

You had the hard news for breakfast, so how’s about some less official, but still pretty robust, fodder for brunch? Asahi in Japan offers the first word on how the 3DS achieves its 3D-ness by suggesting that the new portable game machine with feature a parallax barrier LCD from Sharp. The tech has apparently already been deployed in a few cellphones over there and is described as “unsuitable” for large-screen TVs. This is corroborated by Nikkei, which suggests that the screens on the new device will be smaller than 4 inches diagonally, placing it closer to the DSi than the 4.2-inch DSi XL / LL. Other news from the latter source include so-called 3D control stick(s), though it’s not entirely clear whether this’ll be anything massively new or just a pair of analog nubs for us to push around. Either way, Nintendo is said to have secured patents for the new control methodology in Japan late last year. The Nikkei article also mentions improvements in WiFi transfers and battery life, as well as a new vibration function. Now that we’ve got all that out of the way, can someone please tell us if this thing has Tegra inside or not?

Nintendo 3DS to come with ‘3D control stick,’ vibration, and Sharp’s parallax barrier 3D LCD? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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