Hasta La Gadget!

You’re already well aware of what GigaPan’s wild camera robot is capable of when its in masterly hands, but have you ever wondered if such a device is practical for folks who don’t have excellent seats for events such as Presidential inaugurations or the Arirang Mass Games? We’ve been toying around with an Epic 100 for the past week and change, and now that we’ve had a moment to upload a few of our own panoramas, we figured we’d toss our two pennies into the ring. Eager to know if this gigapixel image creator is really worth its avoirdupois in cold, hard cash? Head on past the break to find out.

Continue reading GigaPan Epic 100 hands-on and review, panorama style

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Peripherals

GigaPan Epic 100 hands-on and review, panorama style originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Upstart company Interead is looking to jump into the ever-expanding library of e-book readers with its debut, the COOL-ER. Company founder Neil Jones describes it as the “iPod moment that e-readers have been waiting for,” calling the device the first of its kind to be designed specifically for the non-technologically inclined reader in mind. Indeed, the aesthetics seems to borrow liberally from the iPod nano, and features eight different color options. It weighs in at 6.3 ounces, or a little less than half of the Kindle 2, with the same 6-inch e-ink screen, and is small enough to fit comfortably in your jacket pocket, he says. It’s got 1GB internal memory and a SD card slot, as well as a 2.5mm headphone jack with a 3.5mm converter bundled with every device. The feature set is pretty barebones, with no keyboard, text-to-speech, WiFi, or Whispernet equivalent — all files have to be loaded via USB or SD card — but in its place is a more attractive $250 MSRP, and Jones assures us at that price the company’ll be making a profit on each unit sold. Format support includes EPUB, TXT, JPEG, any kind of PDF, MP3 for audio, and eight languages including Russian and traditional / simplified Chinese. The company’s also launching an e-book store and offering an extra discount for customers who register their COOL-ER. It’ll go on sale May 29th for US and Europe via its website, with retail distribution partner expected to be announced closer to the launch date. We’re gonna wait until we get a few chapters into Alice in Wonderland before giving a final verdict, but in the meantime, check out our initial hands-on in the gallery below.

Read – Product page
Read – Online store

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Interead’s COOL-ER claims to be the ‘iPod moment’ for e-readers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 May 2009 09:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After the death-defying moments astride the Zero S, and the claustrophobia experienced within GM and Segway’s P.U.M.A., we were ready for something a little more relaxing in the electric vehicle space: and Ultra Motor’s A2B electric bike provided. Not to say it doesn’t have any pep — we took it for a test ride around SoHo, and found plenty of juice to power past those other suckers doing their own pedaling — but there’s something a tad more gentle to this bike than some of the other rough-around-the-edges EVs we’ve bumped into lately. The best news is that the A2B is available now at various dealerships, with an almost-palatable price tag of $2,600, 20 mile range and 20 mph max electric-assisted speed (limited due to regulations on bikes). Testing it out we found ourselves pedaling just a bit out of habit, and on the short city blocks we rarely got it past third gear, but there’s plenty of power for urban transport. The front and rear shocks provide a well-cushioned ride (and are bouncy enough for some easy wheelies), the small wheels keep the center of gravity low and maneuverability high, and the brakes are excellent. Catch the magic on video after the break.

Continue reading Engadget’s delightful cruise on the Ultra Motor A2B electric bike (with video!)

Filed under: Transportation

Engadget’s delightful cruise on the Ultra Motor A2B electric bike (with video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 May 2009 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba’s Dynabook UX (or NB200, if you prefer) just popped on our radar last week, and already we’re seeing netbook craving individuals in Japan get their paws on ’em. The 10-inch machine ain’t too different than the other alternatives out there — save for the N280 processor, which will never show its true potential without a GN40 chipset riding shotgun. At any rate, early impressions of the machine have been rather positive, with onlookers digging the design and the chiclet-style keyboard. Personally, we’re a bit bored from afar, but hit the read link to have a look and make a judgment of your own.

Filed under: Laptops

Toshiba’s 10-inch Dynabook UX netbook gets hands-on treatment originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s really not enough to say about Apple’s newly spec-bumped iMac to warrant a full-on review — sure, it’s got faster processors and some newer video cards, but in day-to-day use it feels like basically the same machine first introduced in August of 2007. In fact, apart from the switch to mini DisplayPort and the removal of FireWire 400, we’re pretty sure you could swap in this new model for the older 2.4GHz 24-inch aluminum iMac we use as one of our daily drivers and we wouldn’t even know until we tried to render out some video or do some gaming — the marginal increase in power just isn’t all that noticeable in day-to-day tasks. If you ask Apple, they’ll tell you that the big story is that $1,499 now buys you a 24-inch screen — which, considering the historical lameness of the 20-inch iMac screen, is good news in more ways than one. We wanted to put our older model head-to-head with its modern analogue, though, so we opted to test the $1,799 2.93GHz version with GeForce GT 120 graphics — we didn’t quite get upgrade fever, but we’ll admit we thought about pulling a switcheroo once or twice. Read on!

Continue reading iMac (early 2009) in-depth impressions

Filed under: Desktops

iMac (early 2009) in-depth impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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