Hasta La Gadget!

It’s not the full-on demo you’re probably hoping for, but Sony devoted a section of its sprawling, city-within-a-city of a booth at IFA 2010 to diving into some of the capabilities its Google TV-enabled televisions will be offering when they launch in the US before the end of the year. The two-plus minute video loop runs through web search, Google Maps (which looks pretty awesome, we have to admit), YouTube and Picasa functionality, app favorites, and picture-in-picture, which means you don’t have to miss those first few precious minutes of Iron Chef America while you look up desserts that use eggplant. Interestingly, we stopped by Logitech’s booth today, who insisted there wasn’t a Revue anywhere near the show — despite the fact that beta units are in the field, the launch is coming up, and these guys are probably all looking to strike content deals with European providers right about now. In other words, we’ve got a sneaking suspicion there are Revues (and fully-functional Google TV sets from Sony) on the premises, they’re just locked away in meetings where our press badges are… shall we say, “frowned upon.” Follow the break for the full video.

Continue reading Sony shows off Google TV (or a video of it, anyway) at IFA 2010

Sony shows off Google TV (or a video of it, anyway) at IFA 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We love Android‘s 24-hour app return policy, so when we heard about Apple opening a “Try Before You Buy” section in the App Store, we grabbed the closest iDevice in our proximity to see what exactly was up. Only, it isn’t exactly what we expected given the name. Located under Features -> Free on the App Store, the new section serves only to highlight the free / “lite” edition of apps with premium older siblings. A smart and organized section, sure, but the for-pay programs without a demo will still be a risk your iTunes account will have to take. Them’s the breaks; might as well add it to your personal iOS 5 wishlist alongside widgets and a new notification system.

iPhone’s App Store ‘Try Before You Buy’ section isn’t exactly what you’re hoping for originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 20:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you think Intel chips are just for PCs, take a look at this touchscreen kiosk that the company has created for retailers.

The hulk of metal, plastic and glass looks like a Star Trek prop but it promises to replace the traditional CRT monitors with green-tinted screens that are still at the check out point in most stores.

The kiosk tries to bring the best features of online shopping, such as recommendations, history and easy check-out to retail stores, says Ryan Parker, director of marketing and architecture. We first wrote about this last year but Intel had a polished and slicker-than-ever demo ready Wednesday.

When a customer swipes a card or slides their purchase across the horizontal screen, the display will show the price and payment options –which include the option to pay by cellphone. As you scan the items, the kiosk also makes recommendations on what else you can buy and gives you a quick snapshot of it.

The entire kiosk is powered by Intel’s Core2Duo processors and it uses a solid state drive that helps the overall system work faster and consume less power than existing registers.  The chips also include Intel’s vPro technology, a virtualization technology that Intel builds into the chip itself, to make it secure and easy to manage.

The whole set-up is pretty neat, especially when you compare it to the self-check out counters at a Safeway or Lowes. But I can also see something like this potentially slowing down the check out process and longer lines at exit are not something consumers want.

Intel says it retailers don’t have to buy this whole idea as it is. They can pick the pieces they want and integrate it into their existing stores.

See Also:

• Why Intel Wants to Get into Energy
• Intel Introduces Ultra-Low-Power Processor for Smartphones
• Intel Researchers Turn Counter Tops Into Touchscreens
• Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet

Photo: Stefan Armijo/Wired.com

We already took a closer look at ASUS’ minty fresh ROG G53 gaming laptop earlier in the week, but it was the outfit’s 17-inch version (the G73JW, predictably) used to showcase a new partnership with SiBEAM. The aforesaid rigs are the world’s first laptops to integrate SiBEAM’s 60GHz WirelessHD technology, essentially doing exactly what Intel’s WiDi does. For those unfamiliar with either technology, it enables the laptop to beam 1080p content directly to a receiver box (that tube you see above, which will be attached via HDMI in theory) from up to 30 meters away. Both machines are slated to be slinging HD sans cabling this Fall, though pricing for the upgraded beasts wasn’t available just yet. Still, we were treated to a demonstration over at the outfit’s Computex booth, and while it was dangerously close to the receiver, HD content still was streaming without a hitch. Granted, we’ve seen nothing but great things from other WirelessHD applications in the past, but it’s still lovely to see it humming along so nicely within a full-fledged computer. Have a look yourself just past the break.

Continue reading ASUS debuts WirelessHD-equipped G73JW and G53 laptops, we go eyes-on

ASUS debuts WirelessHD-equipped G73JW and G53 laptops, we go eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It seems like the only question really left about the Nokia N8, albeit the most important one, is just how it’ll interface with the user and what the experience of living with it will be like. The Nokia Conversations team is now aiming to answer just that with the first of three video walkthroughs taking us on a tour of the new device and its Symbian^3 operating environment. We now know you can have up to three homescreens with six widgets apiece, and — gasp — wallpapers are available right off the bat. Threaded messaging is also implemented in the new OS, as well as a soft QWERTY keyboard and a set of emoticons… yes, emoticons. Notably, the entire demo is done with the phone held in landscape, suggesting that might be the preferred method of use, while transitions between menus look as quick and pleasurable as you might expect from a promo video. See the whole thing after the break.

Continue reading Nokia N8 video overview: Symbian^3 homescreens, messaging, email, and Flash-capable browser on show

Nokia N8 video overview: Symbian^3 homescreens, messaging, email, and Flash-capable browser on show originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 09:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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