Hasta La Gadget!

It’s a sad truth of the mobile industry: sometimes perfectly good smartphones are saddled with silly, effete, or otherwise ridiculous names.

Take the new Pantech Marauder, which Verizon just revealed a few moments ago. The name conjures up images of bandits roaming the plains in search of lily-livered prey to accost, but what you actually get is a ho-hum Ice Cream Sandwich-powered smartphone.

The Marauder’s spec sheet doesn’t provide much to write home about, but those aching for a physical QWERTY keyboard could do worse — it packs (among other things) 1.2GHz dual-core processor of unspecified make, plus 1GB of RAM, an LTE radio, and a 5-megapixel rear camera. Meanwhile, 3.8-inch 800 x 480 display is nestled front-and-center over a quarter of Android navigation soft keys. Perhaps the most interesting part of the device (aside from its completely incongruous name) is the fact that it allows users to switch between what Verizon calls Starter and Standard modes.

While Standard mode is the lightly-skinned default version of Ice Cream Sandwich that most people will stick with, Starter mode provides first time users and all-around luddites a simplified interface. Specifically, that entails four homescreens (as opposed to seven) loaded up with preset widgets, and a quick dialer icon that’s apparently very hard to miss.

Pantech’s previous U.S. handsets haven’t exactly been hits, but they’re generally solid enough devices (my personal favorite was this little guy). The combination that the Marauder brings to the table isn’t awful by any stretch, but it’s purely an entry-level device and it has the $49 price tag to match.

Gil Weinberg is a Ph.D with a background in jazz. More importantly, however, he’s an expert in the field of artificial intelligence, especially in how it intersects with concepts of creativity and musicianship. His projects, Shimi and Shimon, two music-playing robots that regularly amaze audiences around the world, explore what it means to “play” music. He asks whether music is an innate human talent or a lucky confluence of math and harmonics.

I think he’s proven it’s the latter.

We talked with Weinberg in Georgia at his lab on Georgia Tech’s verdant campus. His work in artificial intelligence has allowed him to build “musical simulators,” which allow him to recreate the styles of various jazz and pop greats using his odd little robot, Shimon. To see these robots play – to see them work together at first and then roll off into wild solos and pleasing musical interludes – is strangely alien. You know that music is for humans, but these guys make machine music look easy.

You can learn more about Weinberg’s company, TovBot here and look for a commercial version of his Shimi phone dock/musical robot soon. Maybe one day his wild creations can take to the street corners around the world, playing for tips and reminding us that we don’t have a monopoly on music.

Apple may be calling the Apple TV a hobby, but there’s no doubt that the minature streaming media box has garnered some attention from various content providers. Netflix has been available on the Apple TV for some time, but Hulu has been noticeably missing. It looks it won’t be missing any more, as multiple users have taken to Twitter to show off the new Hulu Plus app that has been pushed out to Apple TVs across the United States.

Apple reportedly began rolling out the app this morning, although users may need to reboot their Apple TV before they see the app appear. The app seems to work as advertised, streaming television shows from networks such as Fox and NBC as long as you subscribe to the Plus service, which currently costs $7.99 a month.

Hulu Plus has been available on a multitude of hardware devices for some time, including consoles, and users also have the option of streaming shows through their web browser. The app finally arriving on the Apple TV makes for a compelling argument for the little streamer given its $99 price. Combine Hulu Plus with a Netflix subscription and Apple’s own access to paid movies and TV shows, and suddenly you have an inexpensive and practical way to cut the cord.

Users are also reporting that Hulu Plus can be billed straight to an Apple iTunes account. New users will be able to sign up directly from the Apple TV and given a week’s free trial, and after that they’ll be charged $7.99 a month to access Hulu’s library of TV shows.

[via MacRumors]

Hulu Plus lands on Apple TV is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The first live Super Hi-Vision broadcast for public consumption was of the Olympic opening ceremony in London last week. We didn’t get to see that premiere, or the second or third screenings either — but the fourth? Oh yes. We grabbed a seat right up front of a small theater inside BBC Broadcasting House, watched a live 33-megapixel feed from the Aquatics Center and absorbed some very fond memories in the process. At the same time, a question hung over the footage like a watermark: why bother? The world is barely getting to grips with the notion of 4K, which already solves pixelation at regular viewing distances, so why did the BBC and Japanese broadcaster NHK go to the expense of sending a dedicated SHV video truck, a SHV audio truck rigged for 22.2 channel sound, and the world’s only three 8K Ultra HDTV cameras to London? Fortunately, we caught up with someone in charge who was able to respond to that question. Read on for what they said, plus a slightly fuller sense of what the footage was like to watch.

Continue reading BBC shows off 33-megapixel Super Hi-Vision Olympic footage, we ask: why?

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

BBC shows off 33-megapixel Super Hi-Vision Olympic footage, we ask: why? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last week we reported that Sony 2011 Xperia devices won’t be getting the Jelly Bean update, but it looks like those reports turned out to be false. According to an announcement on the official Sony Mobile Blog, the Facebook comment was given out in error and Sony will be releasing Jelly Bean for its 2011 Xperia devices including the Xperia S. No more details have been released but we’re expected to find out more in due time.

I guess 2011 Xperia device owners can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that official Jelly Bean is on the way. 2012 Xperia devices will get Jelly Bean as expected – details will be released over the next few weeks. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony LT29i Hayabusa spotted in the wild again, Code for multiple user accounts spotted in AOSP Jelly Bean,