Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve been following the evolution of the Willow Garage PR2 robot for a little over a year now, watching as it learned to mooch electricity and hustle pool sharks. That, as it turns out, was only the beginning. The robots are now up for general pre-order should anyone want one (priced well into the “if you have to ask” range, surely), and to celebrate that Willow Garage founder Scott Hassan put up $10k to sponsor a video contest of the PR2 robot doing some impressive things. The winner is a video called “Sockification” from a crew at UC Berkeley in which the PR2 shows some… enthusiastic sock sorting skills. You can see that one embedded below, along with our personal favorite: an ode to StrongBad and his lightswitch rave.

Continue reading Willow Garage PR2 robot learns to sort socks for $10k prize (video)

Willow Garage PR2 robot learns to sort socks for $10k prize (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s HDTV-based App Store has doubled in size since it was launched at CES but apparently that’s not enough, so it’s putting up 500 stacks plus several home theater packages in the “Free the TV Apps” contest. For those skilled in Java, XML and Flash Lite who are interested in getting their app up on TVs and Blu-ray players next to ESPN Next Level, Hulu Plus, a soon to launch 3D Video On Demand app and all the rest, the contest runs from today through November 11, and requires a working app submission and video description. By the end, 14 developers will walk away with between $1,000 and $200,000 each, plus a 3DTV, Blu-ray player and starter kit for each of them . We figure developing for a Samsung Apps platform with a few million network connected devices out there and more shipping every day is a secondary bonus (unless Google TV is where you’d rather be) but check out the video and press release after the break or the competition website if you’re still not entirely sure it’s worth the effort.

Continue reading Samsung puts up cash, HDTVs for developers in ‘Free the TV Apps’ contest

Samsung puts up cash, HDTVs for developers in ‘Free the TV Apps’ contest originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Congratulations to commenter BananaForce — his crappy gaming system is the winner in our contest. He’s soon to be the proud owner of the beautiful custom PS3 Slim from Rockstar Games that you see above. We had over 600 valid entries in the contest, and it was our pleasure to root through all of the photos you sent into us. We’ve chosen some of the more hilarious and enticing ones and thrown them into a gallery for your perusal below. Thanks again to Rockstar Games for providing the gear — and be sure to be on the lookout for the next contest.

Engadget’s crappy gaming system contest: we have a winner! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 16:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know what they say about Sprint Premier, the carrier’s VIP program for loyal customers: membership has its privileges. Actually, that’s the tagline for something completely unrelated, but we think it certainly applies here — especially now that we’ve learned that Premier peeps have been invited to apply to win an EVO 4G before the superphone’s general release. It’s not as simple as dropping your name in a hat, though: you’ve got to tell Sprint in at least 150 words what you can do “really fast,” presumably with the goal of making the judges laugh, cry, and generally love you. Ten winners will be notified on May 18 that they’ve been selected, at which point you’ll get a phone, a year of free service, and a job as a blogger on an official Sprint site about your experiences with the handset through August 31 (hopefully using a contest management system that’s compatible with Eclair’s not-always-awesome browser). What’s more, four of those ten will get “long summer weekend” trips to a Sprint 4G-enabled city; it’s not Venice by any stretch, but hey, the EVO’s the important thing here, right?

[Thanks, nickb]

Sprint contest promises ten lucky jerks HTC EVO 4Gs before everyone else originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That’s right folks, the crew at Rockstar Games is celebrating the launch of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, and they’ve offered up a custom Grand Theft Auto PS3 Slim to give away. We have just one of these to give away, and the package will contain the following: a custom decorated 120GB PS3 Slim (with a two tone paint job in black and Lexus pearl white, an LED-backlit skyline and logo on the unit, a custom power panel with laser etched back lit power and eject buttons) along with a color-matched controller.

So you want this, right? If so, we need to see your current gaming setup — the crappier, the better. To be eligible to win, you’ll need to drop a link in comments of a photo of your gear (if you don’t include a photo, you can’t win). The deadline to get your pics in is by Friday, April 23rd, 2010, at 12:30pm ET. After we get all the contributions, we’ll go through every single one to find the worst of the worst — and that person will win this very special PS3 Slim. The full rules are after the break — so get commenting and good luck!

Continue reading Engadget giveaway: Show us your crappy gaming setup and win a custom PS3 Slim from Rockstar Games!

Engadget giveaway: Show us your crappy gaming setup and win a custom PS3 Slim from Rockstar Games! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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