Hasta La Gadget!

Remember that $2,995 Blackmagic Cinema Camera that shoots full-res 21:9 16:9 video? It’s now hitting shelves, or maybe we should say “a shelf,” because the initial shipment was “rather small,” according to the company. The arrival date was pushed back earlier, and now the 2.5k, 12-bit RAW, sub-four-thirds video camera won’t roll out in volume until the “parts supply ramps up.” Meanwhile, B&H got a handful along with several other dealers, but if you just decided to order one for tomorrow’s shoot, you may wanna cool your ardor — there’s quite a back order to get through, first.

Filed under: Cameras, HD

Blackmagic Design starts shipping Cinema Cameras in limited quantity originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After college football got its season under way last week, now it’s the professional’s turn. But the NFL isn’t all we have for you, while a light TV schedule is supplemented by a long list of high profile Blu-ray sets arriving this week. Of course, none of them are bigger than the 32-disc Harry Potter collection pictured above, check after the break for some video of what’s inside. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.

Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection
Fans of the glasses-wearing kid wizard can invest in the massive Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection Blu-ray boxed set this weekend, which arrives packing 31 discs in its collector’s edition casing. 3D, never before seen bonus clips, and digital copies — it’s all in there, and all your for the low, low price of $350 or so. Whether or not you’re willing to shell out that kind of cash for all eight movies, there’s a video look at the set after the break as some of the series’ stars take turns unboxing it.
($344.99 on Amazon, September 7th)

NFL
Our fantasy leagues are drafted, our pick ’em leagues are registered for (you’re registered for ours, right?) and the beer is getting cold. It’s finally time for the NFL to return to us, and it all starts Wednesday night with kickoff festivities leading up to an NFC East grudge match between the Giants and Cowboys. Of course, that’s just a teaser for Sunday’s action, and finally the first Monday Night Football of the year next week. It doesn’t get better than this.
(September 5th, NBC, 8:30PM)

2012 Basketball Hall of Fame
For basketball, the Hall of Fame covers both pro and collegiate ranks, and for 2012 it’s inducting a class with members like Reggie Miller, Don Nelson, Katrina McClain, Phil Knight, Ralph Sampson, Chet Walker and Jamaal Wilkes. NBA TV is also producing a documentary about Reggie Miller that will air Tuesday night before he joins his sister Cheryl in the hall. The presentation airs Friday night, hoops fans can use it as a crutch between the Olympics / summer league festivities and the regular season which is still several weeks away.
(September 7th, NBA TV, 7:30PM)

Continue reading Must See HDTV (September 3rd – 9th)

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

Must See HDTV (September 3rd – 9th) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 18:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still recovering from the onslaught of goodies shown off at IFA 2012, but there’s one thing we didn’t notice while perusing Samsung’s gadgetry. The team at German site BestBoyZ discovered S Cloud in the settings menu of the Note II, which included the option to sync user data with Dropbox. Apparently, Samsung reps didn’t have much to say on the matter, and BestBoyZ believe that’s because it’s not quite working yet (we’re willing to agree, given the various delays). It’s looking like the feature might be ready in time for the Note II’s launch, which ties in nicely with the 50GB of free Dropbox storage you’ll snag if you pick one up. Owners of other Samsung gear needn’t be disappointed though, as it’s suggested that S Cloud integration will be part of the Jelly Bean upgrades expected soon. We’ve embedded the reveal vid below, and don’t worry if you can’t speak German — you’ll still get the gist.

Continue reading S Cloud spotted on Galaxy Note II, reveals Dropbox integration (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Storage, Software, Mobile

S Cloud spotted on Galaxy Note II, reveals Dropbox integration (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 09:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s bad news for Xperia Ray, Arc and Neo owners on O2’s UK network, as the carrier’s reported it won’t be updating these Sony handsets to Ice Cream Sandwich. O2 claims it has tested three versions of the OS update and decided not to approve it, due to increased hardware requirements resulting in “speed and performance” issues. This is curious, since Sony itself had no problems getting Android 4.0 up and running on the devices — even if it did take a while. If you know your way around a ROM, you probably stopped scoffing Gingerbread a long time ago. However, if you’re yet to tinker and ain’t scared by O2’s “you can’t go back” warnings, an hour or two on some specialist forums should have you sticky in no time (at your own risk, of course).

Update: O2’s been in touch assuring us the decision was not taken lightly, and that although Sony has released ICS for these handsets, they did so with clear disclaimers on performance concerns (see the Sony source below).

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

O2 UK denies Xperia Ray, Arc and Neo owners Ice Cream Sandwich originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 06:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve known little of the genetic sequences of our precursors, despite having found many examples of their remains: the requirement for two strands in traditional DNA sequencing isn’t much help when we’re usually thankful to get just one. The Max Planck Institute has devised a new, single-strand technique that may very well fill in the complete picture. Binding specific molecules to a strand, so enzymes can copy the sequence, has let researchers make at least one pass over 99.9 percent of the genome of a Siberian girl from roughly 80,000 years ago — giving science the most complete genetic picture of any human ancestor to date, all from the one bone you see above. The gene map tells us that the brown-skinned, brown-eyed, brown-haired girl was part of a splinter population known as the Denisovans that sat in between Neanderthals and ourselves, having forked the family tree hundreds of thousands of years before today. It also shows that there’s a small trace of Denisovans and their Neanderthal roots in modern East Asia, which we would never have known just by staring at fossils. Future discoveries could take years to leave an impact, but MPI may have just opened the floodgates of knowledge for our collective history.

Filed under: Science, Alt

Max Planck Institute sequences genome of Siberian girl from 80,000 years ago, smashes DNA barriers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 01:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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