Gadgets Base

by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 4:36PM
Move over, Dash Express. Take a seat, Garmin and Tom Tom. As of right now there’s only one GPS unit worth buying, and it’s this trick Knight Rider unit from Mio that issues directions in the voice of KITT. Yep, Mr. Feeney William Daniels is gonna be right there with you, although we doubt he’ll be as tolerant of your skin-tight pants and unkempt chest hair this time around. Underneath the hood it’s basically the same Mio kit as you’d expect, only it boots up by saying “Hello Michael, where do you want to go today?” uses a cartoon Trans-Am to represent your car, and features dual LED scanner lights on each side. Yes, we’re in love. $270 is all it’ll take when this thing hits in a few months — 10 points to the first reader to get a picture of it inside a KITT replica.

[Via Autoblog]

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Filed under: GPS

by Ryan Block, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 12:31PM
It ain’t over until it’s over, but we just got word that Helio store managers received notification this week that the axe is finally falling: (at least some of) the nationwide chain of retail stores will be shuttered during Virgin’s takeover of Helio. As we’ve heard, “there is no ‘merge’ in this merger,” so it sounds like after this year’s big executive reshuffle, SK Telecom is bailing on their half-billion dollar enterprise a big way. No word if the fabled Ocean 2 will make it — or if Virgin will even let Helio customers keep their phones.

Alongside Helio — more or less the last man standing — the great MVNO goldrush also dies. Unfortunate that besides Virgin and a few local and M2M providers (like Amazon’s Whispernet), pretty much no one was able to make it work. Then again, no one ever never said making cellphones and running any kind of carrier was easy.

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Filed under: Cellphones

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 11:07AM
Sure, you love your iphone, but did you ever feel like there was just one application missing from the home screen… besides MMS, IM, or a video recorder? If you’re like us, that missing application was a full-featured Packbot control program replete with streaming POV video and a standalone, direct WiFi connection that doesn’t require a proxy machine to pass along commands. Rodrigo Guiterrez and Jeff Craighead — the brains behind this operation — claim that next up they plan to utilize the phone’s accelerometers and a fullscreen video display to deliver a “you are there” experience for bot-steering. Engadget and its team of armed Packbots can hardly wait. Check the video after the break to see it in action.

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Filed under: cellphones, Robots

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 10:23AM
Hmmph. Outside of Samsung’s blisteringly hot SP-A800B, we’re fairly certain Panasonic’s latest duo are the most impressive at InfoComm. Putting those XGA / WXGA units to shame, the PT-DZ12000U packs a drool-worthy WUXGA resolution (1,920 x 1,200) and 12,000 lumens to boot. The PT-D12000U checks in with the same three-chip DLP engine and lumen count, but eases up on the pixels with just 1,400 x 1,050. Furthermore, both units boast a System Daylight View to keep things visible even in well lit rooms, and the built-in Ethernet port enables remote monitoring and control through a web browser. Just one problem with all of this, though: the $69,000 (PT-DZ12000U) / $59,000 (PT-D12000U) price tags. Must be that Auto Cleaning Robot — good help is hard to find these days.

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 8:48AM
Look out 1366 Technologies, you’ve got yet another solar-based MIT spin-off company vying for business in the alternative energy sector. The company’s name is RawSolar, and in due time it could end up selling solar dish arrangements that could power factories or even heat / cool office buildings. Recently, a team of students and faculty celebrated as a prototype dish proved that it could concentrate sunlight by a factor of 1,000, which obviously bodes well for converting that into useful energy here on Earth. Another standout feature of the dish is its small size, and furthermore, the material required to build it is relatively inexpensive and accessible worldwide. Sounds like all the ingredients for a successful startup are there, now we’ve just got to wait and see if anything becomes of it. We’re watching you, RawSolar — don’t let us down.

[Thanks, Spencer]

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 2:36PM
It looks like Motorola isn’t about to let Apple have the goofy, non-existent product spotlight to itself, with a recent patent application of its revealing some plans of its own for a head-mounted display. As you can see above, however, this one is no ordinary HMD, with it also able to be folded up into an apparently over-sized cellphone for times when you want to look slightly less conspicuous. Of course, the chances of such a product actually making it off the drawing board are pretty slim (thankfully), and no doubt even less likely given the recent cuts to Motorola’s research division.

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Filed under: cellphones, Wearables

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 6:30PM
Not to crack open a can of worms or anything, but we’re honestly curious to see what the legions of Area-51 m15x / m17x owners would change about their machines. When launched, both rigs were fawned over for their top-notch specifications, but the m15x hasn’t seen the warmest of receptions from its owners. As you well know, the 17-inch sibling just now started landing on doorsteps everywhere, and we’re genuinely hoping that it doesn’t present those same cracking issues as found on the aforesaid m15x. Beyond defects, we also want to hear what you’d change about a flawless m15x / m17x. Whittle down the weight? Change up the style? Swap out a few components? Go on and let ‘er rip in comments below.

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Filed under: Laptops

Canadians can now rejoice, well maybe that is a little bit much, but they can now get business listing information by calling 1-800-GOOG-411. The free information service has been available in the US for some time now, and while it is still listed as experimental for those in Canada it does still offer the same features, which include the ability to find and be connected with a local business. When GOOG-411 is called from Canada users will be promoted for their “city and province.”

As of this posting the GOOG-411 service is still just in English, so any French speaking Canadians may have to wait a little longer, however Google has been “working hard to make it disponible en Français dans un proche avenir.” Google has also “incorporated some Canadianisms such as “eh,” “Traw-na,” “Cal-gry,” and, of course, “aboot.” into the service, which should hopefully take any such accents into consideration.

Via [Official Google Mobile Blog]

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BenQ is updating its E series LCDs with the E2200HDA computer display. What makes this LCD special is the fact that it uses a 16:9 aspect ratio, meaning it can fit in widescreen HD content without the need to display the black bars that usually appears on most 16:10 non-native screens. And with that BenQ can very well claim an industry’s first.

Measuring 21.5 inches diagonally, this LCD gives out a full 1920×1080 resolution and can display 1080p content from Blu-ray movies, game consoles and other sources in all their vivid details. In addition the E2200HDA can display vivid images with its 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and automatic color adjustment. According to BenQ, the LCDs response times is equal to the 16:10 displays at an average 5ms. If the 5ms response rate is not enough for you, you may want to wait for future LCD’s which BenQ promise to release with pixel response times of 2ms and will feature both DVI and HDMI video.

The E2200HDA will start shipping this summer in Asia Pacific, China, Europe, and Latin America. No words yet as to when this LCD will hit US stores.

Product [BenQ] Via [Electronista]

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A few months ago, Casio introduced the EX-Z9, and I had a chance to try it out. The camera has 8.1 megapixels of image resolution, and has a 3x optical zoom.

I was amazed that it worked so easily from out of the box. I was ready to take pictures as soon as it was done charging on the included charging station. Easy is definitely the rule as the EX-Z9 was clearly designed with the consumer in mind.

One of the best features is the YouTube Capture mode, which allows videos to be recorded and then uploaded onto the famous video clip site in just three simple steps.

The 2.6 inch wide LCD allowed me to go through operations, and there was an alarming 23 Best Shot Modes, with categories such as Fireworks and Pets. In other words, the company figured out what people are photographing, and designed a camera around it.

Other features include the Anti Shake DSP to reduce photo blur, as well as the Easy Mode that can simplify the camera settings to three easy menus (image size, flash, and self timer). The Face Detection technology also makes it easier to take pictures than ever.

See what I meant earlier about the EX-Z9 being easy? Maybe they should have named it the EZ-X9. By the way, it was also easy to upload photos to the computer. All you need to do is plug it in and the computer recognized them like a thumb-drive.

If easy is what you want, than easy is as the EX-Z9 does. The Casio EX-Z9 is available now for $159.99, and comes in pink, black, silver, and orange.

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