Hasta La Gadget!

Continue reading Samsung WiFi-enabled RF4289 fridge cools, eats and tweets; we go hands-on

Samsung WiFi-enabled RF4289 fridge cools, eats and tweets; we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AC Ryan already took a few precious moments to introduce its FLUXX media player, but given that one new streamer in a month isn’t nearly “enough,” the outfit’s dishing out two more this week. The Playon! HD2 and Playon! HD Mini2 are both based around Realtek’s 1185 media processor, tout gigabit Ethernet and will soon have access to the WePlayon! content portal. For all intents and purposes, both of these boxes are identical save for a couple of major differences: the HD2 ships with space for a 3.5-inch HDD (whereas the Mini2 goes drive-less), and there’s also support for 802.11n WiFi on the big daddy if you spring for an optional adapter. Oh, and the HD2 has a larger chassis — go figure, right? You’ll also get a USB 3.0 port on the HD2 if you’d like to connect up any other media, and you’ll be able to find either in stores starting next month. As for prices? The empty units will sell for $169 (HD2) / $109 (Mini2), while the former can be ordered up with a 500GB ($205), 1TB ($229), 1.5TB ($259) or 2TB ($289) hard drive within.

Continue reading AC Ryan unveils Realtek-based Playon!HD2 and Playon!HD Mini2 media streamers

AC Ryan unveils Realtek-based Playon!HD2 and Playon!HD Mini2 media streamers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SwiftKey for Android was one of the breakout stars in the virtual keyboard business last year, thanks to a unique predictive phrase system that learns how you talk (or write, as it were) and recommends entire words based on your personal style. It sounds weird, but it’s surprisingly helpful — and even if you don’t use the phrase prediction aspect at all, it’s simply a well laid-out, easy-to-use keyboard. The company has big plans for 2011 with talks of OEM deals in the pipeline, UI and functionality tweaks, new utilities for learning your writing habits by ingesting RSS feeds, Facebook posts, Gmail, and other sources… oh, and this: a new app customized for use on Android tablets.

Text entry on tablets is a challenge that manufacturers and software vendors have been trying to solve for a long, long time, and one look in a busy airport with dozens of people trying to type on iPads carefully-balanced on their laps will tell you that we’ve still got a long way to go. We’re not sure how SwiftKey’s new version will work on 10-inch tablets (take the Xoom, for instance), but we had a chance to check it out on a Galaxy Tab — and we have to say that it’s probably the best landscape virtual keyboard we’ve used on a 7-inch tablet so far. Swype and other tracing keyboards seem out of place on a screen this big, but SwiftKey takes advantage of the fact that your thumbs are so far apart by splitting your QWERTY into two parts and placing the lesser-used numbers in the center.

The keyboard isn’t ready for prime time just yet — SwiftKey still bills it as a prototype — but we imagine it’ll be available before too long. Follow the break for a hands-on video!

Continue reading Exclusive: SwiftKey tweaks its Android keyboard for tablets (hands-on with video)

Exclusive: SwiftKey tweaks its Android keyboard for tablets (hands-on with video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blue Microphones’ Yeti Pro a ‘lil rich for your blood? Have a gander at Samson Technologies, who is also introducing a new USB microphone to usher in the year 2011. The company’s foldable USB mic — better known as the Meteor Mic — looks a lot like any number of retro mics you might find in an older recording studio, or any number of brand new ones designed to look just like the old ones we just mentioned. There’s also a stereo 1/8-inch headphone output for no-latency monitoring, not to mention a headphone volume control and a trio of legs to tinker with. There’s even a microphone mute switch for those who prefer to grumble while the boss blabbers on, and it’ll be out and about in Best Buy this April for $99. Demonstrative video is just past the break, if you really need to enlighten yourself further.

Continue reading Samson’s USB Meteor Mic packs retro flair, $99 price tag

Samson’s USB Meteor Mic packs retro flair, $99 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 06:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We came. We saw. We conquered (in our own, gadget-obsessed way). Yes, CES 2011 happened, and we were there for every heart stopping minute of it. This was definitely one for the record books; not only did we bring the biggest team we’ve ever had to the show, but the gear we saw this year was some of the most interesting and career-affirming stuff we’ve looked at in a long time. From Motorola’s awesome Android offerings (the crazy, modular Atrix and Honeycomb-sporting Xoom), loads of terrific new smartphones, to really innovative auto tech, and connected TVs and set top boxes that actually make sense — this feels like the right place to be at the right time.

But really, what makes CES 2011 so amazing for the Engadget team are two things: the fact that all of our editors get to be in the same room, living and breathing our shared obsession (and trust us, we have an absolute blast), and that we can bring all of the craziness of this show to you guys. We’re psyched to have come together and just gone nuts this year, but between the lack of sleep and ridiculous amount of posts we’ve done, we’re also really happy to see our homes again.

Of course, there’s always the next event (hello, Verizon iPhone) and even the next CES (hello, 2012), but until then, enjoy the pics below and feast your eyes on some of these staggering stats from Engadget’s CES 2011 coverage!

Vital stats

Number of posts: approx. 720 (January 3rd to 9th; up 14 percent over 2010)
Number of photo galleries: 336
Number of videos: approx. 173
Number of podcasts: 11 (5 Classic, 3 HD, 3 Mobile)

Most commented post: Google shows off Android 3.0, the ‘Entirely for Tablet’ Honeycomb (1,001 comments)
Most watched video: Gaming on the Motorola Atrix laptop dock… upside down

Time spent sleeping, per editor per 24-hour cycle: 3 hours (down 14 percent over 2010)
3G cards: 32
WiMAX cards: 28
LTE cards: 1
Hypermacs: 2
DSLRs: 28
This year’s song: Rihanna ft Drake – What’s My Name (Chopped… and screwed)
Most orders of In-N-Out fries at once: 32 (16 regular, 13 Animal Style, 3 well done)

Team Engadget

Ground crew: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Thomas Ricker, Paul Miller, Ross Miller, Darren Murph, Vladislav Savov, Sean Hollister, Chris Ziegler, Richard Lawler, Joanna Stern, Ben Drawbaugh, Sean Cooper, Don Melanson, Tim Stevens, Richard Lai, Myriam Joire, Ben Bowers

Home team: Joe Flatley, Laura June (poet laureate)

Special teams: Dan Chilton, Justin Glow, Trent Wolbe, Chad Mumm, Jason Miller, Nina Sokoler, Jacob Schulman, Kevin Wong, Sam Sheffer, Joshua Fruhlinger, Christopher Grant

International: José Andrade, Carlos Martinez, Alberto Ballestin, Alexandra Guerrero (Drita), Ittousai, Andy Yang

Engadget has left the building: this was CES 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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