Hasta La Gadget!

There’s been no shortage whatsoever of PC control schemes using Kinect, but up until now, every bit of it has been without Microsoft’s official blessing. Of course, the company eventually caved to the massive amount of hacking going on and confessed that it didn’t have any hard feelings for those giving it a whirl, but is it really fixing to take things one step further with bona fide PC support? That’s the talk emanating from South Korea, where game developer GamePrix has reported that at least one of its titles (Divine Soul, if you must know) is “scheduled to support Kinect.” Continuing on about the game, the company’s Jason Lim was quoted as saying that “Kinect will soon be available as a new PC controller,” but naturally, we’ve our doubts. For starters, why wouldn’t Microsoft be working with a more major developer if honest-to-goodness PC-Kinect interactions were planned? Secondly, there’s a definite possibility that GamePrix could really be referring to unofficial support, which would make everything seem a lot more sensible. Either way, we’ll definitely be keeping an ear to the ground for more, and with GDC under three months away, we ought to know the truth sooner rather than later.

[Thanks, Rashad]

Kinect rumored to have PC support in waiting originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechSpot  |  IncGamers  | Email this | Comments

This week Brian X. Chen and I get all giddy and excited about the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show, aka CES.

CES is a weeklong preview of what kinds of gadgets you’ll see in 2011. We’ll be there from January 4-9, blogging right here on Gadget Lab.

Tablets are likely to big at CES this year, just as they were in 2010. But in 2011, we think manufacturers’ promises might even come true.

LG, MSI, Motorola and Toshiba are all rumored to be releasing tablets. HP, which acquired Palm earlier this year, is also planning to release a webOS-based tablet in the coming year — but we’re not expecting to see it at CES.

Intel and AMD are both working on next-generation processors, including Intel’s “Sandy Bridge” CPUs and AMD’s “Fusion” line of chips that combine CPU capabilities and graphics processing in a single package. What’s that mean for you? Lower power, longer-lasting netbooks and tablets.

Look for dual-core smartphones to boost the processing power in your pocket, largely on the basis of Nvidia’s Tegra processor.

There will be lots of 3-D televisions at the show, but what we’re more excited about is the advent of more 3-D cameras and camcorders, like one that Fujifilm introduced in 2010. If you could actually make your own 3-D pictures and movies easily, you might have a reason to buy 3-D displays like the Nintendo 3DS or — who knows? — any one of the increasing number of 3-D TVs.

Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast on 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: Gadget Lab audio podcast #98 (.mp3 or .ogg)

http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0098.mp3

Let’s be real: it should come as little surprise that Sammy — a company with multiple Android phones on Verizon already — would be joining LG, Motorola, and HTC in prepping a new model for its LTE network. Sure enough, Gizmodo has scored an alleged shot of said phone, showing Froyo (Android 2.2.1, to be specific) along with a front-facing camera and a model number of SCH-i520; it’s said to feature TouchWiz (as most non-Nexus S Android phones from Samsung tend to do) and, fortunately, lacks the Bing integration that Verizon’s been pushing on its low- and midrange smartphones lately. Given the company’s iffy track record on getting Froyo deployed in a timely manner to the Galaxy S line, we’re not sure how we’d feel about buying a new Froyo model when Gingerbread’s now available — especially with all these other LTE models that Verizon’s going to have on top — but options are good, we suppose.

Samsung LTE phone with front-facing camera headed to Verizon? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink BGR  |  Gizmodo  | Email this | Comments

The ever-innovative folks at MIT’s Media Lab are working on a prototype product, “Tastes Like Rain,” that would dispense toothpaste flavors according to the weather.

Our favorite iPhone camera app just got a boatload of new features after its four-month exile from the App Store.

Previously pulled by Apple because it included an inoffensive hidden feature, Camera+ returned to the App Store on Tuesday night with new controls, more image-editing effects, improved performance and several other additions.

Most notably, there’s a new slider bar that allows you to adjust the intensity of each effect applied to a photo, giving you more control over the end result.

There are also some neat new filters like a Nostalgia filter for a more old-school look and a depth-of-field effect to give your photo an artsy touch. (See the photos above for examples.)

I’ve had some time to test the update, and the biggest improvement is speed. Camera+ now loads much faster than it used to, which is useful for capturing those serendipitous moments, and the time to process photos has decreased significantly.

The app’s maker Tap Tap Tap has a full post on all 53 new features.

It’s a free upgrade for those who already own the app. For new buyers, Camera+ is $1 in the App Store.

Download Link [iTunes]

See Also:

• Camera+ Sneaks Volume-Activated Shutter Past Apple’s Censors …
• Camera+ for iPhone 4 Adds Flash, Exposure Control