Hasta La Gadget!

In this week’s Gadget Lab podcast, the crew waxes geeky on phones, bikes and exercise gear.

We kick off with the white iPhone 4, which just came out 10 months late: yes, the same phone we’ve been familiar with for a while now, in a different color. It’s even a little bit thicker than the black one. Wired.com’s Charlie Sorrel has already dubbed this scandal “Thicknessgate.”

Speaking of scandals, the latest controversy surrounding the iPhone stems from a discovery that an unprotected file stored inside the device constantly records location data. It turns out that your iPhone isn’t actually tracking customer movements, but Apple admits it made some security mistakes.

Reviews editor Michael Calore joins the show to talk about the Breezer Uptown Infinity, a $1,270 two-wheeler that’s the textbook definition of a “commuter bike.”

Ever dream of watching the Gadget Lab podcast while swimming underwater? Well, now you can, with H2O Audio’s Fit Armband, an accessory that waterproofs your smartphone inside a sealed, plastic pouch.

Last but not least, don’t miss our giveaway of a MixAmp, a gadget that allows you to mix the audio from your games and other players you’re talking with. For a chance to win, answer this question in our comments section: What purveyor of strange gifts was profiled with a photo gallery on Gadget Lab this week?

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Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds

Or listen to the audio here:

Gadget Lab audio podcast #113

http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0113.mp3

We were just pondering this very thing yesterday — would Intel dedicate itself to Thunderbolt and give USB 3.0 the cold shoulder — and now we have our answer from the Santa Clara crew, albeit delivered from Beijing. The Chinese capital is the site of Intel’s currently ongoing developer conference, which is where Kirk Skaugen, VP of the company’s Architecture Group, assured the world that the promise for native USB 3.0 support in Intel chipsets will be fulfilled. Not this year, mind you, but it’ll be with us in 2012 as part of the Ivy Bridge CPU refresh. That matches AMD’s plans to support USB 3.0 in Fusion APUs, and was augmented with a strong word of endorsement from Skaugen about the connector’s future. He urged developers to embrace USB 3.0 on an equal footing with Intel’s proprietary Thunderbolt interconnect, describing the two technologies as “complementary.” If you say so, captain.

Intel to support USB 3.0 alongside Thunderbolt, coming with Ivy Bridge in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 04:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As the battle between active and passive 3D glasses display technology heats up, Samsung has responded by announcing its cheapest pair of active shutter 3D glasses will cost $50 (previously $130) beginning May 1st. Additionally, all of its 3D-capable 2011 HDTVs will come with two pairs of glasses packed in, unless the purchase is eligible for the Megamind/Shrek starter kit that already comes with them. This move comes just as FPR-based displays from LG, Vizio, Toshiba and Philips hit the marketplace. LG specifically focused on the cost of glasses as a selling point over Samsung in recent ads that ran heavily throughout the NCAA Tournament (embedded after the break.) LG is charging $10 per pair for its RealD-compatible Theater 3D glasses while Vizio has pairs on its website for $29.99 or two for $44.99.

The cheap pair of Samsung glasses is the SSG-3100GB model with replaceable battery pictured above and while it promises the new, lighter Silhouette-designed SSG-3700GR glasses will also get cheaper, no new price has yet been announced. A 62% price reduction is nothing to sneeze at, but it looks like customers will still need to buy into 3D — and that active glasses beat passive on picture quality and viewing angle like it says in the press release (after the break) — to spur sales of the new TVs.

Continue reading Samsung’s 3D TV experience is getting cheaper: two pairs of glasses packed in, $50 for extras

Samsung’s 3D TV experience is getting cheaper: two pairs of glasses packed in, $50 for extras originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a while since we gave Harry Winston’s Opus watch any play, but some timepieces are just too lavish to pass up. Case in point: the Opus Eleven, designed by temporal taste-maker Denis Giguet of MCT. Aesthetically speaking, it’s probably a touch too steampunk for some, but the way it tells time is straight up fascinating. Giguet points out the movement enlists 566 parts, a good deal of which are exposed in the main face — the center piece displays the hour, while the upper right disc shows off the minutes. Now, it might look like a relatively minimal watch for Harry Winston, but its case is made of 18k white gold and sapphire crystal, and the Opus Eleven’s definitely got a Winston-worthy price tag, ringing in at about $250,000. So if you’ve got a quarter of a mill just laying around, this is a definite contender for that stack of cash. Want to see all those tiny pieces in action? Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Harry Winston’s Opus Eleven watch: mechanical masterpiece / bank breaker (video)

Harry Winston’s Opus Eleven watch: mechanical masterpiece / bank breaker (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Livestreams have become a part of daily life here at Engadget, and the Teradek Cube aims to make any camera livestream-capable without additional software or materials. It’s is a card deck-sized box that docks in your camera’s hot shoe and connects to the net for instant streaming to the company’s Livestream.com — way more practical than some bulkier alternatives. All told there are six Cube models to choose from with varying quality / connectivity capabilities, but you get a free month of Livesteam.com service with any purchase, making the $1,490 starting price a little more palatable. The higher end models can even connect to Verizon 4G when paired with the Pantech UML290, and the Cube is said to work with any camera. Of course, you could go the UStream route if quality isn’t your highest priority, but we only recommend that for the lowest of low-budget films.

Teradek Cube brings livestreaming to any camera, just don’t tell Charlie Sheen originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 23:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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