Jan 08

Intel Oasis: firetrucks, dragons, and trains hands-on

Posted in: hands-on, intel, Today's Chili, video
We’d seen Intel Lab’s Oasis (Object-Aware Situated Interactive System) project a while back, and sure, while what it’s showing off is the same, we love to get up close and personal. Using a Kinect-style camera, the system is able to recognize 3D objects on a surface and then project some nifty graphics to add interactivity. Placing the dragon near the house or train station sees them light on fire, drop a firetruck in and it puts out the fire, add a train then draw a track in front of it by dragging your finger, you get the idea. Intel Labs isn’t bringing any of this to market — at least not yet — but we’re enthused with what we see and look forward to what the folks with the crayons can dream up. Have a peek at the vid and gallery if trains, burning Lego people, fire breathing dragons, and firetrucks are your thing.

Gallery: Intel Oasis: firetrucks, dragons, and trains hands-on

Myriam Joire contributed to this article.

Continue reading Intel Oasis: firetrucks, dragons, and trains hands-on

Intel Oasis: firetrucks, dragons, and trains hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 21:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

General Motors takes us on a crazy test ride in the EN-V electric prototype vehicle (video)

Posted in: ev, feature, Features, hands-on, Today's Chili
General Motors takes us on a crazy test ride in the EN-V electric prototype vehicle (video)

Cars are big and stupid. Well, most of the time, anyway. Need to bring home a couple sheets of drywall in the rain? Man it’s nice to have a big truck with a cab. Need to run Jr. to school five miles away on a smoothly paved? Suddenly that full-size, extended cab, 13.5mpg dually monster starts seeming just a little silly. Assuming people continue their flock to the cities, in the future that latter situation will be an awful lot more common than the former and our cities simply won’t be able to manage. The streets won’t be wide enough, parking garages tall enough, nor oil wells deep enough. We need something different, and GM thinks that something is the EN-V. Even though it still isn’t the future we just got a drive in one, so read on for our impressions.

Gallery: GM EN-V test drive at CES 2011

Continue reading General Motors takes us on a crazy test ride in the EN-V electric prototype vehicle (video)

General Motors takes us on a crazy test ride in the EN-V electric prototype vehicle (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 21:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

The Engadget Podcast Show livestream extravaganza starts at 6:15PM PST / 9:15PM EST!

Posted in: engadget, podcast, Today's Chili

It’s our last and final show of this fine CES. We’re going to talk to some more staff members tonight, so get ready for some new faces. Also, get ready for zero tangents and total topic adherence. Right guys? Right? Check out the stream and chat after the break.

Oh, and here are the last three shows, in case you missed them:
Engadget Podcast Show 004
Engadget Podcast Show 003
Engadget Podcast Show 002
Engadget Podcast Show 001

Continue reading The Engadget Podcast Show livestream extravaganza starts at 6:15PM PST / 9:15PM EST!

The Engadget Podcast Show livestream extravaganza starts at 6:15PM PST / 9:15PM EST! originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 21:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

Clickfree Wireless hands-on (video)

Posted in: hands-on, Today's Chili, video, Wireless

We went out on the CES show floor to find the clickfree Wireless Backup and all of its wireless backing-up power. Coming in two versions — 500GB or optional 1TB capacities — the Wireless Backup seems to be a fully capable backup option, competing with other wireless solutions like the Apple Time Capsule and the LaCie Wireless Space. It includes the company’s patented AutoRUN feature that takes care of the initial setup, which is simple enough that even non-Engadget readers would be able to plug in and start backing up their files through the waves of the WiFis. After the software is configured for one or more computers, all that is required is a standard outlet for some juice and you’re rolling. There’s a number of options for those who want to choose specific files for backup and restore. While the clickfree Wireless is certainly competitive and one of the smallest backup solutions we’ve seen, comparing in size to an Apple TV or a Roku XD, it certainly doesn’t share some of the features of being a NAS and WLAN router like the LaCie Wireless Space, nor does it have USB support. Video after the break.

Gallery: clickfree Wireless hands-on

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Clickfree Wireless hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

MultiTouch Ltd’s 46-inch panel accepts unlimited touch inputs, we put it to the test (video hands-on)

Posted in: 1080p, camera, hands-on, LCD, monitor, multitouch, screen, Today's Chili, touchscreen, video

MultiTouch Ltd has been at this IR-based multitouch thing since 2007 and it’s hit CES in force this week. Sure, the current 46-inch model requires 12 inches of depth — in order to provide sufficient space for the infrared cameras embedded in its back to capture the whole, ahem, surface — but having unlimited touch inputs is always a wildly impressive sight. We put one of the displays to the test by exploiting a nearby crowd and slapping down a good 40+ fingers on it, all of which were recognized. To be perfectly fair, the IR cameras don’t seem to have a very flat recognition area and many of our inputs were picked up from over an inch from the screen. The 46-incher under hand is already available for a totally affordable $17,000, provides full HD resolution, and hooks up to a PC for processing of input. See our thoroughly intensive test on video after the break.

Gallery: MultiTouch Ltd’s 46-inch panel accepts unlimited touch inputs, we put it to the test

Continue reading MultiTouch Ltd’s 46-inch panel accepts unlimited touch inputs, we put it to the test (video hands-on)

MultiTouch Ltd’s 46-inch panel accepts unlimited touch inputs, we put it to the test (video hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

Acer’s 4.8-inch phoneblet will head to a US carrier this year

Posted in: Android, hands-on, Today's Chili
You’ll remember last month that Acer released a total of three Android tablets, including one 4.8-inch phone / tablet hybrid. Well, Acer’s brought the phoneblet — yes, we’re calling it that — it to CES, and while it wouldn’t power on, we did notice that the back of the device was marked with a “WCDMA: US band sticker”. Acer confirmed for us that the “100 percent phone, 100 percent tablet” will be heading to the US in April with Froyo or Honeycomb and that carrier partnerships are in the works. Obviously, this WCDMA unit would be destined for AT&T or T-Mobile, however an Acer’s spokesperson also hinted that it could be coming to Verizon like the Iconia Tab A500. The metal device felt really nice in hand, but we couldn’t turn on the unique 1024 x 480-resolution, 21:9 aspect ratio display. We’re imaging that its 1GHz Snapdragon processor will provide a pretty snappy experience, but it looks like we’ll be waiting a few more months to check out the entire package.

Gallery: 5-inch Acer Iconia tablet / phone

Acer’s 4.8-inch phoneblet will head to a US carrier this year originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

PixelOptics emPower! electronic eyeglasses hands-on

Posted in: hands-on, Today's Chili, video
PixelOptics is demoing what it claims is the most significant development in prescription eyewear in 50 years: emPower! PixelOptics’ glasses offer up better field of view and less distortion than traditional lenses by sandwiching an LCD-like layer in the glass that can be focused with an electrical charge. The set’s inbuilt micro-machine accelerometer detects when you tip your head down — when you read, for example — and triggers the glasses’ focal area for presbyopia. The emPower! lens can also be set to manual and is then activated by a swipe of your finger on the frame. The kit includes the glasses and the inductive charger that will keep the eyewear powered up and running for a couple days. We were able to get some video of the lens in action focusing on a tie — it is impressive to say the least — the change happens as quickly as your eye blinks and is not noticeable when not activated. We’d say PixelOptics is on to something here, and if you’re the type to plonk down $1,200 for a pair of glasses, these are definitely worth a peek. The only thing missing is a micro speaker that blasts out Bionic Man sounds each time you fire them up — but we’ve great hope somebody will hack that in.

Gallery: PixelOptics emPower! electronic eyeglasses hands-on

Continue reading PixelOptics emPower! electronic eyeglasses hands-on

PixelOptics emPower! electronic eyeglasses hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

Windows 7 Media Center embedded TV hands-on

Posted in: Today's Chili
Windows 7 Media Center embedded TV

We didn’t think much of Haier’s mention in Microsoft’s Windows 7 Media Center embedded press release, but on the show floor today we ran across this HDTV which was actually a full-blown Media Center including tuners and a harddrive. The details were very skimpy beyond that, with no mention of specific specs, prices or if the product would really make it to market. But the idea of an all-in-one TV and DVR running our favorite software certainly is something to get us excited about. What we didn’t like ws the motion remote used for the demo which was almost impossible to navigate and had us seriously longing for our favorite Green Button.

Windows 7 Media Center embedded TV hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook using a 1GHz OMAP 4430 processor

Posted in: arm, BlackBerry, blackberry playbook, BlackberryPlaybook, dual-core, DualCore, playbook, processor, RIM, rumor, rumors, slate, tablet, ti, Today's Chili

We already confirmed that RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook was deadly fast in use, but up until now, we’ve still been left to wonder what kind of silicon was powering it. According to a RIM representative that spoke to us just now on the CES show floor, a dual-core OMAP chip from Texas Instruments is doing the honors — more specifically, it’s the blisteringly fast 1GHz OMAP 4430. And now, you know.

RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook using a 1GHz OMAP 4430 processor originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

Visualized: when backpacks attack!

Posted in: Today's Chili
We spotted this giant backpack from Everki here at CES and couldn’t help but put it to the intern test. Sadly, Sam Sheffer decided to open the backpack and was never heard from again.

Gallery: Giant backpack!

Visualized: when backpacks attack! originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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