Hasta La Gadget!

Early reviews of Fuji’s FinePix Real 3D W1? Not so hot. However, a year later the $450 refreshed W3 seems to be doing better, scoring a “Recommended” review over at Photography Blog. The camera’s dual 1/2.3-inch, 10 megapixel CCDs and 3X zoom lenses are carried over from before, but a new design and more user-friendly interface is said to make a huge improvement — even if it’s still too easy to stick a finger over either of the two light portals up front. Build quality is solid and the new 3.5-inch, glasses-free 3D LCD on the back is called “impressive,” far brighter than last year’s parallax barrier. The machine will capture 720p 3D movies and can save both 3D MPO images and 2D JPEGs simultaneously, meaning your holiday snaps are future-proofed even if you haven’t jumped on the 3D bandwagon just yet.

Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3 reviewed, deemed a worthy W1 successor for slightly less early adopters originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Accessory makers are the weak link in keeping any super-secret product launch super-secret, even if the folks making accessories are in the same company. So it’s not especially a surprise that a Nook Color Film Screen Kit appearing on (then quickly pulled from) BarnesAndNoble.com has leaked a likely image of the Nook Color a day early.

Barnes & Noble has a media event tomorrow (October 26) at its Union Square store where it’s expected to announce its next-generation Nook. On Friday, CNET reported sourced information that the new device would be called Nook Color, have a 7″ color-capable screen and retail for $249, splitting the difference between its current-generation E Ink Nook and more expensive Android or iOS tablets. Now a CNET source again has the Nook Color Film Screen Kit, featuring the image above.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that Barnes & Noble is launching a subsite of its e-book store called NookKids.com. Nook Kids should have 12,000 chapter books available by this Sunday (October 31), with 100 or so picture books following in mid-November, and enhanced children’s books coming in early 2011.

Picture books suggest color screens and a mid-November availability for the Nook Color. (David Carnoy’s source at CNET also tipped towards a November release.) In addition to NookKids.com, Barnes & Noble has also registered NookColor.com. So if nothing else, the new device will almost definitely be called Nook Color.

Assuming the mockup above is a fair image of the new Nook Color, we’re looking at a single hardware button on the face — so touchscreen, probably Android-based like the first Nook.

As I reported Friday, the big question hanging over the Nook Color, like all color e-readers, is its choice of screen technology. E Ink is low-power and highly readable, even in direct sunlight, but is limited to grayscale still images. LCD and LED screens have great color and video capability, but are power-hungry and harder on the eyes for extended reading. Qualcomm’s Mirasol technology, which combines aspects of both (low power consumption, good readability, color/video capability) is still probably six months off, maybe longer for larger screens.

Barnes & Noble’s EPUB-based e-book format is color-capable, so they could switch over to producing color books without many problems. But Pandigital, a company that partnered with B&N on a touchscreen e-reader, produced an LCD color e-reader earlier this year that was generally considered a failure.

Unless Barnes & Noble’s has a really neat trick up their sleeve, they have some tough choices. It’s a huge gamble. When it comes to e-readers and e-books, adding more color, more interactivity, more features always seems like a good idea. But there’s a very fine line separating an absolutely amazing, incredibly capable e-reader and a really crappy, hamstrung tablet.

See Also:

• Report: Nook Color Will Be Android-Based Reader/Tablet
• Barnes & Noble’s Shiny, Sharing-Friendly ‘Nook’ eBook Reader …
• Barnes & Noble May Present Nook 2 Next Week
• How to Root Your Nook and Run Android Apps
• Despite Reports, B&N Nook Competes Just Fine, Thank You
• Ray Kurzweil’s Blio E-Book Launch Met With Confusion, Controversy …
• Toshiba, Blio Jump In With Enhanced E-Books For Laptops

Sony’s PSP Go suffered no shortage of hype before it launched. The device is slick, slim, and generally cool looking–and the company seemed sure that it would help breathe life into a portable gaming platform that was struggle to keep its head above water in the fight against Nintendo’s perennially popular DS.

Since its launch back in early October of last year, however, the device has failed to catch fire. Reviews and sales have been uniformly disappointing. Sony is celebrating a late birthday for the device by slashing prices in the US and Japan.

The price in the device’s native Japan has been dropped from 26,800 ($332) to 16,800 yen. In the US, the price has dropped to $199 from $249.

Continue reading RIM announces PlayBook simulator and SDK for BlackBerry Tablet OS

RIM announces PlayBook simulator and SDK for BlackBerry Tablet OS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Who would win in a fight between Luke Skywalker and Wolverine*? If you have an answer at the ready with a needlessly articulate argument to back it up, you’ve probably got quite a Halloween costume lined up. If that costume happens to be star of this year’s early-summer eponymous sequel, Iron Man, you might want to click on over to instructables where you can find several DIY Arc Reactors that no Iron Man costume would be complete without.

Some are ridiculously intricate and complicated. Some are more approachable for those without engineering degrees. You can even purchase a DIY kit to get started on yours with all the parts included. But I’m of the opinion, if you want to stay true to the costume, you have to lock yourself down in your basement or garage and make one for yourself.

Take a look at one simple video walk-through after the jump.

* the answer is Luke Skywalker because he could use The Force to pin Wolverine down and then slice him up with his lightsaber–if it can cut through the space metals on the Death Star, it can surely make butter of Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton. Even if it couldn’t, enough damage could be inflicted on Wolverine’s fleshy parts that he would not be able to recover.