Hasta La Gadget!

We’re at the AT&T presser here at CES, but it looks like we know what to expect: the carrier just announced that it’s launching five new Android devices in the first half of 2010, including devices from Motorola, Dell, and HTC. The Moto device is described as having a “unique form factor,” and running Blur, so we’re guessing that’s the Backflip, and Dell just announced that’s it’s bringing the Mini 3 to the US, so that’s that. That leaves three devices for HTC, and our guess is at least one device with a keyboard and one without — AT&T says they’ll have an “exclusive” device, but that could mean a familiar phone with a new name and a tweaked case. We’ll see — and damn, things just got a lot more interesting in the Android game this week, don’t you think?

Continue reading AT&T finally goes Android, confirms Dell, HTC and Motorola on board

AT&T finally goes Android, confirms Dell, HTC and Motorola on board originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re in place to see what Toshiba’s got for us this year. We’re figuring Cell TV is a must (banners around the LVCC make that obvious) and 3D is a given but we’re wondering if an updated Blu-ray player, or another sighting of last year’s Media Center Extender TV that never appeared are in the card. Just a few more minutes until 10 p.m. pst when we find out for sure.

Continue reading Live from Toshiba’s CES press event

Live from Toshiba’s CES press event originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One day after officially announcing the D-Link Boxee Box, the networking company has another media player to talk about: The new D-Link Pebble is mainly for playback of all the media you already own, and the Boxee Box concentrates on playing media from every corner of the Internet, but both have a lot of overlap. Like the fact that they’re tiny compared with past players that were the size of DVD players, and neither includes built-in storage.

The $119.99 Pebble, which should be on sale early this year, is small, football-shaped, and shiny. It looks for media on Flash memory drives, network-attached storage, PCs on your network, and out on the Internet. Its graphical interface should make it easy to find your files for streaming, but details aren’t out on the all file types it will support. It connects via Ethernet, but there’s an extra option for an 802.11n dongle. Output is HDMI 3.1 or analog video and composite audio.

The Boxee Box by D-Link, on the other hand, goes for right angles and glowing greens. The design, by the same people behind the Xbox 360 and Alienware, was revealed last month at a Boxee event. It has most of the same connections plus an SD card slot and SPDIF audio. Of course, Boxee is all about the software/service for streaming video over the Internet. It will also come with a radio frequency remote control. Boxee partners include Pandora, Last.FM, and Suicide Girls. No price has been announced yet, but it should be on sale early this year as well.

While devices dedicated to DTV or bulked up for DTV have rarely struck our fancy, there’s something pretty compelling about this new Tivit unit, for whatever reason. A bit like a single-minded MiFi, the device pulls in Mobile DTV video and then pumps it out over WiFi to a single device at a time. Based on how you’re accessing it, the Tivit might appear just as a web page of channel listings to choose from, or in a fancier custom-built app on the iPhone, but to all of those devices it streams h.264 video at a pretty good quality. We tested it with the iPod touch, and while the 20 second channel change times were a little frustrating (they claim they’ll be able to get it down to 8, and that it’s Apple’s fault), everything else worked flawlessly. We had a bit less luck with the Droid, due to what appeared to be a missing codec on our end; we’ll have to investigate further. Perhaps the best part is that there’s no additional power drain on our primary device, though remembering another USB charger at the end of the day might get annoying. All in all we wholeheartedly support an effort such as this to bring new content to our existing phone, laptop and desktop screens, and if they can sell this for the $90 to $120 suggested price range unsubsidized, we might just be looking at Mobile DTV’s best shot at life yet. There’s video after the break of the thing in action.

Continue reading Tivit Mobile DTV to WiFi device hands-on: it works!

Tivit Mobile DTV to WiFi device hands-on: it works! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPod Touch and iPhone owners are app-crazy, as evidenced by the news that over 3 billion apps have now been downloaded. Gadget-maker iHome is taking advantage of that with its latest offering.

The iHome iA5 and iA100 alarm clock and speaker systems will both work with the upcoming free iHome+Sleep app to gain even more features. The app offers sleep pattern tracking, customizable alarms, weather data, and the ability to share your sleep and wake times with your Facebook and Twitter friends.

The iA5 is a compact system that looks like a shelf speaker with an iPod dock. The iA100 (above) looks more like a bedside alarm clock. It includes an FM radio, can stream music from Bluetooth-enabled devices, and comes with a remote control. Both clocks will be available later this year, although the company isn’t giving the date or the price just yet.