Hasta La Gadget!

iRobot’s first attempt at a telepresence robot, a modified Roomba, was a false start, but now they’re back with an all-new bot called AVA which should right all wrongs. The bot can adjust its own height from three feet to five feet tall to meet you at eye level, with a tablet perched on top (this is CES 2011, after all). Its base is an odd three-wheeled configuration for maneuverability, and the robot has DARPA Challenge-style environment mapping to avoid bumping into anything or anybody. For sensors the AVA is using dual Kinect-style PrimeSense sensors, along with laser rangefinders, scanning acoustic sensors, and bump sensors. There’s naturally a microphone and camera for the bot’s primary purpose: video telepresence. What’s more interesting, however, is that iRobot has an apps platform for this, which will allow developers to build new functionality. There’s no word on price or when this will go on sale, but we already know one thing: we want one. Check out some quality time that PC Magazine‘s Lance Ulanoff spent with AVA after the break.

Continue reading iRobot debuts AVA telepresence robot with tablet controls

iRobot debuts AVA telepresence robot with tablet controls originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LAS VEGAS — Samsung climbed aboard the increasingly crowded 4G train with a trio of 4G LTE-enabled devices Thursday afternoon at CES 2011.

Among the devices are a new version of the Galaxy Tab. Along with 4G connectivity capability, the new tablet will have an upgraded 5-megapixel back facing camera, distinguished from the current model’s 3 megapixels.

Samsung didn’t announce when the tablet would be available. It will be exclusive to Verizon’s 4G network in the U.S.

In addition to the new tablet, Samsung also unveiled a new, yet-to-be named smartphone, provisionally called the 4G LTE. It’s yet another launch of a mobile device with a massive super AMOLED screen — it measures in at 4.3-inches — debuting only days after the company had first announced its 4.5-inch Infuse smartphone.

Under the hood, the 4G LTE has a 1 GHz single-core processor. Just like the Infuse, the 4G LTE has an 8-megapixel back facing camera, with a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for video chat. Both the 4G LTE and the Infuse will run Froyo. Like the tablet, there aren’t any pricing or availability details being made public yet.

And to round out the announcement, Samsung also introduced its aptly named 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot for Verizon’s 4G network. The device will work much like other hotspots do, acting as a wireless access point for up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices at once. It’s also backward compatible with Verizon’s 3G network.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

LAS VEGAS — The best kind of software apps are the ones that help you do things you have no business doing. File the iDJ Live under that category, especially as it pertains to those not so musically inclined.

To novices, Numark’s iDJ Live resembles that of any standard-looking turntable setup (albeit not quite the size of a typical vinyl record), but this hardware enables users of any experience level to connect with the Jam-Master Jay that’s laid latent all these years.

So long as you’re already familiar with your DJ software of choice, it really isn’t any harder than propping your iPad onto the unit’s stand, sync up the two using your connector cable, and start scratching away. It works with most compatible DJ software, but for the CES demo, Numark had one preloaded with Algoriddim’s djay for iPad, arguably the most popular brand released last year.

The most prominent thing about the iDJ Live is that it doesn’t intimidate and is super-easy to navigate. And since each side is a mirror of the other, you really only have to learn one set of controls to grasp the other. Volume, bass, and treble knobs are front and center, as well as backlit buttons that manage syncing, play/pause, and setting your cues.

And even though djay for iPad came out a month ago, it’s worth reiterating just how simple this slick app is to use. I know next to nothing about the fundamentals of DJ’ing, but a few minutes of hands-on time with the iDJ Live running djay for iPad and I had myself fooled that whatever musical concoction I was churning out resembled what you’d hear in a nightclub at 1 a.m.

Numark hasn’t yet announced pricing for the iDJ Live, although you should expect to see it around mid-2011.

Photo: Erik Malinowski/Wired.com

Believe it or not, the tablet world hasn’t all turned into a Honeycomb / Tegra 2 monopoly. Some manufacturers, like industry newbie eFun here, are sticking with ye olde Froyo and looking to conquer a slice of the thrifty consumer market. The Nextbook Next4 is a 10-inch panel aping the iPad in offering a 1024 x 768 resolution and what will be a brushed aluminum back (ours was made out of plastic, but it was just a display prototype). Unfortunately, that’s pretty much where the similarities end, as this device’s software really wasn’t up to scratch. It’s almost stock Android 2.2, by the looks of it, but eFun opted to take the familiar Android soft keys into software, leaving the only capacitive touch for the panel. The biggest problem for us, aside from some instabilities and a random reboot, was lag when navigating through menus and an atypically long load time to get Angry Birds running. Performance might be an issue, in spite of the 1GHz Cortex A8 processor inside, but price likely won’t be. The Next4 is launching in the first quarter of the year with a price somewhere around $350.

Its 7-inch sibling, the Nextbook Next6, is also joining it in Q1 and also eschews Android keys for a software implementation. Its designed primarily for reading ebooks and has a pair of physical keys on the side for flipping pages, which worked well. It had similar issues, however, to its bigger brother, but maybe its target audience will be more forgiving of its lack of immediate responsiveness than we are. It’ll be a Home Shopping Network exclusive for a week when it launches, with an MSRP of $300 that will likely be discounted to $250. Hit up the gallery for the hands-on action!

eFun Nextbook Next4 and Next6 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boxee is here at CES showing off two unreleased products to eager Boxee fans and novices alike. We were sufficiently bummed when both Netflix and Vudu were delayed for the box, but we can report that they’re definitely getting close to primetime. The Vudu app we saw was incredibly polished, quick, and had nice video quality even on the overcongested and questionable internet connection. It actually does a network test the first time you launch the app, but after that you can manually select to watch each program in either SD or HD. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to see the Netflix app in action because “Netflix would not be happy with us” according to Boxee chief and Engadget Show alum Avner Ronen. (It wasn’t even loaded on the demo box — we promise we looked). Head past the break for deets on the iPad app, as well as shots of it in action.

Continue reading Boxee’s unreleased Vudu and iPad apps (hands-on)

Boxee’s unreleased Vudu and iPad apps (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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