Sep 24

The Orb Lets You Stream Music Anywhere in Your Home for $70

Posted in: Android, iPhone, ipod, MP3 Digital Audio, Music, streaming, Today's Chili

the_orb.png

Ladies and gentleman, it’s the Orb! What is the Orb? Some sort of spacecraft? A time travel device? No, nothing quite that exciting–though it does seem pretty cool, nonetheless. The Orb is a cheap ($69) device that lets you stream music from your PC or Mac to any stereo in your home.

Users can control music playback via the iPhone, Android handsets, the iPod touch, and iPad. You can stream your iTunes library, Pandora, Sirius, and a number of other Internet music services through the device. Orb Networks calls its smartphone interface “familiar” and “iTunes-like.” You can use your phone to play, pause, skip around, and adjust the volume of playback.

The hockey puck-sized device is available now, as is the iPhone app, which can be downloaded from iTunes. We’ll be getting some hands-on time with the device here at Gearlog shortly.

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Sep 24

Gadget Lab Podcast: Facebook Phone, Pod Wars and Athletic Robots

Posted in: Apple, ipod, podcasts, Today's Chili

In this week’s Gadget Lab podcast, the crew speculates about the rumored Facebook phone, aka Mark Zuckerberg’s plan for world domination. Adding to the rumors, yours truly blurts out a tip from a source about Facebook developing an all-in-one virtual identity that you’ll use not just to connect with friends, but maybe even buy things. How awesome would that be?

          

Speaking of money: People who have a lot of it tend to get nasty with lawyers. That’s the case for Daniel Kokin, who’s going to trial with Apple to fight over the word “Pod.” Kokin’s startup Sector Labs is trying to brand a video projector “VideoPod,” and Apple’s claiming that Kokin’s usage of that magical three-letter word could get people confused about the famous iPod player.

Wrapping up the podcast, Priya Ganapati tells a story about a robot taking on the challenge of walking 300 miles from Tokyo to Kyoto.

Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds

Or listen to the audio here:

Gadget Lab audio podcast #90

http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0090.mp3


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Sep 24

Add a sexy HTML signature to iPhone e-mails

Posted in: Today's Chili

Tired of that boring “sent from my iPhone” message that adorns every e-mail you compose? Here’s a free and easy way to spruce up that signature. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20017611-233.html” class=”origPostedBlog”iPhone Atlas/a/p

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Sep 24

Sony’s Google TV product slated for October 12 NYC unveiling

Posted in: Today's Chili

Sony will be unveiling its “Internet Television” Google TV product at a New York City press event scheduled for October 12.

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Sep 24

Amazon Kindle gets its first premium app: Scrabble

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, app, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, kindle, Today's Chili
It’s still a long way from a full-fledged app store, but the Amazon Kindle has just taken one step in that direction with its very first premium app: Electronic Arts’ Scrabble. That’s available right now for $4.99, and it’ll work on both the second and third generation Kindle, and both Kindle DX models. It also looks like it’s already off to a strong start in terms of sales — it’s currently sitting at number four on the Kindle bestseller list, right behind two Stieg Larsson novels and the latest Oprah book club pick.

Amazon Kindle gets its first premium app: Scrabble originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 24

Ben Heck Launches Web Series

Posted in: diy, mods, Today's Chili, video games

ben_heck_pcmagoffice.jpg

Benjamin “Ben Heck” Heckendorn popped by the PCMag offices today to talk up his brand new Element14 Web series, The Ben Heck Show. Those of who are familiar with Heck’s work (which I assume applies to a large chunk of the folk who regularly go out of their way to read gadget blogs) pretty much know what you’re in for–mods, mods, mods (and not the kind on scooters).

Heck’s best know for his console mods, of course–making portable versions of the Atari 2600, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and newer systems like the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii.

Heck’s mods–and his new show–go beyond that, however. In the first episode, Heck modifies an Xbox 360 controller for a gamer who lost control of one of his hands. In fact, Heck told Gearlog that he would love to get into the prosthetics field at some point.

As for future shows? A multi-episode series showing users how to build their own pinball machine? Yes please.

Episode two debuts next week. Heck promises lots more explosions to come. Check out the first episode, after the jump.

If you live in the New York area, meanwhile, you can meet Heck at the Maker Faire in Queens this weekend.

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Sep 24

Concept Phone Both Amazing and Unbelievable

Posted in: Mozilla, Phones, Today's Chili


I really want to like Billy May’s ambitious concept for a browser-centric, open-web-standards-based phone

But it’s hopelessly unfettered from what’s actually buildable, usable or marketable.

Mozilla Labs has highlighted the phone, which May called Project Seabird, in its “Concept Series,” a showcase for community-created visions of the web’s future.

May, who is a talented industrial designer, has crammed a lot of interesting ideas into his two-and-a-half-minute video:

  • a pop-out Bluetooth headset that doubles as an infrared pointer
  • dual pico projectors that can project both a full-size display as well as a virtual keyboard
  • wireless charging
  • a standard mini USB connector
  • a 3.5mm audio jack
  • enough processing power to render 3-D spacescapes in real time or display YouTube videos at full resolution.

Because there are two pico projectors, May imagines that one could be used to display a keyboard while the other displays a larger screen. Or, you could place the phone on your desk and have one projector display the left half of an ergonomic split keyboard, while the other projector displays the right half.

Based on the icons May’s painted into his impressive video, it’s running some version of Windows and the browser is Firefox, of course.

The trouble is that current pico projectors fall short in both brightness and clarity: You need to use them in a darkened room, like the one May’s rendering takes place in. Virtual keyboards of the type shown in the video are difficult if not impossible to use. And if netbook processors like the Intel Atom series can barely handle Windows, just imagine how sluggish it will be running on an ARM-based cellphone CPU.

One thing’s for sure: The open-source browser community is going to love this phone.

Those of us in the reality-based community, however, are shaking our heads in disbelief.

Image credit: Billy May

See Also:

Hat tip: Webmonkey


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Sep 24

HTC CEO: ‘initially, we don’t have time’ to put Sense on Windows Phone 7

Posted in: 4G, HTC, lte, sense, Today's Chili, windows phone 7, WindowsPhone7

We think there might be a miscommunication or a disagreement in semantics here, because HTC CEO Peter Chou has mentioned in an interview with FierceWireless that its ubiquitous Sense UX won’t “initially” appear on its first crop of Windows Phone 7 devices, but that “over time [they] will innovate on top of that to provide some HTC experience.” That seems like odd phrasing considering that we’ve already seen HTC devices in the wild running bits and pieces of Sense on WP7, so we tend to believe Chou might have a more thorough, comprehensive experience in mind — something that Microsoft is pushing back on (for now, anyway) by demanding that UI innovation be sandboxed in some pretty significant ways.

In the same conversation, Chou mentioned that they’ll be releasing an LTE phone in 2011, though he didn’t give any details on design, platform, or carrier. MetroPCS, AT&T, and Verizon will all have fragments of their 4G networks live in 2011, and at least two of those three seem likely candidates to take delivery of some early LTE hardware from the big boys like HTC. For what it’s worth, HTC already delivered the first WiMAX phone in the States — the EVO 4G, of course — so it comes as little surprise that they’d be looking to make a splash with LTE as well.

HTC CEO: ‘initially, we don’t have time’ to put Sense on Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 15:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 24

Scrabble comes to the Kindle

Posted in: Today's Chili

You can now get Scrabble on your Kindle for $4.99.

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Sep 24

Sony Ericsson says it has ‘no plans’ for any new Symbian products

Posted in: Sony Ericsson, SonyEricsson, symbian, Today's Chili
Symbian has taken some pretty hard hits as of late, and it’s just been dealt another big one — Sony Ericsson has confirmed earlier talk that it is indeed abandoning the operating system. As Sony Ericsson spokesperson Aldo Liguori bluntly puts it, “we have no plans for the time being to develop any new products to the Symbian Foundation standard or operating system.” That doesn’t completely close the door on Symbian, of course, and Liguori also said that Sony Ericsson still remains a member of the Symbian Foundation. Those future meetings should certainly be interesting, no?

Sony Ericsson says it has ‘no plans’ for any new Symbian products originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBusinessWeek  | Email this | Comments

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