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Jan 06

OnStar and Chevy show off Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone control apps for Volt

Posted in: Android, BlackBerry, electric car, ElectricCar, ev, feature, Features, hands-on, hybrid, iPhone, Today's Chili

OnStar and Chevy show off remote control app for Volt

It was announced back in December and now we’ve gotten a chance to play with it. More importantly, you can play with it too. Chevy and OnStar have officially launched their suite of mobile applications for the Volt, a three-pronged assault on smartphone and automotive bliss set to be available for BlackBerry, Android, and the iPhone set to deploy with the launch of the car itself sometime between the end of 2010 and 2011. Want to see it in action? Click on through to read all about it — and see it in motion, too.

Gallery: Chevy Volt OnStar app unveiling

Continue reading OnStar and Chevy show off Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone control apps for Volt

OnStar and Chevy show off Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone control apps for Volt originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 06

Sling gets in the remote business with the Sling Touch Control 100

Posted in: Today's Chili

Yes we agree, that is one fine looking touch screen remote, and yes that is real guide data via built in WiFi you see there. In fact it leverages SlingGuide which includes the ability to search for shows right on the remote. That beautiful screen is a 4.3 inch capacitive touch screen and features a 272×480 resolution. As expected, the Sling Touch Control 100 communicates via IR, but it can also use IP to control your DVR or other Sling devices. So yeah, it is pretty sweet, but of course there’s a catch and for once it isn’t the price. No, the problem is this is only available via your cable or satellite provider and we don’t know about you, but our provider just isn’t that cool.

Sling gets in the remote business with the Sling Touch Control 100 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 06

Hands-On With the Lenovo Skylight Smartbook

Posted in: lenovo, netbooks, Notebooks, Today's Chili

LAS VEGAS — Dubbed the Skylight, Lenovo’s smartbook is one of the freshest looking products showcased so far at CES. It’s a groovy “notbook” (a netbook that tries oh-so-hard to not be called a netbook, but in essence still is one) with an extremely thin form factor, rounded edges, a 10-inch screen and an ARM-based processor.

Why’s it called a smartbook? Oh, ’cause it features the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which you’d typically find in smartphones. The Snapdragon processor clocks in at a wee 1 GHz — meager by our standards today — but Lenovo promises it will be sufficient for web-centric utilities. (The purposes of a, cough, netbook.) Plus, the advantage of using a low-powered ARM-based chip is long battery life: 10 hours, so Lenovo claims.

I had some hands-on time with the Skylight, and I really enjoyed the feel of its light weight (less than two pounds) and polished body. The curved corners give it a more modern look. The keyboard? So-so for a netbook this small, though I’ve reviewed netbooks with better keyboards closer to full size, such as the HP Mini 5101. The trackpad is solid — wider and better than the MSI Wind’s cramp inducer.

A somewhat quirky feature is a flip-out compartment above the keyboard, which contains a USB port. Ideally, you’d want to stick a fat drive there with a couple of gigs of storage, like the one shown in the photo above. Keep in mind the idea of this netbook is to do most of your computing in the cloud, so you’ll have a chance to be creative with how you want to store your data. Most of your space is probably going to be allocated to the OS and a few crucial native apps.

Some more specs:

Operating System: Linux
Resolution: 1,278-by-720 pixels
Battery life: 10 hours, according to Lenovo
Connectivity: Two USB ports, Micro SDHC (with card installed), SIM slot, multimedia card slot (SD, SDHC, MMC), mini HDMI connector, headset jack
Camera: 1.3-megapixel webcam
Colors: Earth red and lotus blue

Note the OS — a Lenovo build of Linux. I’ve never been a big fan of Linux, but I’m sure plenty of Red Hat fans will find the Skylight intriguing.

Will the Skylight deliver on its promises? We’ll put this baby through benchmark and battery testing once we get a review unit in the lab. For now, I have mostly positive early impressions.

Overall, the Skylight is a breath of fresh air compared to the rather monotonous netbook product category — a slew of mini notes that typically come equipped with a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom processor, a 10-inch screen, and, and …snore…

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Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Jan 06

HP refreshes ProBook and EliteBook lines with Core i7 processors and just about everything else (update: USB 3.0!)

Posted in: CoreI7, HP, Today's Chili, usb, usb 3.0, Usb3.0

HP has six new professional laptop models in the mix, with Core i7 processor options across the board and plenty of other high-end accouterments. The ProBook models, the 6440b (14-inch) and 6540b (15.6-inch), have a starting price of $949, while the gunmetal aluminum-clad EliteBook 8440w and 8540w start at $1,299 and $1,499, respectively. Finally the more traditional platinum aluminum 8440p and 8540p start at $1,099 and $1,249. The differences between the six models might seem minimal to the untrained eye, but high marks like the spill-resistant drains in the EliteBook models, 24 hour battery option on the 8440p / 8540p might help make sense of the endless configurations that will be available among these models. Everything should hit virtual shelves in February, and there’s PR after the break.

Update: PCWorld claims that HP will also be offering up to 3x USB 3.0 ports on its EliteBook 8540p and EliteBook 8540w laptops.

Gallery: HP ProBook and EliteBook press shots

Continue reading HP refreshes ProBook and EliteBook lines with Core i7 processors and just about everything else (update: USB 3.0!)

HP refreshes ProBook and EliteBook lines with Core i7 processors and just about everything else (update: USB 3.0!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 06

Slingbox 700U coming from a TV provider near you

Posted in: Today's Chili

Yeah, we don’t believe the headline either, but it’s exactly what the Sling Media press release states. Maybe we’re just cynics when it comes to cable and satellite providers, but with TV Everywhere and Fancast Xfinity out there, it’s hard for us to imagine our provider doing something as cool as connecting this sleek 700u to a standard issue HD DVR. We only wish we could grab this from the store, plug only a USB cable into our set-top box and start streaming video around the internet — apparently the box configures itself. No, that would just be too easy, but thanks for getting our hopes up Sling.

Slingbox 700U coming from a TV provider near you originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 06

Sling Receiver 300 catches broadcast TV over WiFi

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, Today's Chili, wifi

Already have a TV and don’t need the Sling Monitor 150? Sling’s filling out its roster of potential products for some friendly OEM TV provider to offer with the Sling Receiver 300. This box is, like the monitor, meant as a companion to SlingLoaded hardware like the (still unreleased) 922 or T2200S, picking up streamed broadcast TV over WiFi at up to 1080i and delivering it to a connected TV via HDMI, component or composite, in-home SlingCatcher style. Want to try it out? We figure a call to the local cable/fiber/satellite conglomerate couldn’t hurt.

Sling Receiver 300 catches broadcast TV over WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 06

15-inch Sling Monitor 150 makes in-home placeshifting look good

Posted in: Today's Chili

Sling Media has brought back the Sling Monitor it first revealed during last year’s CES press conference, now dubbed the Sling Monitor 150 and aimed at attracting television service providers to offer the company’s suite of hardware. We can think of a few places to fit his 15.6-inch 720p display that picks up HD broadcasts over its WiFi antenna for that in-home placeshifting love. The only difficulty? Getting cable, telco or satellite operators that have so far failed to bring SlingLoaded hardware to market since the original announcement to actually sell us one. Good luck with that.

15-inch Sling Monitor 150 makes in-home placeshifting look good originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 05

Kodak deals Slice touchscreen camera, Pulse digiframe and Playsport camcorder

Posted in: camcorder, camera, printer, rugged, Today's Chili, touchscreen

Just in case you had any doubts, CES is in full swing. Kodak just blurted out a galleria of new goods, starting with the all-new Slice touchscreen camera (shown above). As you likely expected, this is the outfit’s first touchscreen P&S, boasting a 3.5-inch rear display, a search function to sift through “up to 5,000” photos on the internal memory, a direct tag feature, 14 megapixel sensor, 5x optical zoom, built-in optical image stabilization and 720p (30fps) video capture. It’ll ship this April in black, nickel and radish (yeah kids, radish) for $349.95. Next up is the April-bound Pulse digital photo frame, which boasts a 7-inch display (800 x 600 resolution), integrated WiFi, 512MB of storage and a $129.99 price tag. Rounding out the bunch is a load of new EasyShare cameras (all detailed in the press release below), as well as a Playsport camcorder, which offers up waterproof 1080p action with electronic image stabilization, a 2-inch LCD, 5 megapixel still shots, smart face tracking technology and an SD / SDHC card slot. There’s also an HDMI output and USB connectivity, and you’ll find black, blue and purple editions shipping this April for $149.95. You’re stoked, aren’t you?

Gallery: Kodak’s CES 2010 introductions

Continue reading Kodak deals Slice touchscreen camera, Pulse digiframe and Playsport camcorder

Kodak deals Slice touchscreen camera, Pulse digiframe and Playsport camcorder originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 05

Hands-On With the Lenovo S10-3t Tablet

Posted in: lenovo, netbooks, Notebooks, tablets, Today's Chili, windows 7

LAS VEGAS — Rumor has it the much anticipated Apple tablet will be a blown-up iPhone with a 10-inch screen. While we wait for that fabled device (presumably in late January), take a gander at Lenovo’s S10-3t — a 10-inch part-time netbook, part-time tablet running Windows 7.

The “t” stands for tablet, and that’s because this 10-inch netbook (aka notbook) features a swivel touchscreen that can be rotated for use as a tablet. According to Lenovo, it’s the first convertible tablet using capacitive touchscreen — the same multitouch technology used on the iPhone.

Previous convertible tablets used resistive touchscreens, which required you to firmly press down on the screen or control it with a stylus. Those didn’t succeed in the mainstream. They suffered from a durability issue: The convertible tablet form factor had a weak spot vulnerable to firm presses. The S10-3t should eliminate that problem (unless you insist on jabbing the screen with a brutal amount of force.)

But I wouldn’t bet capacitive touch would redeem the convertible-tablet category. I had some hands-on time with the S10-3t, and I didn’t have very positive first impressions. During a video shoot demonstrating the tablet, the software was glitchy and required two reboots. (These are considered outtakes, so they won’t make it to the final cut of the video.) Particularly, the software — a Lenovo-modified version of Windows 7 — freaked out when I was rotating the touchscreen to use it as a tablet. But when I got it up and running, the touch sensitivity was certainly pleasant and sensitive like the iPhone (or Droid or whatever) experience.

Lenovo included its own custom software to navigate the device in tablet mode. However, you’d have to manually launch individual tablet-based apps in order to take advantage of the tablet UI. I wished that it would automatically detect when it was in tablet mode and launch the tablet-based UI immediately and seamlessly when it was rotated. A geek can dream, can’t he?

When used as a netbook, the S10-3t is solid. It has a nice, full-sized keyboard and a comfortable trackpad. And generally, I’m just loving the way Windows 7 looks and runs on new netbooks. It imbues these trendy devices with a more modern aesthetic and a snappier feel.

The S10-3t is shipping later this year with a $500 price tag. Good news if all you’re looking for is a netbook: A non-swivel-touchscreen version of the S10-3t, the S10-3, costs $330.

More photos below the jump, courtesy of Wired.com’s Jon Snyder.

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Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Jan 05

HP TouchSmart tm2 convertible tablet slims down and spruces up

Posted in: hands-on, HP, tablet, Today's Chili

No hard feelings, tx2, but there was always something just a little “behind the curve” about your design and feature set, and we’re kind of glad HP decided to go all-new with its TouchSmart tm2 followup. The 12.1-inch laptop is powered by new Intel Core 2 Duo procs and even discrete ATI Mobility Radeon graphics if you’re man enough, and claims 9 hours of battery life off its standard 6-cell. Most importantly, the capacitive multitouch screen is finger and pen friendly. The physical design takes some cues from HP’s new Envy laptops, including the controversial unibutton touchpad and lovable aluminum build, and seems decently thinner, lighter and stronger than the tx2. The laptop should be out on January 17th with a starting price of $949.

We played around with the laptop, and outside of the slightly suspicious touchpad, we were pretty impressed by the laptop. The build quality is great, in both feel and confidence-building (a must for a convertible tablet like this), but HP’s also really beefed up the software aspect, pre-loading the new Netflix-inclusive version of its TouchSmart software and the wild, almost-useful BumpTop 3D desktop. Tossing in a finger friendly version of Corel Paint and an interactive dolphin screensaver was also a nice touch. Check out a quick video hands-on after the break.

Gallery: HP TouchSmart tm2 press shots