Engadget’s back to school giveaway, part two: win a lot of awesome gear worth nearly $2,400!

Hey, there: it’s that time of year again. You or your loved ones will soon be heading back to school (if you haven’t already). We’ve been trying to help everybody out for the past month with our back to school guides — which you can check out right here — but we thought we’d take it a step further, and give you, our dear readers, a chance to win some of the gear featured in the guides this year. We’ll be doing three total giveaways this week, and here’s what we’ve got for you today.

– Toshiba Portege R705 P25 laptop worth $799
– Grace Digital Audio Eco Extreme Rugged all terrain Speaker Case worth $49
– i4 Universal desktop charger woth $59
– Pentax Optio H90 digital camera worth $149
– Altec Lansing Mix IMT800 worth $300
– Sony ICF-CL75iP Clock Radio worth $149.95
– Sprint Samsung Intercept worth $99
-Amazon Kindle 3G (Graphite version) worth $189
-HP ePrint All-in-One printer with an HP 60 Photo Value Pack, HP 60 XL Cartridges, a $200 Staples Gift Certificate and a $50 Snapfish Gift Certificate (courtesy of HP — click here for a behind-the-scenes look at HP’s inkjet technology ‘Inkology).

Yes, that’s nearly $2,400 of gear for one lucky winner. All you need to do to win is leave a comment below, and read the full rules after the break. Good luck!! Thanks to Toshiba, Grace Digital Audio, i4, Pentax, Altec Lansing, Sony, Sprint and HP for providing the gear!

Special thanks to all the companies for providing us with the gear!

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school giveaway, part two: win a lot of awesome gear worth nearly $2,400!

Engadget’s back to school giveaway, part two: win a lot of awesome gear worth nearly $2,400! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Xbox 360’s transforming D-pad controller gets handled on video

Boy, we’ve gone from rumor to hands-on experience in just a couple of days with this thing. Microsoft’s November 9-bound Xbox 360 controller refresh couldn’t escape the clutches of Joystiq, who have put together a neat photo gallery and video overview. That chrometastic new D-pad is clearly the headliner here, and the early feedback is that it works well — it takes a bit of effort to transform from a flat button to the elevated four-way navigator you see above, but that’s apparently a good thing as it means you’ll never flip modes by accident in the middle of a hot and heavy gaming session. The analog buttons have also been subjected to some nipping and tucking and there is of course a new desaturated color scheme to explore as well. You’ll find a shot of the retail packaging after the break and a lot more at the source.

Update: Video now embedded after the break.

Continue reading Xbox 360’s transforming D-pad controller gets handled on video

Xbox 360’s transforming D-pad controller gets handled on video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceJoystiq  | Email this | Comments

iPod touch (2010) first hands-on! (update: video!)

So we just got our hands on the new iPod touch… and boy is it small. As you would expect, the functionality of the device is identical to the iPhone 4, as well as the functions of the cameras. In essence, it’s a much thinner iPhone 4, with no cell radio and a lower quality still camera. The design is relatively in keeping with previous touches, so no major surprises there, but the inclusion of that A4 chip, higher resolution screen, and front and back cameras makes it a far more versatile device. Take a look at the gallery below if you’re wondering just how much of a sliver this is — it makes the iPhone 4 look… fat.

Update: It’s worth noting that the back camera is clearly not the same 5 megapixel shooter present on the iPhone 4, as the specs on Apple’s page for the touch list the still photo resolution at 960 x 720 — a huge difference.

Continue reading iPod touch (2010) first hands-on! (update: video!)

iPod touch (2010) first hands-on! (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping social network

Not a huge surprise here, but Apple’s just announced iTunes 10 alongside all those new iPods, complete with a brand new logo that finally ditches the CD. What is something of a surprise, however, is the standout feature of iTunes 10: Ping. That’s Apple’s take on a music-centered social network (think Last.fm), which will let you follow people (including artists), establish a “circle of friends,” post comments, check out custom song and album charts, and even find over 17,000 concert listings (which you can of course let folks know your attending). What’s more, Ping is also making the jump to the iPhone and iPod touch, and it’s available with iTunes 10 today. Head on past the break for the full press release.

Gallery: iTunes 10

Continue reading Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping social network

Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping social network originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

iPod touch gets revamped: retina display, FaceTime, HD video recording

Current iPod touch wasn’t thin enough for you? Look no further than… well, the new iPod touch just announced today. Naturally, Apple has re-upped its “iPhone without the phone” to include the Retina Display from the iPhone 4, an Apple A4 core, 3-axis gyroscope, Game Center, and FaceTime support thanks to the addition of a front cam. Oh, and speaking of cams, it’s also got a rear cam capable of HD video — but you’ll be paying a bit more than you will for that cute little nano: $229 for 8GB, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB (yep, 16GB and 128GB are both no-shows). Ships next week, pre-orders start today; follow the break for the full press release.

Check out our full live coverage here!

Continue reading iPod touch gets revamped: retina display, FaceTime, HD video recording

iPod touch gets revamped: retina display, FaceTime, HD video recording originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceApple  | Email this | Comments

Apple announces redesigned iPod shuffle, brings the buttons back

Apple’s just announced a brand new, re-designed iPod shuffle. The button is back, and this model’s got up to a 15 hour battery life, is available in five colors, and will run you $49. If you’re in the mood, you can pre-order today, and it’ll ship next week. Full press release is below.

Check out our full coverage here!

Continue reading Apple announces redesigned iPod shuffle, brings the buttons back

Apple announces redesigned iPod shuffle, brings the buttons back originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceApple Store  | Email this | Comments

YouTube courting Hollywood for pay-per-view movie service by end of 2010, says Financial Times

For all the stupid pet tricks, first-person confessionals, and clips from Conan O’Brien’s formative years that form YouTube‘s content, the one territory it doesn’t really venture is pay-per-view à la Apple, Amazon, and others. Well, it’ll be a Brave New World for the service — and parent company Google — if this Financial Times report is worth its weight in 3mm. According to the publication, the G-Men have been in talks with “Hollywood’s leading movie studios” for several months, touting its reach as one of the main draws for the players involved, for the launch of an international pay-per-view service by the end of this year. Some prices are also thrown around here, to the tune of about $5 for new titles (streaming, not download) available the same time as the DVD releases. The video site has been doing rentals on a trial basis since early this year, with just a smattering of indie titles. The thought of paying to watch Blockbuster titles in the same window we watched three dozen (if not more) remixes of Keyboard Cat is still a bit of a new concept, but hey, that’s the future for you.

YouTube courting Hollywood for pay-per-view movie service by end of 2010, says Financial Times originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceFinancial Times  | Email this | Comments

Apple holding a media event September 7, says Bloomberg

Not sure how exactly this slipped our neural net, perhaps it was added in a later update, but yesterday’s Bloomberg revelation about a potential Apple TV show rental service now also includes the following tip: Steve Jobs et al plan on hosting an event in San Francisco on September 7. This just so happens to be on a Tuesday and meshes perfectly with Apple’s annual Mac plus iPod touch promotion (which ends on the same day). Of course, we could’ve told you Apple would be holding an early September iPod refresh event this time last year — the real question is what else might be revealed during the keynote?

Apple holding a media event September 7, says Bloomberg originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MacRumors  |  sourceBloomberg  | Email this | Comments

Toshiba reportedly prepping glasses-free 3DTV for Q4 launch

Hot news out of Japan if you’re an eager 3D beaver: a report from Toshiba’s home nation indicates that the company has three models of glasses-free 3D displays in the pipeline, which are being prepared for launch “before Christmas” at prices of “several thousand dollars” each. As you might recall, we got our first inkling about Toshiba Mobile Display’s multi-parallax technique back in April, which is when the above 21-inch panel was being touted along with promises of eliminating eye strain and widening 3D viewing angles. We suspect that by now Toshiba has put a slinky bezel on the thing and started thinking up alphanumeric product names for it, though do bear in mind that queries to its press office were deflected with the boilerplate “no comment” response.

Toshiba reportedly prepping glasses-free 3DTV for Q4 launch originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAFP  | Email this | Comments

Microsoft details Vejle, the new Xbox 360’s system-on-chip architecture

There aren’t many unresolved mysteries with Microsoft’s new console by this point — apart from perhaps why it wasn’t named the Stealthbox, like we were suggesting — but one thing that hasn’t been covered in excruciating detail yet is the new 360’s splicing of the CPU and GPU into the same chip. Microsoft has remedied that today, informing us that the 45nm system-on-chip (codenamed Vejle; sorry, Valhalla fans) inside the refreshed Xbox makes do with a relatively minimal 372 million transistors, requiring only 40 percent of the power and less than 50 percent of the die space of its 2005 ancestor. A somewhat bemusing addition, noted by Ars, is the FSB Replacement sector you see in the image above. It’s designed to induce lag in the system so that the Vejle chip doesn’t run faster than the old stuff, something Microsoft couldn’t allow to happen. Facepalm away, good people, facepalm away.

Microsoft details Vejle, the new Xbox 360’s system-on-chip architecture originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceArs Technica, Venture Beat  | Email this | Comments