Hasta La Gadget!

Sending a rover to a distant planet is no small feat, so we might as well make the landing even more spectacular, right? That’s exactly what NASA has in mind for its Curiosity Mars rover, albeit for more practical reasons. Launching in late 2011 and expected to land on Mars in August 2012, this mobile laboratory will see a unique descent after entering the Martian atmosphere: there’ll be the usual separation from the heatshield and backshell, but at about 380 seconds into the entry, the rover will be gently lowered down by wire from a “sky crane,” as opposed to taking a leap of faith. Once the landing is complete, the hovering sky crane will then detach from the rover and fly off for a dramatic disposal — let’s just hope it won’t hit the now-dormant Spirit. See for yourself in the video above.

NASA animation depicts Curiosity’s soft landing on Mars, courtesy of a ‘sky crane’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Given Apple’s track record of adopting newfangled technologies — you know, like SD slots — we’re going to go ahead and assume Steve Jobs & Co. aren’t planning on adding a 3D display to the iPad anytime soon. Now that you’ve swallowed that distasteful dose of reality, NewSight Japan is inviting you to mod it yourself in a way thankfully doesn’t involve performing open-heart surgery on your magical slate. The solution — whose name we can’t decipher on the company’s Japanese website — combines software with a film placed over the display (not to worry, this won’t impede mulltitouch gestures). Unfortunately, it doesn’t flip 2D images to 3D, so those operating sans a 3D-enabled camera or conversion software are apt to be sorely disappointed. That said, it’d fit right into a utopian universe where 3D movie downloads were the norm.

Continue reading NewSight Japan uses film, software to give the iPad a 3D display… sort of (video)

NewSight Japan uses film, software to give the iPad a 3D display… sort of (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As far as tablets go, Gigabyte’s S1080 is about as far as you can get from the iPad, with its dual-core Atom N550 processor, 320GB hard drive, and Ethernet port. (And, you know, the fact that it runs Windows 7.) Still, the company is going head to head with Apple’s magical slate — it just priced the 10-inch, 3G-enabled tablet at NT$22,900 ($787), a shade higher than the NT$22,800 price of a first-generation iPad with 3G and 64GB of storage. (Taiwan hasn’t gotten the iPad 2 yet.) If having a Windows tablet with mouse buttons, of all things, floats your boat, it can’t be beat, though finding a cheaper Windows slate should be a cinch.

Gigabyte’s pricey S1080 tablet goes on sale in Taiwan originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 19:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Livio Radio is making a big push into car Internet radio market this July with a $99.99 Bluetooth head unit called the Kit that plugs into your cigarette lighter adapter and also offers USB charging and a built-in speakerphone.

ASUS apologizes for Eee Pad Transformer delay it won’t detail, US launch pegged for end of April originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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