Hasta La Gadget!

During Sony’s PlayStation event yesterday in New York City, the company officially announced the PlayStation 4, but they still left a lot covered up, namely the actual console. Sure, they showed off the new DualShock 4 controller, as well as a few new games coming to the PS4, but the gaming console itself was MIA. It turns out that the console is actually still under development, according to Sony CEO Jack Tretton.

In an interview with AllThingsD, Tretton explained that there were a couple of reasons why Sony didn’t show off the new console at yesterday’s event. First, Tretton explains that the console box itself really isn’t all that important anyway, since “it’s behind a cabinet or on a shelf somewhere and you spend all your time looking at the screen.” Tretton has a point, though. After all, the box itself doesn’t really matter all that much.

He also noted that the console is still under development “in terms of final specs and design,” so while they may have a PS4 console built and able to play games (as we saw yesterday during the event), it seems that Sony is still working on adding final touches to the console, and from the looks of it, the PS4 isn’t quite ready for mass production just yet.

Tretton’s answer differentiates just slightly to the answer that Sony’s Worldwide Studio president Shuhei Yoshida gave, in which he says that Sony simply didn’t want to unveil everything during that one event, and instead want to spread out announcements, which means we could hear more about the PlayStation 4 come E3 in June.

[via AllThingsD]

Sony CEO says PlayStation 4 “still in development” is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A 50-foot wide, 10,000-ton meteor that packs triple the force of the nuke dropped on Hiroshima is nothing to scoff at. But in the grand scheme of things, the meteor that hit Chelyabinsk, Russia, last week is a cosmological runt. Space rocks as much as 100 feet across are estimated to strike every hundred years or so and those like the 160-foot diameter Tunguska meteor of 1908 hit maybe once a century. More »

Flickr’s just been updated to include some features you probably wanted. More »

This week the Nikon D7100 APS-C camera has been revealed with a fabulous new 24.1-megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor as well as a beastly EXPEED 3 image processing engine. But it may be the WR-1 Transceiver that gains our attention the most here in the current season – this little monster gives your camera some rather excellent wireless control – and range therein. And they’re not going to break the bank doing so!

Before we get to the details in the WR-1 Transceiver though, we’ve got to once again take you on a trip to D7100 town. This fabulous new unit is bringing on a collection of upgrades over the D7000 it replaces, including a new “I” button that’ll bring up a set of on-screen controls that changes depending on which you use most frequently. You’ve also got a beast of a set of internals including a 51-point AF system as well as Nikon’s own 3D Color Matrix Metering II 2016 pixel RGB sensor – and Scene Recognition System.

With this camera’s optical viewfinder you’ve got guaranteed 100% frame coverage – and you’ll be working with a brand new OLED display as well. With the Nikon D7100 you’ve got the ability to record video at 1080/30p or 60i/50i – the latter working at 1.3x Crop Mode. You can also shoot photos at up to 7 frames per second in that same 1.3 Crop Mode or 6fps at full resolution.

You can also shoot in 1.3 DX crop mode with this camera for both still photos and video, this allowing that 7fps mentioned with enhanced AF system frame coverage. You’ll be working with an ISO range of 100-6400 (with expandability up to Hi-2 of 25,600) for all the low-light shooting you can handle. While you’re in live view you’ve also got a new Spot White Balance feature that’ll whip you up some instant (and precise) white balance adjustments on the spot.

The Nikon D7100 works with an Enhanced Interface on its 3.2-inch High Resolution 1229k dot LCD, bright and powerful for your everyday previews. If on the other hand you’re the wireless type, this system is compatible with the WU-1a Wireless Mobile Adapter for connectivity with your smartphone or tablet – control from afar!

Then there’s the wireless dongle you’re just going to go nuts over. This is the new WR-1 Transceiver – announced this week with compatibility with the most recent range of Nikon D-SLR cameras. This beast will bring you 2.4GHz radio frequency for range up to 394 feet with 15 channels onboard.

The WR-1 can be used as a transmitter or a receiver – grab a couple and you can control your camera from a stone’s throw away like a pro! You can also control a set of cameras at once with this device (just so long as there’s one plugged in to each of them) for simultaneous or synchronized shutter releases – that’s a snap party if we’ve ever heard of one! The WR-1 Transceiver will run you $59.95 SRP and is available right this minute.

The Nikon D7100 system will be available starting in March of 2013 at a camera retailer near you. You’ll be seeing the D7100 for $1199.95 SRP for the body only configuration while a package that includes the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens will run you $1599.95 SRP. Stack your cash and get ready for it!

Nikon D7100 overshadowed by tiny wireless WR-1 Transceiver is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Mini sold some 66,000 vehicles in the United States last year, and despite being on American soil (in its current incarnation, anyway) for just 13 years, this market has quickly become its biggest. Those drawn to the brand are likely intrigued by, if not outright enamored of, its quirkiness. Mini likes to say that the company is “Not Normal,” and it only takes a glance inside its cartoonish Countryman to see what that means.

During a recent kickoff event to celebrate the impending launch of its Paceman model, we sought to get beneath the sheet metal and gear ratios, instead looking at the kinds of decisions that impact the marriage of automobiles and technology. Turns out, Johnly Velasquez and Chris Potgieter — two gentlemen in charge of determining what technology ends up in Mini products — were more than happy to discuss those nuances. In particular, we discussed how those details relate to the future of its Connected platform, the role that infotainment plays in its entire range of motorcars and the opportunities that lie ahead for Mini to embrace alternative power.

Could Mini’s prioritization of technology as a pillar of automotive manufacturing influence the entire industry? That’s exactly what we’ll explore just beyond the break.

Filed under: Transportation

Comments

Source: Mini