Hasta La Gadget!

In 1903, Thomas Edison electrocuted an elephant and filmed it, distributing as a cautionary tale about the perceived dangers alternating current (AC), the direct competitor to his direct current (DC). More than a century later, our technologies for capturing footage have certainly improved, but the whole elephant killing thing is still firmly intact.

Chances are the Secret Service won’t be ditching its signature black SUVs for these things anytime soon, but if all goes according to President Obama’s new energy plan, even the Commander in Chief’s armed guards will be rolling more eco-friendly in the next three years. In a speech given at Georgetown University Wednesday, the President said he expects all government agencies “to purchase 100 percent alternative fuel, hybrid, or electric vehicles by 2015.” Now, that doesn’t mean they’ll have to get rid of pre-existing gas guzzlers, but any new purchases made after the cutoff date will be expected to comply — the government’s current fleet consists of 660,000 vehicles, 400,000 of which run on gasoline. Among other things, the President also called for increased infrastructure for the production of biofuels made from things like wood chips and switchgrass. So no, Cadillac One probably won’t be replaced by a rechargeable egg car, but if Uncle Sam’s taking suggestions, we’d be happy to make a recommendation — Wheego Whip LiFe One does have a nice ring to it. Doesn’t it?

Obama says federal fleet to run on alternative fuels starting in 2015 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Forbes  |  The White House  | Email this | Comments

Take-Two Interactive is launching a promotion in which one lucky pitcher can win $1 million by throwing the first perfect game this season in Major League Baseball 2K11.

Originally posted at The Digital Home

Never mind the cringe-inducing advertising, ASUS has given us a much better reason to care about its Tegra 2-toting Eee Pad Transformer: a $400 price. The 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet (with 1280 x 800 resolution on an IPS display) has quickly moved from its Taiwanese release, through yesterday’s UK pricing announcement, to today showing up at Best Buy in the US, so we suspect its global shipping can’t be far off at all. With a sticker that’s a clear $99 less than the cheapest iPad and a good deal more affordable than its Android competition like the Xoom and G-Slate, the Transformer could yet take the tablet world by storm. Do take note that the keyboard dock that inspires this slate’s name is an optional extra, but given the starting price, the whole package might still end up less than what others will ask.

Update: Whack attack! Best Buy has pulled the Transformer page and it no longer shows up in search results on the site. Was the price too good to be true? Thanks, Jaime!

Update 2: It’s looking likely that the price info was accurate, as 16GB and 32GB versions have shown up elsewhere on the web for $400 and $500, respectively, though both are currently out of stock. Thanks, Sam and James!

Update 3: Ah, and now we have the price for the dock alone: $149. Thanks, Peter C.!

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer shows up at Best Buy for $400 (update: dock price) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Netbook News  |  Best Buy, Newegg  | Email this | Comments

Hercules’ eCAFÉ netbooks are pretty cool for a dead product category

Hercules has released a pair of ARM Cortex A8-based netbooks which run a Linux OS and last up to 13 hours on a single charge. But the coolest part is that they look like an oversized Nintendo DS.

There are two models, the eCAFÉ Slim HD and the eCAFÉ EX HD. The difference is in the battery. While the Slim is just 0.8 inches thick, the EX is a 1.1 inch slab. Both have 512MB RAM, 8GB flash storage (and an SD slot for adding more), a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 display which it is claimed can somehow offer proper 720p video playback (maybe the extra 120 lines of pixels pop out from somewhere?) and a Linux-based OS.

But it’s the style that sets these apart from other netbooks. Both eCAFÉs are wonderfully squared-off, without that awful fat wedge-shape of most netbooks. And when the screen opens, it leaves a little of its bezel behind, making two bars, one either side of the chiclet keyboard. Like I said, it look like a flatter, bigger Nintendo DS.

Thankfully, both machines are cheap, at €200 ($283) for the Slim and €250 ($354) for the EX. I had thought that the netbook market was completely dead thanks to the tablet, but at these prices somebody, somewhere might buy one instead of an iPad.

Hercules Sets a New Standard with its Latest Generation of eCAFÉ Netbooks [Hercules. Thanks, Jennifer!]

See Also:

• Chrome OS Netbooks For Under $400, Says Google
• Acer to Phase Out Netbooks in Favor of Tablets
• It's Too Soon to Count Out Netbooks