Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been about six months since we heard Comcast was running tests of a brand new set-top box platform but now thanks to one of our tipsters we’re able to see it in action and find out what’s on the way. From the remote to the box to the menus it’s all new, and appears to be a major step forward for the company and already includes familiar apps like Facebook and Pandora. The look of the new guide mirrors what we’d seen in the manual received by the FCC in December and demonstrated on Samsung HDTVs at CES earlier this year, intended for 16×9 displays and moving the main navigation elements to the top. The redesigned remote has a few new buttons and while it hasn’t gone the QWERTY route, the software and hardware are designed around T9-style access for searching and messaging, with a button and microphone icon suggesting voice control is a possibility as well. The DVR itself is the Pace box we’d seen previously, although there was differing information on the number of tuners and hard drive space available, suggesting these details may still be up in the air. Check after the break for more details and our tipster’s first hand account of the new TV experience.

[Thanks, Mark van der Linden]

Continue reading Comcast’s next generation Xfinity Spectrum DVR shows off quad tuners, new menu and apps

Comcast’s next generation Xfinity Spectrum DVR shows off quad tuners, new menu and apps originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 May 2011 16:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We reviewed two slim Lenovo ThinkPads this week, each with its own unique offerings. Check out our head-to-head comparison.

Just because Nokia has done everything short of taping a “Dear John” letter to MeeGo’s mirror doesn’t mean the OS is dead. In fact, Intel’s Linux-based baby just got a refresh to version 1.2. So what’s new this go around? Well, primarily it’s under the hood stuff, like improved Atom support and bug fixes out the ying yang. New audio and networking stacks have also been added for A2DP streaming and HSPA+ support. The tablet UI that Intel was showing off in February is has arrived, to complement the standard netbook version and the in-car interface. Sadly, the handset edition was left out of this update. Those eager to dip their toes in the MeeGo water can download the latest version at the source link.

[Thanks, Khan]

MeeGo 1.2 lands for netbooks and tablets, leaves handsets hanging on the telephone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 May 2011 15:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look closely at that photo above. Those, friends, are digital cameras from Samsung. That’s right, even that boxy one that looks quite a bit like an old-school medium format film shooter. This photo was quietly inserted into a blog post from Sammy about lens design, without so much as a caption to clarify what our curious eyes were seeing. Might this be a future model meant to compete in the highest-ends of the digital camera market? Or is it something cooked up in the lab and abandoned for a more practical and mainstream design? There was a rumor kicking around last summer that Samsung was working on a medium format CMOS sensor and this could be a test rig for just such a slice of silicon. Whatever it is, we’re intrigued and we’ll be keeping an ear out for more info on what the Korean company has brewing.

Is this Samsung’s first medium format digital camera? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 May 2011 15:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week’s collection of apps for iOS devices is made up of games that send you right back to the classic arcade era.

Originally posted at The Download Blog