Hasta La Gadget!

RadioShack’s board of directors have asked current CEO James F. Gooch to step down from his position, effective immediately. While the management team doesn’t have a replacement in mind, current CFO Dorvin Lively will assume control of the retailer while a recruitment agency begins headhunting. Neither party offered any reasons for the announcement, but the wording of the release (below) did bring to mind the phrase “bloodless coup” for some reason.

Continue reading RadioShack parts company with CEO James F. Gooch in management shakeup

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RadioShack parts company with CEO James F. Gooch in management shakeup originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Telepresence is a booming business these days, with high speed wireless networks enabling plenty of folks to enjoy the pleasures of working (or attending class) from the comfort of home. While some such devices leverage the power of tablets or smartphones, the visual and audio quality such systems deliver often isn’t up to corporate standards. Enter Suitable Technologies and its Beam remote presence device (RPD). As a spinoff of famed ‘bot builder Willow Garage, the folks at Suitable figured they could provide a high-fidelity telepresence experience by building an RPD from scratch, and that’s precisely what they’ve done with Beam. Its brain is a 1.3Ghz Intel Core i3 CPU and it moves around courtesy of dual brushless electric motors driven by an integrated car battery. That battery fills up in right around six hours using the Beam Dock, and the LED lamps underneath the screen shine whenever Beam is being used. Users, or “pilots” see where they’re going via two Logitech HD webcams sporting custom lenses that grant near 180-degree views and zoom capability — one’s front-facing, and one points down for easy navigation in tight spaces. Connectivity comes courtesy of four WiFi antennas (two 2.4 GHz and two 5GHz) to ensure a solid connection at all times, while the seven microphones provide top-notch voice quality and noise cancellation. Oh, and there’s a 17-inch monitor and a speaker on board to faithfully replicate what pilots look and sound like.

We got a chance to meet the Beam’s makers and take the RPD for a spin, so join us after the break to see a video of the thing in action and learn more about Beam’s development.

Continue reading Suitable Technologies introduces Beam, the remote presence device (hands-on)

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Suitable Technologies introduces Beam, the remote presence device (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It has taken Samsung a wee bit longer than expected, but the Korean outfit announced earlier that its intelligent, WiFi-equipped EX2F point-and-shoot is finally hitting US store shelves today. And while availability itself comes a few weeks behind schedule, it gave Samsung plenty of time to reconsider the initial $550 MSRP tag it gave when the camera was first unveiled, which means that $500 gets you in the “smart” shooter game with a 3-inch AMOLED display, 12.4-megapixel CMOS sensor and, of course, the lovely f/1.4-2.7 (24-79mm) lens. Still trying to figure out whether this is indeed the one for you? Then be sure to peruse over our own hands-on to help you decide if it’s worthy of your hard-earned cash.

Continue reading Samsung’s Smart EX2F point-and-shoot now on sale for $500

Filed under: Cameras, Misc

Samsung’s Smart EX2F point-and-shoot now on sale for $500 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 00:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve been enough of a Kid Koala fan to have heard his original Scratchcratchratchatch mixtape, you’ll remember a sample that mentioned building a “finger-powered record player.” Kid Koala, also known as Eric San, certainly remembers — buy the Limited Edition of his recently launched 12 Bit Blues album and you’ll get your own functional, build-it-yourself cardboard gramophone along with a playable disc. The only further requirements are a sewing pin and some hand power. It’s cheaper than tracking down the real thing, and a nod both to San’s turntablist style as well as the back-to-basics nature of the music. We call it clever and potentially inspiring; just remember that you’ll want some proper equipment before you DJ any house parties.

Continue reading Kid Koala bundles working cardboard gramophone with album, spurs on budding turntablists (video)

Filed under: Misc, Portable Audio/Video, Alt

Kid Koala bundles working cardboard gramophone with album, spurs on budding turntablists (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s desire to avoid a fine combined with a power company’s strict electricity usage rules resulted in the software giant deliberately wasting millions of watts of power, according to the New York Times. Redmond’s Quincy data center, which houses Bing, Hotmail and other cloud-based servers, had an agreement in place with a Washington state utility containing clauses which imposed penalties for under-consumption of electricity. A $210,000 fine was levied last year, since the facility was well below its power-use target, which prompted Microsoft to deliberately burn $70,000 worth of electricity in three days “in a commercially unproductive manner” to avoid it, according to its own documents. The utility board capitulated and reduced the amend to $60k, but the messy situation seems a far cry from Redmond’s pledge to become carbon neutral by this summer.

[Image credit: New York Times]

Filed under: Misc, Alt

Microsoft deliberately wasted energy at data center to avoid fine, says NY Times originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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