Hasta La Gadget!

Alright, so check this out — that thing above is both a 5W LED light bulb and a 10W wireless speaker. Around the edge is a ring of glowing diodes with a four-stage dimmer, while the center is a 2.25-inch driver that speaks to a dock via 2.4GHz wireless. The AudioBulb from GiiNii is a fairly unique way to kick out the jams anywhere in your abode and they disappear into practically any lamp. A basic setup of two bulbs, a dock and a remote will set you back a surprisingly steep $299, but you can add on up to six more bulbs for $99 a pop. Speaking of rooms and bulbs, you can configure the speakers to work in stereo pairs or in mono, and set up two zones with different volume levels.

The dock is a chintzy feeling piece of plastic with an integrated iPhone/iPod connector and around back you’ll find an auxiliary jack for the non-Apple fans. The dock can connect to the speakers from up to 100 feet away, depending on the environment, and comes pre-paired with the bulbs in the box. Adding additional speakers requires just the push of a button on the base and bulb simultaneously to get the party started. It was tough to hear the tunes over the din in the hall at Pepcom’s event, but we’re confident it can’t quite compare with the Play 3. They did, however, give off enough light to keep their little corner of the convention well lit. Check out the gallery below as well as the PR after the break.

Continue reading Giinii AudioBulb hands, eyes and ears-on

Giinii AudioBulb hands, eyes and ears-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure we’ve seen plenty of Windows Phone Mango demos — heck, we’ve done a few hands-ons ourselves — but so far as slickness is concerned, few can compare to this latest offering from Microsoft, which looks to bring developers on board, while showing off some key features like Live Tiles and speedy switching between apps in dramatic hands-off fashion. The Mango is so close we can taste it. Video after the break.

Continue reading Windows Phone Mango demoed by Microsoft in dramatic fashion (video)

Windows Phone Mango demoed by Microsoft in dramatic fashion (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“Boot to Gecko” this is not, but it’s still a tasty morsel for the beta testing hordes. Mozilla’s mobile group, which has been hard at working translating its popular browser to Android slates, appears ready to dole out the first downloads of its UI-in-progress. The team’s begun reaching out to its user community, offering up nightly builds of the tablet-based Fennec and soliciting feedback testing. If you’re the type to get your hands dirty coding, you can even sign-up to help the crew debug the early stage browser and speed up its official release. Feel like taking a crack at Firefox for Honeycomb? Then hit up the source below to preview the in-development goods.

Firefox for Honeycomb nightly builds now available for the brave beta testing few originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The plucky little white ball that first rolled its way into our hearts back at CES is back, and now it’s getting ready to continue its journey onto store shelves. Sphero is a little plasticLED-lit orb that can be controlled using a number of smartphone applications. The toy’s makers like to refer to it as a “real-world Wii,” letting users control it either via a phone’s touchscreen or with gestures, using the handset’s accelerometer. The ball itself is palm-sized — it feels like a standard toy ball, until you give it a bit of a shake, feeling its insides jiggle.

At present, the company is showcasing three apps — one for standard driving in real-time, one that lets the user draw paths with their fingers and a third “golf” app, that offers the most Wii-like interaction, with the user swinging their smartphone like a club to move the ball. The apps are straightforward and let you change Sphero’s color. All in all, the company seems to have come a ways since first showcasing earlier prototypes back in January. You can expect to see Sphero start shipping before the end of the year, for $129 a pop. It will be compatible with both iOS and Android. We hand fun with the thing, but who knows how long it will take to get sick of it. Thankfully, it will launch with three to six apps, with more coming soon. Hands-on video after the break.

Continue reading Sphero the smartphone controlled ball gets ready to roll out, we go hands-on (video)

Sphero the smartphone controlled ball gets ready to roll out, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The ViewSonic ViewPad 7e isn’t exactly what we’d call a barn burner. The 1GHz Samsung chip inside is enough for some basic web browsing and light app duty, but even the ViewSonic reps we spoke to referred to it as an “e-reader on steroids,” positioning it more as a competitor to the Nook Color than the iPad. In our brief hands-on, the little tablet ran Gingerbread capably enough that we weren’t drumming our fingers on the table, but the 7-inch, 800 x 600 screen was not always particularly responsive — it took three swipes to unlock the first time. Despite it’s noticeable bulk (you can see it resting besides a Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the gallery below) it was surprisingly light in the hand. Of course, it saves precious ounces by going with an all plastic build, but it hardly feels cheap or shoddy (though, the buttons are a bit stiff). On the left-hand edge you’ll find a microSD slot for adding to the 4GB of integrated storage, while along the top is the AC plug, a mini USB port and mini HMDI for pumping out 1080p video. As we’ve mentioned before this budget slate is available to pre-order now for $200. Don’t miss the bevy of photos below as well as the PR after the break.

Continue reading Viewsonic ViewPad 7e hands-on

Viewsonic ViewPad 7e hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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