Hasta La Gadget!

A million in (Japanese) sales is a far cry from failure, but even big daddy Satoru Iwata admits the 3DS isn’t quite living up to expectations. Nintendo’s tenderfoot handheld finally hit the mark after 13 weeks, a snail’s pace when compared to the original dual-screen wunderkind, which reportedly made the grade in a mere four. The 3DS’ predecessors will undoubtedly forgive it for being a late bloomer, it’s the competition it ought to worry about; the PSP sold its first million in about seven weeks. The 3DS could still plow its way to the top — but with the PlayStation Vita looming large on the horizon, and the fledgling handheld having already lost a round the PSV’s predecessor, Nintendo could be in for a rough ride.

Nintendo finally sells millionth 3DS unit in Japan, lives in the shadow of older brother originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 21:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cleaners vs Chemicals | How do home brew cleaning concoctions stack up against name brand chemicals?

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We know some of you have been a little disappointed in Panasonic’s GF line of Micro Four Thirds cams as they’ve shed advanced features and become more “consumer friendly” — terrifying words for any serious user to hear. But, we’ve got some good news, at some point in the future the GF line will split with a more professionally-minded model sold alongside the more simplistic GF3. That’s straight from the mouth of Ichiro Kitao, the head of Panasonic’s camera division, who spoke to PhotoRadar about the company’s plans. When the GF1 will finally get a spiritual successor isn’t exactly clear, but we’re glad to hear the pocketable Micro Four Thirds series will finally get another serious shooter.

Panasonic plans to expand GF line, return to serious shooter roots originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola’s latest wares are on display at the 2011 Cable Show (we suspect the sluggish cable boxes actually in service right now are rarely mentioned) including this “Live Streaming Device” aka Televation. Functioning as a cable company provided, in-home-only Slingbox, it transcodes the MPEG-2 TV broadcasts into MPEG-4 IP streams for viewing on other devices (Android or iOS tablets, IP-connected TVs, etc) that are on the same local network at whatever bitrate or resolution they can handle. Motorola figures this cuts out legal disputes like those encircling Time Warner’s TWCable TV iPad app since it uses existing TV broadcasts. Collaborating on the project were engineers from Comcast, which could make for an existing branch on its existing plans for new boxes, IPTV, and mobile apps. Sling / Echostar has been trying to crack the cable box market with its more flexible solution for years and is expected to announce the new Aria platform tomorrow, so may the best platform — and not just the one with the cheapest / sweetest deal for the cable company — win.

Continue reading Motorola Televation turns cable TV into IPTV streams for the whole home

Motorola Televation turns cable TV into IPTV streams for the whole home originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In theory, metamaterials are all kinds of awesome — they can boost antenna strength, focus lasers, and create invisibility cloaks. But, they’ve been limited to day dreams lab experiments because producing the light-interfering materials in any practical quantity has been difficult and time consuming. John Rogers, a professor at the University of Illinois has figured out a way to print a layered, nano-scale mesh that bends near-infrared light in much larger amounts than previously possible. The new method, based around a plastic stamp, has been used to create sheets of metamaterial measuring a few square inches, but Rogers is confident he can scale it up to several feet. Who knows, by the time the second installment of The Deathly Hallows hits theaters in July you could get the best Harry Potter costume — one that lets you sneak in without shelling out $13.

[Thanks, Plum G.]

Metamaterial printing method inches us closer to invisibility cloaks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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