Jan 09

Make Phone Calls From Your Bicycle Helmet

Posted in: Today's Chili

bicycle helmet.jpg

Does this seem like a terrible idea to anyone else? When riding a bike, it’s generally a good idea to not let anything else distract you. And while wearing a helmet is certainly advised, building a telephone headset into the thing seems to rob the thing of a little bit of its helpfulness.
If you’re so inclined, however, a company called UClear is offering up that. The company apparently traditionally specializes in military technology–its slogan is “Military Technology Solves Your Communication Problems.” The Communication Problem in this case seems to be the fact that you’ve traditionally had to actually get off your bike, if you wanted to call a friend.
Thanks to the HBC201Bicycle Helmet Communicator, however, you never have to dot hat again. The device uses BlueTooth 2.1 to transfer calls from your handset. The device is water resistant and should get about 10 hours of talk time on a single charge. 

No Comments | Tags:
Jan 09

Quanta’s 7-inch Android tablet dummy spotted at CES

Posted in: Android, android tablet, AndroidTablet, froyo, hands-on, tablet, Today's Chili

In case you’re not already sick of tablets, here’s another one that we spotted at a small Taiwanese booth at CES. Sure, this Anadem Q07 — a rebadged Quanta device — was just a dummy, but even this could easily beat the lot of cheap Android slates in a beauty contest. Encased within the chrome bezel and silver body will be a 7-inch 800 x 480 display (which is slightly underwhelming), along with a Samsung S5PV210 processor — essentially the Hummingbird chip but in a different package — underclocked to 800MHz, but still capable of handling 1080p video playback. There’s not much else on the spec sheet, but we did see a micro-USB port, HDMI mini connector, microSD slot, SIM card slot, and stereo speakers on the Q07. Naturally, you’ll hear from us when we stumble upon this Froyo tablet again.

Gallery: Quanta’s 7-inch Android tablet dummy spotted at CES

Quanta’s 7-inch Android tablet dummy spotted at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Jan 2011 17:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Jan 09

M-Edge: Make Your iPad Look Like a Book

Posted in: amazon, case, ipad, kindle, Today's Chili

fahrenheit 451 ipad.jpg

Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper burns. I’m not sure what temperature it would take to ignite, but I imagine it would be considerably hotter. There’s something about the concept of an iPad wrapped up in the cover of that Ray Bradbury classic that really caught my imagination. I’m not whether it’s a good thing or not.
You see, gadgets like the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad certainly get points for keeping people, but for someone like myself who really does still fetishize paper books, it’s maybe a little troubling.
Of course, that book is just one of several titles you can pick to cover your iPad or Kindle, courtesy of the folks at M-Edge. The Website lets people create their own cover for those devices, either by uploading their own design or picking a number of pre-configured ones, a list that also includes classic covers of Moby Dick, The Great Gatsby, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and several issues of The New Yorker.

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Jan 09

What Would Jesus Play?

Posted in: Games, Today's Chili

gaming jesus.JPG

Having attended the AVN show for the past three year, I’ve become accustom to the concept of religious organizations tabling in strange contexts. This year, there were at least three separate churches present at that event, most with missions revolving specifically around the concept of saving people involved in the adult industry.
CES offered something similar–GameChurch.com. The organization boasts the slogan, “Jesus Was a Gamer,” has a big banner of Jesus wearing a robe and a gaming headset, with a game controller in his holy hands. The church is was apparently founded on the concept that, were Jesus around today, the alleged son of god would really, really into gaming–at least that’s what the tattooed representatives will tell you, when you stop by their booth.
The church was handing out bibles designed to look like gaming manuals–naturally.
No Comments | Tags:
Jan 09

GloMate: Your Weird Ambient Alien Night Light Friend

Posted in: Today's Chili

glomate plus.jpg

This weird little blobby thing is GloMate Plus. He’s a night light for small children from a company called Mobi. Frankly, I could see how such a thing glowing in the dead of night in the room of a small child could be a touch frightening, but then I’ve never really considered myself much of a tastemaker amongst the toddler set.
GloMate Pro can be adjusted to beam three different colors, or can be clicked over into “Rainbow Mode.” He’s got a rechargeable battery built in, which should give you about 10 hours of soft light on a single charge.
He’s available online now and should run you around $20.

No Comments | Tags:
Jan 09

MOG Fusion to bring premium music service to cars, or so MOG hopes

Posted in: Today's Chili

MOG’s on-demand music subscription service could be coming to a vehicle near you. Excited? You should be. At this year’s CES, auto manufacturers had a coming-out party when it comes to in-car infotainment, and MOG’s champing at the bit to jump on the bandwagon. According to the company, its newly launched MOG Fusion program will be accessible to select suppliers and manufacturers in the CE and automotive industries, with the API program being made available to “select partners,” with Visteon Corporation being named in particular. It’s still unclear how exactly tunes will be delivered, but we’re sure all of that will be revealed in due time. Not nearly quick enough to satisfy you, we’re sure, but hey…

Continue reading MOG Fusion to bring premium music service to cars, or so MOG hopes

MOG Fusion to bring premium music service to cars, or so MOG hopes originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceMOG  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Jan 09

Creative Ziio Tablet Up Close

Posted in: tablet, Today's Chili

ziio7full.jpg

What, you thought the folks at Creative were going to sit out tablet mania? Heck no. The company joined just about every other consumer electronics manufacturer around with the recent introduction of two new tablets–a 10- and 7 inch Ziio.
The above shot is the seven inch. The tablet is available in 8- and 16GB capacities for $250 and $270. The seven inch screen is a resistive 800×480 touchscreen. There’s an HDMI out, so you can stream 1080p video from the device.

We played around with the Ziio a bit at the show, and it really feels like a fairly low end device–something that cheap price point reflects. The Ziio is shipping now. Check out some more shots of the device, after the jump.

No Comments | Tags: ,
Jan 09

Could this be the year we get to ditch the cable box?

Posted in: Panasonic, samsung, sony, Today's Chili, verizon

We’ve been coming to CES for years looking at demos of technologies that will let us watch HDTV without a set-top box, and yet here we are years later with little choice but to find a place to put that box. The big failures have been CableCARD and then tru2way, both of which have had little impact to mainstream America. But despite all of our disappointment over the years, we came away from CES this year with the feeling that this might actually be the year. Of course, the allure of Vegas has yet to wear off, but when Time Warner Cable, Comcast, DirecTV and Verizon FiOS TV are at the same show sending almost the same message and showing demos, we have a hard time not taking our skeptical shield down a little. Sadly it wasn’t exactly the same message, and if you click on through you might discover the true future of how TV will be delivered.

Gallery: Samsung demos cable TV without a box

Continue reading Could this be the year we get to ditch the cable box?

Could this be the year we get to ditch the cable box? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , ,
Jan 09

This day in Engadget: CES extravaganzas galore

Posted in: engadget, Today's Chili

Welcome to ‘This day in Engadget‘, where we crack open the archives and take a whimsical look back at the memories and moments of our storied past. Please join us on this trip down random access memory lane.

If you’ve not been living under a boulder for the past week or so, you’ve probably noticed that CES has been going on in glorious, illness-inducing Las Vegas, Nevada. The thing is, Engadget has been running this game for a long, long time, and though historically things are usually wrapping up around the 9th of January every year, the remnants, the wrap-ups, and the gadget hangovers are almost as fun to look back on as the show itself. So, as we wrap up a truly outstanding CES 2011, we thought we’d take a look back at previous CES wrap-ups, some big days, and some downright weird ones, in this nostalgic episode of This day in Engadget.

Continue reading This day in Engadget: CES extravaganzas galore

This day in Engadget: CES extravaganzas galore originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Jan 09

Toyota Entune infotainment system hands-on (video)

Posted in: feature, Features, hands-on, Today's Chili, Toyota, video
Toyota Entune infotainment system hands-on

Toyota‘s still the biggest auto manufacturer in the world, handily trumping GM and Ford, and with the Prius celebrating its 10 year anniversary it’s clear the company can certainly lead the industry when it wants to. Not so much with advanced infotainment and smartphone integration. There the company has been lagging behind the competition, Ford’s SYNC and the like, but now it’s making a big step forward with Entune, and it chose this year’s CES to do it. Toyota was kind enough to let us run a very early demo unit through its paces. Keep on reading for our impressions.

Gallery: Toyota Entune in-car infotainment system

Continue reading Toyota Entune infotainment system hands-on (video)

Toyota Entune infotainment system hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , ,