Hasta La Gadget!

The Justice League might not normally show up to save the innocent in a crossover utility, but even Superman and Co. could be persuaded by a one-off Kia Sorento complete with custom Jim Lee artwork. The customized car is the eighth in a series of Justice League Super Heroes models Kia and DC Entertainment have produced. The first seven featured each of the seven heroes themselves – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg – while this final model brings all of them together.

While the Sorento might initially seem like an odd choice, it’s actually one of the few cars in Kia’s range that could accommodate the whole Justice League team; it, and the similarly 7-seat Sedona, in fact.

The custom artwork is the handiwork of famous comic book artist Jim Lee, and then hand-airbrushed by West Coast Customs. On the outside, the metallic blue CUV spreads its quote of superheroes on either side, with Justice League branding across the hood, and sits on some impressively oversized special black-finish alloy wheels.

Lee began the process by hand-drawing the design separately, coming up with eight different versions including the all-heroes car that will be auctioned off. West Coast Customs then powered up their airbrushes to splash that custom artwork across the Kia bodywork, a difficult process given there are 3D curves and cut-lines to take into account. Some of the earlier, individual hero cars have been even more outlandish, with Kia cutting Batman logos into the radiator grill, for instance, on the Caped Crusader’s car.

Inside, meanwhile, there’s comic book artwork across the transmission tunnel and door trim, and – our favorite feature – each of the leather seats gets a hero’s logo on the headrest, and matching piping. In case you’re wondering, Superman is driving and Batman called shotgun.

More normally, the Sorento starts off at just over $24k for the somewhat less ostentations LX 2.4L with a six-speed auto transmission. You still get the seven seats, though, as well as SiriusXM radio, Bluetooth streaming, power windows, air-con, and 17-inch alloy wheels. Both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive versions are offered, with up to 26mpg possible depending on model and driving conditions.

“Kia and DC Entertainment are both global brands sharing a youthful and creative mindset” Michael Sprague, EVP of marketing & communications for Kia Motors America, said of the collaboration. “With Jim Lee’s vision combined with the efforts of some of the best customizing shops in the business, it’s going to be a lot of fun unveiling these cars around the country.”

The limited edition Sorento has been shown off as part of a Kia collaboration with DC Entertainment at Comic-Con 2013, in association with the “We Can Be Heroes” campaign, as well as at other events through the year. Best of all, Kia is selling off the Justice League Sorento in a charity auction. Running until July 27, with a starting bid of $35,000, proceeds will go to Mercy Corps. [Limited edition Sorento auction on ebay]

2014 Kia Sorento Justice League ebay auction exceeds $37,000 is written by Vincent Nguyen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google’s Chromecast device is a Web media player, introduced by the company just a bit over a year after they first showed of a machine with very similar capabilities: the Nexus Q. Where the Nexus Q came into play as a bocce-ball-sized TV “box”, Chromecast is the size of a USB dongle, small enough to fit in your pocket. It connects through a television’s full-sized HDMI port and you’ll be able to pull it up with the input button on your television remote, the same as you would a DVD player.

Instead of playing physical content, like DVDs or Blu-ray disks, Chromecast uses the internet to pull content from web-based apps. Chromecast does not have a remote control included in the box it’s delivered with when you buy it because it’s able to connect with basically any smart device you’ve got in your home – or in your pocket.

Size: 72(L) x 35(W) x 12(H) mm
Weight: 34g
Video Output: 1080p
Connectivity: HDMI, Wi-Fi
RAM: 256k
Processor: N/A
OS: Chromecast

You’ll plug Chromecast in to your TV, plug a microUSB power cord (included in the box) into Chromecast to keep it powered up, and press the single physical button on Chromecast to send out a wireless signal that effectively says, “I’m ready to go!”

Turning the television on and the input to the HDMI port you’ve plugged Chromecast into, you’ll see a screen that directs you to google.com/chromecast/setup. Note that this URL may change over time, but this is the first place you’ll be sent in this initial launch of Chromecast when this article is first posted.

This one-time setup connects Chromecast to the web – if you’ve got a password on your Wi-Fi network, you’ll need to enter it. You can do this setup process from any device with an internet browser, while actually sending content to Chromecast is limited to the following:

• Android 2.3 and higher
• iOS 6 and higher
• Windows®7 and higher
• Mac OS 10.7 and higher
• Chrome OS (Chromebook Pixel, additional Chromebooks coming soon).

At the moment you’ll be able to use Chromecast to connect with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies, and Google Music. Using Chromecast’s “Cast” protocol, you’re able to “fling” content from your control device (laptop, smartphone, tablet) to your TV.

So you’ll open up YouTube, for example, and play a video, but you’ll also be clicking the Cast button that, (once you’re set up), appears in the upper right-hand corner of your Chrome web browser or app. From there you’ll be able to control said media as it plays OR continue on with your regularly scheduled web browsing as the media plays on your TV.

Once the media you’ve chosen on your phone, tablet, or notebook has been flung to Chromecast, you no longer have to worry about it. If you DO want to control it again, you’ll have only to return to the app you were in and change it up. You can also choose to send something new to Chromecast, this immediately stopping the current media from playing, moving on to the next piece of media in kind.

There are also interesting side-loading features you can use if you’re not all about working with one of the few apps supported by Chromecast so far. At the moment Chromecast has a BETA mirroring feature that works with Chrome web browser windows.

You can open a file in a Chrome web browser window and fling it to Chromecast, your television then mirroring this window as you do so. This feature requires that you actually keep the window open if you want to keep watching it on your TV since the content is not on the web, it’s on your computer.

This BETA mirroring feature can be used for photos and video as well – we’ll be seeing how close we can get to real web-based gaming mirroring soon!

What else do you want to know about Chromecast? Is this a device (at $35 USD) that you’ll be picking up, supposing it’s not already sold out every which way from physical stores to Google Play? Let us know!

SlashGear 101: What is Chromecast? is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It almost seems too good to be true, but Google’s new Chromecast HDMI dongle is a reality. The small device lets users beam content from their mobile devices or computers to their HDTVs, but instead of the content going through the device first, it goes straight to the television. The best part is, the dongle only costs $35.

We’ve gotten the chance to have a peek at the HDMI dongle here in San Francisco where Google just announced a handful of new products, including a refreshed Nexus 7, Android 4.3, and the Chromecast. The dongle itself is fairly simple, with a textured plastic feel with an HDMI port on one end and a microUSB port at the other for power.

The microUSB provides power to the stick, and it’ll come with a cable and power adapter in the box. From there, you can either plug it into the USB port on your television, or plug it into a nearby outlet using the included power adapter. While USB ports on TVs don’t provide a way to transfer data, they do provide power, and that’s what is required in this case.

The dongle does rely on a WiFi connection, though, so you’ll need a home WiFi network in order for Chromecast to work, but the dongle creates its own WiFi hotspot that your mobile device or computer can connect to. Chromecast is compatible with Android, iOS, Windows, and OS X devices.

The Chromecase device works with a few services already, including Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, and obviously Google Play TV and Movies, and since the content is delivered straight to the dongle, this allows you to keep browsing on your device while a video continues playing on the TV.

Furthermore, you can use the Chromecast along with your TV as a second display for your laptop or desktop, letting you beam a Chrome tab to your TV, while you continue to surf the internet on your computer. For just $35, it’s quite the device, and almost something that the company could just give away at some point or include for free when you purchase a Nexus 7. For now, you’ll have to fork over $35, but that’s nothing compared to other media streaming devices on the market.

Google Chromecast hands-on is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week Google reveals the next generation in their Nexus 7 tablet line, keeping the name and amping up the display resolution to nearly double that of Samsung’s newest effort. While this device takes the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 to the cleaners with its display alone, the most important comparison we can make at this moment is between the Nexus 7 and its biggest competitor – its predecessor!

What you’ve got with the new Nexus 7, what we’ll be calling Nexus 7 2 from this point on for ease in differentiation, is a machine that aims to feel rather similar to the original Nexus 7. The Nexus 7 2 works with a new back-facing camera (at 5 megapixels) where the original works with only a front-facing shooter. Both machines’ front-facing cameras are the same 1.2 megapixels strong – on the surface – but we’ll be the judge of which shoots better when we get them both set up next to one another in the field.

The Nexus 7 2 axes the NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor present in the original and brings on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro. This is a quad-core processor working with Adreno 320 graphics, this taking the tablet down an entirely different avenue for potential features.

Where NVIDIA remains focused in the gaming universe – see SlashGear’s TegraZone tag portal and note how often the Nexus 7 pops up – Qualcomm’s approach in promoting processor power appears to remain a bit more subdued. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon line lives in the Nexus 4 as well, and you’ll not see NEARLY as much press coming from the big Q as you have from NVIDIA for the Nexus 7 and its Tegra 3. We’ll see if this trend continues through this tablet’s release.

To back these processors up, the original Nexus 7 has 1GB RAM (LPDDR3) while the Nexus 7 2 rolls out with 2GB RAM (DDR3). The original Nexus 7 originally (not for long, but they’re out there) had an edition sold with just 8GB of internal storage – now both the original and this new edition start with 16GB internal storage and have a 32GB edition as well.

The original Nexus 7 works with a 7-inch 1280 x 800 pixel IPS LCD display working at 216 PPI. The Nexus 7 2 brings on a 7-inch 1920 x 1200 pixel IPS LCD display at 323 PPI. That’s the most dense display to exist on a tablet form-factor device thus far, and it far and away beats out both the “Retina” full-sized iPad (236 PPI) and the iPad mini (163 PPI).

The Nexus 7 2 has a different shape than the original Nexus 7, to a degree that will require new protective cases, skins, and the like to be made and used – wide open for casemaking opportunities! The original comes in at 7.81 x 4.72 x 0.41 inches (198.5 x 120 x 10.45 mm) while the Nexus 7 2 is 7.9 x 4.5 x 0.3 inches (201 x 114 x 8 mm). The original weighs a little more than the new iteration as well – 11.99 oz (340 g) for the old and 11.2 oz (318 g) for the new.

While the Nexus 7 starts at $199 for its 16GB version and ramps up to $249 for its 32GB version (and $299 for its 32GB, AT&T or T-Mobile versions), it’s unclear what will happen to remaining stock once the new Nexus 7 2 is released in full. We do know that the Nexus 7 2 will change up the pricing scale slightly: 16GB will cost $229 USD while the 32GB edition will start at $269 USD.

And of course there’s the software differences when this new Nexus 7 arrives, but the added abilities of this new model will cut down to minimal once the older model gets its own software upgrade – one we’re sure won’t be far off. Now it’s on you!

Nexus 7 new vs old: the big pixel boost is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Verizon quickly announced a new line of DROID smartphones alongside Motorola today, and by quickly, we actually mean it. The event lasted for around 10 minutes and they unveiled three new phones, as well as a new processor that they’re calling a “computing system.” If you’re having a bit of trouble catching up on the new DROIDs, we’re here to save the day.

The three new phones that were unveiled today are the DROID MINI, DROID ULTRA, and the DROID MAXX. All of these fit in their own specific budget range, and we’ll first start off with the DROID MINI. This is Motorola’s successor to the DROID RAZR M of last year, and it’s all about a compact design with a 4.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display, as well as wireless charging capabilities. This phone will cost $99 after a two-year contract and will be available starting on August 29.

The DROID ULTRA and DROID MAXX share the same body style, with a larger 5-inch 720p OLED display with a kevlar shell for ruggedness. However, the MAXX sports a huge 3500 mAh battery that Verizon says can last “two days” on a full charge. The ULTRA sports a smaller 2,130 mAh, but only comes in at 7.2mm thin, which is quite impressive. The ULTRA and MAXX also pack in a 10-megapixel camera with an f2.4 lens.

The DROID ULTRA will cost $199 after a two-year contract, while the DROID MAXX will be priced at $299. Both phones will be available starting on August 20. All three of these handsets are also running Motorola’s new X8 Mobile Computing System, which was also announced today in partnership with Qualcomm.

The X8 is an eight-core SoC, which consists of a dual-core application Qualcomm processor that clocks in at 1.7GHz, a quad-core graphics processor, a contextual computing core, and another core for “natural language processing.” This layout should be able to give each phone the power to delegate certain tasks without taxing any of the cores. Motorola says the new X8 chip gives these three devices 24% faster CPU performance and graphics that are twice as fast than before.

The DROID ULTRA will be available in black, white, and red, while the MAXX will only be available in black. Pre-orders are open now, and as a bonus, anyone who buys one of these new phones between now and September 30 will get six months free to Google Play Music All Access.

Verizon 2013 DROID reboot hardware wrap-up: MINI, ULTRA, and MAXX is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.