Etymotic moving-coil based earphones ears-on

Etymotic is holding down fort in the iLounge Pavilion at CES showcasing its new line of less expensive moving-coil based headphones. The mc-series consists of the hf2, hf3, and hf5, and employs the moving-coil sound tech instead of more expensive balanced armiture hardware. As Etymotic explained, it’s the extra air chamber that makes the moving coil acoustics better than they would normally be. We’re not crazy audiophiles, and we can’t really make a realistic judgment in the middle of the Las Vegas Convention Center, but the sound quality was definitely passable. They’ve got a couple of models sporting in-line remote controls for iPhone / iPod touch, and you can score ’em in any color to match your iPod nano. Check the neon ‘buds out in our gallery below.

Etymotic moving-coil based earphones ears-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Crapgadget CES, round 6: Goscam China’s Body-worn DV for Police

If you can’t get funding for Taser International’s Axon head-mounted video recorder, why not try your luck with Goscam?

Crapgadget CES, round 6: Goscam China’s Body-worn DV for Police originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Razer hits the Xbox 360 with Onza controller and Chimaera headset, we go hands-on (video)

Razer hits the Xbox 360 with Onza controller and Chimaera headset, we go hands-on (video)
Razer’s come from nowhere over the past few years to establish itself as a serious player in the PC gaming peripheral market. Now it’s hitting the consoles, starting with the Xbox 360, and the first iteration of offerings are already looking solid. They were announced yesterday and we got some time with both, starting with the Onza contoller, described in detail in the video after the break. Each stick’s resistance can be individually tweaked, there are additional shoulder buttons that can be assigned to replicate any other button on the controller (no more stick-clicking), and what’s pledged to be a d-pad that’s far superior to the generally junk one on the stock controller. Unfortunately they were still working on perfecting that, but everything else feels great already. The other thing on display is the Chimaera wireless headset, which uses a base-station to connect to the Xbox 360 (or other audio device) which doubles as a recharging station. Turn it on and it’ll intercept the audio, silencing your entertainment center, and with a built-in microphone you won’t have to stop the trash-talk. The Onza is set to cost $50 when it ships sometime by Q3, and the Chimaera for about $130 in the same period. We can’t wait.

Continue reading Razer hits the Xbox 360 with Onza controller and Chimaera headset, we go hands-on (video)

Razer hits the Xbox 360 with Onza controller and Chimaera headset, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Inbrics M1 is the thinnest Android slider we’ve seen, probably everything we ever wanted

We don’t know what everybody else in the phone business has been doing lately, but Inbrics has just unveiled what looks to be the near-ultimate Android phone. The Inbrics M1 is a slider handset with a (great) 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display, 3 megapixel camera, front-facing VGA camera, 16GB of built-in storage, microSD slot and all the other usual trimmings, but what’s particularly stunning is that the phone is not only half an inch thick, but it has a full QWERTY keyboard that’s surprisingly clicky and typable. The phone is running Android 1.5 right now, but it should be up to Android 2.0 by the time it hits the market in March. The biggest concern is the 800MHz Samsung processor, the same chip that’s in the Samsung Moment, but the interface (as demonstrated in the video after the break) is smooth as butter, and they demo’d it playing back 720p video just fine.

Inbrics actually has a lot of custom UI and software running on top of Android, but the most interesting part is what they’re doing with video calling and beaming media from handset to videophone to TV to laptop over DLNA or through an access point device that plugs into the TV over HDMI. Inbrics also has a Cover Flow-style media browser that isn’t super deep in functionality, but still puts the stock Android stuff to shame, and some rather sexy custom widgets.

The plan is apparently to get a carrier to bite and rebrand this phone in the US, so price and availability are still pretty hard to pin down, but if this phone can hit the market soon it sure could give the rest of the QWERTY Android sliders out there some body image issues.

Continue reading Inbrics M1 is the thinnest Android slider we’ve seen, probably everything we ever wanted

Inbrics M1 is the thinnest Android slider we’ve seen, probably everything we ever wanted originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Portable Music? How About a Roll Up Keyboard?

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Why carry around an iPod, when you can make your own beautiful music on the go? Check out the EP-K49T, a roll up keyboard from the folks at China Victory International Enterprises, LTD. This rubber piano has 29 keys,10 demo songs, and recording capabilities. It’s also got 100 sound settings, 100 rhythms, and eight drum kit settings.
Best of all, the EP-K49T has built-in speakers, so you can share your music with the world–or slip on a pair of headphones and use the audio out jack.

Liquid Image Summit Series Snow Goggles heads-on

Even the most exuberant fan of 3D displays and tablets has to admit to feeling a tiny bit jaded at this point. To sate the need for variety we went off exploring the quirkier booths and located this head-mounted video and stills camera being demonstrated by Liquid Image. We laid hands on a non-functional prototype, but as far as feel and comfort go, the few seconds we had these on led to no complaints. There’s an overwhelming amount of padding around the eyes, probably kinda important when you’re flying down the hills, and a tint to the visor keeping sunlight at bay. Recording can be done at 720 x 480 resolution and up to 5 megapixels for snapshots. The Summit Series will be available in July (perfect timing for a winter sports product!) for $149.

Liquid Image Summit Series Snow Goggles heads-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pink Tasers! For Ladies!

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Hey ladies, it’s time to set your phasers on stun. Check it out, it’s a pink taser, from the folks at Phazzer. It should go nicely with all of the other pink stuff electronics manufacturers are trying to push, these days.
This model is called the Dragon. It’s got two dart projectiles that shoot up to 15 feet, delivering a charge of 150,000 volts. The stun gun also has an LED light built in so you can see what you’re tasing at night. It runs $299–$50 cheaper than the competition, according to the company.
Oh, and did we mention that it comes in pink? Because it does. 

The Future of Posters? Moaning Ladies in Swimsuits, Apparently

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What’s the future of posters? Holograms? Scratch ‘n sniff? Not according to Touchnplay. The company is banking of its latest product, the Touchmeplay, a poster of a lady in a swimsuit with eight “touch points.” Press one and a voice is emits from the built-in speaker–mostly it does a lot of moaning. 
The Touchmeplay is $29.99 and ships in a fancy poster tube, which also features a picture of a lady in a swimsuit. Score. 
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Vuzix Wrap 920AR face-on: reality just got weird

CES 2010 is awash in a sea of ridiculous 3D glasses, but that’s nothing compared to the insanity of the Vuzix 920AR, an $800 set of augmented reality specs with cameras built into the lenses. Sadly, the 1504 x 480 display just isn’t very impressive: we certainly saw a stereo 3D image, but it was grainy, dark, and generally unusable for anything apart from the augmented reality maze game on demo. Walking down the street with these things on your face would be incredibly dangerous, as far as we can tell. That said, the maze game did work seamlessly — you hold a pre-printed cardboard sheet in front of you, and in the glasses you see a 3D maze with a ball and puzzle elements that respond to “gravity.” That’s it, though — there’s no other software involved here, and unless you’re deep into developing augmented reality applications or extremely interested in looking like a killer robot from the planet Nerdotron, your $800 is better spent elsewhere. Check a Joanna Stern Video Event after the break.

Continue reading Vuzix Wrap 920AR face-on: reality just got weird

Vuzix Wrap 920AR face-on: reality just got weird originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RED Scarlet and Bomb EVF surprise hands-on!

We just got a terrific surprise at the Engadget CES trailer: Ted Schilowitz from RED popped in with a RED Scarlet and the Bomb EVF for a quick hands-on! Our video producer Chad Mumm basically attacked him, as did the rest of the crew — pretty much everyone surrounded him as he pulled the Scarlet out of its pack. Chad actually shot video and did a little interview — we’ll get that up ASAP, but check out the pics in the gallery below.

Continue reading RED Scarlet and Bomb EVF surprise hands-on!

RED Scarlet and Bomb EVF surprise hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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