Hasta La Gadget!

So you’re thinking about going to Windows 7, eh? Chances are your head is swimming in a sea of TLAs and confusing charts — enough to have the most adamant Microsoft defender reaching for a something with an Option key. Fear not, noble purchaser of legal software. Though XP users have been punished for skipping Vista by not being able to directly upgrade now, the process of backing up your data, formatting and installing Windows, and then restoring your goods again has never been easier — even if you’re on a netbook with less storage than your smartphone. Vista users have even less to worry about. We’ll have our full impressions of the finally finalized OS later this week, but for now let’s journey hand in hand down the gently sloped path of the upgrade process.

Continue reading How-To: Install Windows 7 and live to tell about it

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software

How-To: Install Windows 7 and live to tell about it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been messing around with Kodak’s latest pocket camcorder, the Zi8, and find the shooter to be an interesting hybrid. With a flip-out USB plug, HDMI out and an easily accessible SD card slot, this is clearly a “premium” mix of features for the class, but the $180 pricetag keeps the device firmly grounded in Walmart-friendly reality. Other odd perks like a line-in jack and 1080p have us scratching our heads — but in a good way. Overall, we’d feel pretty comfortable saying the footage is about the best you can obtain at this pricepoint. Colors are great, the image stabilization isn’t a gimmick (sorry, Flip), and if you squint hard enough you can almost believe the 1080p is 1080p. Still, the camera is hampered by its cheap approach to processing and compressing the footage it’s taking in — despite its limitations, we’d say the iPhone 3GS is besting most cheap pocket camcorders on this front, motion just looks much more fluid. But don’t take our word for it, check out a couple of video samples after the break.

Continue reading Kodak Zi8 impressions: surprising functionality, but it’s still a pocket camcorder

Filed under: Digital Cameras, HDTV

Kodak Zi8 impressions: surprising functionality, but it’s still a pocket camcorder originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ultrasone’s been kickin’ out $1.5k headphones for as long as we can remember, and it only takes a glimpse at the Edition 9s from 2006 to see just how far we’ve come. The newest model, curiously titled the Edition 8, was initially announced a few months back, and we’ve just now been able to stuff our cranium between its Ethiopian sheepskin-covered earcups and hear ’em out. We’ve listened to our fair share of audio products over the years, and we definitely feel as if these are some of the most exquisite we’ve had the pleasure of experiencing. Still, with a $1,500 price tag, it’ll take a little more than “yeah, these are pretty wicked” to win us over. Head on past the break for our two pennies.

Continue reading Ultrasone Edition 8 headphones hands-on and impressions

Filed under: Portable Audio

Ultrasone Edition 8 headphones hands-on and impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At first glance it’s a little difficult to understand the necessity of another motion-sensing add-on. What could possibly be inside this particular block of white plastic that’s not inside those other countless slabs of white plastic that Nintendo has already slathered on the Wii? Sure, we know in theory that the gyroscopes that MotionPlus provides allows the controller to truly orient itself in 3D space, instead of just sensing acceleration in various directions, and breaks some of that reliance on the sensor bar, but do those theoretical advances result in a true leap in gameplay? We tested it out with EA’s new MotionPlus-enabled Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and Grand Slam Tennis — the first such titles on the market while we wait for Nintendo to get its own Wii Sports Resort in order — and we’d say the results are pretty inconclusive so far. Check out our full impressions after the break, along with enthralling videos of both games in action.

Major thanks to The Golf Club at Chelsea Piers for letting us test this out at their facilities, and to golf pros Herb and Marj for letting us waste some of their valuable time.

Continue reading Wii MotionPlus impressions: it works, but so far the games aren’t worth the fuss

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Wii MotionPlus impressions: it works, but so far the games aren’t worth the fuss originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS has certainly changed the netbook game a bit with its Eee PC Seashell line, aesthetically-speaking, anyway. Slimmed down and sleek, the Seashell’s one of the handsomest netbooks we’ve seen. When we reviewed the 1008HA just a few weeks back, we had just a few minor issues with it, but overall, found it to boast a solid user experience. The Eee PC Seashell 1005HA is nearly identical to its elder brother, but presents some small changes for the better without sacrificing these now famous looks. Read on for our full impressions and hands-on photo gallery.

Continue reading ASUS Eee PC 1005HA hands-on and impressions

Filed under: Laptops

ASUS Eee PC 1005HA hands-on and impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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