Hasta La Gadget!

Nintendo may be AWOL on the TGS show floor (as usual), but that’s not stopping Capcom from strutting the big-N’s hardware in its stead — we dropped by its booth for a gameplay-free handling of the 3DS extended slide pad add-on. The control-extending cradle is every bit as bulky as it looks, killing any hope we had of cramming the rig into our pocket. The trade-off? It’s much more comfortable to hold than the naked 3DS, giving our meaty hands a smooth, contoured surface to grip. The new right-hand circle pad feels just as solid as the handheld’s dedicated pad, and didn’t significantly obstruct our access to the 3DS’ face buttons. All in all, the cradle is a comfortable, if awkwardly large extension to the 3DS that doesn’t seem to compromise the handheld’s existing input. Hit up the gallery below to size up the plump peripheral for yourself.

Nintendo 3DS extended slide pad add-on, first hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re sure there’s at least one person out there who has been itching to shoot boat-loads of video with their iPad 2. Perhaps even a short film or two. After we pointed out how crazy you are, we might suggest looking into a tripod-mountable case like Makayama’s Movie Mount. This simple plastic frame adds a number of things that a budding iPad videographer might appreciate, including a pair of hot shoes for hooking up lights and mics, and a mount for lenses, just in case you prefer wide-angle or telephoto shots. You can even switch between the conversion lenses and the built-in one on the fly thanks to the sliding adapter. The Movie Mount is available to pre-order now for $69.95, with the first deliveries expected to ship in October. Before you go, check out the gallery below, as well as the video and PR after the break.

Continue reading Movie Mount turns your iPad 2 into a serious video-making machine

Movie Mount turns your iPad 2 into a serious video-making machine originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, Elgato already has an app that lets you stream TV to your iPad — but that’s only if they’re being broadcast online. To pull in live TV over the air you’d need a TV-tuner, something that has, until now, been unavailable for Apple’s popular slate. By the end of September that lack of broadcast television will become just a distant memory with the release of EyeTV Mobile, a £100 (about $163) dongle that connects to the iPad’s proprietary port. The tuner will be able to pull in MPEG 2 streams over DVB-T, but won’t work with DVB-T2 broadcasts like Freeview HD. Check out the source for more details.

Elgato EyeTV Mobile dongle brings live TV to the iPad 2 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget inquiry is coming to us from Pete, who reckons a tablet + keyboard combo will be best for his future note-taking. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“I will be attending college next year and figured that getting a tablet + keyboard combination to take to class instead of a netbook or small laptop would be a better idea. I was looking into getting the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, but my grandparents gave me an iPad 2 as a graduation present. A friend of mine is considering getting the Transformer, but doesn’t want to pay $150 for a keyboard dock. Both of us will be using our tablets for essentially the same purpose and we were both wondering what the best wireless keyboard was for a tablet. Thanks!”

We’ve definitely tested our fair share of tablet-focused keyboards, but none of ’em have actually struck us as ideal. The newly-released Lenovo Folio case is a gem, but alas, only functions with the ThinkPad Tablet. So, bright minds — any ideas for Pete and his pal? Drop ’em in comments below.

Ask Engadget: best wireless keyboard for tablet use? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Aug 2011 22:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unless you’ve got a penchant for going the ultralight route, chances are you’ve got a DVD or other optical drive in your laptop that you rarely, if ever, actually stick a disk in it. This concept, dubbed disk+Mouse plans to put that space to good use holding a pointer that stores flat, but pops up in a conical shape when needed. Of course, by this time next year we’ll all probably be looking at physical media the same way we did floppies in the post iMac world and this will be nothing but a cutesy throwback with no place to go — just like those cassette-shaped USB drives.

CD-shaped mouse is perfect for our physical media-free future originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jul 2011 19:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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