Mindflex Duel telekinesis game for budding Jedi

Mattel updates its telekinesis game with a competitive version for mental warriors. You can “prove” your brain is the most powerful. Or see how weak you are in the ways of the Force.

‘Arduino The Documentary’ now available for your streaming pleasure

Over the years we’ve seen loads of Arduino hacks and mods — a DIY kit that lets plants tweet, a robotic iPhone, and even touchscreen GBA SP. All of these impressive, heartwarming and otherwise inspiring projects were made possible by the Arduino platform. Just in case you’re unfamiliar with what Arduino actually is, let us remind you that it’s an open source project geared toward students and other humans who wish to delve into the wild, wacky world of do-it-yourself electronics hardware and software coding. We’d encourage you to check out the documentary in full — you know, to get the skinny on the company’s inception and watch as the Arduino folks talk about their movement and its future — but we doubt you need our elbowing. Check out all 28 minutes of footage after the break.

Continue reading ‘Arduino The Documentary’ now available for your streaming pleasure

‘Arduino The Documentary’ now available for your streaming pleasure originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAdafruit  | Email this | Comments

Marshall Minor earphones now available, to buy and to own

We might have had full specs and a price for the Marshall Minors for a good couple of months already, but in true rock star form, they’re only now arriving in stock. As of today, your order for a pair of these premium buds will be met with no delay, meaning that if you want to jump on the Marshall Headphones bandwagon, it’s just a matter of clicking a few boxes and dispensing with $59. Keeping up with current trends, Marshall’s Minors come with a secure EarClick system that promises they won’t fall out once inserted as well as an integrated mic and in-line remote for added functionality. All they need now are a good home and a loving owner.

Continue reading Marshall Minor earphones now available, to buy and to own

Marshall Minor earphones now available, to buy and to own originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Rumor: Android ‘Ice Cream’ to Debut Summer 2011

Open source software enthusiasts might see another version of Android as soon as this summer.

A new Android OS version, codenamed Ice Cream, is scheduled for a release some time in June or July says Pocket-lint, citing “multiple sources familiar with the matter.” Pocket-lint’s sources say Google will announce Ice Cream at its I/O developer conference this May in San Francisco.

News of Ice Cream’s speculated launch date comes shortly after posts from the same site yesterday, which claimed that one of SonyEricsson’s Xperia Arc smartphones shown at CES appeared to be running a new version of Android. That tip was based on a picture taken of one of the phone’s sub-menus that displayed the Android version number as 2.4. The latest official Android OS release is Gingerbread, version 2.3.

“We are launching with Gingerbread for the Xperia Arc,” SonyEricsson Head of Marketing Peter Farmer told Wired.com in an e-mail. “Nothing has been announced to date on anything beyond that.” SonyEricsson employee Rikard Skogberg expounds on this in the company’s product blog, citing the number error as a “misconfiguration in some samples” and “nothing to get too excited about.”

Pocket-lint’s sources and rumors are yet to be substantiated. The timing of the supposed release date, however, seems to fall in line with Google’s staggered, two-to-three Android product launches per year.

Confused about Cupcake, Gingerbread and Ice Cream? The table below gives an idea of past Android releases.

  • Version
  • Release Date
  • Notable Features
  • Android 1.5 “Cupcake”
  • April 30, 2009
  • Video recording and playback, new keyboard with autocomplete,
    Bluetooth A2DP support, enhanced copy and paste
  • Android 1.6 “Donut”
  • September 15, 2009
  • Improved Android Market, updated Voice Search, enhanced search,
    speed improvements
  • Android 2.0 “Eclair”
  • October 26, 2009
  • Revamped user interface, turn-by-turn driving directions, HTML5
    support, Microsoft Exchange support, Bluetooth 2.1, Live Wallpapers,
    speed improvements
  • Android 2.2 “Froyo”
  • May 20, 2010
  • USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot capability, Adobe Flash 10.1 support, voice dialing
  • Android 2.3 “Gingerbread”
  • December 6, 2010
  • NFC support, updated UI, supports larger screen sizes and resolutions, download manager for longer downloads

Although no specific details have been given on any upcoming product debuts, Ice Cream predecessor Honeycomb is anticipated to appear sometime in the spring, accompanying the Motorola’s Xoom tablet launch. Honeycomb will run on that device.

Photo: sociotard/Flickr

[via Pocket-lint]


preGame 36: LittleBigPlanet 2

preGame is starting 2011 off with a bang, bringing LittleBigPlanet 2 to the show an entire week before it’s released. Join us as we demo a few early levels of the game and discuss some of the newest features to hit the franchise.

But first, Mark and Jeff recap CES 2011 with talk about the highly anticipated portable console from Nintendo, the 3DS. Jeff had some hands-on with the 3D glasses-less device in Las Vegas, so tune in to hear his impressions and thoughts.

Want to be a part of our live taping? Make sure you head to http://cnet.com/live/pregame every Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.

Got an idea for preGame? E-mail us! pregame [at] cnet [dot] com.

Be sure to subscribe to the show: RSS (video) | iTunes (video)

Hands-On With Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc Smartphone

<< Previous
|
Next >>


img_0078_0


<< Previous
|
Next >>

Sony Ericsson announced the latest addition to its high-end Xperia series of smartphones last week at CES with the debut of the Xperia Arc.

It’s a slick little number, and I got to spend a bit of time playing with it on the show floor.

The Arc’s screen measures in at an expansive 4.2 inches, a screen size proving to be very popular in smartphone announcements this week. The 849 x 480 resolution on the capacitive touchscreen highlights visual media well, and Sony is doing all it can to play up the entertainment-hub aspects of the Arc. HDMI-out lets you hook up to an HDTV with an HD cable — which comes included with the phone, saving you another trip to Best Buy.

And much like Motorola’s new Atrix, when hooking the phone up to a TV-out, the Arc’s UI is replicated on the screen, even rotating depending on the position of the phone. Essentially, you can turn your TV into a wireless device and start web browsing or watch YouTube videos through the phone to your big screen.

CES 2011The 8.1-megapixel back-facing camera is easy to shoot with, especially on the Arc’s very bright screen. It’s also capable of recording video at HD 720p, which looked and ran smooth in playback on the Arc itself.

While many of the phones we saw announced last week will be running Froyo, the Xperia Arc has a leg up on its competitors with the latest Android OS release, Gingerbread 2.3. At a show where many of the big manufacturers are showcasing two or three new Android smartphones with none of them running Gingerbread, it was a refreshing change of pace to see Sony Ericsson’s up-to-date offering.

Most striking about the Arc is its titular shape, measuring in at a very slim 8.7mm at the phone’s waist. While the shape of the Arc is a nice fit for resting in the hand, it’s essentially an exercise in creating attractive industrial design, and I think it works. The metallic-blue finish on the back cover and the silver sheen on the phone’s sides give it a damn fine look.

I was a bit concerned with the plastic construction, as there wasn’t a lot of metal composing the outside of the phone casing. On the plus side, it keeps the phone light and not too bulky, but I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that it might not hold up to a good drop from a high-enough spot.

The Xperia Arc is indeed a high-end phone, and though Sony Ericsson didn’t give any exact details on pricing, the company “anticipates a premium smartphone price” upon its release. We should start to see the Arc pop up globally some time in the spring.

Photos: Jon Snyder, Mike Isaac/Wired.com


Virtual pipe organist is the Phantom of his own living room

If any instrument deserves to be geeked over, it is the pipe organ. Over the course of its almost 2,000 years of development, it has evolved from the rudimentary Greek water organ to the extremely complex device featured in cathedrals and concert halls all over the world. And this is all well and good, but what is an aspiring (or accomplished) organist to do when he wants to practice yet doesn’t have access to the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois in Paris? Well, he might go ahead and build his own — at least that’s what an Engadget reader named Rob Stefanussen did. The heart of the thing is a Mac Pro running Hauptwerk’s Virtual Organ, and while the software is pretty impressive itself, what caught our attention was the baroque MIDI controller he built to play the thing. Featuring four keyboards, a pedalboard, pistons, and expression shoes, this thing plays like the real deal. And not to be undone in the sound department, he threw in six speakers and a sub-woofer, routing different sets of pipes to the different speakers to let the sound mix in the air for that authentic pipe organ sound. Wild, no? How would you like to hear it in action? Check out the video after the break to see (and hear) it for yourself.

Continue reading Virtual pipe organist is the Phantom of his own living room

Virtual pipe organist is the Phantom of his own living room originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance SP once had an autostereoscopic screen

It may seem like 3D sprung from the ashes of discontentment — not to mention red / blue glasses — but Nintendo never stopped believing. It’s been secretly refining stereoscopic tech for years in the likes of the Game Boy Advance and GameCube. And while president Satoru Iwata already mentioned early last year that the GameCube had hidden 3D circuits, he recently revealed that the 3DS’s autostereoscopic panel actually dates back to the clamshell Game Boy Advance SP. Which, as you might recall, also once sported a touchscreen. At the time, his story goes, LCD resolution was too low to generate a sharp image, but the optometrist-friendly glasses-free tech was already in place. Of course, if you truly want to consult the history books, you can consider Nintendo’s entry into the market to be the Famicom 3D System shutter glasses pictured above… which hit stores in Japan way back in 1986. Yeah, we know.

Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance SP once had an autostereoscopic screen originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Joystiq  |  sourceIwata Asks (Nintendo)  | Email this | Comments

Remember: At Verizon, it’s not just iPhone

Before you rush out to preorder a Verizon iPhone 4, keep in mind that some of the carrier’s other forthcoming devices may be more advanced.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Bug Labs’ BUGswarm and Verizon BUGbundle hands-on

Remember Bug Labs, the guys building open-source hardware modules that make it easy (and relatively inexpensive) to prototype new gadgets of your own creation? The last time we visited with these guys at the spring CTIA show last year, the company’s upgraded BUGbase 2.0 was still in mockup form — and carrier deals were little more than a gleam in CEO Peter Semmelhack’s eye. Nearly a year has passed since then, and Bug’s ecosystem has grown considerably to encompass a bunch of third-party modules, prototyped products, and carrier-specific packs for Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon that let your meticulously hacked-together hardware communicate over the network of your choice.

Of course, this all necessitated a follow-up meeting, which we were delighted to have at CES a couple days ago. Read on!

Continue reading Bug Labs’ BUGswarm and Verizon BUGbundle hands-on

Bug Labs’ BUGswarm and Verizon BUGbundle hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments