Hasta La Gadget!

It’s just a tablecloth and a piece of paper, until you pull out a Nexus One, at which point it magically becomes an arena where toy robots fire off punches. Augmented reality isn’t anything new, of course, but Qualcomm seems determined to bring it to cell phones in a big way — launching an AR game studio, sponsoring a $200,000 developer challenge, and announcing a free software development kit (which will see open beta this fall) all on the same day. The company partnered with Mattel to build the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots proof-of-concept you see above using that very SDK, and you’ll find a hilarious video of grown men pretending to have the time of their lives with it right after the break.

However, augmented reality is only half of Qualcomm’s mobile gaming plan — a rep told Pocket-lint games like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots are only financially viable if they can work across platforms. To that end, the company also demonstrated a simple three-player peer-to-peer title, but with — get this — a Nexus One (over Bluetooth), a Nokia N900 (over WiFi) and a Dell Latitude laptop all playing the same synchronous game. To commemorate this mishmash of awesome, the company funded another video; listen to an individual with a ludicrously bad accent give you the play-by-play after the break. Oh, and find some press releases, too.

Continue reading Qualcomm demos augmented reality and peer-to-peer tech, tries to punch cellular gaming’s block off (video)

Qualcomm demos augmented reality and peer-to-peer tech, tries to punch cellular gaming’s block off (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

A rambling Computerworld report from Cisco’s Live! event is bringing us news of even more goodies, beyond the business and home tablets already revealed. In an interview with Marthin De Beer, Senior VP of Cisco’s Emerging Technologies Group, De Beer strongly hints at a WiFi enabled Flip Video camera by the end of 2010. While he didn’t say it in so many words, he did say, “We didn’t buy Flip to have it be only a video recorder,” adding, “I look forward to Christmas,” when asked about a possible timeline. That seems clear enough.

The conversation then gets muddied when De Beer begins discussing video as a “pervasive play” for Cisco, something that will “ultimately span across everything we do.” And in a bid to interoperate with all devices, including Apple’s new handset and certainly future iOS devices, De Beer said, “We would absolutely love to integrate with FaceTime.” When, is the question left unanswered. Until then Cisco plans to introduce a mobile Movi iPhone app to the App Store that ties back into Cisco’s Tandberg SIP-based video conferencing solution. Now, maybe it’s a stretch, but with Cisco slowly creeping into the consumer space, it’s hard not to take away a sense that it will be introducing software and devices interoperable with its Silicon Valley neighbor’s FaceTime solution in the not too distant future. Hit the source to read the interview in full.

Cisco suggests WiFi Flip Video camera by Christmas, wants to integrate products with Apple’s FaceTime originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  ComputerWorld  | Email this | Comments

While you’re busy saving up for the totally awesome AR.Drone’s $300 price tag as it makes its way toward a September launch, you can now bide your time sifting through its fifteen-odd documents posted to the FCC this week, including a bunch of internal and external photos that do a good job conveying the last thing you’ll see just before you meet your four-rotor hovering doom. There’s also a quick start user’s manual, which interestingly suggests that users put their iPhones into airplane mode before firing up the AR.Drone app — in other words, you should take the cellular modem offline and leave WiFi active for optimum performance. And honestly, who wants to be interrupted with calls and texts while you’re trying to maneuver this beast for the kill shot?

Parrot’s AR.Drone does a high-speed flyby of the FCC’s control tower originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  FCC  | Email this | Comments

Continue reading Ozmo’s WiFi PAN available Q4, is this the end of Bluetooth’s reign of terror?

Ozmo’s WiFi PAN available Q4, is this the end of Bluetooth’s reign of terror? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Barnes and Noble sure is busy today. If you’re a Nook owner, you’re going to want to get on the update they’ve just unleashed pretty quickly. Version 1.4 includes a couple of pretty important fixes — including the much-need “go to page” feature, an extra large font size, and support for AT&T WiFi. That’s right, the next time you wander into an AT&T hotspot you’ll be Nooking for free. The Nook firmware version 1.4 update is available now (and we’ve included a direct link to the download below if you really want to check that out).

Barnes and Noble Nook firmware version 1.4 now available originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Mobile Tech Review  |  Barnes and Noble  | Email this | Comments