Hasta La Gadget!

This weekend’s NFL Pro Bowl might be one of the more useless spectacles in American sport, but since there’s nothing at stake, the NFC coaches allowed Michael Vick to strap a ContourHD 1080p camera to his helmet during practice — and the resulting few moments of footage are pretty awesome, if you’re a football fan. We gave the 1080p a pretty decent review, and it certainly delivers here: you get to watch Vick break the huddle, fire off a pass to Jason Witten, hand off to Adrian Peterson, and run a play-action to Witten, all the while exchanging some friendly banter with Matt Ryan and Drew Brees. It might actually be more interesting than the Pro Bowl itself, actually. Now if only the NFL would let Aaron Rodgers wear one of these during the Packers’ inevitable Super Bowl victory, we’d be happy as clams.

Update: We hate to remind everyone, but this is a gadget blog, and as such we like to keep the conversation on topic and geared towards that. Since most people can’t seem to stay on topic, we’re closing threads on this one.

Watch Pro Bowl practice through Michael Vick’s eyes — and his ContourHD 1080p helmet cam originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The software on Motorola’s upcoming Atrix 4G has already been subject to some stern (and premature) scrutiny, but here’s some rather more concrete information about it, courtesy of the company’s own spec page for the device. As it turns out, Moto intends to launch the Atrix with some of its hardware capabilities clipped — specifically its Tegra 2-derived power to encode 1080p content — but will deliver them to users in an update (hopefully soon) thereafter. LG’s Optimus 2X, which is built around the same dual-core chip from NVIDIA, has been spending its time before launch showing off exactly what those 1080p encoding skills can deliver — both with video recording and through its HDMI connection — so it’ll be a downer for Moto fans to learn that their hallowed new superphone won’t be able to match up at launch. Then again, when we think about how often phone makers fail to tap the full potential of their hardware, maybe we should just be happy that 1080p abilities are coming to the Atrix at all, eh?

[Thanks, Mr. techcrunch]

Motorola will enable Atrix 4G’s 1080p video recording in post-launch software update originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still trying to wrap our brains around the idea that a 80 megapixel camera sensor exists at all, but there’s already a second light-devouring digital back on the way — the Phase One IQ180, which technically hails from the very same company as the Leaf Aptus-II 12. That doesn’t mean the company simply rebranded its subsidiary’s giant CCD, as this unit’s got an extra half-stop of dynamic range, captures a tenth of a second quicker at full resolution, and supplements the standard FireWire 800 connector with USB 3.0. There’s also a 3.2-inch, 1.15 megapixel touchscreen with a pseudo-Live View for easy framing and 1GB of RAM to buffer the gigantic images you’ll be pumping out. Improvements don’t come cheap, though, as you’ll drop $43,990 in April at launch. If you can settle for a slightly lower resolution, though, there’s no need to sell your Lexus quite yet — the summer months will bring lesser models with 60.5 megapixels and 40 megapixels respectively.

Phase One straps 80 megapixels to your camera, USB 3.0 for ginormous image transfers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 02:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Damn kids these days and their cool tech toys! We know we sound cranky, jealous, and old, but how are we supposed to react to Mattel’s new Hot Wheels Video Racer? Yep, just as the headline reveals, everybody’s favorite matchbox car is now home to a VGA video camera that can capture 30 to 60 frames per second and a .95-inch LCD that allows you to play back that recorded footage right on the belly of the tiny vehicle. While a short clip of the Video Racer flying off a self-made jump may be pretty awesome, Mattel will also include protective cases so those wild and crazy kids can mount the cam to a skateboard or helmet. Disappointingly, the small car only houses 512MB of storage, which can only hold 12 minutes of video, but at $60, Mattel also includes a rubberized mini USB to USB cord for connecting the cam to a Mac or PC and child-friendly editing software. The Video Racer won’t actually peel out until the fall, but we managed to take a few shots of the little thing this week and nab some video of it while at CES. Hit the break for that video and start saving that allowance!

Continue reading Hot Wheels Video Racer has a VGA camera under its hood, confirms that kids have it all

Hot Wheels Video Racer has a VGA camera under its hood, confirms that kids have it all originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“The iPad 2 has a camera.” We know, it feels all but certain at this point (even when it’s far from official), but perhaps we can expand on that quoted assertion further. Like everyone else who can laugh at Objective-C jokes, 9 to 5 Mac has been digging through the latest iOS SDK and found some data referring to K94, which it claims is the codename for the next-generation iPad. (For reference, the original iPad was K48.) Anyway, within that code lies a string reference to “Back Facing 1MP Photo.” Going further, the front-facing camera is reportedly VGA — same as the iPhone, same as the iPod touch. It’s unclear if the also-found “K95” files also included the the same data, or what exactly that codename might be, but if you’re the betting sort, feel free to say, “the iPad 2’s megapixel mullet is 0.3 up front, 1 in the back.” It’s still a gamble until Apple unveils it with a puff of virtual smoke on a presentation slide.

iOS 4.3 beta suggests iPad 2 has one megapixel rear camera originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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