Toys & Gadgets

This might be the best entry yet in Google's Nexus One video series. Today's double feature is marked by the testing and manufacturing of the device, and while the all-white facilities and assembly lines can be interesting in their own right, we love nothing more than seeing just how Google and HTC stress test its labor of love. Watch it dropped, slammed, bent, poked, and detonated -- okay, maybe not detonated, and we unfortunately don't get to see any phones crack, but it's still good fun. The big game's not on yet, so give yourself a few minutes and hit up the two short videos after the break.

Continue reading Watch Nexus One get built, then beaten mercilessly

Watch Nexus One get built, then beaten mercilessly originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The verdict's still out on whether or not it'll live up to its namesake, but the HTC Incredible is now officially out in the wild and surfing on Verizon's frequencies. Pocketnow managed to obtain a few details along with a batch of leaked photos and video, so here's what we're being told: Snapdragon processor, Android 2.1 with Sense UI, 256MB of RAM, optical mouse pointer, and dual LED flash for the camera. The screen's about 3.5 or 3.7 inches, WVGA resolution and possibly AMOLED. Traditionally shaky video reveal after the break.

[Thanks, Ray]

Continue reading HTC Incredible caught on video rocking Snapdragon, Android 2.1 with Sense UI, and Verizon bands

HTC Incredible caught on video rocking Snapdragon, Android 2.1 with Sense UI, and Verizon bands originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

We live in a world of diverse mobile devices. Laptops, smartphones and everything in between define the mobile experience of the 21st century. But what is the killer application for mobile computing? We all know the theory of killer apps -- they're the reason and the purpose people invest in new devices. The killer app in the early days of PCs was the VisiCalc spreadsheet. PageMaker and the creation of desktop publishing were the killer apps for the GUI-based PC, most notably the Macintosh. But for mobile, it's not as clear; some people think the killer app for mobile is email, while other say it's the mobile web. Personally, I don't think there's one specific killer application -- I think the killer app for mobile is simply context.

Continue reading Entelligence: Context is the killer application for mobile

Entelligence: Context is the killer application for mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What do three bloggers huddled around microphones in frigid locales across the country have on 22 of America's beefiest athletes gathered on the field in Miami? An iPhone app. Oh, actually, no. But Josh Tops, Nilz, and P-Mill most certainly comprise the universe's largest repository of JooJoo insight. That's worth something, right?

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: Disco Rehab - Kids

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01:22 - Nexus One gets a software update, enables multitouch (updated with video!)
05:00 - Motorola Droid gets official multitouch support -- in Google Maps, anyway
14:34 - Nook firmware 1.2 ready for download now (Update: video!)
20:05 - Joojoo tablet now in production, will support full Flash at launch
30:15 - Acer not making a tablet, will focus on ultra-thin laptops
42:20 - Former Microsoft VP Dick Brass weighs in on why Microsoft 'no longer brings us the future'
45:00 - Microsoft responds to Dick Brass: 'We measure our work by its broad impact'
48:20 - Steve Jobs compares iPad battery life to Kindle's: 'You're not going to read for 10 hours' (video)
48:30 - Hachette Book Group also pulls away from Amazon
48:35 - Amazon pulled Macmillan titles due to price conflict -- confirmed (update: they're back!)
51:45 - Verizon advertising says Droid is for men, Pre is for women (video)
58:09 - We're turning comments off for a bit
59:00 - Commenting on Engadget: a human's guide

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Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 182 - 02.07.2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, now, this is some great news, right? The trouble-plagued Large Hadron Collider looks to be doing a bang up job in some of its primary tasks. After breaking the energy record previously held by the Tevatron particle accelerator back at the end of November, 2009, reports are now coming in that the LHC is, in fact, producing some extremely high energy collisions. A research team led by MIT, CERN and the KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics in Budapest, Hungary have released a report detailing findings that the collisions are producing an "unexpectedly" high number of particles called mesons, subatomic particles composed of one quark and one antiquark. The research is considered one of the first steps in the search for rarer particles, and the elusive, theoretical Higgs Boson. The paper, published in the Journal of High Energy Physics has led scientists to fine-tuning their predictive models for how many mesons will be found in even higher energy collisions. Hit the read link for the full, high energy news.

Report: Large Hadron Collider producing tons of awesome collisions originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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My trip to San Francisco that just ended was a short one, and a very successful one. It is always good to see the great team of GigaOM get together, easily the brightest bunch in the tech world (myself excluded). Now that I have time to reflect on this trip, I have come to realize that a tablet would have made the trip much easier. In the world of mobile tech, easier translates into more fun, and I believe that tablets like the iPad have a big role to play in our lives going forward. They are more fun to use than other computers.

I have a long history of using tablets, so I don’t need to be convinced about the utility they provide in a mobile setting. I was able to make a decent living for years as a consultant with a tablet in my hands for note-taking and other tasks. The iPad challenges that history, however, as it is a pure slate with no keyboard other than an onscreen keyboard. This becomes the biggest factor to consider when trying to decide if a tablet like the iPad can meet the user’s needs. My reflections of this recent trip convince me the keyboard would not have been a that big a factor.

This trip to SF I decided to leave the tablet at home and brought the MacBook. I have traveled with the MacBook many times so I knew it would meet my needs on this short trip. It certainly worked OK, but I must admit I was constantly wishing I had the tablet with me. I have traveled with a tablet many times in the past, and reflecting back on this trip I realize the tablet would have made things easier. A tablet would have been more fun, too, and it is important to not overlook that fact.

I can remember a at least dozen times over the course of this short business trip that I wished I had the tablet with me. I wanted to jump online and check some things, as I had a few minutes free and wanted a bigger screen than that on my phone. I could do those things on a notebook, but I repeatedly found myself considering if a quick session was worth the effort. Without the tablet I had to find a place to sit down, pull out the notebook, turn on the 3G modem, do my quick online work and then put it all back in the bag. Many times I felt it was not worth the effort and blew it off. A tablet would have changed all that, as I could have simply pulled it out of the bag, jumped online, and then put it back when done.

I didn’t even pull out the notebook at the airport on the return trip as it was too crowded at the gate, and there was not enough free room to even balance the notebook on my lap. I saw the same “notebook balancing” act in the airport performed by several travelers. I saw one guy drop his notebook off his lap as he struggled to use it. It hit me that a tablet would have been the perfect tool for this situation, and it drove home how many times over the course of this trip a tablet would have made a positive difference.

I should point out that I didn’t have to do a lot of writing during the trip, which would have been a factor had I only brought a slate without a keyboard. That’s certainly something to consider, but many times the lack of a keyboard is not that big an issue. That’s when a slate like the iPad will make a big impression on those not familiar with using a tablet. An onscreen keyboard is sufficient for a lot of things, whether we like them or not.

I had an amusing situation during the trip which points out the power of Apple with mainstream consumers. I was eating a sandwich in the hotel restaurant, reading an e-book on my Kindle. My waiter seemed to be watching me the entire time, and he finally approached me with a question. He asked me if the Kindle was “the iPad, and do you like it.” This was impressive since the iPad is not even available yet, but this non-techie guy was already looking for them. I explained that it was a Kindle, and he kindly informed me that the iPad could also read e-books but do “so much more.” Yes, Apple is going to sell a lot of iPads.

Image courtesy Apple

Related research: Web Tablet Survey: Apple’s iPad Hits Right Notes (sub req’d)

Reading people's annoying "I'm eating such-and-such" tweets gets pretty tiring (though we're just as guilty as the next guy when we have a particularly impressive petit four). Someone with even more time on their hands than us had taken it upon themselves to make a little contraption that, it could be argued, increases Twitter's usefulness just a little. Popcorn Tweets (as it's called) was built using Lego's Mindstorm NXT and is powered by Labview software. Triggered by a #popcorn tweet, the machine's motor is driven by a belt which turns an Archimedes' screw, which in turn moves a kernal of unpopped corn from the hopper to the popper. Of course, you could always just get a bag of Orville Redenbacher's microwave corn, but then... where's the fun in that? The semi-annoying video is after the break.

Continue reading Twitter-powered robotic popcorn machine: media snacker deluxe

Twitter-powered robotic popcorn machine: media snacker deluxe originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's just been a little over a week since IBM researchers announced that they managed to open up a bandgap for graphene-based field-effect transistors, but they're now already back to show off what that's made possible: a 100GHz graphene transistor. What's more, this latest record-setting transistor (which IBM hopes will one day replace silicon transistors) was made using processing technology that's compatible with that currently used in advanced silicon device fabrication, which should no doubt help speed up its eventual commercialization. Of course, any widespread adoption is still quite a ways away, but IBM says that this new transistor "demonstrates clearly that graphene can be utilized to produce high performance devices and integrated circuits." For those keeping score, this first-of-its-kind transistor already beats the frequency performance of current state-of-the-art silicon transistors of the same gate length, which now top out at a mere 40GHz.

IBM demonstrates 100GHz graphene transistor originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first installment of Google's fancy Nexus One design series focused on the sound quality of the device, and on the overall design. Well, part two is here now, and this time, we get to watch while HTC project manager Tomasz Hasinki and Android software engineer Romain Guy give us the goods on the Nexus One's OLED display and the interactive, 3D framework. We're expecting a couple more videos in the series, so grab a very tiny bowl of popcorn (it's pretty short) and check out the video, which is after the break.

Continue reading Nexus One video series, part two: Google schools us on OLED displays

Nexus One video series, part two: Google schools us on OLED displays originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 05:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you ask us, our theory is that the Daleks are rather huggable by nature, but they probably partied a tad too hard with these beer-toting fellas before trashing the world. One such "Heineken Bot" -- crafted by the geniuses at Middlesex University -- turned up at Kinetica Art Fair in London. Daring humans can stop this drifting bot by hovering their hands above its sonar-sensing head, and then place a cup in its holder for some bevvy spat out of its keg. When you're served, the lonewolf continues to wander along its pre-programmed path, probably waiting for the assassination signal from Skynet. See for yourself after the break while you're still alive.

Continue reading Heineken Bot does what it says on the keg, soon to be man's new best friend

Heineken Bot does what it says on the keg, soon to be man's new best friend originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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