Hasta La Gadget!

Perhaps you recall hearing, back at CES, about GM’s aftermarket mirror that would make the OnStar service available to most cars, including those from its most hated rival in Dearborn. No? Don’t worry, here’s the skinny: the OnStar FMV will let you have the company’s popular blue button technology in over 90 million automobiles. Meaning that almost anyone can now reap the benefits of features like automatic crash response, turn-by-turn navigation and hands-free calling. You know… unless you’re cruising in the General Lee, or something. Selling for $299.99, plus a $75 installation charge and $18.95 per month ($199 yearly) subscription, the high tech rear-view mirror will be on shelves at Best Buy starting July 24th and is now available for pre-order. Before you throw down the Benjamins for this automotive security blanket, you might want to double check that your car is compatible — check the full PR to find out how.

Continue reading OnStar FMV available at Best Buy July 24th for $300

OnStar FMV available at Best Buy July 24th for $300 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 06:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some more fun phone facts from the folks at Pew: 83 percent of American adults own a cellphone, 35 percent have a smartphone, and 87 of percent smartphone owners use their handset to browse the internet and read email, apparently having decided that the things are good for more than just making phone calls and keeping papers from blowing away. Also of interest is the fact that 28 percent of the 2,277 people surveyed actually use their small screen devices as their primary method for accessing the internet. It’s worth noting that it’s not a huge sample size we’re working with here, so maybe hold off on declaring the PC dead — still, it may be a sign of lots of squinting to come.

Pew: Smartphone owners increasingly ignoring other devices to get online originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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They’re hardly as exciting as the company’s two new Android 3.1 tablets, but if you’re looking for Android in even more places, look no further. Also being unveiled today is the 35 Home Connect, a self-proclaimed Android web radio that should do wonders by your bedside, or kickin’ it on the beach. You heard right — there’s a built-in battery here, as well as WiFi access to over 50,000 web radio stations. You’ll also find a touch panel, pre-loaded TuneIn application and an alarm clock function that brings together traffic, weather and whatever’s happening in your neck of the woods. Finally, a video chatting app is tossed in for good measure, but it’s only useful when your front-facing camera isn’t handling baby monitoring duties (yeah, seriously!).

Moving right along, there’s the Archos 35 Smart Home Phone, an Android-based landline phone that brings users contact sharing with their Android smartphone, MP3 ringtones, caller photo display as well as access to your current stable of Android apps. In other words, this is likely the only home phone you’ll find that can also video call, check your email, look up a topic on Wikipedia and satisfy gramps. The above-mentioned 35 Home Connect should ship this September for $149, while the 35 Smart Home Phone does likewise for $10 more.

Continue reading Archos trots out Android-based DECT home phone, 35 Home Connect radio

Archos trots out Android-based DECT home phone, 35 Home Connect radio originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And here we thought folks were concerned about protecting their personal data. As it turns out, however, a surprising chunk of Android users have volunteered to give a group of University of Cambridge researchers a look at exactly how they use their cellphones. By downloading the Device Analyzer app from the Android market, more than 1,000 participants have allowed the data collection program to harvest statistics in the background while they use their phones. Those statistics — varying from when the power is switched on, to which apps are in use — are then made available to users via the Device Analyzer website. Of course, this is Cambridge, a rather well respected institution of higher learning, and the researchers involved say the data collected is stripped of personal information “as best as possible,” but we’re not keen on anyone peeping our cell stats. If you’re an Android exhibitionist, however, you can sign up for the study at the source link below.

Device Analyzer Android study wants to track your every move, if you’ll let it originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Jun 2011 14:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dead battery in Belgrade? Head to the city’s Obrenovac district, where a group of students has developed the world’s first public charging station powered entirely by solar energy. Known as the Strawberry Tree, the structure’s 16 ports support a variety of handhelds, allowing pedestrians to juice up their cell phones in just ten to 15 minutes, at no charge. Its built-in batteries can also store up to a month’s worth of back-up energy, enabling the station to hum along at night, or even during Serbia’s less sunny seasons. In the first 40 days following its November launch, the Strawberry Tree logged some 10,000 charging sessions — or about ten charges per hour. Creator Miloš Milisavljevic was just 17 years old when he came up with the idea, and now, at the ripe old age of 22, is looking to plant new stations across other Serbian cities, through his Strawberry Energy NGO. He says these installations won’t generate much revenue from consumers, but that’s not really the idea:

“Energy from the sun is free, and it would be unethical to charge people to use the Strawberry Tree…We are trying to inspire young people to think about the source of the energy they use, and behave and act responsibly.”

You can check out the Strawberry Tree in the video below, or find out more about Milisavljevic’s ideal-driven endeavors in the full PR.

Continue reading Strawberry Tree brings free, solar-powered charging to Belgrade’s BlackBerrys, more (video)

Strawberry Tree brings free, solar-powered charging to Belgrade’s BlackBerrys, more (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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