Hasta La Gadget!

If the bizarre 18s teaser-trailer for Iron Man 3 whet your appetite – basically a trailer for a trailer – then you’ll definitely be wanting to head beyond the cut to see the full trailer for the upcoming Marvel movie. Seeing Robert Downey Jr. reprise his role as Tony Stark, Iron Man 3 pits the eponymous hero against The Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley, who – if the trailer is anything to go by – seems determined to blow everything up.

That includes Stark and his wife Pepper Potts, with Gwyneth Paltrow returning to gather some new bruises as she’s apparently violently kidnapped. Val Kilmer and Don Cheadle are also on the star list.

“With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him” Marvel says of the film. “As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?”

It’s all textbook superhero-movie stuff, but that doesn’t mean we’re not excited. There’s plenty of time to build up enthusiasm, too, with the movie not expected to open in theaters until April 2013.

Iron Man 3 trailer: Crash, bang, wallop, what a picture! is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Microsoft has broadened its subsidized Xbox 360 deal, offering a 2506GB version of the console for $99 or with a Kinect for $149, for those signing up to its new Xbox 360 Entertainment for All plan. Initially launched earlier this year, following phone-style deals where upfront cost is offset by a monthly payment – in this case, a two year contract for Xbox LIVE Gold membership – the extended offer is “coming soon” Microsoft says.

That Xbox LIVE Gold Membership comes in at $14.99 per month, which means it’s another $360 to factor into the cost of the console itself. The original deal – a 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect – is still available, at $99, while those not interested in motion gaming can swap that for more storage.

When we ran the figures initially, back in May, Microsoft’s deal worked out reasonably competitively, with the company making $55 on the promotion. It was still, unsurprisingly, cheaper for consumers to pick up a regular console and then opt for a couple of years of prepaid Xbox LIVE membership – $49.99 for 12 months.

Since then, street prices for Xbox 360 have fallen even more. The 4GB/Kinect bundle had been coming in at around $284; it’s now down to $246 from online retailers, as is the 250GB Xbox 360. Microsoft hasn’t reduced its initial, subsidized price, however, so it’s making more on the scheme: a 250GB model on the Entertainment for All Plan is $459, or $509 if you want Kinect too.

In contrast, shop around for the best deal and you can get the same bundles for $346 or  $490 (though the latter gets you the 250GB 360 with Kinect “Holiday Value Bundle” with several games thrown in too). Overall, then, those cash-strapped gamers who simply must have a new console might find something here for them, but everyone else is probably better off saving up and paying upfront.

[Thanks Carl!]

Xbox 360 “Entertainment for All” adds 250GB console to $99 deal is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’re one of the more daring (or foolhardy) photographers out there, you’ve tried camera tossing: hurling your camera into the air in the hopes that a timed shot will catch either a unique perspective or an artistic spin. Nikon might not want to stop those shooters from throwing caution to the wind, but its recently published Japanese patent would at least keep those throws to a minimum. Cameras based on the patent could use a built-in accelerometer not just for timing the shot, but to brace for a fall by covering the lens and retracting its barrel on the way down. In theory, the photographer gets a perfect aerial portrait without all the guesswork and a minimum of damage. Call us skeptical that we’ll ever see the patent reach a shipping product, though — even if it was limited to rugged cameras, a mode built almost exclusively around voiding the warranty probably wouldn’t sit well with Nikon’s accountants.

[Image credit: Zoli B, Flickr]

Filed under: Cameras, Nikon

Nikon patent would perfect the art of camera tossing, protect us from our folly originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Designer Joey Roth has unveiled his latest creation namely the Ceramic subwoofer. Designed to complement his Ceramic speakers, Joey Roth’s new Ceramic subwoofer improves the detail and clarity of the original Ceramic speakers. The subwoofer’s amplifier connects directly to the Ceramic speakers’ small amplifier with an included cable. The audio source is connected to the subwoofer’s RCA input, where the internal crossover sends the mid and high frequencies to the speakers and the low frequencies to the subwoofer. Joey Roth’s Ceramic subwooofer retails for $695. [Joey Roth]

It looks like phase two of Marvel’s superhero movies has begun after the previous finale that is the Avengers, and the build up kicks off with the third instalment of Iron Man 3 that saw Tony Stark’s Malibu home get blown to bits and pieces, not to mention his precious armory which was “gratefully accepted” (in the words of Bane, of course) being taken advantage of. We also see the first appearance of Mandarin in the movie, and Tony Stark has certainly outdone himself in terms of creating a new armor that has bits and pieces of it flying towards him to “suit up”.

All we do know is, expect plenty more tech surprises to come your way by the time April 2013 rolls around the corner in the movie itself, which leaves us to wonder just how many ways can Iron Man suit up. The next thing you know, he would have bonded electronics with Spider Man’s alien symbiote so that he ends up with an organic armor that is perpetually worn, now how about that for pushing things to the edge?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Marvel unveils new armor for Iron Man 3, Marvel and Activision announces Deadpool video game,