Our curious British fingers managed to stumble upon a European HP Pavilion dv3 blessed with Windows 7 and multitouch on both the screen and the trackpad. The keyboard was great to type on with negligible flex, but the trackpad suffers from the same glossy issues on other recent HPs — although it responded to our multitouch gestures better than the capacitive screen did. Our major annoyance came from the attempts to rotate pictures on the screen: we learned the hard way that the laptop (or Windows 7 itself) seemed to prefer more exaggerated rotation gestures than the MacBooks — perhaps one would get used to it over time. The hinge is fairly solid, but we still preferred holding the screen while touching it. On a brighter note we totally dig the inclusion of an HDMI port and an eSATA port, plus you’ll get up to seven hours of sweet battery juice from this 2.24kg (4.94 pounds) machine. Read on for our hands-on video and photo gallery.
We see a lot of gadgets come in the door here at Engadget. In fact, getting them in the door is actually the easy part… it’s getting them back out that’s a bit confusing. Recycling — something that most of us do on a day-to-day basis with our trash — is a bit stickier when it comes to gadgets. In recent years, however, most major consumer electronics companies have stepped up their games a bit and begun “take back” recycling programs of their own. There are a lot of resources out there if you want to rid yourself of old gadgets in a responsible way, but it can be a pretty overwhelming prospect, especially if (like us) you have an actual pile of old cellphones which has been growing since 1998. We thought about that a lot, and decided to try to make sense of all the wild masses of information out there on the internet, and to provide our readers a central location to look for all that information. Read on and see what we’ve come up with!
Dyson’s DC25 Blueprint just started shipping en masse this month, and with an MSRP of $529.99, it’s significantly more pricey that the “bargain-minded” DC23 Turbinehead that we had a peek at last month. The company’s range of ‘Ball’ vacuum cleaners have been around for years now, but this is the first chance we’ve had to roll one over our own carpet. With a striking white finish, impeccable build quality and a design to make any gadget nerd blush, there’s quite a bit here that you won’t find on your average vac, but is the sphere really enough to warrant the lofty sticker? Read on for our two pennies.
In the world of Android, it’s not yet clear who’s going to come out victorious — QWERTY sliders or their keyboardless brethren — but does there really need to be a winner? We say there’s room for just about everyone in this open-source party, and Sprint is starting to round out its Android offerings by introducing the keyboard-equipped Samsung Moment to saddle up alongside the HTC Hero that was released a few weeks ago. In the scheme of things, the platform is still extraordinarily young which means that virtually every new handset that’s announced brings “firsts” to the table; in the Moment’s case, it’s both the first Android device with an 800MHz ARM11 core and the first Android QWERTY phone with an AMOLED display (you’d have to go back to another Sammy, the Galaxy, to find the first AMOLED Android phone regardless of input method).
Being able to stuff Android, AMOLED, QWERTY, and 800MHz all into one sentence certainly sounds like a winning combination, but does the Moment deliver? Let’s find out.
Now wait one second before you start on the whole “I’m not wearing any stupid looking glasses,” because no matter what you say, there are more people paying extra to go 3D movies than ever and the reason is simple; it’s because this isn’t like the crappy 3D you saw during the Super Bowl last year — or that our parents grew up with. No, the 3D that Sony, Panasonic, and others are promising next year is like nothing you’ve seen. We’ve come a long way since the old anaglyph red and blue glasses that come in cereal boxes, so before you knock the new technology before it’s even out, click through and read about the technologies that might bring us a real 3D revolution.
This article was written on September 26, 2008 by CyberNet.
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There have been a few times where I’ve wanted to extract audio from video files, but it’s not always easy to find a free tool that can successfully do that. I highly recommend grabbing the free Pazera app if you ever find yourself in a similar situation. To make it even more useful the program also doubles as an audio conversion utility.
What are some things you can do with this? One great example is taking an FLV video (such as one from YouTube), and turning it into a standard MP3 music track. Think of all the free music you could get by doing this! It’s important to note, however, that the audio quality of a YouTube video isn’t exactly the greatest.
Here’s a list of video and audio formats it supports during the conversion process, and also some great features you should know about:
Audio conversion: WAV, MP3, AC3, AAC, M4A, MPC, MPA, MP2, WMA, FLAC, SHN, APE, OGG, WV, AMR to MP3, AAC, AC3, WMA, FLAC or WAV.
Profiles. Users can create custom profiles, or you can select from one of the many already available.
Doesn’t need any installation. Just extract ZIP archive and click AudioExtractor.exe file. All of the settings are stored in a single file so that it can be carried around with you!
I guess if Super doesn’t do the trick that this just might.
For this week’s installment of the Engadget Podcast, we present the audio stream from our recent Engadget Show, featuring a one-on-one with Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer! We encourage you to go and check out the actual show if you haven’t seen it, but for those of you on the move who can’t be looking at a screen, here’s the next best thing. Of course, Josh, Paul, and Nilay still tear through the week in news (and what a week!), and as a bonus, you get to hear some tunes from the ever so talented Bit Shifter. So what are you waiting for? Sit back, crank the PMP, and prepare to enter nerd heaven.
Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Nilay Patel Special guest: Steve Ballmer Produced by: Chad Mumm Directed by: Michael Slavens Music by:Bit Shifter
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.
This was a big week for Microsoft, as Steve Ballmer took the stage in New York and formally introduced Windows 7 to the world. It was almost a little anti-climactic: the OS has been finished and shipped to OEMs for months, while developers and pretty much any enthusiast who wanted a copy has one by now. Still, this is the week that Microsoft takes the message and OS to the mass market and the PC holiday sales system formally kicks off. I’ve held back from writing about the OS for the most part, but here’s seven things about Windows 7 — three features that I think are over-hyped and four things that make 7 something worth purchasing, either as an upgrade or as part of a new PC.
Sony’s PSP Go hasn’t had the warmest reception of all time or anything, but does it really deserve all the negative vibes being flung its way? The UMD-less console leaked way earlier than Sony intended, but after a proper launch and you inevitably trekking out to snag one, we’re curious to know whether or not you’re enjoying things. Would you have kept UMD support? Would you have added more internal memory? Enlarged the screen? Offered it in neon yellow? Be sure to spill your thoughts in comments below, and you’ll get a few bonus points if you’re coming from the world of an original PSP. Promise!
Do we really need to tell you what this is all about? Steve Ballmer. Windows 7 launch day. Pure magic. Sit back and enjoy a spirited conversation with the CEO of Microsoft — then stick around to watch Josh, Paul, and Nilay get into it over the week’s news!
Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Nilay Patel Special guest: Steve Ballmer Produced by: Chad Mumm Directed by: Michael Slavens Music by:Bit Shifter Visuals by:Paris and outpt Opening titles by:Julien Nantiec
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.