Hasta La Gadget!

We just spent some quality time with the new 13-inch MacBook Air, and it certainly seems like a worthy upgrade. It definitely feels significantly bigger than the 11-incher, and we noticed the function keys are standard MacBook size, as opposed to the shrunken ones on the 11. We also noticed that it was seriously instant-on — we popped the lid open and closed several times while taking photos, and it was ready to go the second we opened it. We’ll have more impressions and pics in a few, stay tuned!

Update: Video after the break!

Continue reading MacBook Air (13-inch) first hands-on! (update: video!)

MacBook Air (13-inch) first hands-on! (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been anticipating FaceTime for the Mac ever since we spied the feature on the iPhone, and now Apple is making our dreams a reality with a handy new beta Mac OS X application dubbed “FaceTime.” It’s not an iChat replacement; far from it, in fact. Instead, the standalone, lightweight app dedicates itself to FaceTime calls only, with no sign of your handy AIM or Gtalk buddy list to help you along. It pulls its list of contacts strictly from the Mac Address Book, with no editing available in app, and you’d better hope you have a good handle on that list of contacts (our Gmail-tainted version could certainly use some work). You have to click on a person’s name and then guess which email or phone number they have associated with a FaceTime account — none of the helpful icons from the iPhone have made it over to guide you. It took quite a bit of extra-FaceTime communication to sort out what was what, but once you guess at the right bit of info to place the call with, it’s typical Apple simplicity.

From the phone side it’s intuitive enough: call the email address associated with an Apple ID and you get the computer, call the phone number and you get the iPhone. Conveniently, your computer will “ring” even if the app is closed, though you can turn this feature off in System Preferences if it unsettles you. Hopefully Apple takes this “beta” moniker seriously and has some extra features to add before it releases the final version of the app. We also wouldn’t mind seeing this folded into iChat proper — why have two first party video chat methods? Either way, computer-to-phone conversations are here to stay. The payoff? The psychedelic experience of viewing four Paul Millers simultaneously.

Update: Want a special little bonus? You can apparently video chat with iChat and FaceTime simultaneously, though we tried to add Skype as a third conspirator into the mix and failed (there’s a pic of our experiment after the break). Oh, you should also know that there’s apparently no way to shut off the video in FaceTime outside of quitting the app or physically covering up the camera. EXCLUSIVE: Is Steve Jobs Watching You Sleep? More at 11.

Continue reading FaceTime for Mac hands-on: it works, it’s rough

FaceTime for Mac hands-on: it works, it’s rough originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve probably seen quite a few flatbed scanner bars in your lifetime, but the $400 Lexmark Genesis printer doesn’t have one of those — it’s got a 10 megapixel digital camera with a fish-eye lens that produces nigh-instant images. 750 milliseconds after you close its front-facing scan bay, the CMOS sensor generates a preview on the 4.3-inch color touchscreen, and 2.2 seconds after that, it’s got a full 300 dpi image saved on your USB-connected computer or winging its way across 802.11n WiFi. The company’s calling the system FlashScan, and the raw speed was definitely impressive when we saw it in San Francisco this week, even though other parts of the print system left something to be desired.

The printer uses special algorithms to translate the fish-eye image back into a flat sheet and reproduces text quite well, but the twin RGB flashes it fires to reproduce color didn’t always do an accurate job, and we were disappointed to find a number of features (including some obvious oversights like image rotation for copies) weren’t accessible via the touchscreen. It does have a number of neat web apps for completely untethered use, however, including the ability to scan right to Evernote and Photobucket and Box.net, and Lexmark told us it’s working with a number major photo hosting services, Twitter and Facebook to let Genesis users directly upload. See it in action on video after the break, along with the full press release.

Continue reading Lexmark intros Genesis all-in-one printer with camera-based scanning, we go eyes-on

Lexmark intros Genesis all-in-one printer with camera-based scanning, we go eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Oct 2010 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been keeping an eye on CTL’s 10-inch 2goPad SL10 since we saw it chilling out at Computex back in June, but as of today it’s no longer just another elusive Win 7 slate: the company’s finally boxing up and shipping the Atom-powered tablets. Compared to some of the other Win 7 Home Premium slates we’ve seen lately, the 2goPad has an impressive array of specs for the price — it packs a Atom N450 processor, 2GB of RAM, an 250GB hard drive, and a front facing VGA camera all for $499 (though, it will go up to $599 on October 20). However, it’s the touchscreen experience that’ll obviously make or break the SL10, and from what we’ve seen so far, it may just be one of the better ones out there right now. We just got our review unit yesterday, but we’ve been finding the capacitive display to be very responsive to finger swipes and light taps. Our major complaint about the screen is actually its distracting glossy coating, but at least it packs an accelerometer, which rotates the orientation at a decent pace. As for software, CTL’s preloaded something called QuickBits, which is really just a menu with large shortcut buttons, but it’s certainly better than nothing. Our full review of this pad should be ready soon, but in the meantime enjoy the gallery below and the press release after the break.

Continue reading CTL 2goPad SL10 with Windows 7 starts shipping for $499, arrives looking better than expected

CTL 2goPad SL10 with Windows 7 starts shipping for $499, arrives looking better than expected originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our biggest complaint about the variety of Archos tablets? The lack of the Android Market, of course. But while you’ve been able to sideload the Market apk on lots of these devices, there were apparently compatibility issues with Archos’ new Android 2.1 / 2.2 tablets (like the Archos 32 we reviewed just a few weeks). But fear not: ArchosFans to the rescue! A forum member successfully complied a new gApps4Archos.apk that can be easily sideloaded, and installed to give you access to all that Google app and Marketplace goodness. Obviously, we whipped out our 32 and tried it out ourselves. We did have a few issues at first — you must have the latest 1.0.70 firmware and we had to reboot a few times to successfully connect to Google’s servers — but we were finally able to log into our Gmail and download Pandora. If you’re adventurous enough to try it out for yourself, we’d suggest hitting the source link and getting to it. Oh, and feel free to let us know how it goes in the comments.

New Archos tablets get Android Market hack, works as promised originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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