Hasta La Gadget!

You’ve probably seen people with rubber-band-like bracelets advocating one cause or another, but if you’re like me, you’d appreciate something a little more functional. The 1:Face Watch supports a variety of causes and lets you tell the time at the same time.

The 1:Face Watch was designed by Mirza Minds. It’s quite minimal, which I like. Each color supports a different cause. The white watch provides food for children, the pink watch provides a mammogram for someone in need.

All of these causes are backed by reputable charities, so you don’t have to worry about where your money is going to.

The 1:Face Watch was launched as an Indiegogo project, and you can get in on the action for as little as $40(USD). With 27 days left, the project has amassed over $100,000 in funding, with a goal of $25,000 so it will definitely go into production

If a seemingly infinitely programmable mini computer like the Raspberry Pi is just too… limiting, we’ve got good news: the Gertboard extender has started shipping. The $48 companion board reaching customers’ doorsteps converts analog to digital and back for Raspberry Pi fans developing home automation, robotics and just about anything else that needs a translation between the computing world and less intelligent objects. The one catch, as you’d sometimes expect from a homebrew project, is the need for some assembly — you’ll have to solder together Gert van Loo’s Arduino-controlled invention on your own. We imagine the DIY crowd won’t mind, though, as long as they can find the fast-selling Gertboard in the first place.

[Image credit: Stuart Green, Flickr]

Filed under: Misc

Gertboard extender for Raspberry Pi ships to advanced tinkerers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve barely had time to enjoy the games featured in Humble Indie Bundle 6, but already the Humble Bundle folks are at it again. This time, however, there’s a twist. Instead of targeting this latest bundle at the unwashed gaming masses (only kidding), this latest Humble Bundle is all about the bookworms. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the Humble eBook Bundle.

Instead of letting buyers name their own price for a series of indie games, the Humble eBook Bundle features a collection of – you guessed it – six eBooks. The eBooks included in this bundle are Invasion by Mercedes Lackey, Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi, Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow, and two books by Kelly Link, Stranger Things Happen and Magic for Beginners. If you pay more than the average, which currently sits $11.14, you’ll also get copies of Old Man’s War by John Scalzi and the graphic novel Signal to Noise by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.

A new charity has also been added for the Humble eBook Bundle. In addition to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play, which have been mainstays since the very first Humble Bundle, a portion of the proceeds from each sale will also be going to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The books are available in PDF, MOBI, and ePub formats, so they should work with computers, eReaders, and mobile devices.

The Humble Bundle folks are quick to point out that many of these books are making their digital debuts in the Humble eBook Bundle, so there may be a few viewing issues left to iron out. Regardless, paying what you want for six eBooks is a great deal, so if you’ve been on the lookout for new books to read, we highly suggest checking out the Humble eBook Bundle. There’s just over two weeks to go before the Humble eBook Bundle says “sayonara,” so get those orders in!

Humble Bundle returns offering eBooks galore is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

You may be familiar with EchoStar’s satellite-based (Dish Network) and Sling Media (Slingbox) products, but the company also manufactures set-top boxes for third-party providers, as well as free-to-air services in the UK. It’s this last grouping that’ll be able to take advantage of the Android-based device we saw today, assuming it does in fact make its way to market. The HDX-410 runs native Ice Cream Sandwich, and is available in two versions — one supports IP content and local storage exclusively, while a second can also accept terrestrial Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) programming, letting you play back live TV shows in addition to content from a local server, pulled from the web or stored on attached media or an inserted microSD card. It connects to the web using Ethernet or WiFi, and includes USB ports on both the front and the rear, Bluetooth, HDMI out, digital audio out and a standard-definition connection. It’s also paired with a QWERTY keyboard-equipped remote manufactured by Philips with gyroscopic or directional-pad curser control, along with pinch/zoom gesture capability.

We had a chance to check out the ICS box at EchoStar’s IBC booth today, where the device was running Android 4.0.4 and an early version of the company’s hybrid app, which groups “favorited” content alongside terrestrial channels, letting you use the standard channel up/down button to navigate through stored TV shows, IP content or live programming quite seamlessly, as if all of the media was playing from the same source. It’s clearly not yet ready for primetime, but the interface was sleek and speedy — the set-top box performed very well overall. EchoStar reps were unable to confirm whether or not the HDX-410 would be coming to market at all, but they did add that the solution may be made available to third-parties in the future. Click past the break to take a closer look in our hands-on video.

Continue reading EchoStar HDX-410 set-top box runs native ICS, supports terrestrial broadcasts (hands-on video)

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

EchoStar HDX-410 set-top box runs native ICS, supports terrestrial broadcasts (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix making good on those investment promises for its UK viewers, with the streaming service set to be included in a new set-top box coming tomorrow. According to The Telegraph, the new device will link straight into Netflix services. Freesat‘s satellite TV offering launched back in 2008, with both BBC and ITV behind the project, while the new set-top box is rumored to add on-demand downloads and the ability to view programs up to eight days since they first air — catching up to similar services from BT, Virgin and Sky. We’re likely to hear more tomorrow, but Freesat’s hoping it will be enough to make Brits reconsider those wallet-thumping Sky subscriptions.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

Netflix coming to future Freesat satellite TV boxes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 03:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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