Hasta La Gadget!

Here’s a bit of web fun to liven up your weekend: a digital artist by the name of Pritesh Desai has recreated a fully functional first-generation iPod that you can play directly in your browser. In remembrance of Steve Jobs, Desai built the faux iPod using HTML5, CSS3, and a touch of jQuery. You can drag the click wheel around just like with the real deal, change the volume, hit play / pause and even skip tracks. Especially nice is the addition of Extras like the Clock and the Calendar. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to play any of your own tunes, but Desai had compiled a list of Creative Commons songs, so you can see how the player works. The next step is for someone to fill this up with hits of the early aughts (“Last Nite” by The Strokes, perhaps?) so you can truly travel back in time to the heydays of Windows XP and the Enron scandal.

Filed under: Misc

Dude recreates first-gen iPod in-browser, won’t put 1,000 songs in your pocket originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How about some glass from CEATEC, eh? The folks at Nippon Electric Glass were showing off its still-in-development liquid lens technology, as well as its already-available “invisible glass.” The latter, as pictured above, is very much what it says on the tin albeit with some exaggeration, obviously, but we were still very impressed by how little reflection we saw on it. While it’s already being used in art galleries and inside cameras (as sensor covers), Nippon Electric Glass is pushing hard to get its invisible glass featured on mobile devices — the selling point here is simply to achieve the effect of somewhere in between glossy glass and matte glass, so that you’d get the best color vibrancy with minimal reflection. Do check out the video after the break.

As for the liquid lens, Nippon Electric Glass’ version uses low-power electric field to control its liquid crystal molecular orientation, thus changing the focal point. You’ll also see that the lens is also small enough to be integrated into phones and webcams. While the demo response was pretty quick, we were told that it’ll be at least another year before the technology becomes available for us mere mortals. For now, you can see our hands-on demo after the break.

Continue reading Nippon Electric Glass demos liquid crystal lens and ‘invisible glass’ at CEATEC (video)

Filed under: Misc

Nippon Electric Glass demos liquid crystal lens and ‘invisible glass’ at CEATEC (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 03:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pioneer’s had a little bit of a new-product spree of late, and it isn’t over yet. The latest slab-o-buttons? The DDJ-SX. For those of you familiar with the firm’s naming convention, this means it’s a software controller with a Serato flavor. As such, integration with the popular DJ application is tight, and includes dual deck, slip mode, FX mode and hot cue functionality. The four-channel mixer section can be used with external hardware, which you can hook up via a pair of phono inputs, and, as usual, the DDJ-SX can be used as a MIDI controller with other software should you so desire. As for outputs, you’ve the choice between XLR and RCA, as well as a separate output for the DJ booth, and as it has its own audio interface, there’s no need to bring anything else in there with you. The DDJ-SX will be ready to play in November for a bass-heavy $1,199, but if you’re quick to the game, the first 10,000 buyers can snag a free license for the Serato Video plug-in. Nice. Bewildered by all those pots and faders? Then shuffle past the break for the official tour.

Continue reading Pioneer cues up DDJ-SX Serato controller, adds performance pads to the mix (video)

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Pioneer cues up DDJ-SX Serato controller, adds performance pads to the mix (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 00:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CEATEC, Japan’s largest annual electronics show, is winding down here on the outskirts of Tokyo. We’ve spent the past two days scouring the halls of the Makuhari Messe, digging up no shortage of concept cars, eye-tracking technologies and even the odd Windows 8 device. The star of the show may have been Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo, with its gaze-controlled prototypes and real-time translation app, but there were plenty of other gadgets on hand to peak our interest — even if many of them won’t make it to market anytime soon. Have a look for yourself by browsing our complete CEATEC 2012 coverage past the break.

Continue reading CEATEC 2012 wrap-up: concept cars, eye-tracking tech and motion sensors galore

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CEATEC 2012 wrap-up: concept cars, eye-tracking tech and motion sensors galore originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another easter egg at Fujitsu’s CEATEC booth was a system for transmitting coupons, URLs and other digital information from a TV screen to a user’s smartphone. We’ll back up a bit: the data ends up on-screen in the first place thanks to information embedded in light flashing at various levels of brightness (the frame rate is too quick to be detected by the human eye). Theoretically, when a viewer is watching a commercial, they’ll see a prompt to hold up their phone’s camera to the screen, and doing so will bring up a corresponding coupon or website on their handset. The embedded information covers the entire panel, so users don’t need to point their device at a particular section of the screen.

In Fujitsu’s demo, pointing a smartphone at the TV pulled up a website on the phone. It only took about a second for the URL to pop up on the device, and there was no noticeable flickering on the TV itself (essentially, the picture looks identical to what you’d see on a non-equipped model, since your eye won’t notice the code appearing at such a high frequency). The company says this technology works at a distance of up to two or three meters. Head past the break to take a look at the prototype in action.

Continue reading Fujitsu demos ad transmission technology, sends info from TV to handset via smartphone camera (video)

Filed under: Misc, Home Entertainment

Fujitsu demos ad transmission technology, sends info from TV to handset via smartphone camera (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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