Jan 07

Ford Announces Focus Electric with Value Charging, Data Cellphone

Posted in: Today's Chili

FocusElectric_60_HR.jpg

LAS VEGAS – Ford joined the electric car fray today with the announcement of the Ford Focus Electric. Ford’s first electric car ships late this year and will be more like the Nissan Leaf than the Chevrolet Volt because it’s an electric-drive-only car. And it will employ an enhanced version of Ford Sync and MyFord Touch with an embedded cellular modem, the first for a Ford Sync vehicle, that lets the car search for the cheapest recharging rates. The delivered price will likely be under $25,000. The range will be around 100 miles.  

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Jan 07

Ford Electric Car’s Embedded Phone: Is Ford Shifting Focus?

Posted in: Today's Chili

FocusElectric_48_HR-smartphone-charge.jpg

LAS VEGAS – For the first time in a car equipped with Ford Sync, there’s an embedded cellular data modem. All other Sync vehicles use the owner’s cellphone for car data communication with the outside world. So with the announcement of the Ford Focus Electric today at CES, does that mean a change of direction for Ford that makes Ford’s Sync technology more like GM OnStar with its always-embedded modem? Ford says no; This is something special for electric cars.

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Jan 07

CES: Exercise your thumb with the Genius Ring Mouse

Posted in: Today's Chili

The Genius Ring Mouse lets you scroll around with just your thumb!

Originally posted at CES 2011

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Jan 07

Ford partners with Leviton and Best Buy for $1,499 Focus Electric charging station

Posted in: BestBuy, charger, electric vehicle, ElectricVehicle, feature, Features, Ford, Today's Chili
Ford partners with Leviton and Best Buy for $1,499 Focus Electric charging station

Lusting over the new Focus Electric? It’s still a few years off yet, but if you’re already thinking about practicalities you’re wondering how you’re going to charge the thing. Got 120V power in your garage? No problem, you can charge off of that easily — if you don’t mind waiting 20 hours. A Level 2 charger will drop that down to between three and four hours, but it requires some hardware installed in your home. If you want to do that for the Leaf or the Volt you’re looking at $2,000 installed, and that installation is permanent.

Ford is making things much easier, and much cheaper, with a $1,499 charger made by Leviton that’s not only cheaper than the competition but completely modular. It hangs on the wall and simply plugs into a 240V outlet, handling the necessary electrical wizardry to quick-charge your Focus without burning down your house or singeing your cat. Ford is partnering with Best Buy for installation, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your propensity for Geeks in Squads.

Gallery: Ford Focus Electric charger

Ford partners with Leviton and Best Buy for $1,499 Focus Electric charging station originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 07

LG rounds out Blu-ray lineup with Ethernet-only BD630

Posted in: Today's Chili

Along with its more high-profile Blu-ray releases, LG also announced the entry-level BD630, which has limited streaming services and no option to add Wi-Fi later.

Originally posted at CES 2011

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Jan 07

CES: HyperMac Starts Selling Batteries Again with Connector Kits for Mac

Posted in: Apple, lawsuit, Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili

CES - HyperMac - iPod Battery

The HyperMac/HyperJuice legal saga started in September when Apple sued the company for using and selling its MagSafe and iPod Dock Connector power adapters with their external battery packs. Things got interesting when, as part of a deal to avoid a drawn-out legal battle with Apple, the company decided to rebrand to HyperJuice instead and stop selling the battery packs entirely in November. 
Today, Sanho Corporation (parent company of HyperMac) CEO Daniel Chin announced that HyperMac is back, selling their external battery packs again, and offering two new ways for buyers to connect their battery packs to their MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air. 
First, each HyperMac battery will include an airline/auto adapter for charging. The adapter will plug directly into Apple’s own airline MagSafe adapter, which users will have to buy directly from Apple if they want to use this method. The second option is to purchase a HyperMac battery with a DIY kit that allows you to transform an Apple power adapter into one that can be used to connect the battery to your Mac. Both versions, along with HyperMac’s range of external battery packs, are available for purchase now at HyperMac’s Web site.
 
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Jan 07

LG G-Slate makes its FCC debut?

Posted in: Android, Google, LG, t-mobile, tablet, Today's Chili

Considering the size of the label here relative to the size of the device itself, this certainly seems like a tablet (rather than a phone) that hit the FCC’s filing system this week from LG — and when you add in the fact that it’s got certification on T-Mobile’s AWS 3G band, that pretty much seals the deal. Not a lot to see here yet, but the fact that the G-Slate’s got its certification squared away might indicate that it won’t be far behind the Dell Streak 7 that’s launching in the next few weeks. Frankly, we’re a little jealous that the FCC test lab people got to spend time with Honeycomb — any chance Engadget can be an FCC-approved test lab? What’s the process there?

[Thanks, Evan]

LG G-Slate makes its FCC debut? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 07

CES: Razer Chimaera XBox 360 Gaming Headset Starts Shipping

Posted in: gaming, MP3 Digital Audio, razer, Today's Chili, video games

Razer Chimaera

If you’ve been waiting for Razer’s Chimaera Gaming Headset for the XBox 360 since it was announced at CES last year, it’s on display again at CES this year and Razer says they’re ready to ship to eager XBox 360 gamers looking to replace their stock headsets with some 5.1-channel surround sound. 
The wireless headset features a docking station for the rechargeable battery, a noise isolating microphone that fits into the body of the headset and flips down when you want to speak, and boasts its own EQ and audio-output jacks on the docking station if you’re playing multiplayer and want to connect another pair of headphones. 
Razer says the 5.1 channel version will sell for $199.99 list price, and they plan to offer a 2.1 channel version for $129.99 list price. 
[via Engadget]
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Jan 07

Exclusive interview: Google’s Matias Duarte talks Honeycomb, tablets, and the future of Android

Posted in: Android, exclusive, Google, honeycomb, interview, Today's Chili, ui, video

We’re not going to lie — we’re pretty excited to bring this to you guys. Here at CES 2011 we had a chance to sit down with Matias Duarte, the man behind webOS (as well as the Sidekick and Helio UIs), who’s now heading up Google’s user experience for Android. Matias is currently driving the interface and design for Android 3.0 (AKA Honeycomb), and it’s clear that he’s bringing his big, bold ideas to the Android platform. This is the first video interview Matias has done since leaving Palm, and we pressed the man on his involvement in Gingerbread and Honeycomb, what had to be torn down in Android, how desktop OSs can inform mobile devices, and much, much more. Don’t just take our word for it — follow along after the break and watch the full interview!

Continue reading Exclusive interview: Google’s Matias Duarte talks Honeycomb, tablets, and the future of Android

Exclusive interview: Google’s Matias Duarte talks Honeycomb, tablets, and the future of Android originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 07

Creative Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Omega headphones have a long name, connect to PC and game consoles wirelessly

Posted in: audio, headphones, Today's Chili, Wireless

We still haven’t been able to evaluate Creative’s original claim that the Sound Blaster Tactic 3D series can tell up from down, but the company’s already got a third set of virtual surround sound headphones. The Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Omega (whew) adds wireless to what looks like a nearly identical set of cans, and connects to PCs, game consoles, and other home audio components with a base station on the other end. At $200, they’re not cheap, so we hope Creative’s increased the quality of its materials and construction quite a bit — the original sets were fairly flimsy, as we recall. PR after the break.

Continue reading Creative Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Omega headphones have a long name, connect to PC and game consoles wirelessly

Creative Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Omega headphones have a long name, connect to PC and game consoles wirelessly originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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