http://www.gamesandgadget.com/great place to get some information about free games and gadget reviewsennoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:39:45 PSTBlogger http://www.blogger.com781125noreply@blogger.comnogreat place to get some information about free games and gadget reviewshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/bHeynTIGaUM/voltaic-spark-tablet-case-powers-your.htmlVoltaictabletpowersSparknoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:09:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-1436136405463279035<STRONG>Voltaic Launches Solar Charger for iPad</STRONG> <P>New York, NY – June 23, 2011 - Voltaic Systems today opened up opportunities for grid-free computing with the availability of its iPad solar charger, the Spark Solar Tablet Case.</P><P>Perfect for mobile workers and global travelers, the Spark provides an hour of iPad video playback for every hour in direct sunlight. In addition, it will charge the Blackberry Playbook, T-Mobile G-Slate, Samsung Galaxy Tab, the ASUS Transformer and most handheld electronics. When the sun is unavailable, the internal battery holds one complete iPad charge. The battery can also be re-charged from a wall or car charger.</P><P>"Voltaic set out to design a lightweight case that could charge a tablet quickly, but also match the sleekness and simplicity of the many of the tablets," said Shayne McQuade, CEO of Voltaic Systems. "The Spark Solar Case is a powerful and compact way to carry and charge an iPad."</P><P>Voltaic is also launching today the V39 USB Battery, which provides backup power for iPads, other tablets and smartphones.</P><P>8 Watts of Power for Fast Charging<BR>On the front of each case are four two-Watt solar panels. Solar charge times are determined by the total area and efficiency of the solar cells -- the Spark uses high-efficiency monocristalline cells which will charge an iPad from about 10 hours of sunshine. The cells are encased in a clear, UV and scratch resistant coating. The rugged panels are waterproof and built to withstand the abuse of everyday use.</P><P>High Output, Dual-Port Battery<BR>Many tablets, including the iPad, can charge quickly from high-powered USB ports which output 2Amps, four times the current of a standard USB port. The Spark's 39 Watt hour battery has both a high-powered USB port for tablets and a standard USB port for phones and other handheld electronics.</P><P>Power for Digital Cameras<BR>Fast charging for a tablet also means fast charging for professional DSLR cameras. Users can connect a car charger cradle for their camera battery to the solar output of the Spark, which is switchable between 6 and 12 Volts.</P><P>Protective and Lightweight Case<BR>The Spark case is fully padded and lined for a snug and soft fit. It can be held by its handle, carried using the removable shoulder strap, or placed inside a backpack or other bag.</P><P>Key features and specifications of the Spark Solar Case include:<BR>+ 8 Watts solar power, switchable between 6 and 12 Volts – panels available in silver or charcoal<BR>+ 39 Watt hour battery with low-power and high-power USB ports<BR>+ Charging cable with 5 standard adapters to connect to most handheld electronics<BR>+ 13.5" high x 10.5" wide x 2" inches<BR>+ About 2.5 pounds including solar panels and battery<BR>+ Waterproof fabric manufactured from recycled PET</P><P>Availability<BR>The Spark Solar Case and V39 External Battery are available now on www.voltaicsystems.com and with select retailers. To purchase and for more information, go to www.voltaicsystems.com/spark and www.voltaicsystems.com/v39</P><P>Voltaic was founded in 2004 to develop energy solutions using environmentally-intelligent designs. For more information please visit www.voltaicsystems.com, or contact us at 1.877.304.6861 x701 or media@voltaicsystems.com. Hi-Resolution photos are available upon request.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/voltaic-spark-tablet-case-powers-your-pad-with-the-suns-rays/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-1436136405463279035?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/bHeynTIGaUM" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-08T05:09:00.444+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/voltaic-spark-tablet-case-powers-your.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/n_t39GM2bVE/fujifilm-x100-gets-firmware-update-22.htmlbetterFujifilmfirmwareupdatetweaksnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Thu, 07 Jul 2011 09:51:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-7120493636020704836<STRONG>FinePix X100 Firmware Update Ver.1.10</STRONG> <br /><P>Applicable model: FinePix X100</P><br /><P>• Detail of the update<BR>The firmware update Ver.1.10 incorporates the following issues.<BR>The contents of the owner's manual will be partly changed along with this update.</P><br /><P>Please check them in detail.</P><br /><P>1. The following functions can be rocked during shooting by holding down [MENU / OK] button over 3 sec. DRIVE / Flash / White balance / Macro (set on the Command Dial - 4 direction key)<BR>2. "CORRECTED AF FRAME" menu is added in "SET-UP" menu (the last line on menu page 6) to display additional AF frame (corrected AF frame for reducing parallax) which can be effectively used for macro shots. (Factory default value is set to "OFF")<BR>3. Adjustment in1/3 step increment for shutter speed or aperture setting is enabled in Shutter-Priority AE and Aperture-Priority AE mode, on top of those in Manual Exposure mode. Shutter-Priority AE : Adjustment is controlled by rotating the command dial Aperture-Priority AE : Adjustment is controlled by moving left / right on the command control lever<BR>4. In the post-view mode (display after shooting), focused area is magnified in the LCD (EVF) display when the command control lever is pressed. Cf. "IMAGE DISP." Setting must be set to "CONTINUOUS",<BR>5. Setting of the role for "Fn" button is enabled by holding down "Fn" button over 3 sec.<BR>6. Actual ISO sensitivity for shooting is displayed just after pressing shutter button halfway, when "ISO AUTO CONTROLL" is set to ON.<BR>7. When "eye sensor" is activated by pressing "VIEW MODE" button, "EYE SENSOR" is displayed on EVF / OVF or LCD just a while to notice the status.<BR>8. Macro mode ISO sensitivity, Drive mode, Dynamic range, Self-timer mode, flash mode is maintained even if shutter speed setting or aperture setting is changed. Also, even after changing viewing mode into shooting mode or turning of the camera, these values are maintained.<BR>9. The size of focus frame set through viewing EVF / LCD is maintained even after changing display mode between OVF and EVF (LCD).<BR>10. When "SHUTTER SOUND" is chosen, each shutter sound is performed in each menu setting.<BR>11. In viewing mode, the last viewed shot is maintained as even after changing into shooting mode. Cf. After another image is shot after viewing former image, memory of viewing the image is cancelled and the last shot is displayed as the latest image.<BR>12. When the aspect ration of the image size is set to 16:9, the line of bright frame line on OVF is displayed with aspect ratio 16:9.<BR>13. Viewing mode with Photo Information on EVF / LCD is maintained even if another image is shot. On top of this issue, deleting picture directly is enabled even in viewing with Photo information by pressing the command dial up, or MENU operation is also enabled.<BR>14. Occasionally, preview image on EVF / LCD after pressing the shutter halfway might be darker than live view, according to aperture setting or brightness of shooting target. This phenomenon is improved.<BR>15. When "DISP. CUSTOM SETTING" is set to OVF or EVF / LCD, the setting value is maintained even after customizing the menu.<BR>16. Even for only RAW data recording mode, "RED EYE REMOVAL" setting is selectable among ON or OFF.<BR>17. In MF (manual focus) setting with OVF mode, OVF viewing is activated after pressing shutter half way, even if "FOCUS CHECK" (magnifying center of the image) is displayed in EVF by pressing the center of the command control lever.<BR>18. Displaying period after pressing each command dial (Macro / Flash) is prolonged from 1.5 sec into 2.0 sec for confirming correctly.<BR>20. For resuming from AUTO POWER OFF setting, the shutter release button was required to hold down halfway for a few second. For quicker operation, resuming is activated by just pressing the button.<BR>21. Image quality captured by Velvia / ASTIA mode is improved on mainly shadow tone (dark area), when dynamic range is set to 200% or 400%.<BR>22. When "OVF POWER SAVE MODE" is set to ON and "Fn" button is set to "MOVIE RECORDING", the camera may be unstable occasionally. This phenomenon is improved.<BR>23. Histogram display on OVF during exposure compensation is improved.</P><br /><P>The firmware up date ver.1.01 incorporates the improvement against inadequate operation shown in the following.<BR>1. If the images are shot with ISO Bracketing mode when "QUICK START MODE"(*1) is set to "ON" and turn off the camera,the camera cannot be turned on again even with ordinary operation.<BR>*1 Menu of "QUICK START MODE" is set to "OFF" as factory-default value.</P><br /><P>Precaution<BR>1. If firmware updating fails, the camera may no longer operate correctly in some cases. Carefully read the notes provided here.<BR>2. Always use the fully-charged NP-95 battery when updating the firmware as a basic manner. Never turn the camera off or attempt to use any of the camera controls while the firmware is being overwritten.<BR>3. Firmware updating requires approximately 90 seconds.<BR>4. Once the firmware has been updated, the previous version cannot be restored.</P><br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/fujifilm-x100-gets-firmware-update-22-tweaks-make-the-best-even/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-7120493636020704836?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/n_t39GM2bVE" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-07T23:51:00.104+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/fujifilm-x100-gets-firmware-update-22.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/08jfIZLynIA/ftc-to-put-google-under-microscope-try.htmlunderanticompetitiveuncoverGooglemicroscopenoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Thu, 07 Jul 2011 04:49:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-5122862650351435781Google's drawn the ire of the Federal Trade Commission before for failing to follow its own privacy policies. Now, however, the Mountain View crew is apparently facing a formal inquiry from the FTC as it seeks information about Google's search and advertising business. The civil investigative demands are set to be sent out within the next five days, according to the Wall Street Journal</EM>, and the commission will be looking into whether Google's search engine illegally routs all those internet eyeballs scanning its site to its own services instead of those offered by competitors. Sound familiar? It should, because Google's under investigation for similar anticompetitive accusations made in Europe -- somewhere Steve Ballmer is smiling.  <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/ftc-to-put-google-under-a-microscope-try-to-uncover-its-anti-co/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-5122862650351435781?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/08jfIZLynIA" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-07T18:49:00.226+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/ftc-to-put-google-under-microscope-try.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/TbF1Pt5WqUk/nevada-prepares-itself-for-imminent.htmlNevadaimminentdriverlessitselfpreparesnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:32:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-3017623388670854417Driverless cars are still a way's away from hitting the mainstream, but when they do, the glorious state of Nevada will be ready for 'em. This week, the state passed a new law that will require its Department of Transportation to "adopt regulations authorizing the operation of autonomous vehicles on highways within the State of Nevada." More specifically, the DOT will have to cook up a set of safety standards for self-driving vehicles, and designate specific areas in which they can be tested. Invisible drivers immediately hailed the decision as a watershed victory in their ongoing struggle for civil rights. <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/nevada-prepares-itself-for-the-imminent-rise-of-driverless-cars/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-3017623388670854417?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/TbF1Pt5WqUk" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-07T13:32:00.136+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/nevada-prepares-itself-for-imminent.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/pFABx0nfYes/visidon-applock-sees-your-pretty-face.htmlvideoApplockprettyaccessgrantsAndroidVisidonnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:44:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-7448765296861017191In the event you got lulled into a groovy seat dance by that most excellent muzak above, let us repeat - this app does not</EM> protect your lockscreen. That said, Visidon's Applock will</EM> prevent the privacy-adverse from messing with your personally curated app collection. Have a nosy significant lover? No sweat -- snap a pick with your front-facing cam, enable the face-lock in your settings, and those sexts are as good as blocked. It's far from foolproof, however, as some comments indicate an extended bit of facial-wriggling tricks the app into unlock mode. Oh well, you're so vain, you'll probably think this Android market link is for you -- don't you? <br /><P>[Thanks, Matti] </P><br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/visidon-applock-sees-your-pretty-face-grants-you-android-access/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-7448765296861017191?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/pFABx0nfYes" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-07T07:44:00.117+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/visidon-applock-sees-your-pretty-face.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/LZRkqoR2IeQ/tesla-roadster-nears-end-of-its.htmlnearsModelproductionCompanyfocusTeslaRoadsterswitchesnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:38:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-9155188562719561374Well, we knew this day had to come eventually: various sources are reporting that Tesla Motors has announced that production of its Roadster will soon be drawing to a close, a scant three years (and a few months) after initially launching. "I think there's a handful of cars left to sell in the US," said CEO Elon Musk. "People in Europe and Japan probably have another six months [while in] the US, it's maybe a month or two." We always thought that the company's approach was pretty gutsy, and maybe that's exactly what the automotive world needed -- a long-range (if expensive) ride that screamed: "this ain't your parents' EV." (Cue guitar solo.) For the time being, the company will be switching its focus to the more subdued Model S sedan, although we won't be surprised if we see more badass vehicles from these guys in the future. We aren't sure it'll help with the tears, but our Roadster Sport 2.5 test drive will (thankfully) live on forever. <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/tesla-roadster-being-discontinued/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-9155188562719561374?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/LZRkqoR2IeQ" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-07T02:38:00.415+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/tesla-roadster-nears-end-of-its.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/uXOzkQO6ZFY/nextcomputing-wants-you-to-take-your.htmlstrollDesktopshortwantspreferablyNextComputingnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:32:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-1641805304730546154After watching NextComputing dance around the definition of mobile computing for so long, we're not all that surprised to see the firm tease its first suitcase-desktop sporting an internal battery. The headlining promise of two to four hours of battery life, however? We'll take the whole salt shaker, thanks. NextComputing's half-minute demo shows an unnamed workstation disconnected, unplugged, and lugged off. We're not really sure where it's going, or why it needs to be left on for the trip, but hey -- a desktop with a battery still</EM> beats a laptop without one. <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/26/nextcomputing-wants-you-to-take-your-desktop-for-a-stroll-prefe/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-1641805304730546154?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/uXOzkQO6ZFY" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-06T21:32:00.574+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/nextcomputing-wants-you-to-take-your.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/vZaPyZrjTxE/nasa-lander-prototype-ditches-manpower.htmlvideolanderditchesflightautonomousprototypemanpowernoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:57:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-1936926041249051812Hear that? Those were the giddy giggles of some very happy scientists down at NASA's Alabama-based Marshall Space Flight Center. Besting its previous June record for autonomous flight, this prototype robotic lander hovered for nearly half a minute at a height of seven feet before parking itself safely on the ground. Conceived as a joint project between NASA, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, the intelligent bot is slated to go where its parachuting, aero-braking cousins can't -- like the Moon, or an asteroid. Future tests are on deck for the self-propelled lander to hover up to one hundred feet over the short span of a minute -- no doubt its current feat is pretty neat, but we wouldn't want to be the unsuspecting dolt who walked under it without his infrared goggles on. <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/nasa-lander-prototype-ditches-the-manpower-for-an-autonomous-fli/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-1936926041249051812?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/vZaPyZrjTxE" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-06T15:57:00.057+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/nasa-lander-prototype-ditches-manpower.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/FnJefe7c3y4/microsoft-updates-hotmail-with-more.htmlHotmailsignatureoptionskeyboardYahooMicrosoftshortcutsGmailupdatesnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:57:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-1164302608548794840Okay, it's not as titillating as the time Microsoft added conversation view to Hotmail, but the outfit did</EM> just freshen up its email service with a handful of helpful tweaks. Topping the list is an assortment of shortcuts, including the ability to right click a message to reply, reply all, or forward (you could already do this for other things, like marking something as unread). Hotmail also now responds to some additional Gmail- and Yahoo Mail-specific keyboard shortcuts, such as "#" for deleting messages -- a Gmail trick. And the company is none too subtle about admitting it wants the service to be user-friendly for folks if -- or when</EM> -- they switch from Google or Yahoo. Rounding out the batch of improvements, you get an easy way to recover deleted emails, an improved back button, HTML5-fueled speed improvements, and the option of changing your default font signature -- something we can't believe Hotmail has been missing until now. Hit the source link for the full spill, and find a short demo video after the break.  <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/microsoft-updates-hotmail-with-signatures-gmail-and-yahoo-mail/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-1164302608548794840?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/FnJefe7c3y4" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-06T10:57:00.416+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/microsoft-updates-hotmail-with-more.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/i-22Mi5VjOE/oracle-v-google-update-uspto-rejects.htmlseveralrejectsOraclesleaveschinksupdatepatentUSPTOOracleGoogleclaimsarmornoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:16:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-4116828343172616345Much ink has been spilled about Oracle's lawsuit against Google for Android's allegedly unlawful use of Java, and rightfully so, considering Team Ellison's seeking to take more than a billion dollar chunk out of Google's bottom line. Just because Oracle's damage calculations add up to ten figures doesn't mean that the court will agree with them, however. And, there's a long legal road to be tread before the court can assign a dollar value to the case -- namely it must determine if the patent claims and copyrights are valid and whether Android actually infringes them. <br /><P>That's why Google requested the USPTO re-examine the patents asserted by Oracle, as the process gives Google a shot at invalidating them outside the courtroom. It looks like the strategy is paying off, as one of those re-exams recently resulted in a rejection of 17 of the patent's 21 claims -- which reduces the number of claims Oracle can assert in court accordingly. Of course, those four remaining claims plus the 118 contained in the other six asserted patents (should they survive the re-examination process) could still spell doom for the little green bots, but it is a victory, albeit a modest one, for the team in Mountain View. So, Oracle may have a few less IP bullets to fire Google's way, but it's still got plenty of other legal ammo left. We'll keep you posted when next shot's fired. </P><br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/oracle-v-google-update-uspto-rejects-several-patent-claims-le/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-4116828343172616345?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/i-22Mi5VjOE" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-06T05:16:00.424+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/oracle-v-google-update-uspto-rejects.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/1YkdHdOTgLA/wifi-baby-3g-review-or-how-we-learned.htmlsurveillancelearnedCamerareviewworryingnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Tue, 05 Jul 2011 09:16:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-5004648857990359644Its avoidance is the biggest problem facing any gadget nerd. This affliction, this curse that disables so many would-be tablet and smartphone buyers, only intensifies for those of us who somehow manage to procreate. See, newbie reproducers, temporarily insane from an overblown sense of paternal concern, will pay just about anything for products promising to make their new baby healthier or happier, regardless of the product's potential lifespan. Come on, parents, admit it. Just look at that $100 bottle sterilizer you've already replaced with a more convenient pot of boiled tap water. Or how about that $380 hands-free breast pump that went idle after 6 months of occasional use or that $1,000 euro-exotic stroller that turned out to be too bulky to regularly transport by car? Your well-meaning, but irrational ways made you an easy target for the baby-care industry that places your ilk on the sucker-side of the consumer savviness scale. <br /><P>Just look at the extortionary prices of the typical babycam. You can easily spend between $200 and $300 for a so-called "top-of-the line" monitor that's plagued by radio interference, poor range, and shabby video quality. To make matters worse, these single-purpose cameras lose their usefulness once baby is grown. So what's a rational, resourceful parent to do? Easy, use an IP-based surveillance camera as a baby monitor instead. Not only do you get a superior wireless camera for about the same price (or less), you have the option of repurposing it for inclusion in your home automation or security system after baby is grown. That's what we've been doing for several weeks now thanks to WiFi Baby. And you know what? We'll never go back to traditional baby monitors again. Click through to find out why. </P>While you've most likely never heard of WiFi Baby -- a small, family-run company in Florida -- you might already be familiar with the Y-cam range of networked surveillance cameras. The WiFi Baby 3G (as in third-generation, not wireless data) is built upon the Y-cam Knight S YCK004 camera with a 1/4-inch, 3 megapixel CMOS imager capable of recording audio and 640 x 480 pixel video at 30fps in just 1 Lux of light. A ring of 30 infrared LEDs provides nighttime visibility at a range of about 15 meters (almost 50 feet). The camera works over tethered Ethernet or 802.11b/g WiFi with options for WEP, WPA, and WPA2 encryption and support for RTSP/RTP/RTCP, 3GPP, ASF streams. It also supports UPNP network discovery as well as the ability to send visuals to your home NAS, FTP server, or email account at preset timings or whenever a motion-sensing alarm is triggered (more on that later).<BR><BR>The cam can be mounted on the wall, ceiling, or crib as long as you have access to power. Otherwise, there's an attachable stand for placing the WiFi Baby 3G on a flat tabletop. The camera can easily be swiveled in the direction of your heaving genetic spawn thanks to a highly adjustable ball-and-socket design. Parents will appreciate these placement options as they try to position the camera around visual barriers like guard rails, crib skirts, and the Mozartian quartette you hired to stimulate baby's spatial-temporal reasoning. <br /><P>And yes, it is fun</EM> telling friends that you put WiFi Baby in the corner.</P><br /><P>Unlike traditional babycams, the WiFi Baby 3G does not include a dedicated monitor for viewing and listening to your tot. Instead, you access the camera's video and audio from a web browser, Y-cam MultiLive for Windows PCs and Macs, or through a variety of third-party apps for iOS, BlackBerry, and Android handsets. We used an iPhone 4 to test the WiFi Baby-recommended Baby Monitor HD (read: VGA</EM>), a $9.99 iOS app. We also tried the free Y-cam MultiLive apps on both iOS and Android. Sadly, a bug in the Y-cam MultiLive app inhibits audio from streaming on the latest iOS 4.3.x builds while the Android flavor was, well, just plain buggy,</EM> requiring constant force-quits. Fortunately, there are several other apps listed in both the Apple App Store and Android Market that claim Y-cam compatibility.<BR><BR>All told, we quickly settled on Baby Monitor HD as our preferred app, irrespective of its somewhat confusing operation (pinch outwardly to view in landscape?) and muddled settings page. And if you're the proud parent of an in-vitro fertilized jackpot then you'll be happy to know that the Baby Monitor HD app supports up to four simultaneous live video feeds.  </P><br /><P>The MultiLive for Mac application is dead simple to set up thanks to the auto-discovery feature. It supports up to nine separate feeds and streams audio and video at a smooth 30 frames per second. You can view the action full screen, snap photos, and even record a video clip (first steps?) on a whim or whenever your preset motion alarms are tripped. Plenty of options here.<BR>Now, because the WiFi Baby 3G camera is IP-based, it can be accessed from well beyond the operating radius of the typical 900MHz baby monitor. In fact, we regularly used the Baby Monitor HD iOS app and laptop browser to check in from around the world, over both 3G and WiFi connections. Our UPNP-enabled router was able to locate and automatically forward the appropriate ports necessary to view the password-protected WiFi Baby 3G camera from outside the home. It's a powerful thing, seeing your spouse reading bedtime stories to your child as you prepare for the workday from the other side of the globe.<BR><BR>While seeing your baby is nice, hearing your young'un is arguably more important as a means of alerting you to trouble. Fortunately, the WiFi Baby is perfectly capable of alerting uneasy parents to noises from the baby room. The audio, captured by the WiFi Baby's electret condenser microphone, plays out the speaker of your chosen monitoring device(s). The Baby Monitor HD app includes a number of enhancements to mute the background noise with low, medium, and high squelch settings. That way, only your baby's cries are transmitted and not the construction clamor from beyond the window. A tap of the app's audio window (presented as a graph in portrait mode) lets you temporarily override the mute whenever you want to listen in. An additional setting lets you configure optional "cuckoo," "crow," or "ding" alerts (plus vibration) whenever the sound approaches the 80 percent threshold. These settings worked well as long the app was running in the foreground and the device's volume was sufficiently loud enough to be heard. Unfortunately, you won't receive audio alerts when the iOS device is on standby or when the volume is muted. Ideally, future versions of the app would operate in the background with an option to override the handset's current volume setting to blast alerts at anxious parents. </P><br /><P>Overall, we're pretty happy using the WiFi Baby 3G as a baby video monitor. In fact, in our experience, only Luvion's brand of premium video baby monitors can hold a candela to the Y-cam in terms of convenience and interference-free image quality under a variety of lighting conditions. However, unlike Luvion's cameras, your Y-cam can be converted to an all-weather outdoor surveillance camera for home security / monitoring with a $99 "Shell" adapter and 10 minutes of assembly. True, stuffing the relatively diminutive WiFi Baby 3G into a shiny hunk of 17 x 13.5 x 12.5cm plastic tubing makes quite the statement when slung off the upper floor of our European HQ -- but its conspicuous appearance translates into additional security. Already, just the presence of the camera seems to have stopped at least one neighborhood punk from tampering with our property. For additional stealth, you can turn the external power indicator on or off using software, but the eerie red halo produced by the cam's 30 IR LEDs at night is inescapable. Of course, you can also disable the night vision feature completely or set it to function automatically using the camera's ambient light sensor. While there's a "moonlight mode" that superimposes frames to brighten an otherwise dimly lit image, it's no match for the cam's infrared capability -- if you want to see in the dark, you have to use the cam's night vision mode. Keep in mind that the IR range will likely decrease when pointing the WiFi Baby 3G camera outside due to the lack of walls needed to bounce the IR light back onto the objects you wish to illuminate. Nevertheless, we're still able to see the street (and our bicycle) fairly clearly from a camera mounted on the third-floor window. In practice, we'd likely augment the camera's ability with a separate IR illuminator or flood (and wipe away the spider web). </P><br /><P>Naturally, all the features that make the WiFi Baby 3G a great baby camera also make it a great surveillance cam. But some features are paricularly well-suited to security. For example, you can set up several positional motion alarms of varying sensitivity to send a snapshot and / or video with sound to your FTP server, NAS, or email address whenever the camera detects movement. Y-cam also offers a Y-cam Knight SD camera model that records directly to removable SD cards. Storing your surveillance footage is useful for reviewing it after an incident occurred. For our testing, we configured the camera to record a 30 second video clip and still image to our NAS server at 30 minute intervals and whenever motion is detected. Of course, like all consumer grade surveillance cameras, the motion detection feature can flounder in the face of flying insects or wind-blown vegetation -- an issue not seen by city dwellers like us.</P>Of course, we do have some complaints. For one thing, the image colors have inexplicably shifted into the violet range of the visible spectrum. This wasn't always the case and could be related to a configuration setting we tweaked along the way -- there are many. While the color offset is fine for viewing baby's play habits, it's not very useful when trying to identify the colors of a perpetrator's clothing to police. <br /><P>Also, we'd recommend repurposing an old Android or iPhone handset to use as a dedicated monitoring device with access to power (preferably in a cradle) near the bed. That way, you always have a master monitoring device at the ready to alert parents to cries of distress. Also, because the camera depends upon your WiFi network, it's not the kind of baby monitor that you'll toss in an overnight bag ready for use at grandma's house.</P><br /><P>Our biggest gripe, however, is the premium placed on what amounts to a generic Y-cam Knight S surveillance camera. WiFi Baby lists the third-generation camera for $279 -- a price that includes US shipping and all applicable taxes. The identical Y-cam Knight S version YCK004 can be had for $50 less from Amazon and other US sites. WiFi Baby claims that its phone and email support justifies the differential. Perhaps. We didn't have any need for it thanks to Y-cam's own user manual and a number of helpful tutorials freely available on WiFi Baby's site. To make matter worse, owners will still have to dish out an additional $19.95 to a WiFi Baby network specialists if they get stuck trying to poke holes through their router for viewing the camera over the internet -- that feature isn't freely supported under WiFi Baby's terms and conditions. The company does plan to deliver additional value in the future. It's already working on an Android app for release in 2011 as well as custom firmware, co-developed with Y-cam, that will simplify setup and provide exclusive baby monitoring features to WiFi Baby owners. So, you'll have to make the decision: spend a bit more now for a support lifeline you may or may not use with a promise for future exclusives, or put the $50 towards the $9.99 Baby Monitor HD iOS app with the remainder set aside for the $100 Y-cam Shell outdoor mount.</P>It's not pink, it doesn't pack a remote temperature sensor, and it won't play an 8-bit lullaby. Hell, it's not even swaddled in an adorable "Summer Infant" or "AngelCare" moniker. Yet this third-generation WiFi Baby -- a repackaged Y-cam Knight S surveillance camera -- manages to make traditional baby video monitors look like overpriced toys. Sure, it's priced about the same as a typical high-end baby monitor, but the WiFi Baby 3G provides more features and flexibility than any traditional babycam. As the name suggests, you get WiFi freedom in addition to tethered Ethernet. You also get VGA video with sound, an IR illuminated night-vision mode, audible alerts with vibration, and plenty of iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Mac and PC apps that let you view your baby from anywhere in the connected world. And just think, when baby's grown you can repurpose the camera for security or home monitoring tasks thanks to an optional $99 waterproof Y-cam Shell and an out-of-the-box ability to send images, video, and sound to your networked hard disk drive or personal email address whenever motion is detected. Let's see your Safety 1st or Graco babycam do that. <br /><P>We know that having a baby can cause well-meaning parents to do foolish things. Just don't add your choice of baby video monitors to that lengthy list. We urge you to give the WiFi Baby 3G (or its cheaper Y-cam Knight S clone) a look -- you'll have plenty of chances to disappoint your child later. </P> <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/wifi-baby-3g-review-or-how-we-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-lov/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-5004648857990359644?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/1YkdHdOTgLA" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-05T23:16:00.365+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/wifi-baby-3g-review-or-how-we-learned.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/PZ3KnmfKYTQ/ipad-accounts-for-97-percent-of-us.htmlpercentonlinetraffictabletaccountsnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Tue, 05 Jul 2011 04:10:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-8225540104149779731It's no secret that the iPad commands a serious lead in the battle for tablet mindshare, but comScore's new Device Essentials traffic-tracking service shows just how much that translates into market dominance. According to the web monitoring company, the iPad and its successor account for 89 percent of tablet internet use globally, and 97 percent here in the US. Of course, the slate segment is still young and accounts for only a tiny percentage of total traffic. And, it's worth noting, the iPad has a significant advantage in being the first to hit shelves. If you want to dig a little deeper, hit up the source link for the PR and a few more charts. <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/ipad-accounts-for-97-percent-of-us-tablet-traffic-online/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-8225540104149779731?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/PZ3KnmfKYTQ" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-05T18:10:00.342+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/ipad-accounts-for-97-percent-of-us.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/NdXaLqKfe8w/urthecast-to-stream-live-hd-footage-of.htmlfootageStickamUrtheCastspaceearthStreamnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Mon, 04 Jul 2011 22:38:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-4067021360725484699<STRONG>UrtheCast Announces New Space Venture</STRONG> <P>Joint Canadian, Russian and UK Space Venture to Install World's First Ever High Definition Streaming Video Cameras on the International Space Station</P><P>TORONTO, June 23, 2011 /CNW/ - UrtheCast is building, launching, and operating the world's first and only high definition streaming video cameras being installed on the International Space Station (ISS).</P><P>UrtheCast will supply video data and imagery of Earth collected by two HD cameras on the Russian module of the Space Station. This data and imagery will be down-linked to ground stations around the planet and then displayed in real time on the Internet and distributed directly to UrtheCast's exclusive partners and customers.</P><P>The UrtheCast web platform will allow Users to constantly track the location of the Space Station, anticipating when it will pass over a particular geographic location. Users will be able to search for videos of a particular location, type, or theme and will have the ability to interact with the HD video feed from the UrtheCast servers. They will be able to zoom in and out, virtually steer the camera from side to side, rewind, and fast forward as they check out areas and things of interest on Earth. UK based Rutherford Appleton Labs is building two high definition cameras. A medium resolution camera will provide a three colour image with a swath of 45 kilometers and a resolution of 5.5 meters. The high-resolution camera will offer a video image with a frame rate of 3.25 frames per second with a resolution that is comparable to much of Google Earth. This will allow Users to see man-made objects and groups of people.</P><P>As a result of all this unique functionality, the UrtheCast web platform will spark a great deal of awareness, creativity, and unique user events from around the world. The UrtheCast website will feel like a blend of Google Earth with the video playback and search functionality of YouTube. The UrtheCast web platform will combine a consumer centric website, mobile application for smart phones, and an open Application Program Interface (API). The API enables third party developers to create their own applications and upload them to the UrtheCast web platform.</P><P>"Users will be able to view Earth from space. It will operate seamlessly with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter," explains Scott Larson, President of UrtheCast. ISS is a low orbit, human-inhabited satellite. The station travels at 26,000 km/h, orbiting Earth sixteen times per day, at an altitude of approximately 350 km. The ISS is a collaborative project between the Russian, Canadian European, Japanese, and US space agencies. UrtheCast has signed an exclusive agreement with RSC Energia, who maintains operational control of the Russian segment on the ISS. RSC Energia will take UrtheCast's cameras, install them on the outside of the ISS, and provide the necessary maintenance and transfer of the data. The cameras are being built by UK based Rutherford Appleton Laboratories (RAL), who is a world leader in building cameras for aerospace and satellite purposes.</P><P>"Being part of a project that not only taps into the recent renewed interest in space, but also provides a connection between people and the rest of the world is what is most intriguing about this project," Richard Holdaway Director, RAL Space.</P><P>UrtheCast will officially launch this project in Calgary on June 28th at 12:00pm. Dr. Dave Williams, one of NASA's most accomplished astronauts, will be speaking at the launch at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.</P><P>"The UrtheCast camera will support the ISS and continue to inspire youth to pursue advanced studies in space sciences and spark interest in science, technology, engineering and the environment," says Dr.Williams.</P><P>Dr. Williams blasted into space aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, and again on Shuttle Endeavour where he walked out into the great beyond. He has set records in space walking and has logged more than 687 hours in space. He will be speaking about space flight, space exploration, space science and technology, environmental stewardship and educational awareness as it relates to seeing the Earth from Space. "This unprecedented UrtheCast initiative is helping position Canada as a leading space-faring nation and driving science and innovation while actively inspiring young people across our country to take their place as members of Canada's next space generation," stated Dr. Williams.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/25/urthecast-to-stream-live-hd-footage-of-earth-from-iss-like-stic/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-4067021360725484699?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/NdXaLqKfe8w" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-05T12:38:00.630+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/urthecast-to-stream-live-hd-footage-of.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/JeISmmEiF54/sprint-2011-q3-roadmap-leaks-gives.htmlroadmapglimpseSmartphoneleaksgivesSprintsfuturenoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Mon, 04 Jul 2011 17:24:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-1304285315878763636Sprint finally released its much-anticipated Evo 3D into the wild today, but it turns out that's not the only good news for fans of the Now Network. Courtesy of This is my next</EM>, we've got some tasty tidbits regarding Sprint's forthcoming phone lineup for Q3 of this year. Apparently, we can expect to see the successor to Samsung's Epic 4G, the Epic 2, sporting a 4-inch display, a single-core 1.2GHz Hummingbird processor, and an 8-megapixel shooter. There's also an unnamed 4G device from Sammy in the works, which our gadget senses tell us may be Sprint's version of the Galaxy S II, the Within. Not a fan of little green bots? Not to worry, because RIM is bringing its Bold Touch and Monaco handsets to the carrier, plus a push-to-talk BlackBerry, too. Well played, Mr. Hesse -- with all these fancy new phones in the works, might this be the summer of Sprint? <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/sprints-2011-q3-roadmap-leaks-gives-a-glimpse-of-our-smartphon/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-1304285315878763636?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/JeISmmEiF54" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-05T07:24:00.259+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/sprint-2011-q3-roadmap-leaks-gives.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/KgFH4XQuryQ/canon-18-55mm-lens-torn-open-to-expose.htmlvideoexposeStabilizationCanonvisuals1855mmImagenoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Mon, 04 Jul 2011 11:25:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-1456786681319663494Hey there, snap-shooter. If you've ever used a Canon DSLR with an 18-55mm lens, you may be horrified to know that the image above is its exposed</EM> lens elements. Don't worry, though, it's for science! Recently, Preston Scott from Camera Technica</EM> used a laser to show how unsteady your hands are when taking a photograph; now he's back to detail how lenses with Image Stabilization compensate to help in achieving crisper images. IS isn't exactly new technology, but seeing how the glass' internal springs, accelerometers, and gyroscopes react to movement is mesmerizing. Not surprisingly, he also found that photos taken with IS deactivated were usually less sharp. You'll find a steady video of the action past the break, as well a detailed breakdown by hitting the source link below.<BR><br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/25/canon-18-55mm-lens-torn-open-to-expose-visuals-of-image-stabiliz/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-1456786681319663494?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/KgFH4XQuryQ" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-05T01:25:00.302+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/canon-18-55mm-lens-torn-open-to-expose.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/ImmpPrQL0VM/apple-product-managers-respond-to-final.htmlproductcriticismFinalApplerespondmanagersnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Mon, 04 Jul 2011 05:43:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-1031329564411446289During our call to discuss Final Cut Pro X earlier this week, an Apple product manager boasted about the product's low price, media management, and ground-up redesign. Unfortunately, when starting from scratch, developers seem to have overlooked a few features that professional users have come to depend on, prompting widespread backlash -- both on internet forums and even on Apple's own App Store, where the $300 download-only app currently has a rating of just 2.5 stars (out of five), including nearly 500 one-star ratings. (Note: you must purchase the app before submitting a rating or review.) The New York Times</EM> spoke to product managers about these issues, which include an inability to import old FCP files, no multicamera editing, no support for RED cameras, and no ability to specify QuickTime export settings, among many others. Apple says there are (pricey) workarounds available, or fixes on the way for all but the first issue, but head over to the source link for the full rundown at NYT</EM>. <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/25/apple-product-managers-respond-to-final-cut-pro-x-criticism/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-1031329564411446289?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/ImmpPrQL0VM" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-04T19:43:00.407+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/apple-product-managers-respond-to-final.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/nW_ZYA3kZV8/tivo-retail-plans-for-quad-tuner.htmlTiVosrevealedretailPremiereplansquadtunerfilingnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:30:01 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-3645840207875184231If your TiVo-loving heart was crushed last week when we found out the new Premiere Q DVR was only for cable companies with no plans for retail sales, allow us to put the pieces back together. Zatz Not Funny has dug up an FCC filing, dated June 7th, indicating TiVo will bring the quad tuner Premiere Elite DVR with 2TB of hard drive space to retail. The purpose of the filing? To get the FCC to waive requirements that the Elite -- which is designed for digital cable reception only -- contain an analog tuner that it claims would increase costs by $80 - $100. There's no word on price or timing but it's clearly intended as a high end product that TiVo plans to offer online, through custom installers or specialty outlets like Best Buy's Magnolia stores. If it gets approved we could still see the Elite set-top box this year, assuming the FCC has its approval stamp ready and inked. <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/tivos-retail-plans-for-quad-tuner-premiere-dvr-revealed-in-fcc/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-3645840207875184231?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/nW_ZYA3kZV8" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-04T14:30:01.137+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/tivo-retail-plans-for-quad-tuner.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/eCYBk6JwVls/samsung-galaxy-tab-101-now-syncs-with.htmlSYNCsGalaxySoftwareUpdatedSamsungsthanknoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:35:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-6238557401142851727You heard right -- Samsung's slimmest slate yet is now on speaking terms with OS X, well over a month after the first ones slipped out to developers at Google I/O. Oddly enough, it looks as if Android File Transfer is still stuck in yesteryear, with Samsung itself pushing out a revised build of Kies to enable Tab-to-Mac relations. If this discussion is relevant to your interests, the source links below will be as well.  <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/samsungs-galaxy-tab-10-1-now-syncs-with-your-mac-updated-kies/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-6238557401142851727?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/eCYBk6JwVls" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-04T08:35:00.312+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/samsung-galaxy-tab-101-now-syncs-with.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/4Yzj7SL0lGE/atrix-4g-bootloader-unlocked-you-can.htmlGingerbreadupdateunlockedtodaybootloaderOfficialAtrixnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Sun, 03 Jul 2011 12:35:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-8163275371768849076The Atrix 4G is today an eminently more intriguing smartphone than it was yesterday. Leaked code from Motorola's upcoming Gingerbread update for the handset has made its way into the hands of the always-eager coders at xda-developers</EM>, which has resulted in two things: one, the discovery that Motorola intends to unlock the Atrix's bootloader when it upgrades it to Android 2.3, and two, downloadable files to let you do exactly that today</EM>, even if you're still stuck on Froyo. Moto users have been pleading for this change for a long time and Motorola did pledge to make it happen across its portfolio of devices, but it comes as a mild (and happy) surprise to see this change being effected retroactively. Check the links below to see how you can unchain your phone's bootloader if you can't wait for the official software to drop. <br /><P>[Thanks to everyone who sent this in] </P> <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/atrix-4g-bootloader-unlocked-you-can-hack-it-up-today-or-wait-f/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-8163275371768849076?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/4Yzj7SL0lGE" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-04T02:35:00.271+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/atrix-4g-bootloader-unlocked-you-can.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/wgokyB0QWZo/wireless-back-up-camera-for-magellan.htmlchecksMagellanbackupCamerawirelessRoadMatenoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Sun, 03 Jul 2011 07:00:05 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-5503760998310221880<STRONG>Magellan Introduces Wireless Back-Up Camera for RoadMate Safety Series GPS Units</STRONG> <P>SANTA CLARA, Calif. (22 June, 2011) /PRNewswire/ – Magellan GPS today announced the launch of a Back-Up Camera companion product for its RoadMate® safety series car navigation units that will help drivers reverse and park more safely. Combining this camera with a Safety Series GPS navigator expands Magellan's focus on safety and security to the full time you are in your car. It starts when the Back-Up Camera helps you safely reverse out of your driveway, continues through your commute with premium GPS navigation features, and does not end until the Back-Up Camera helps you park the car without damage or stress and you finally shut off the ignition.</P><P>The Magellan Wireless Back-Up Camera attaches to the vehicle's rear license plate and transmits images directly to the expansive 7" high resolution screen of a RoadMate 1700 or RoadMate 9055 GPS device. When the car is put into reverse, the GPS navigator will switch from map to rear-view mode, enabling drivers to view what is below the rear window.</P><P>The Back-Up Camera is both dustproof and waterproof to IP67 standard, and features a wide-angle viewing lens that provides a 120-degree viewing area behind the vehicle. The transmitter, which sits in the car's trunk, is also water resistant (to IPX4 standard). With a 45-foot range and a 45 degree camera vertical adjustment, the transmitter is adaptable for most vehicles, SUVs and RVs.</P><P>"The Magellan Wireless Back-Up Camera adds a substantial level of safety and security to your drive. Back-Up Cameras have proven to be useful devices in helping drivers get a more complete picture of what's behind them – such as small children or pets in the driveway – and helping them back into narrow, parallel parking spots. Combined with the confidence that a navigation device provides, the RoadMate with Back-Up Camera help you leave, arrive and park safely," said Mike Wagner, Senior Director, Product Marketing for Magellan GPS.</P><P>The Magellan Wireless Back-Up Camera kit comes complete with a license plate mountable camera, transmitter, wireless receiver, vehicle power adapter, installation hardware, and instructions. It is available at Amazon.com and automotive specialty shops, and retails at a MSRP of $149.99.</P><br /><p><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/wireless-back-up-camera-for-the-magellan-roadmate-checks-your-si/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</a></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-5503760998310221880?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/wgokyB0QWZo" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-03T21:00:05.577+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/wireless-back-up-camera-for-magellan.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/4uqAB75gGbQ/engadget-podcast-live-at-500pm-et.htmlPodcastEngadget500PMnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Sun, 03 Jul 2011 01:10:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-6211048615531738982It's Thursday, and Tim and Brian are back in our fancy New York City studio for another edition of the Engadget Podcast. We've also managed to track Darren down and are forcing him to stay in one place for long enough to dial-in. Lots of tech talk, surprises, and Coke cans are coming your way at 5PM. <br /><P><STRONG>Update</STRONG>: That's a wrap! Check the site tomorrow for the recording!  <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/the-engadget-podcast-live-at-5-00pm-et/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-6211048615531738982?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/4uqAB75gGbQ" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-03T15:10:00.814+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/engadget-podcast-live-at-500pm-et.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/Z8bYZtByqNY/tokyo-researchers-hijack-your-hand-help.htmlvideoResearchershijackTokyonoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Sat, 02 Jul 2011 19:20:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-8122131798846088779Researchers over in the land of the robot-obsessed have found a new, non-invasive</EM> way to control your hand while your brain recoils in horror. Reassuringly named the PossessedHand, this belt of electro-stimulation wraps its pad of twenty-eight electrodes around your forearm triggering a range of sixteen bewitched joint actions. Project leader Emi Tamaki claims it feels more like a light massage than say, a full-on Freejack. However, one test subject confessed, "[It was] like my body was hacked" -- so that's comforting. This joint production between the University of Tokyo's Rekimoto Lab and Sony Computer Science Laboratories was first tested as a musical training aide, but could someday help stroke victims regain mobility. For now, the stimulation isn't strong enough to turn you into an automated Steve Vai (or secret assassin), but it definitely lends new meaning to 'hands-off.' Check the video after the break for a demonstration and some unsettling narration.  <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/26/tokyo-researchers-hijack-your-hand-help-you-play-the-koto-vide/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-8122131798846088779?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/Z8bYZtByqNY" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-03T09:20:00.223+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/tokyo-researchers-hijack-your-hand-help.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/jAoXgRCYVdQ/cardio-sdk-takes-swipe-at-competition.htmlvideoswipecompetitioncameraenabledtakesMobileCardiopaymentsnoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Sat, 02 Jul 2011 14:03:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-361985475615658250In an attempt to edge its way into the crowded mobile payments market, a new credit card scanning system is saying "ah, hell no!" to typing and swiping. Card.io is billed as an SDK that takes advantage of smartphone cameras to let devs accept credit, because, as its creators point out, "typing on mobile phones is slow, and most consumers don't have a separate hardware attachment." When it's time to pull out the plastic, Card.io gets your phone's camera going, and up pops a little green rectangle, in which you frame your card and snap a pic. Your credit card info is then processed by a third-party merchant, and the details are subsequently deleted from your phone. Can you hear that? That's the sound of our chubby thumbs breathing a sigh of relief. The Card.io SDK for iOS is now available at the source link below, and an Android version should be close behind. For now, hop on past the break for a video demo. <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/card-io-sdk-takes-swipe-at-competition-with-camera-enabled-mobil/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-361985475615658250?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/jAoXgRCYVdQ" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-03T04:03:00.169+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/cardio-sdk-takes-swipe-at-competition.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/0E7MttgwUQA/prototype-dual-screened-2-in-1-android.htmlPreviewsmartpaddualscreenedImerjAndroidPrototypenoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Sat, 02 Jul 2011 08:47:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-729216793325455126From the front it looks like yet another plain smartphone -- dark, nondescript, and maybe a little like an iPhone 4 that's had its right-most extent sliced off. Pick it up, though, and you realize this little thing isn't so nondescript. In fact, it feels oddly substantial, with a strange bevel cutting around the edge and a curious amount of heft. And then you flip it open. Suddenly it's a little tablet, two screens forming one 6-inch slate bisected by a few millimeters of bezel. <br /><P>Shades of the Echo? Sure, but this is actually a very different device to hold, and a very different device to use. The software customizations built over Android 2.3, the bezel gestures, the proper multitasking, all make this into a unique device that feels incredibly familiar yet altogether different. It's a prototype device from Imerj and Frog (formerly known as Frog Design) something that's months away from production and hasn't even been blessed with a model designation more specific than "2-in-1 smartpad." So, is this poncho-clad Phone with No Name a legitimate threat to the established families of devices that own our little wireless San Miguel? Or, will it ride straight off into a sunset of obscurity when it launches? Read on to find out.<BR></P><BR><BR><BR>When you get a glimpse of the Imerj prototype from across the room, as we first did, it's hard not to think "Oh, it's another Kyocera Echo." It is, after all, a dual-screened smartphone with a hinge down the middle that brings two disparate displays together into one. However, Kyocera comparisons do this device a strong disservice. <br /><P>First impression is one of heft and solidity. Each half of the device feels firm, dense, and the simple hinge in the middle doesn't click or give any sort of protestations at all as you fold or unfold the thing. When doubled over the two halves subtly pop together thanks to the wonders of magnets, but other than that it's a smooth trip out to fully extended. There's no mechanical assistance here.</P><br /><P>Compared to the Echo, the hinge is simple and the device just folds in half. It's a little like opening a book backwards, which is unintuitive at first but ultimately feels reasonably natural. Want a simple phone? Give it a little fold and the second screen is disabled. Or, when you want to use it like a tablet, just grab it and pull the halves flat. If the device is locked it'll immediately pop to life when unfurled, bypassing the unlock screen and getting you right back to where you want to be.</P><BR>When extended the device is actually quite thin -- just 7mm (.28-inches), and without any unsightly bulges or protrusions. When folded in half it's still thinner than the thickest extent of the Droid Charge, for example, or about 50 percent thicker than an iPhone 4. Unfolded, it's about the thinnest smartphone we've ever seen, and if you compare it to the spate of tablets it bests even the Galaxy Tab 10.1 by about a millimeter. <br /><P>So it's impressively svelte, and for such an early device it's impressively constructed. The exterior is covered in what looks to be a thick coating of metallic paint that gives a classy look and a cool, smooth feel. Of course, half of it is covered in glass, not paint, and that's naturally of the Gorilla variety, edges mostly tucked behind the lip of the case.</P><br /><P>Unfold the device and those two panes meet in the middle, sadly still divided by a couple millimeters of bezel on either side. It's an unfortunate gap inside what is otherwise a generously sized 6-inch unified display, and we're told this is about as good as we're going to get until foldable OLEDs come into play.</P><br /><P>There's a lot of minimalist design going on here, with the subtly swoopy beveled edges interrupted by three buttons all on the upper left: power, volume rocker, and silence. On the far right edge (when opened) is a 3.5mm headphone jack, a little door hiding a SIM card, and a big, flat proprietary connector in the middle that could easily be mistaken for something with an Apple or a Samsung logo on it.</P><BR><BR>As smartphone users crave more screen real estate smartphone displays keep getting bigger and our pockets keep getting tighter. The solution here is, of course, to offer two rather more moderate-sized displays and combine them into an all-conquering mega-display. Each half is 4-inches of WVGA AMOLED, for a combined resolution of 800 x 960 and a combined diagonal of about 6-inches. <br /><P>If we had to guess we'd say these are the same Samsung AMOLED panels found earlier in the Focus, which have some issues with color representation and in this deployment get increasingly cool the further off-axis your viewing angle becomes. Still, images are bright and vibrant.</P><BR>Powering the works is a dual-core TI OMAP processor that will be running at an as of yet undisclosed speed, pending final discussions between TI and Imerj. But, expect it to be comparable to your average superphone (i.e. in the gigahertz range). There's 1GB of DDR3 RAM available for the hardware, while this model has 32GB of internal storage, which is not expandable via microSD. We're told models will be available with as much as 128GB of breathing room, which should give you an idea of the sort of premium market this device is targeting. <br /><P>Performance in this prototype seems good but falls short of great. There's a good amount of lag here and there as you move between landscape and portrait, but of course we're dealing with a prototype; there's a long way to go before the software is final. That said, apps launch quickly and are smooth to work with.</P><br /><P>A 1,750mAh battery gives it juice. It's neither user-accessible nor replaceable, but we expect that battery life should be comparable to other phones -- so long as you don't spend too much time in dual-screen mode, anyway. We weren't able to perform any proper battery life testing and, really, the hardware is too early to draw any conclusions there. But, we're told to expect longevity that will at least trump the Atrix.</P><br /><P>Speaking of AT&T's hottest hunk of Android, this device is running on that provider's waves at the moment. Naturally nobody would commit to talk of which carrier would be carrying this device when it launches, it would seem that one or the other half of the proposed AT&T&T family would be a safe bet.</P><BR>Android supports comprehensive multitasking, letting you pop from Google Music to Angry Birds</EM> and back again with a few long-presses of the home button. But, this device takes that concept to a new level entirely. Launch an app and it'll pop up on the one screen, leaving the other alone. But, with a quick swipe across the top of the bezel that app can hop from one display to the other. Now you can play Angry Birds</EM> and keep an eye on your playlist at the same time. If you want to swap their positions you can just pinch up on the upper bezel and your apps will do a little Kriss Kross impression. <br /><P>A long press of the illuminated circular home button brings up a view of the running apps, which you can simply drag and throw to either of the displays. But, of course, that's only half the story: with this much real estate you'll want to be doing some full-screen app tapping, and you can -- sometimes.</P><br /><P>Unfortunately there's no "tablet mode" like on the Echo to be found here, meaning that apps need to be modified to run in full-screen. It's a simple modification that we're told requires developers only make a little manifest tweak, but as of now only a few apps have received said tweak, highlighted by a little dual-screen superscript on their icon.</P><br /><P>Thankfully the web browser here has been suitably augmented, and full-screen surfing is definitely a pleasant experience, as even high resolution mobile displays often leave us wanting. However, we found ourselves most impressed by the customized versions of ThinkFree Office Mobile, which enable dual-screen viewing and editing of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents, plus PDF viewing to boot. Tapping your way through a grid in a spreadsheet is never an enjoyable experience, but having it spread across two screens certainly beats squinting at one.</P><br /><P>To make a compatible app go full screen you again can reach for the upper bezel. A slow drag across will expand the app from one screen to both, which is an intuitive gesture but one that we wish we could be made on the bottom as well. (Sometimes getting up to the top is a bit of a stretch.) Or, you can simply tilt the phone so that the app you want to go full-screen is up on top. It'll then fall down to take over the lower screen. To switch back to the other app, just rotate the phone the other way. Nice.</P><br /><P>The custom e-mail application installed here also makes good use of both screens. The left display gives you a folder view or a list of individual e-mails, while the right screen can be used to show the e-mails themselves. The only problem? It isn't the actual Gmail app -- just like on the Echo.</P><br /><P>A custom, full-screen keyboard is on offer that takes over the lower screen -- which is a bit of a bother if the text you want to enter is also on the lower screen. But, this gives it plenty of room for not only a full QWERTY layout but even a row of number keys that can be swiped from one side to the other, exposing a row of special characters or a row of other common buttons.</P><BR>Most modern smartphones have sprouted second cameras: a high-res version around the back and a second, lower-quality option that's lookin' back at ya. This device does away with that for the obvious reason that the back sort of is</EM> the front -- at least some of the time. There's a five megapixel shooter situated just to the left of the earpiece. When folded, launch the camera app and you get a simple message: "Turn Phone over." Now the back is your viewfinder and you use it to take pictures. Want a self portrait? Just hit the button, obey the instructions, and now you have a full-sized view of yourself -- and a full-res profile picture. <br /><P>We won't bother giving detailed camera impressions at this point because there's some issue with the sensor causing some bizarro chromatic fluctuations in the resulting stills. It's like a trippy Instragram effect that you can't turn off. Video, meanwhile, is captured at 720p -- or will be. We couldn't get this one to record so much as a frame of footage.</P><BR>Can a Phone with No Name revolutionize the industry? We wouldn't go that far, but we're suitably intrigued. For not much extra thickness and a modest amount of extra heft you wind up with twice the screen size and, if indeed that 128GB model comes to pass, about four times the storage capacity of your average superphone of today. The question is, of course, how much will it cost, and given the premium construction and hardware, we can say with confidence that this will not be a Free After Rebate device. <br /><P>And then there's the software. Without the ability to natively run Android apps full-screen, a good amount of developer support is going to be required to make this thing really shine. Developers won't be inclined to support it without a lot of sales... which won't happen without the developer support. You know how it goes. But, if going full-screen really does require just diddling a line in a manifest file, we're thinking most devs will throw that in to the "why not?" category.</P><br /><P>And, of course, there's the question of what to call the thing. We can't help getting a Clint Eastwood vibe here, and sticking with his most famous character's Italian Spaghetti Western roots, we kind of like Senza Nome. For now, anyway, until we figure out exactly which company will be bringing this thing to market.</P><br /><P><STRONG>Update</STRONG>: We got an official promo video of the thing. Check it out:</P> <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/prototype-dual-screened-2-in-1-android-smartpad-from-imerj-previ/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-729216793325455126?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/0E7MttgwUQA" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-02T22:47:00.756+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/prototype-dual-screened-2-in-1-android.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~3/DCropuQsOc0/camera-equipped-hexacopter-turns-summer.htmlvideoaerialvideoshexacoptervacationmasterworksturnssummerCameraequippednoreply@blogger.com (Alice)Sat, 02 Jul 2011 03:08:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931116476632849406.post-2407831335028905964Wakeboarding is so</EM> 2005. Wakeboarding with a camera-packing six-rotor MikroKopter tracking your every jump and belly flop? Now that sounds like something we can get behind. The folks over at MikroKopter have renewed our interest in the sport by mounting a FollowMe transmitter (which lets the drone track your every move), along with a GoPro camera to one watersportsman's helmet. They then sent a hexacopter drone, equipped with a Canon T2i, into the air to follow the boarder as he rode across the water. The resulting video definitely puts any and all of our family vacation videos to shame. High-flying video evidence awaits you after the break. <br /><P><A href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/camera-equipped-hexacopter-turns-summer-vacation-videos-into-aer/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">View the original article here</A></P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/931116476632849406-2407831335028905964?l=www.gamesandgadget.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamesAndGadgetsReview/~4/DCropuQsOc0" height="1" width="1"/>2011-07-02T17:08:00.711+07:000http://www.gamesandgadget.com/2011/07/camera-equipped-hexacopter-turns-summer.htmlnonadult