Hasta La Gadget!

Google TV, the new Android-based OS for the big screen, will power Logitech’s new set-top box, the still-not-properly-named Google TV companion box.

The sleek black Apple TV–sized box will run on a 1.2-GHz Atom processor with 4 GB memory, 802.11n Wi-Fi, dual HDMI-out ports, Dolby 5.1 surround sound and a pair of USB ports. If you hook up a webcam, you can even video-chat at 720p.

The box, which will launch in the fall, will at first be U.S.-only. It will hook up to your TV and then pull in content from cable, satellite and compatible DVRs. In short, you can Google the entire internet plus your home for TV shows and watch them wherever they may be.

Even the remote controls are exciting. While there will be some regular RF controllers available, you will be able to install an app on your iPhone or Android phone with a keyboard and a touchscreen D-pad. These will control not only the Logitech box but compatible TVs and set-top boxes, right from the phone.

Next to the Google TV, the Apple TV is starting to look less like a “hobby” and more like an embarrassing habit Apple is trying to quit. Video content is one place where more is better. Sure Apple TV can grab most things from the iTunes Store, but with a built-in Chrome browser, Google TV will grab content from anywhere that puts video on the web. The closest rival Apple has right now is probably the iPad. Maybe this is the kick in the pants Apple needs to finally update its own set-top box to something nearing useful.

Google TV companion box [Logitech]

Logitech’s Google TV companion box includes smartphone apps [Engadget]

See Also:

• Google Introduces Google TV, New Android OS
• Report: Google Working With Intel, Sony on TV Project
• Google TV: Google, Sony, Intel Team-Up to Make Television
• Google, Dish Network Reportedly Test Android-Based Satellite TV

Fujitsu just announced what’s reportedly the world’s first quantum dot laser capable of 25 gigabits per second of data transmission. Go on — there’s no need to hold your applause. Now, we’ve seen lasers beam packets at 1.2 terabits per second over miles of open ground, and up to 15.5Tbps through a fat optical pipe, so why would a measly 25Gbps attract our attention? Only because we hear that the IEEE is hoping to create a 100Gbps ethernet standard by 2010 (that’s now!) and four of Fujitsu’s new nanocrystal lasers bundled together just so happen to fulfill that requirement. It also doesn’t hurt that the company’s quantum dot solution reportedly uses less electricity than the competition, and that Fujitsu has a spin-off firm — QD Laser — champing at the bit to commercialize the technology. All in all, this tech seems like it might actually take off… assuming early adopters are more successful than major corporations at deploying the requisite fiber. Either that, or we’ll just enjoy some seriously speedy displays and external drives, both of which sound downright delightful in their own right.

Fujitsu’s quantum dot laser fires data at 25Gbps, not just for show originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 06:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Before you dismiss this as just another crazy idea out of Japan, hear us out. The newly developed, crab-simulating Navi Robo is designed to give drivers visual navigating assistance as a supplement to their GPS device. Its primary benefit, aside from helping the hearing impaired, will be in conveying instructions without requiring the driver to focus on it, as its eyes light up for attention and its “claws” vibrate urgently when an upcoming turn is imminent. Frankly, it looks both cute and functional, and we think kudos are in order for both Pioneer and iXs Research for coming up with the idea. They’ll be taking their usual good time (read: a couple of years) to refine and develop the idea, but we’ve got video of the robot doing its thing right now — you know where to find it.

Continue reading Pioneer’s Navi Robo waves you in the right direction (video)

Pioneer’s Navi Robo waves you in the right direction (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 06:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Plastic Pals  |  iXs Research, Pioneer  | Email this | Comments

Submitted in late April and available for public consumption today, here’s an exciting little FCC disclosure from Lenovo. It’s that mysterious ThinkPad Mini 10 creature we’ve been seeing prowling the Australian outback, this time showing up as a test mule for Lenovo’s new WiMAX module. The antennae in this submission are likely headed for retail inside things like the almost identical X100e and the rest of Lenovo’s US line. We’re liking this trend of seeing netbooks and subnotebooks leaving the factory with WiMAX already integrated, but do beware the price premium that’ll come attached. Lenovo already asks for $150 extra to stick a Gobi 2000 3G chip in a ThinkPad X100e, we don’t expect the 4G option to be any less dear, but we can at least expect it soon(ish).

[Thanks, Vance]

Continue reading WiMAX-equipped ThinkPad Mini 10 visits FCC

WiMAX-equipped ThinkPad Mini 10 visits FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 04:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Had enough Android excitement yet? Of course not. Following up on the Froyo release yesterday, we’ve got the no less vital news that the iPhone 3G port of Android is now ready to download and install. Having shown off Google’s OS running on a 3G two weeks ago, author David Wang has clearly had to iron out a few kinks before serving up the necessary binaries, but here they are now, replete with a handy install guide he’s penned over at PC World. Time to get yourself on the dual-booting bandwagon, no?

iPhone 3G’s Android port is ready to download originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 03:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Redmond Pie  |  PC World (download), (how-to)  | Email this | Comments