Hasta La Gadget!

A million in (Japanese) sales is a far cry from failure, but even big daddy Satoru Iwata admits the 3DS isn’t quite living up to expectations. Nintendo’s tenderfoot handheld finally hit the mark after 13 weeks, a snail’s pace when compared to the original dual-screen wunderkind, which reportedly made the grade in a mere four. The 3DS’ predecessors will undoubtedly forgive it for being a late bloomer, it’s the competition it ought to worry about; the PSP sold its first million in about seven weeks. The 3DS could still plow its way to the top — but with the PlayStation Vita looming large on the horizon, and the fledgling handheld having already lost a round the PSV’s predecessor, Nintendo could be in for a rough ride.

Nintendo finally sells millionth 3DS unit in Japan, lives in the shadow of older brother originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 21:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Joystiq  |  Mainichi  | Email this | Comments

True to its word, Nintendo has released a system update for anxious 3DS owners. The free update over WiFi delivers an internet browser and the eShop digital store to your multidimensional handheld. As a bonus, Ninty’s offering the 3D-remastered NES game, Excitebike, for free until Tuesday with additional cash-money content coming to the store on Thursdays. We’ll be hearing more from Nintendo, much more we hope, on Tuesday morning where we’ll be bringing you live coverage of its next generation console announcements from E3. Join us, won’t you?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Nintendo 3DS system update is live, grab your free copy of Excitebike now originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 01:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

The words “PS Vita” and “PlayStation Vita” have just made their way through the EU Trademarks and Designs Registration Office, courtesy of a set of new applications from none other than Sony Computer Entertainment. The name PS Vita showed up in some source code on an official Sony site late last week, though it’s still not certain that it’ll be the official branding for the company’s Next Generation Portable. “Vita” means “life” in Italian, so a literal translation would be PlayStation Life. For now, all we know is that the NGP will be large and in charge at E3, and the best way to find out how this Vita moniker relates to it will be to tune in to our Sony keynote liveblog later today, which can be found right over here.

Sony files for ‘PS Vita’ trademark in Europe, intends to do something Next Generation with it originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 03:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Joystiq, NeoGAF  |  EU Trademarks and Designs Registration Office  | Email this | Comments

It may not look like it, but that sleek black thing pictured above is actually a microscope. Designed by engineers at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, this little guy boasts a 5.3mm optical length, rendering it slim enough to fit in the palm of your hand, yet powerful enough to deliver images at a scanner-like resolution of five micrometers, over a wide surface area. Fraunhofer’s researchers achieved this balance by essentially tossing out the manual on traditional microscope design. Whereas most devices slowly scan areas and construct images on a piecemeal basis, this handheld uses several small imaging channels and a collection of tiny lenses to record equal sized fragments of a given surface. Unlike conventional scanner microscopes, all of these 300 x 300 square micrometer imaging channels are captured at the same time. With a single swipe, then, users can record 36 x 24 square mm shots of matchbox-sized objects, without even worrying about blurring the images with their shaky hands. The prototype is still two years away from going into production, but once it does, engineers say it could help doctors scan patients for skin cancer more easily, while also allowing bureaucrats to quickly confirm the authenticity of official documents. We can only imagine what it could do for Pac-Man. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Ultra-thin handheld microscope could sniff out skin cancer, forged documents

Ultra-thin handheld microscope could sniff out skin cancer, forged documents originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 09:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |  Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft  | Email this | Comments

The US Army is calling upon Android app developers to help make military life a little less stressful — and, perhaps, a lot safer. Under a new Army framework known as the Mobile/Handheld Computing Environment (CE), third-party developers will be able to create and submit tactical Android apps, using the military’s CE Product Developer’s Kit. The framework, originally prototyped by the folks over at MITRE, represents the latest phase in the Army’s ongoing campaign to incorporate smartphone technology on the battlefield. Any app operating under the CE system will be interoperable across all command systems, and, as you’d expect, will be tightly secured. The kit won’t be released to developers until July, but the Army has already begun tinkering with its baseline suite of Mission Command apps, which includes tools designed to facilitate mapping, blue force tracking, and Tactical Ground Reporting. On the hardware side of the equation, the Army is planning to deploy a new handheld known as the Joint Battle Command-Platform, or JBC-P. The two-pound JBC-P is essentially a military-friendly smartphone designed to run on a variety of existing radio networks, while supporting the full suite of forthcoming apps. The JBC-P will be tested this October, and will likely be issued on a wider basis in 2013.

US Army developing Android-based smartphone framework and apps originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Register  |  Defense Aerospace  | Email this | Comments