Those hoping to increase their music listening on a TiVo can now do so with the help of Pandora. The only catch is the service is available to TiVo Premiere and Premiere XL owners. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20016960-17.html” class=”origPostedBlog”The Digital Home/a/p
Digg
Not that we haven’t seen mock-ups before for systems using webcams to intelligently move user interface elements, but it’s another thing entirely for a company to make a public proclamation that it’s tinkering with implementing something of the sort into a future build of its OS. Over at the Canonical design blog, one Christian Giordano has revealed that the company is in the early stages of creating new ways to interact with Ubuntu, primarily by using proximity and orientation sensors in order to have one’s PC react based on how they’re sitting, where they’re sitting and where their eyes / head are at. For instance — once a user fires up a video and leans back, said video would automatically go into fullscreen mode. Similarly, if a user walked away to grab some coffee and a notification appeared, that notification would be displayed at fullscreen so that he / she could read it from faraway. There’s no mention just yet on when the company plans to actually bring these ideas to end-users, but the video embedded after the break makes us long for “sooner” rather than “later.”
Continue reading Ubuntu prototype uses face recognition to intelligently move UI elements (video)
Ubuntu prototype uses face recognition to intelligently move UI elements (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
At this point we’ve all heard plenty about the dangers of texting while driving, but what about texting on the job? That, I suppose, ultimately comes down to what exactly it is that do for a living. Food service employees, for instance, are likely putting less lives at risk if they text on the clock than, say, lifeguards–you know, the people whose jobs it is to make sure that you don’t drown or get eaten by a shark, et al.
This past summer, the incidents of lifeguards texting on the job has risen to a level high enough to present a major concern. American Lifeguard Association director of health and safety, Bernard J. Fisher II told The New York Times, “This issue has really come out for us this year.”
But here’s the real money quote, “Lives are being endangered, if not already lost, because of text messaging.” The organization received dozens of complaints of lifeguards texting on the job over the course of the summer. It received no such complaints back in 2008.
Fisher blames the frequency of complaints, in part, on a drop in wages–a number of organizations are no paying lifeguards minimum wage and forcing them to pay for their own training. “Because of the lack of pay, you can’t pick and choose the caliber of guard you need,” he told the paper.
We’re finishing up our back to school coverage here for the year and we thought we’d end on a high note. The third and final installment of our back to school giveaways is a doozy, people. On offer, we’ve got a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13, a 500GB Skim eGo Portable Hard Drive, a Zeppelin Mini, a BlackBerry Curve, a Slim External DVD writer, an HP Envy 14, a second generation Mickey, a Logitech Z15, and a Logitech Z305. The total value of this giveaway is nearly $2,400, and all you have to do is read the rules below and get commenting.
Special thanks to all of the companies for donating the gear for us to give away!
Engadget’s back to school giveaway, part three: win an HP Envy 14 with Beats Audio and much, much more! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Try not to get too excited, guys, but Peek 9 is here. It’s not as worthless as TwitterPeek, but that’s vastly different from being worthwhile. Honest question: who in blue blazes buys these things? How does Peek stay in business? More »
Köln. Home to some of the best pommes frites this world has ever seen, and this year, home to Photokina 2010. We’re live on the ground in one of Germany’s most charming cities, bringing you the latest from the photography world as it breaks. Fujifilm has already kicked things off with a relative bang, and a slew of press events are slated to happen over the next 48 hours. Sony, LaCie, Leica, Panasonic, Fujifilm and Hasselblad are all on deck (with Samsung and Casio already in the bag), and we’re expecting plenty more surprises once the show floor opens in earnest tomorrow. Keep it locked on our Photokina 2010 tag page for all the latest — it’s good for the shutterbug’s soul.
Gallery: Live from Photokina 2010!
We’re live at Photokina 2010! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Is China ready for an Apple invasion? From the looks of the recent arrival of the iPad in that country, the answer seems to be a big ole yes. Cupertino is looking to make an even bigger impact in that country, with the upcoming launch of the iPhone 4 and the opening of two new Apple Retail Stores.
The iPhone 4 is set to hit Apple stores in China this Saturday, September 25th at 8:00 A.M. And again, if the iPad launch is any sign, the event is set to be quite the early morning spectacle–especially if Han Ziwen and his custom Apple shirts [Pictured Above] are anywhere to be seen.
That day will also mark the opening of Apple stores in the country–Bejing’s Apple Store Xidan Joy City and Apple Store Hong Kong Plaza in Shanghai.
The iPhone 4 will be on China Unicom in that country. It will also be available in the wireless carrier’s storefronts.
So here it is, after months of details coming to light an inkdrop at a time, the HP eStation all-in-one printing solution. But we’re not gonna dwell but on half of that: the 7-inch tablet skinned out by Yahoo and powered by Android 2.1. As we expected, though, the Google experience is decidedly less that you’re accustomed to: search is Yahoo only, and our attempt to find an alternate method was met with a barebones settings menu. Additionally, there is no access to Android Market, relegating your customization instead to HP’s print-heavy app store — sorry, no games, as that’s not what the company wants to focus on here, according to the rep. That also means no Gmail, much to our dismay. What Yahoo has provided is a suite of apps and widgets that actually work well in their simplicity, from weather to stocks and search.
We were reminded at numerous points that this is a prototype build, and for good reason — the responsiveness was questionably slow, especially in the browser. That said, the Nook store and e-reading app was as fluid as you’d ever need. WiFi is equipped on both the tablet and the printer for cloud-based connectivity on the go. Battery life is measured at four to six hours, and Android 2.2 is expected by holiday still sans Market, but beyond Flash (and at this point we question its performance on this hardware), there’s probably not a lot of value-add in the update. Expect this AIO to be shipping the in the next few weeks.
Continue reading HP’s Photosmart eStation Android tablet hands-on (update: video!)
Filed under: Tablet PCs
HP’s Photosmart eStation Android tablet hands-on (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Casio’s Exilim EX-H20G and EX-Z16 certainly stole the spotlight in the company’s press conference here at Photokina, but a couple of other point-and-shoots managed to sneak out simultaneously over in Tokyo. Unfortunately, neither the Exilim EX-Z2300 nor the EX-ZR10 will be making a stateside debut, but those situated in continents not named North America may certainly be interested. The former of the two utilizes a 14.1 megapixel sensor, a 3-inch rear LCD (960 x 480 resolution) and a 5x optical zoomer, with other specifications including an SD / SDHC card slot, 34.9MB of inbuilt memory, 720p video recording, an ISO range from 50 to 3200, CCD-shift image stabilization and a rechargeable battery good for around 580 shots.
Moving on to the ZR10 (not to be confused with Pentax’s similarly named RZ10), this one is Casio’s HDR baby. During the company’s presser, executives went on (and on) about how wunderbar the camera’s inbuilt HDR ART function was, and honestly, the images that were being displayed were indeed pretty fanciful. The point-and-shoot relies on a back-illuminated 12.1 megapixel sensor, the Exilim Engine HS, 28mm 7x zoom lens, an automatic panorama option and a newfangled burst mode that enables up to 30 shots of 10 megapixel images to be taken, with high-speed burst shooting at a maximum speed of 40 shots per second. Better still, the company has upped the video resolution here to 1080p, while also throwing in an SD / SDHC / SDXC card slot, ISO range of 100 to 3200 and a rechargeable battery. No one’s talking pricing, release dates nor release regions just yet (aside from shunning America, of course), but we’ll be sure to update just as soon as those facts and figures hit our desk. Oh, and we did manage to score a few precious seconds with this guy here in Köln, and it’s exceedingly slim given the feature set. We can’t speak for the image and video quality first-hand, but based on what was shown and the aesthetic that we witnessed, we’d say the ZR10 has a bright future ahead of it.
Gallery: Casio Exilim EX-ZR10 hands-on
Gallery: Casio Photokina 2010 press event
Continue reading Casio reveals Exilim EX-Z2300 and EX-ZR10 point-and-shoots, sells HDR hard
Casio reveals Exilim EX-Z2300 and EX-ZR10 point-and-shoots, sells HDR hard originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
A little piece out of the Tokyo Game Show this morning (where, quite frankly, I would much rather be right now than at my desk on this gloomy Monday morning in Manhattan): Sony has announced that it will be introducing 3D Blu-ray support for the PlayStation 3 with the console’s next system software update.
The update–version 3.50, for those keeping track–will roll out to 38 million PS3s tomorrow, September 21st. Back in April, Sony rolled out version 3.30, which added the ability to play games in stereoscopic 3D.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
