Hasta La Gadget!

You can’t afford a proper QWERTY keyboard on your phone, much less a expansive multitouch slate. What to do? Well, if a UK startup named InputDynamics has its way, you’ll just tap on any surface of your handset. The company’s developed a piece of software called TouchDevice that uses a phone’s embedded microphone to analyze the acoustics inside, reacting to your finger’s impact on the surface with a touchscreen-like input on the device. New Scientist reports that’s not all, as the algorithms can also be fine tuned for detect scratches and swipes for scrolling and zoom, and the company’s in talks with “tier-one handset manufacturers” to license the program even as we speak. You’ll forgive us if we’re a bit skeptical, though — if this truly requires only software and works on any surface, why not release an app to tap the backs of our Droids, BlackBerrys and iPhones?

InputDynamics makes dumbphones smarter with tap-to-touch tech originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Sep 2010 10:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You had to know that Corsair wouldn’t stride into a new product category with just so-so hardware. Its new HS1 gaming headset has been sent out to a couple of UK reviewers and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Both Hexus and Bit-tech praised the circumaural (made to fit around, rather than on top of, your ears) design for its weight distribution and memory foam-assisted comfort, while also giving the thumbs up to sound quality. Bass reproduction is said to be somewhat weaker than desirable, but the bundled software gives you plenty of adjustment options. It’s a shame that you’ll have to install the drivers in order to avoid the in-line remote control blinking madly at you, and it’s also not too awesome that you won’t be able to use the mic on a Mac, but so long as these vices don’t bother you unduly, you should find the $99 investment in an HS1 set more than worth it. Hit the links below for more detailed impressions.

Corsair’s ear-straddling HS1 headset earns high marks in early reviews originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Sep 2010 09:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You get all-terrain vehicle babies, is what. Ben Gulak, the youngster that brought us the Uno electric unicycle, is back with a new transportation device, this time aiming to woo military procurement types with a rugged and extremely versatile one-man transporter. The DTV (Dual Tracked Vehicle) Shredder has enough torque to tow an SUV, but is also flexible enough to turn within a circle of four feet and scale slopes as steep as 40 degrees. To be honest, though, nothing we say can do justice to just how badass this thing really is, you’ll want to see the videos after the break for that. Our favorite part? The Shredder can be remotely operated and its makers even advertise its ability to carry offensive weaponry and serve as a “robot attack platform.” What self-respecting supervillain wouldn’t want an army of those?

Continue reading What happens when you leave a skateboard and a tank alone in a dimly lit room? (video)

What happens when you leave a skateboard and a tank alone in a dimly lit room? (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Sep 2010 05:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on September 26, 2007 by CyberNet.

Microsoft was finally able to ship an update to the Ultimate Extras a few days after the deadline they had set for themselves. The new DreamScene download doesn’t appear to have any different features from the preview that had been released prior to this, but it does include four new DreamScenes with it. Oh, and it doesn’t work with Vista SP1 Beta.

In the DreamScene release announcement Microsoft commended Stardock on their free DeskScapes app which extends DreamScene. As we’ve previously shown there are a lot of free Dreams out there created by Stardock, as well as their users, but the dynamic Dreams cost a few dollars to pickup.

Unfortunately the Language Packs weren’t able to make the cut as of now, and are expected to make it out the door in late October. As Long Zheng pointed out DreamScene hasn’t been modified since mid-July according to the compilation date in the DLL, which probably means that they were waiting to ship it with the Language Packs.

My question is how many people actually want to use these language packs? The purpose of them is to switch between multiple languages on your computer, or to let each user on a computer designate a different language for themselves. It might be just what the doctor ordered for some people, but everyone that I’ve talked to say that they won’t touch them.

The Language Packs are causing a lot of headaches, and are even preventing the Ultimate Extras team from announcing any future plans:

Recently we realized that Ultimate customers who tried to install the language packs that shipped earlier this year were experiencing an unacceptably high number of failures during installation. We continue to make delivering the highest quality, most secure Extras our top priority, and we will not ship any Extra until it is absolutely ready.
…
In addition to the remaining Language Packs, we plan to ship a collection of additional Windows Ultimate Extras that we are confident will delight our passionate Windows Vista Ultimate customers. We will shed more light on these plans once the Language Packs are finally dislodged from our delivery pipeline!

What I really want to see come out of the Ultimate Extras are things for power users! There is no doubt that only the most hardcore gamers and users will be the ones who pickup Vista Ultimate, and they need to cater more to that audience. By that I mean releasing advanced configuration tools for the operating system. Why not create a nice virtual desktop implementation, let users manually reorder and group Taskbar items, enable system-wide skinning without any hacks, and how about a wallpaper app that shuffles through your images? Come on Microsoft, give Ultimate users something to get excited about, and show us all the cool things that you can do with the Aero interface!

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Related Posts:

Stardock Puts Microsoft On the SpotUltimate Extras are Ultimately ForgottenMicrosoft Releases Two More Ultimate Extras…Vista Ultimate Extras Finally Coming Soon (Hopefully)Vista Ultimate Extras are Ultimate Disappointment

We knew dualscreen laptops were the future after our Toshiba Libretto review, but unfortunately for Toshiba theirs was a future attempted too soon. Acer, however, is apparently testing a rig that might be powerful enough to do the trick — pictures bequeathed to Tech Review Source purportedly show a 2.67GHz Intel Core i5 processor (likely a Core i5-580M) with dual fifteen–inch multitouch screens, making both the Libretto and MSI’s 7-incher look positively dated by comparison. Sadly, the publication’s source says this device is “still slow and buggy,” so retail availability is probably a long while off, but now you can tell your friends you too saw the future and it looked reasonably good. Peep a couple more shots of the laptop at our source link while you wipe your sweaty palms off.

Acer’s dualscreen laptop leaks out with Core i5 CPU? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Sep 2010 23:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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