Hasta La Gadget!

I’m huge fan of wireless charging for smartphones and other devices. The problem with wireless charging is that there are multiple wireless charging formats on the market and they’re not all compatible. That means you could purchase a case for your iPhone that would work on one charging base, but not the other.

Three of the most common wireless charging technologies on the market include inductive coupling, magnetic resonance, and Qi technology. Now, a company called Fulton Innovation has announced a new wireless charging breakthrough called Adaptive Resonance from their eCoupled line. This technology allows a single charging plate to support the charging of devices using any of the three methods at the same time.

The charging plate also allows the devices to maintain charging as they are moved around on the charging plate. That means you can scoot the devices around and they’ll still have power.

I like the idea of this technology, as it eliminates problems with incompatibility, and makes wireless charging just that much more practical.

Nintendo’s Wii U has gone up for sale in Europe, with retailers in the UK and elsewhere accepting pre-orders for the tablet-equipped console ahead of its release on November 30. In the UK, the Wii U is priced at £249 at Amazon for the Basic model, which includes 8GB of storage, and at £299 for the Premium model, which increases that to 32GB and throws in some extras.

For instance, in the Premium pack you get a 24-month subscription to the Nintendo Network, along with an AC adapter for both the main console and the GamePad tablet, an HDMI cable, and a GamePad charging cradle. The Basic pack makes do with the AC adapters and HDMI cable; interestingly, while Nintendo suggested at the press event yesterday that the Wii U sensor bar would also be included, it’s not listed for either version.

What you do get is a copy of NintendoLand, though there are other bundles available if included games are your priority. In the UK, for instance, £329 gets you the Wii U 32GB ZombieU Premium Pack, with a copy of ZombieU and a Wii U Pro controller.

In mainland Europe, the Wii U is priced at €299 for the Basic bundle and €349 for the Premium bundle; it’s up for preorder in Germany, France, and other locations. However, Wii U buyers in Europe won’t get access to the Nintendo TVii feature, which at launch will only be available to those in the US and Canada.

In the US, the Wii U is priced at $299.99 for the Basic model and $349.99 for the Deluxe bundle, with shipments beginning on November 18.

Wii U up for preorder in UK and Europe is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

People here in the US of A have been able to pre-order Nintendo’s latest gaming console since shortly after the Japanese company wrapped up its NYC event yesterday, and now it’s time for UK folks to do the same — at least through Amazon. The online retail giant’s now offering both the Basic and Premium units on its site for £249 and £299, respectively, or there is also a top-of-the-line bundle which includes ZombieU that’s priced at £329. Regardless of the Wii U route you choose to take, be sure to mark November 30th on your calendar as the date to expect that trademark brown box to show up at your doorstep.

Filed under: Gaming

Nintendo Wii U now available to pre-order in the UK from Amazon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This headphone design looks pretty interesting. It combines a sort of retro-looking design with modern tech. They are sleek and stylish, and designer Andreas Konradsen says that they’re supposed to blur the boundaries between music and mind – whatever that means.

The VOLVE Headphones are distinctive because of the way that you can control the music of your MP3 player or smartphone. You simply tap a rubber disc situated on the ear pads. Play/pause is activated by pushing the centerpiece of the ear pad.

The stainless tubing is supposed to be easily adjustable, and reminds me of older headphones, the kind of the thing you’d use when you’d have been doing studio recordings. While they’re not as sleek as some of the more fashionable headphones, they are certainly distinctive.

[via Yanko Design]

According to DigicamInfo, the cameras pictured above are the Olympus E-PL5 and E-PM2, which would serve as the successors to Olympus’ diminutive, entry-level Micro Four-Thirds shooters, the E-PL3 and E-PM1. Both were decent cameras when they hit store shelves last year, and now that these rumored cams will apparently use the same 16-megapixel Sony sensor found in the OM-D E-M5, along with a touch panel LCD, we should, at the very least, be intrigued by what could come from cameras such as these. [DigicamInfo via 43Rumors via Slashgear] More »