Hasta La Gadget!

Back in November of 2007, Microsoft filed for a patent on a device known as the “Magic Wand.” The patent, which was filed roughly a year after the release of Nintendo’s gesture-based Wii console, was just recently made public.

The abstract description of Microsoft’s device is as follows,

The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can facilitate rich interaction with and/or management of environmental components included in an environment. The architecture can exist in whole or in part in a housing that can resemble a wand or similar object. The architecture can utilize one or more sensor from a collection of sensors to determine an orientation or gesture in connection with the wand, and can further issue an instruction to update a state of an environmental component based upon the orientation. In addition, the architecture can include an advisor component to provide contextual and/or comprehensive guidance in an intuitive manner.

There are plenty of theories surrounding the proposed application for such a device, including a Wiimote-like controller previous referred to as Newton. The patent includes the names of a number of Microsoft bigwigs, including Zune/Xbox-daddy J Ballard and Andy Wilson, one of the heads of Microsoft’s Surface project.

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn’t want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back — so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We’ll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff or companies stop sending things. Today we’ve got a copy of Excitebots for Wii and a Wii Wheel on offer. Read the rules below (no skimming — we’re omniscient and can tell when you’ve skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff! (One more photo after the break).

The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for “fixing” the world economy, that’d be sweet too.
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you’ll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you’ll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) copy of Excitebots for Nintendo Wii and one (1) Wii Wheel.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Friday, May, 8th, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

Continue reading Engadget’s recession antidote: win a copy of ExciteBots and a WiiWheel!

Filed under: Announcements

Engadget’s recession antidote: win a copy of ExciteBots and a WiiWheel! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 May 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know how your voice always sounds better in your own head than it does on tape? Apparently, someone in Japan agrees with you. To that end, they’ve put together a little microphone with a silencer — so the next time you come home at 3 am, all hopped up on Sake and intent on generating a sorrowful wail alongside the backing track of what was once a hit for the Carpenters, make sure you’re packing the Mute Mic. This bad boy is designed to muzzle your song-hole, ensuring that whatever sound you do generate remains restricted to you and your Wii. Your neighbors will thank you, and the estate of Karen Carpenter will thank you. Already a karaoke star? Show us your skills after the break.

Continue reading Mute Mic is the perfect addition to your next antisocial karaoke event

Filed under: Gaming

Mute Mic is the perfect addition to your next antisocial karaoke event originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 May 2009 16:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quantum PI has just built the first motion sensor chip to use “quantum tunneling,” which sounds theoretically unsafe, but we’ll follow along. The nanoTrek sensors are classified as NEMS (Nano Electric Mechanical Systems) as opposed to the “bulky” MEMS sensors that can be found everywhere from the Wii to the iPhone. nanoTrek’s sensing area is a mere 50 x 50 microns, and its sensitivity is 5 to 10 times greater than MEMS chips. There are all sorts of boring industrial applications to such a sensor, but we’re looking forward to the not-too-distant-future when we can be completely disappointed by a brand new version of Super Monkey Ball.

[Via The Inquirer]

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc. Gadgets, Gaming

Quantum PI’s nanoTrek sensors pick up vibration and motion your Wiimote could never dream of originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 May 2009 09:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some recently unearthed European legal filings show us the timeline of development for Wii’s MotionPlus. Well — it shows us what could have been, anyway. The image, starting to the left, shows the oldest version, with an insanely hideous curve that was dispensed with in favor of an outwardly leaning shape in the next iteration, while the far right shows what we essentially ended up with: a tiny little lip that some theorize may be a design element intended to help keep the jacket in place. We’ll say this much: we sure are glad they didn’t use that initial design. Yuck!

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

The rather uneventful (yet somehow exciting) evolution of Wii MotionPlus originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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