Motorola Atrix 4G Laptop Dock demo units have multitouch trackpads — but yours doesn’t

We were crestfallen to discover that our review unit of the Laptop Dock for Moto’s Atrix 4G didn’t have multitouch capability, making scrolling a rather old-fashioned affair — and considering that a desktop build of Firefox figures prominently into Webtop’s capabilities, scrolling is something you’ll be doing quite a bit of. Well, this is where it gets weird: a number of people on xda-developers are discussing the fact that in-store demo units of the Laptop Dock seem to mysteriously have multitouch added in, and at least one poster notes that a Motorola rep that visited his local store a while back had multitouch working as well. That means one of three things: either these units are physically different hardware, they’re running a prerelease firmware upgrade, or they’ve got a feature that was pulled at the last minute, possibly because it didn’t work very well. Unfortunately, the latter seems plausible because Motorola has indicated to us that the Laptop Dock’s hardware doesn’t support multitouch and it’s not something we can expect to be added in down the road — but we can hope.

[Thanks, Caleb]

Motorola Atrix 4G Laptop Dock demo units have multitouch trackpads — but yours doesn’t originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AuraSound Sound Station is the audiophile-grade iPod dock for your audiophile-grade bedstand

AuraSound Sound Station is the audiophile-grade iPod dock for your audiophile-grade bedstand

It’s no good plunking your precious iPhone into a little dock that tries to skitter away from you. You need something with mass. Something with presence. Something like the AuraSound Sound Station, which offers an “audiophile-class acoustic design” in something a little less… dirigible-esque than other high-end docks we’ve seen. It also sports a seven-inch touchscreen wedged in the middle there, enabling “unrivaled ease of use,” also letting you play videos and things. AirPlay support appears to be missing, but the device is said to be upgradeable to make it a “living, learning machine” that can grow with you. That and many, many more idealistic euphemisms are waiting for you in the press release embedded below — but no mention of price.

Continue reading AuraSound Sound Station is the audiophile-grade iPod dock for your audiophile-grade bedstand

AuraSound Sound Station is the audiophile-grade iPod dock for your audiophile-grade bedstand originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GaugeFace iPhone dock displays your Harley’s data on a 3.5-inch touchscreen

GaugeFace is an app-and-dock combo that interfaces with your Harley’s ECU (Engine Control Unit) to display the bike’s speed, tachometer, engine temp., gear, and turn signal info on your iPhone or iPod touch. And the installation is almost as easy as setting your phone in a charging cradle. So, what do you think? Ready to turn your late-model motorcycle into an overpriced — yet totally bad-ass — iPod dock? Available for an MSRP of $250. See it in action after the break, or it the source link to order up one of these bad boys for yourself.

Continue reading GaugeFace iPhone dock displays your Harley’s data on a 3.5-inch touchscreen

GaugeFace iPhone dock displays your Harley’s data on a 3.5-inch touchscreen originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rinspeed BamBoo electric concept is world’s largest HTC Flyer dock

Talk about your cross promotions. The Rinderknecht-built Rinspeed BamBoo concept electric car looks to be the stuff of a gadget nerd’s dreams. Unfortunately, that dream resembles a dystopian nightmare envisioned by a Neal Stephenson novel whereby everything we own is sponsored, trivial, and slathered in corporate logos. But hey, it’s just a concept, and production vehicles never look like the original idea so anything goes… and we mean anything. To start with, the breadbox-inspired dash features a Siemens VDO display with a docking station in the glovebox for the new HTC Flyer tablet. The BamBoo dash is flanked by flowery JBL GreenEdge speakers and the starter key is styled after a Swiss army knife. And if we’re not mistaken, there’s a webcam extended off a stalk from the center of the dash. An interesting piece of work right on down to the cluster of old school throw switches for the wipers, lights, hazards, etc. But that’s just the cockpit.

The radiator grill has been replaced by an internet-connected “identiface,” developed by Daimler subsidiary MBtech, whereby the occupant can display any number of messages to onlookers from Facebook or Twitter, for example, or even the radio station preset you’re currently jamming. The inflatable rear seats are removable as is the inflatable waterproof roof developed by Tecnotex that doubles as a beach blanket. The whole kit is powered by a 54 kW electric motor capable of a 120km/h top speed and battery capable of pushing the sporty golf cart some 105 kilometers before requiring a recharge from an RWE intelligent charging station. Look for it to make its big reveal at the Geneva Motor Show. Until then, head over to Autoblog to feast on their gallery of images with a few choice shots added below.

[Thanks, Tim]

Continue reading Rinspeed BamBoo electric concept is world’s largest HTC Flyer dock

Rinspeed BamBoo electric concept is world’s largest HTC Flyer dock originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 06:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Atrix 4G pre-orders begin at AT&T

March 6th is the official street date, but you can lay down your money for Motorola’s modular smartphone right now, as the Atrix 4G and its suite of incredible Webtop docks are now available for pre-order. $200 buys you the biometric HSPA+ smartphone on a two-year contract, and it’ll cost you an additional $300 to turn it into a portable netbook of sorts — though as we feared, you’ll need to pay $45 a month for the DataPro 4GB + Tethering data plan (on top of your phone bill) to actually use it on the go. Another bummer is that the HD Multimedia Dock (enabling desktop-like functionality) will run $130, a good bit more than we thought we’d see it for. All in all, the Atrix is looking like quite an investment, so perhaps you’d be best served waiting for our full review. But don’t let us tell you what to do with your hard-earned dough!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Motorola Atrix 4G pre-orders begin at AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 00:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP Touchstone Touch-to-share lets devices swap URLs, ‘Exhibition’ mode added for phones

So, HP is extending “Touchstone” to mean more than “that heavy, slanted magnet thing that my Pre always slips off of.” For starters, the TouchPad has a Touchstone charging dock — it’s not magnetic, but at least you don’t have to worry about plugging the thing in, and it’s particularly suited to working with a keyboard. But that’s not the real magic. HP has enabled its three new webOS devices (The TouchPad, Veer, and Pre 3) to communicate over Touchstone using “Touch-to-share” tech. You simply place your phone on top of the TouchPad, as illustrated, and whatever you’re viewing on the phone pops up in the tablet’s browser. We’re not sure how this works bi-directionally, but HP mentions both scenarios, so hopefully it shouldn’t be that difficult to configure the URL to come from the tablet and land on the phone. The two devices have to be on the same webOS account, however, so don’t get any crazy ideas about sharing URLs with friends. Naturally, there should be a lot more “Continuous Client“-style uses for this tech in the future, but we’d say URL pushing is a good start. Finally, the old-fashioned Touchstone is going to work with the Veer and Pre 3, which will now be sent into an “Exhibition” mode when docked. The mode allows the phone to display photos or upcoming appointments, depending on the user’s particular level of sentimentality.

For more on all of HP’s webOS announcements today, click here!

HP Touchstone Touch-to-share lets devices swap URLs, ‘Exhibition’ mode added for phones originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola’s Atrix 4G HD Multimedia Dock spotted online next to a $60 price tag

We can’t say we make a habit of checking out Fommy.com or Mobile City Online’s digital shelves when searching for our mobile gear, but these obscure retailers look to be the first to come out with pricing for the Atrix 4G’s HD Multimedia Dock. Fommy lists it as a straight up $59.95 charge, whereas its direct competitor is already discounting the cradle down to $49.99. Both are offering pre-orders only at this point, with no known dates of arrival, but at least we’ve got a ballpark figure to play with.

Motorola’s Atrix 4G HD Multimedia Dock spotted online next to a $60 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola lifts our spirits with new Atrix 4G video

Been feeling down this cold and dreary January? Well, let Motorola “introduce” you to its new smartphone! The CES conqueror we already know as the Atrix 4G has received its first promo video from the mothership, highlighting its laptop and HD multimedia docks (giving us a decent peek at the docked UI for both), dual-core processor and related gaming credentials, and, of course, that gorgeous qHD screen resolution on the handset itself. It’s all set to a very uplifting soundtrack, connoting all the beautiful opportunity and potential that our collective smartphone future holds.

[Thanks, engadgeteer]

Continue reading Motorola lifts our spirits with new Atrix 4G video

Motorola lifts our spirits with new Atrix 4G video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP / Palm’s 9.7-inch Topaz tablet to use 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8660, Adreno 220 GPU

Looks like those whispers we heard about HP’s Topaz having a 1.2GHz Qualcomm CPU were true. The folks over at Pre Central just scored an internal document detailing presumed specifications of HP’s forthcoming 9.7-inch tablet, and it looks like the aforesaid CPU will be joined by an integrated Adreno 220 GPU, 512MB of DDR2 memory, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera and dual-band 802.11b/g/n WiFi. We’re told to expect an oleophobic Gorilla Glass screen with a standard XGA (1024 x 768) resolution, options for 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of storage, optional WWAN, an accelerometer, gyroscope, light sensor, microphone and a battery that’ll last for around eight hours in ideal circumstances. Naturally, webOS will be onboard, and we’re hearing that a WiFi-only model will indeed hit the market at some point. As for the connected versions? HSPA, LTE and CDMA variants are rumored, with the former two likely to be SIM-locked while all three carry A-GPS.

It should be noted that these documents were apparently fresh as of last fall, so everything is clearly subject to change. That said, we’re digging the reports that HP will be doing everything it can to fully support Flash on this here slate, and it may also consider a partnership with Blio for the digital bookworms in attendance. Naturally, cloud services is shaping up to be a huge deal, and it’ll definitely support inductive charging via the Touchstone v2. These docs also affirm what we’d heard about integrated Beats Audio technology and Tap to Share, with the second-gen Touchstone to also handle wireless picture sharing, cordless audio streaming and tether-free video beaming (just to name a few). Hit the source link the full skinny, and feel free to pressure HP to move February 9th a little closer to today.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

HP / Palm’s 9.7-inch Topaz tablet to use 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8660, Adreno 220 GPU originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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j5 Create’s device / data sharing peripherals leave us cautiously optimistic

We’re dying to find out more about j5 Create’s line of attractive and ambitious peripherals, but we’re not entirely sure they actually exist. The company’s website features six different data and device sharing products — the JUC100 Wormhole KM Switch offers keyboard and mouse functionality across two devices; the JUA230 DVI Display Adapter connects up to six monitors with three different display modes; and the JUH320 Wormhole Station brings together shared keyboard and mouse access with two USB 3.0 ports and a memory card reader. j5’s website promises stylish connectivity, featuring sleek product renderings and a flash presentation that provides, ahem, inspirational insight — swans, flutes, ballerinas — but no talk of finished products, price, or availability. Additionally, we haven’t found any of these devices for sale online, despite the fact that the brand’s parent company, KaiJet, is an established manufacturer of peripherals in Taiwan. So, yes, there’s a chance that someone out there is hooked up to a Wormhole Station right now, but we wouldn’t bet our diamond-encrusted iPhone on it.

j5 Create’s device / data sharing peripherals leave us cautiously optimistic originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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