Hasta La Gadget!

For the first time ever, two of the world’s top car engines are electric motors, on the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid and on the all-electric Nissan Leaf. They’re on the 2011 edition of Ward’s 10 Best Engines, awarded annually to the most technically advanced automotive powerplants. As proof of how rapidly car propulsion technology changes: Only two of the engines are carryovers from the 2010 winners, two are heavily modified repeaters, and six are new.

“Less” and “later” are some of our least favorite words, but they may apply to the Mac App Store, as one source claims it will miss Christmas, and another says the marketplace will have fewer features than its iOS counterpart. First off, The Loop‘s Jim Dalrymple believes that December 13th isn’t the magic date, claiming that his inside sources say the store will actually arrive in January — which, we must admit, would still be within the window of Apple’s October promise to launch within 90 days. Second and perhaps more importantly, 9to5 Mac reports that App Store developers are being told that their Mac endeavors will have a number of substantial limitations, namely no Game Center support, no in-app purchases, and no ability to offer demos, trials or betas. Sounds like those high-denomination iTunes gift cards you’ve been stockpiling in your basement will finally come in handy.

Mac App Store launching in January sans Game Center and in-app purchases? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 21:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink All Things D  |  The Loop, 9to5 Mac  | Email this | Comments

A recent trip to the laid-back neighborhood of Sangenchaya, a wee bit west of Shibuya, I stumbled upon this bizarre and slightly mysterious vending machine.

Tucked very inconspicuously behind a mobile phone shop entrance, the King’s Treasure Box promised to give up top-end electronic devices, luxury wallets and more to any Aladdin who rubbed its lamp to the tune of just 1,000 yen (about $12). “Make your dreams come true,” it proudly declared!

The actual product names and brands were not clearly marked, however. Instead there was just a vague poster covering the window with images of generic iPod-like gadgets, cameras and tempting fashion items. Clearly the excitement on not knowing what you will get is meant to be part of the lure. On closer inspection a notice stated that your purchase may possibly differ from the products depicted on the front of the vendor.

So, is this just a rip-off? You feed in 1,000 yen and get a tatty bit of plastic not even worth 100? Who knows. I did like, though, how it was opposite Seiyu, a famously low-cost retailer. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the “dreams” the vendor promises, or am I just being cynical?

Checking online, there seem to be some others, including one in that den of strangeness, Akihabara. I didn’t have the bravery actually to make a purchase but it seems that you get a plain white box, inside of which is your unknown brand item. It reminds us of the fukubukuro lucky bags that are popular in the New Year sales in Japan, only with a little less class.

Yep, that Flash error up there is one of many we got today on our Cr-48s. On top of that, as you may have read in our in-depth preview, we’ve been experiencing incredibly sluggish Flash performance, including choppy playback of YouTube and Hulu videos. It’s certainly not a good situation, but Adobe’s aware of it and promising that hope is on the way. Adobe’s Senior Director of Engineer
Paul Betlem has put up a post regarding the matter on the company’s very own Flash Player blog, and says that ” In terms of Chrome notebooks specifically… video performance in particular is the primary area for improvement.” He also goes on to promise that the updates will be seamless as the Flash plug-ins are integrated directly into the self-updating operating system. That sure sounds good to us, but in the meantime, we’ll be waiting for these Flash errors and stuttering 480p videos to disappear — or, you know, for HTML 5 to take over.

Flash working poorly on your Google Cr-48? Adobe’s working on it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Adobe  | Email this | Comments

Is Japanese band Sour’s “Mirror” music video the single best thing we’ve ever seen in a browser? It probably is. Load it up in Safari or Chrome and make sure you connect your Facebook, Twitter, and webcam — we tried it out and it’s totally fine. In fact, it’s more than fine. It’s stunning. Why can’t HTML5 and Flash always play this nicely together?

Sour’s ‘Mirror’ browser-based music video is absolutely wild originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Fader  |  Sour  | Email this | Comments