Hasta La Gadget!

Sony has been teasing its Remote Play functionality to a few devices, including the Aino and its VAIO laptops, but if your possession of Sony gadgets doesn’t extend beyond your home entertainment center you’ve been out of luck. Not any more, courtesy of a developer who goes by the handle NTAuthority, who has managed to get Remote Play to work on any machine — any machine that can run Windows 7, at least. NTAuthority’s patch allows Sony’s VAIO Remote Play app to run on non-VAIOs, and from the reports we’re seeing in forums it even works on a Windows VMware instance hosted on a Mac. That 400kb patch is on the other end of that source link below, so if you feel like giving it a shot it at least it won’t take long to download.

Developer gets Sony’s Remote Play working on non-VAIO machines originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Choices, choices. Do you get the 16GB or 32GB iPhone 4? The black one now or the white one a little later? We can’t tell you which variant of Apple’s next phone will hold its value best over the coming months, but we can try to clear up a bit of the fogginess surrounding price plans on offer from UK networks. Orange and O2 are the first to drop handset pricing and full contract details, but they haven’t made it easy for the discerning buyer, with each carrier offering more than a dozen options. Vodafone, T-Mobile, Three, and even Tesco Mobile are set to follow suit in the coming days and weeks, but we thought we’d get the ball rolling with the pair we have now.

P.S. — And just as we publish this, Voda has gone official with its tariffs. We’ve now broken them down into a more digestible format as well. Just for you.

Continue reading How-to: figure out the best value iPhone 4 contracts in the UK

How-to: figure out the best value iPhone 4 contracts in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re sure that SteelSeries is mighty pleased with the audio quality of its brand-new Spectrum 5xb gaming headset, but company reps didn’t introduce the product as such. They wanted us to walk away knowing three things, and the first was that we could beat the living crap out of them. Right in front of our eyes a product designer twisted the headband a full 180 degrees, let it snap back into place, then started yanking hard on the braided nylon cord (video after the break) while a dumbfounded expression crossed our face. We tried the very same, but couldn’t get the cord to budge. On the off-chance you don’t care to test durability for yourself, the phones also break into three pieces for transport.

While the second tenet of SteelSeries’ presentation was comfort (and these circumaural cans are comfortable, to be sure), the third was a prototype Xbox 360 device called the AudioMixer that will ship both bundled with the peripheral and separately as well. Plugging into your console and the base of a controller, the AudioMixer lets you connect a PC headset, then automatically balances voice chat and game audio using an on-board processor chip. There are individual volume dials, too, if you just need to shut that swearing ten-year old up. No price as yet, but both this Spectrum 5xb and a less feature-packed younger sibling will ship in Q3. Full press release and semi-destructive video after the break.

Continue reading SteelSeries shows off ultra-durable Spectrum headset, we fail to rip it a new one (video)

SteelSeries shows off ultra-durable Spectrum headset, we fail to rip it a new one (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You still using (and paying $99 a year) MobileMe? So you haven’t been lured away by Google’s or Microsoft’s free offerings then? Ok, then you’ll probably notice that MobileMe looks a bit different today. Pictured above is the new MobileMe application switcher that now requires two clicks to do what previously took one (i.e., switch MobileMe applications). Looks pretty though. Mail is the biggest change with new widescreen (pictured above) and compact views, rules, single-click archiving, a formatting toolbar, and SSL all introduced in the beta last month. Huzzah?

P.S. Sadly, that’s a screengrab from our actual MobileMe account. Somebody please remind us why we still pay for this?

Apple’s MobileMe Mail gets a refresh for some reason originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stay with us here because this one isn’t obvious. Apple just launched its Find My iPhone app on the iTunes App Store — a service previously limited to MobileMe‘s web interface. The App will find your iPhone or iPad or iPod touch should it be lost or stolen. So obviously, you don’t install it on your lost/stolen device, you install it on a different iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, yours or somebody else’s (try a Starbucks). Panicked owners can then login with their MobileMe account to map their missing property and then remotely lock the device or wipe the data. The App can only be installed on iOS 3.1.3 or later devices and is available now for free.

[Thanks, Brian M.]

Apple launches ‘Find My iPhone’ app to remotely wipe and find your lost treasure originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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