Hasta La Gadget!

Last fall, a little tank treaded robot turned up on Kickstarter called the Romo from Romotive. The Romo used your iPhone as its brain to control the tank base to allow the little bot to perform all sorts of tasks. The team behind the little robot is back on Kickstarter right now looking for more funding.

The developers want the additional funding to help make the robot smarter, faster, and easier to use. The team says that they have redesigned the robot from the circuit board up and then set up production at a manufacturer in China. The developers are now trying to raise money to improve the software and are seeking another $100,000.

This next-generation Romo robot is described as “almost” everything a personal robot should be. The developers say that the new bot is cute, responsive, and really fast. The developers want to use the money raised to develop software to allow Romo to perform two-way telepresence, computer vision, autonomous navigation, and facial recognition.

The team says that with funding the new features will be released as updated apps. The team also promises to wrap a SDK around each function allowing developers to create their own apps to share. A pledge of $150 will get you one of the first next-generation Romo robots. So far, the team has raised $42,931 out of its goal of $100,000. The team has 28 days to go so it’s very likely they’ll get the money they need.

Romo smartphone robot back on Kickstarter is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

As many gamers are probably aware by now, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is scheduled for a release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the PC come 13^th of November, while a Wii U release has been pegged for the 18^th. For those who can’t wait to get their hands on the game, Activision has released the launch trailer for the game which  we hope will appease gamers for now – either that or whet their appetite for the game which will be launched less than a month from now. The trailer looks pretty impressive and for those who are super concerned regarding spoilers, perhaps this is a trailer you might want to pass on as there are several scenes in there that appear to have been taken from the campaign. For those who aren’t too fussed, check it out in the video above and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Call of Duty Elite service to be made free with launch of Black Ops 2, More hints of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for the Nintendo Wii U,

As far as music piracy is concerned, the common perception is that people who download don’t buy music. After all, if you can get it for free, why fork out money for essentially the same product, right? Well as it turns out in a public policy study recently conducted by the American Assembly, it seems that they have arrived at the conclusion that on average, file-sharers actually buy 30% more music than their non-file sharing counterparts which we guess pretty much invalidates quite a few arguments against file sharing. This survey was conducted based on thousands on in-depth phone interviews held all over the US, and it seems that while online piracy could be thought of as a problem for record labels, the survey has also revealed that offline copying of music takes place more often compared to online music piracy.

While the survey could be thought of as rather comprehensive, it is far from conclusive as there is probably still room for a margin of error, but it is still a pretty interesting revelation nonetheless. For those interested, you can head on over to the American Assembly website for a more in-depth look into the survey, but in the meantime what do you guys make of this? Are you, or do you know of someone who actually downloads music sometimes illegally, but only for sampling before buying the legal copy?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Survey reveals that most people accidentally damage their iPhones in the kitchen, Survey reveals that half of US adults now own a smartphone or tablet,

You may not recognize the name A123 Systems. The company is a manufacturer and designer of batteries and battery packs for the electric vehicle market. A123 Systems may be best known as the battery manufacturer for the Fisker Karma hybrid.

A123 spent over $50 million to replace the battery packs in 640 Karma vehicles when Fisker issued a recall. After shelling out that money, A123 began looking for additional funding to continue operations. That additional funding never materialized and this week the company missed significant payments to its debtors and began talking about bankruptcy or possible restructuring.

A123 Systems has now announced that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with a company called Johnson Controls. Johnson Controls will purchase the assets of A123′s automotive business arm, including all of the automotive technology, products, and customer contracts. The purchase agreement also includes A123 facilities in the Livonia and Romulus, Michigan.

The transaction is valued at $125 million. In addition to gaining the assets and facilities already mentioned, Johnson Controls also gets the cathode powder manufacturing facilities in China and A123′s equity interest in Shanghai Advanced Traction Battery Systems. Johnson Controls also intends to license A123 to use certain technologies for its grid, commercial, and government businesses. A123 and all of its US subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 yesterday to facilitate the transaction.

A123 Systems runs out of cash and sells assets for $125 million is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Astro’s just refreshed its high-end wired A40 headset and matching MixAmp Pro, a duo that mash together gaming talents with audiophile chops. The 2013 edition of the headset adds an updated quick disconnect system and re-tuned drivers for better bass response and less distortion, with Astro claiming that they’re “the most accurate Astro headsets ever.” Returning features include a removable, swappable mic, Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound, customizable speaker tags and multi-system compatibility. The revised MixAmp Pro now allows game sound and incoming or outgoing voice chat to be livestreamed with a single cable, while also bringing new custom audio profiles, a smaller size and an optical port. You’ll still have game-to-voice balance controls, Dolby 5.1 and 7.1 surround and a dedicated voice channel with the dedicated mixer/preamp, to boot. The pair are sold together for the same $250 price we saw for the original way back in 2007 — check the PR and video after the jump to see where to grab them.

Continue reading Astro pulls curtain on 2013 edition of $250 A40 gaming headset, MixAmp Pro package (video)

Filed under: Gaming, Portable Audio/Video, Wearables

Astro pulls curtain on 2013 edition of $250 A40 gaming headset, MixAmp Pro package (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 05:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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