Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re reading magazines on your iPad, there’s a fairly good chance that you’re using Zinio. Released today, version 2.0 of the Zinio app for iPad makes it easier to hand over those newsstand-like per-issue fees with in-app purchasing, while also adding a variety of free preview content, including access to current articles from thousands of top publications. The app’s new Explore section hosts this new free content, which updates daily and includes stories from magazines like Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Elle. The new app also features significant performance boosts, like we saw with last month’s Android update, in-magazine shopping, and advanced bookmarks. Another update in the coming months will bring social media capabilities, such as bookmark and article sharing. We’d still love to see lower per-issue and subscription rates, but we’re happy to welcome free article content in the meantime. Jump past the break for a video overview, along with a sneak peek at those social media features with Zinio CEO Rich Maggiotto.

Continue reading Zinio 2.0 for iPad adds in-app purchasing, free article preview (video)

Zinio 2.0 for iPad adds in-app purchasing, free article preview (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I have an awesome idea. I’m going to buy an apartment, I’m thinking probably in Miami or Tampa cause the weather’s great. And then I’m going to outfit the whole house with hidden ‘security’ cams to PROTECT it. You know from creeps on the outside so I can creep all I want on the inside. And then I’m going to get two really hot girls, preferably in their young 20’s and definitely from a different country to rent my beach-side apartment and then…oh wait…shit nevermind! More »

That’s me above, on the left. I’m Robin, reaping all of the benefits of fighting supervillians on the mean streets of Gotham, without the whole thing about watching my parents brutally murdered by a mob boss. All things considered, life was pretty good, growing up in the East Bay in the ’80s, save for the fact that my cousin was somehow promoted to the role of Batman – most likely because he was visiting from afar (and maybe brought his own costume up from Southern California). And then there’s the whole holding hands thing — I can pretty much guarantee that ended the moment the photographer parent put the camera down. I mean, Arkham Asylum isn’t going to patrol itself.

Despite early photographic evidence to the contrary — and a few select themed birthday parties — I was never really a DC Comics kid growing up. I’d chalk a fair amount of that up to the fact that, so far as these photo albums indicate, I didn’t arrive on a rocketship from an exploding homeland, and was never independently wealthy, as the poor tailoring job on the Robin suit can attest.

Continue reading Growing Up Geek: Brian Heater

Growing Up Geek: Brian Heater originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know what’s pleasing about this plastic drone, aside from the fact it flies? It took just a week to design and build from scratch, thanks to the labor-saving wonders of 3D printing. Each component was formed in ultra-thin layers by a laser beam trained on a bed of raw material — either plastic, steel or titanium powder depending on the required part. If designers at the University of Southampton wanted to experiment with elliptical wings, they simply printed them out. If they thought a particular brand of WWII nose cone might reduce drag, they pressed Ctrl-P. And if they reckoned they could invent a wingless flying steamroller… Er, too late. Anyway, as the video after the break reveals, there’s never been a better time for the work-shy to become aeronautical engineers.

Continue reading 3D-printed plane takes to the skies, sounds like a Black & Decker (video)

3D-printed plane takes to the skies, sounds like a Black & Decker (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Despite an optimistic launch, Google TV sales have proven less than wow-worthy

Consumers aren’t going as gaga for Google TV as manufacturers had hoped. In fact, people are flocking to return the smart TV set-top box.

Logitech International, maker of the Revue Google TV unit, announced that Revue profits were “slightly negative” last quarter as more people returned the device than purchased it.

In response, Logitech said it is going to drop the price of the Revue from $250 (a price cut from the original price of $300) to $100.

“We launched Revue with the expectation that it would generate significant sales growth in spite of a relatively high price point and the newness of both the smart TV category and the underlying platform,” Logitech chairman Guerrino De Luca said in a conference call on Thursday. “In hindsight, there are a number of things we should have done differently.”

Google TV is available through Logitech’s set-top box and a Sony HDTV and Blu-ray player. It provides access to the internet, live television programming, on-demand programming, recorded shows, pay TV, and online video clips. When Google announced Google TV last summer, the launch was surrounded with praise and positivity: smart TVs are the future of television; Google TV put Apple TV to shame. But Google TV was soon plagued by problems from major broadcast networks, preventing their content from being streamed by the set-top box and opposing a legislative proposal that would provide Google TV with easy access to cable content.

Google is not the only player in the space — there are plenty of ways to turn your TV into a web-connected powerhouse, but some are just more convenient or more fleshed out than others. For instance, LG has a similar smart TV upgraded set-top box, and Yahoo! and Samsung also have web-integrated TV offerings.

Hopefully, Logitech’s lowered price point will help spur consumer adoption of the Revue. Other set-top boxes, like the Roku box, fall in the $100 price range, a pricing level most people are better able to swallow than the close to $300 the Revue was selling at.

“There was a significant gap between our price and the value perceived by the consumer,” De Luca said during the conference call.

It’s not totally clear why users were returning the unit. In Wired.com’s roundup of HDTV streamers, the Logitech Revue came out on top, despite its hefty price tag. However, Geekdad felt that the Boxee Box was easier to use for the average consumer. The Revue was said to be the more intriguing option “if you’re a tech-head.” De Luca posited that “Google TV has not yet fully delivered to its own promises.” And perhaps, in such a tight economy, customers just felt they weren’t getting their money’s worth.

“Google TV has a number of issues beyond the demand for Internet connected televisions. There is a lot that needs to be sorted out for this type of platform to succeed and the issues are centered around business models more than around technology,” says Van Baker, Research Vice President for Gartner.

Google plans to update the Google TV software later this year.