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Continue reading PixelOptics emPower! electronic eyeglasses hands-on

PixelOptics emPower! electronic eyeglasses hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trade shows obviously aren’t the best environment for evaluating a universal remote, but we couldn’t resist taking Sony’s RMN-U1 HomeShare IR / WiFi controller for a quick test drive here at the CES. Physically the device is surprisingly light and has a decent screen resolution. Clicking the home menu displays icons for every system component as well as an activities button for accessing online music services like Slacker, playing tracks from a networked Blu-ray player / iPhone / iPod, or even sending media files between DLNA-networked devices. If a BRAVIA TV is connected to the system, users can select the particular input they’d like to hear audio from or cue a movie. Once a track is playing, the screen will display the song’s album art and metadata along with playlists. Overall the RMN-U1 looks pretty capable at managing music — though it’s a bit menu heavy. It also seems fairly expensive considering what else is available at its $300 price point, but then again, we’re not aware of another IR universal remote that’s compatible with Sony’s WiFi HomeSharing. Check out our gallery below for more shots of the interface and you may even spy photos of the rest of the new HomeShare line too.

Sony HomeShare RMN-U1 universal remote hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Wireless Media Stick is an interesting little product that aims to bring media streaming to pretty much anything with a USB port. If the concept sounds familiar, that’s because it kind of is — we reviewed the Infinitec Infinite USB Memory Drive late last year. This USB stick has built-in WiFi, so you connect it to your network and can plug it into pretty much anything with a USB port that can read a mass storage device. We saw it demoed in a Blu-ray player as well as an iPod dock (both USB-equipped of course), and in the short time we spent with it the thing seemed to work as advertised. Under the hood it’s essentially a Samba client, so all you have to do is share a folder on your Mac or PC and it’ll show up in your Xbox, PS3, or whatever other box you’ve got it plugged into. We also saw an Android app that enables you to share all your content on your device straight to the stick, which should be hitting the Android Market January 30th. There are also BlackBerry and iOS versions in the works, but we weren’t told when to expect them. We watched a playback of a Green Hornet movie trailer streamed to the device and it didn’t seem to have much lag, but we’ll have to put one through the paces to make a final judgment call. If you want to pick one up, it’ll cost you a cool $120.

Wireless Media Stick hands-on: stream your content to anything with a USB port originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just when we thought were safe from the grasps the Breffo Spiderpodium Tablet stand, we found Breffo on the CES show floor and were forced to took a closer look at the scary yet flexible solution for all of our tablet holding needs. Priced at $35, the arachnoph-olding stand is aimed at tablets, but is certainly not limited to them. The Spiderpodium Tablet stand is built with a steel exoskeleton allowing for bendability and covered with silicon for maximum grippage of all tech toys, household objects and human faces alike. If the Spiderpodium Tablet stand isn’t your cup of tea for elevating your gadgets, you can still create some terrifying monsters.

Breffo Spiderpodium Tablet stand hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 16:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We spotted Sleek Audio’s Platinum headphones when we interviewed 50 Cent yesterday, but we followed up with the company to see what more we could find out about the upcoming cans. We were bummed to learn that the only functioning pair at the show were the ones around 50’s neck, but we got a full rundown of the deets from one of Sleek’s reps. First off, these are ‘Wireless Hybrid’ headphones, which means they’ve got Kleer technology built in for 16-bit lossless, cordless streaming, though you can jack in a wire (with inline microphone) if you run out of juice. Each earpiece has music controls — one handles play / pause, the other does volume — and there’s a microUSB charging port as well. We still couldn’t squeeze out a release date, but we’re told that they will probably be somewhere in the $350 to $400 range — whether that includes the Kleer 3.5mm dongle is still unknown, though we’d hope it’s included given that wireless is a standout feature. The company’s promised us a pair as soon as they’re available so we can get some real ears-on, but for now the carbon fiber eye-candy is all yours to enjoy. Bonus shot of the dongle after the break.

Continue reading 50 Cent Platinum headphones by Sleek Audio hands-on

50 Cent Platinum headphones by Sleek Audio hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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