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22-foot tall robot crafted entirely from excess styrofoam July 3, 2008

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Filed under: Robots

Building a big robot is nothing to congratulate yourself on, but doing it in this manner is certainly worthy of a little self-indulgence. The creature you see standing before you is a 22-foot tall Styrobot constructed entirely from spare polystyrene packing materials, and no, each piece didn't just show up that way. Michael Salter managed to whittle away on this beast until its completion, and now we're hearing that it'll be going on a short demonstration tour before being "decommissioned." We say throw a brain in there and see what happens when you cut it loose.

[Via TechDigest]

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22-foot tall robot crafted entirely from excess styrofoam

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Filed under: Robots

Building a big robot is nothing to congratulate yourself on, but doing it in this manner is certainly worthy of a little self-indulgence. The creature you see standing before you is a 22-foot tall Styrobot constructed entirely from spare polystyrene packing materials, and no, each piece didn't just show up that way. Michael Salter managed to whittle away on this beast until its completion, and now we're hearing that it'll be going on a short demonstration tour before being "decommissioned." We say throw a brain in there and see what happens when you cut it loose.

[Via TechDigest]

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LG enV2 Review - Wired

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Wired reviews the LG enV2 and writes, "...There’s a 2 megapixel camera, but even if you have figured out how to comfortably hold an altoid-can-clamshell without blocking the much smaller lens with your fingers, pics and video turn out pretty grainy. Where to end? Do yourself a favor, if confronted with the choice of purchasing an enV2 think long and hard about it. After all, you're stuck with this device for two years."

Read more about the LG enV2.

LG enV2 Review - Wired

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Wired reviews the LG enV2 and writes, "...There’s a 2 megapixel camera, but even if you have figured out how to comfortably hold an altoid-can-clamshell without blocking the much smaller lens with your fingers, pics and video turn out pretty grainy. Where to end? Do yourself a favor, if confronted with the choice of purchasing an enV2 think long and hard about it. After all, you're stuck with this device for two years."

Read more about the LG enV2.

Sanyo Katana LX Review - Phonemag

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Phonemag reviews the Sanyo Katana LX and writes, "Sadly, that new OLED display is one of the few improvements from the previous model. If the Katana II was a basic phone raised by virtue of its appearance, then the LX is a disappointingly mediocre one hoping its looks will blind buyers to its shortcomings. Yes, there’s GPS and tagless voice-dialling (the latter another of the rare new features), but the camera is still the same VGA unit that, at a time when 2-megapixels seems lacking, is hopelessly outclassed."

Read more about the Sanyo Katana LX.

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic Review - SiliconRepublic

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SiliconRepublic reviews the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic and writes, "Its smooth exterior matches its functionality. It has the usual trimmings which come with mobile phones these days: photos, video, organiser, games and web browsing. The camera quality is fairly typical of camera phones, ie best for clandestine use. The video recording capability too is extremely basic."

Read more about the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic.

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic Review - SiliconRepublic

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SiliconRepublic reviews the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic and writes, "Its smooth exterior matches its functionality. It has the usual trimmings which come with mobile phones these days: photos, video, organiser, games and web browsing. The camera quality is fairly typical of camera phones, ie best for clandestine use. The video recording capability too is extremely basic."

Read more about the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic.

Palm Treo 755p Review - CrunchGear

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CrunchGear reviews the Palm Treo 755p and writes, "There are quite a few built-in applications, and the Palm implementation of Google Maps is perfect. The application works well with a stylus, and many of the desktop features are included. The 1.3-Megapixel camera is adequate, and it has that nifty self portrait mirror so, so popular with slutty teens on MySpace...There’s a button on the side that can be customized to open any application, though it defaults to activating the camera...One of these days all phone manufacturers will realize that a camera without a flash is kind of silly. Here’s hoping Palm is one of them."

Read more about the Palm Treo 755p.

Palm Treo 755p Review - CrunchGear

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CrunchGear reviews the Palm Treo 755p and writes, "There are quite a few built-in applications, and the Palm implementation of Google Maps is perfect. The application works well with a stylus, and many of the desktop features are included. The 1.3-Megapixel camera is adequate, and it has that nifty self portrait mirror so, so popular with slutty teens on MySpace...There’s a button on the side that can be customized to open any application, though it defaults to activating the camera...One of these days all phone manufacturers will realize that a camera without a flash is kind of silly. Here’s hoping Palm is one of them."

Read more about the Palm Treo 755p.

Anti-terrorist drill reveals Segway attack plan, legions of embarrassed patrolmen

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Filed under: Transportation

Ah, ha! So, that Chinese S.W.A.T. team we caught ridin' dirty on Segways earlier this week actually had a reason to be carrying on like they were -- they were performing anti-terrorist drills in preparation for security during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Comically enough, the drill was said to be one of "rapid deployment," though we aren't told how many spills were taken when officers tried to actually maneuver one of these things around, aim at a target, pull a brown bag down around their head and keep it from spontaneously reversing. Just one question guys: what's with the tiny guns?

[Via CNET]

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Ask Engadget: What’s the best HDD-based portable media player out there?

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Filed under: Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

These days, the cool kids are looking to do more than just play back the freshest jams on their portable media player. We're talking video, PVR, WiFi, the works. Have a listen at Marco's question, and if you think you could do one better, send in your inquiry to ask at engadget dawt com:

"I'm looking for a new PMP, but I want a unit that can do it all. A large screen, big hard drive, support for lots of codecs, PVR functionality, TV output, etc. I'd also like Bluetooth and / or WiFi if possible. I don't mind units that are somewhat bulky, but I want one with a great user interface and decent battery life. Any help here?"

Yeah, he totally just called the Archos / Cowon fanboys from the woodwork, but seriously, what would you recommend to this fellow? Is your current PMP a dream come true? Would you advise against getting whatever you've got? Spill your soul in comments below.

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Ask Engadget: What’s the best HDD-based portable media player out there?

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Filed under: Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

These days, the cool kids are looking to do more than just play back the freshest jams on their portable media player. We're talking video, PVR, WiFi, the works. Have a listen at Marco's question, and if you think you could do one better, send in your inquiry to ask at engadget dawt com:

"I'm looking for a new PMP, but I want a unit that can do it all. A large screen, big hard drive, support for lots of codecs, PVR functionality, TV output, etc. I'd also like Bluetooth and / or WiFi if possible. I don't mind units that are somewhat bulky, but I want one with a great user interface and decent battery life. Any help here?"

Yeah, he totally just called the Archos / Cowon fanboys from the woodwork, but seriously, what would you recommend to this fellow? Is your current PMP a dream come true? Would you advise against getting whatever you've got? Spill your soul in comments below.

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Matias Duarte, designer behind Sidekick and Helio, now developing Palm’s next-gen UI

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Filed under: Cellphones

So we heard from a very reliable source that mobile user interface guru Matias Duarte -- who you may know as the man behind the Sidekick and Helio UI / user experiences -- actually left Helio late last year to join up with Palm. Although no announcement was made, we hear he and his gang of designers jumped ship (well before Helio completely flooded) to take on the monumental task of designing the UI for Palm's next-gen mobile OS (aka "Palm OS 2.0 or II"). His resume online now lists him as "Senior Director, Human Interface and User Experience" doing "Something new..." since September 2007; we got in touch with Palm, who confirmed that he's now under the company's employ.

Of course, expectations should be pretty high -- Palm's only been promising this supposedly game-changing OS since around 2004, and the company's reputation and pedigree is (or at least it used to be) in groundbreaking mobile UI design. But this news also kind of makes us wonder: if they didn't have a killer UI and user experience team already in place and long-since working their asses off by late 2007, exactly how far along are they on this thing, anyway?

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Hitachi and Seiyu develop light bulb with replaceable arc tube

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Filed under: Household

While the rest of the world goes off to win the hearts of environmentalists (and laypeople, too) with LED light bulbs, Hitachi Lighting and Seiyu are taking the road (way) less traveled. Reportedly, the duo has collaborated in order to pop out a "bulb-shaped fluorescent lamp that can be separated into a lighting circuit unit and an arc tube unit." What this means is that the lighting circuit can be used repeatedly (up to 30,000 hours) while the arc tube simply gets replaced every 10,000 hours. The pair is hoping that the bulbs will take the place of traditional 60-watt incandescents, and considering that these only draw around 13-watts each, it's fairly easy to see how Mother Earth would just love you for making the switch. As for pricing, we're hearing that these will sell for around ¥1,500 ($14) apiece when they launch this October in Japan, so don't plan on recouping your investment in energy savings right away or anything.

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Motorola’s worldly Q9: “Napoleon” breaks cover for Verizon

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

It looks like Motorola and Verizon are getting ready to take a third crack at the Q9 form factor, following up the Q9m and Q9c -- and this time around, there's a little something extra in store. On top of the EV-DO Rev. A radio, the so-called "Napoleon" (codename, of course) features GSM, because -- surprise, surprise -- businesspeople who use Windows Mobile devices tend to do just a bit of traveling. It looks like Moto has taken this opportunity to give the Q9 meme a little nip-tuck job, too, with a rounded body and a tastefully-applied ring of chrome around the top edge. They've even tossed in a fingerprint scanner for good measure, a tip o' the hat to the suits who'll undoubtedly populate the upper 90 percent of this sucker's client base. No word on a release date or price, but can we cautiously submit a thumbs-up for the design direction here?

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Motorola’s worldly Q9: “Napoleon” breaks cover for Verizon

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

It looks like Motorola and Verizon are getting ready to take a third crack at the Q9 form factor, following up the Q9m and Q9c -- and this time around, there's a little something extra in store. On top of the EV-DO Rev. A radio, the so-called "Napoleon" (codename, of course) features GSM, because -- surprise, surprise -- businesspeople who use Windows Mobile devices tend to do just a bit of traveling. It looks like Moto has taken this opportunity to give the Q9 meme a little nip-tuck job, too, with a rounded body and a tastefully-applied ring of chrome around the top edge. They've even tossed in a fingerprint scanner for good measure, a tip o' the hat to the suits who'll undoubtedly populate the upper 90 percent of this sucker's client base. No word on a release date or price, but can we cautiously submit a thumbs-up for the design direction here?

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Is the BlackBerry KickStart getting a $50 price tag on T-Mobile?

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Filed under: Cellphones

We could tell by looking that RIM wouldn't think of charging too many hundies for its still unannounced BlackBerry KickStart, but $49.99? CrackBerry has it that said flip phone will be selling at T-Mobile for a penny under $50 on a two-year contract, which certainly seems smart given the competition. 'Course, we've nothing to substantiate this with just yet, but take one more look at that chubby side and tell us this thing deserves a triple digit price tag. That's right, you can't.

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NVIDIA said to be dropping GeForce GTX 280 price in response to AMD

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

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Gateway’s 17-inch P-6831FX gaming laptop gets reviewed

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Given that Gateway just pushed out a round of updates including the relatively ginormous P Series, we reckon it was only logical to expect a review shortly. To be frank, the P-6831FX critiqued over at HotHardware is far from being the most potent machine with a 17-inch panel, but unlike many of its luxurious competitors, this one is actually affordable. So, how much gaming joy can $1,349.99 bring you? Quite a bit when the 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS and 3GB of RAM are included. Reviewers found gaming performance to be downright remarkable, though the 1.67GHz CPU did hamper it a bit in other areas. It should be noted that the unit now arrives with a slightly faster CPU among other minor extras, so if it was good then, we're guessing it's a runaway winner now.

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HP rolls out Puma-based Compaq 6735b, 6535b business laptops

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Filed under: Laptops

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HP rolls out Puma-based Compaq 6735b, 6535b business laptops

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Introducing Engadget Korean and German!

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Filed under: Announcements

Remember how when we launched Engadget Poland a couple weeks ago we said that we were just getting started rolling out new international versions of the site? Well, today we're announcing two exciting new Engadgets we've waited for years to get started: Korean and German! They're both in beta, so to speak, so try not to mind the sawdust as we work out the kinks. Big ups to Brian, Jason, Manfred, and everyone at our international teams that made these new sites possible. Oh, and if you're waiting for Engadget in your language of choice, don't worry, Korean and German aren't the last we'll be rolling out!

Read - Engadget Korea
Read - Engadget Germany

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Sony talks future of OLED, Blu-ray’s chances against DVD

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

In case you didn't get the message, Sony's due sooner-rather-than-later 27-inch OLED is going to be priced for the Mark Cubans, Bill Gates' and other people not you of the world, at least for the next couple of years. Even with recent massive investments, U.S. head Stan Glasgow tells CNET OLEDs in the future could be seen as a premium alternative to LCDs, but don't expect Sony to jump on smaller screens while they wait for the technology to catch up, HDTV is the focus. As for the upcoming standard def-streaming Hancock experiment? The first of many, if things go well, while at the same time he acknowledges format war winner Blu-ray may not penetrate to the same level as DVD since "a lot of people may be happy with an upconverting DVD player" -- which would be music to Toshiba's ears.

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Top 10 Ultraportable Laptops

Posted by admin in : Tech Reviews , add a comment Ideal for the mobile professional, these notebooks stand out for their low weight and small footprint. Ratings and rankings can change due to pricing and technology changes, so check back frequently for the latest info.

Telus announces HTC Touch Diamond for a summer release

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Though the Sprint version is the most well-scooped CDMA variant thus far, Telus is actually becoming the first carrier 'round these parts to announce the Touch Diamond imbued with a little EV-DO for your data-consumption pleasure. The phone will run $149.99 CAD (which is just about a wash in US dollars) on a three-year contract, accompanied by data plans ranging from $15 for email and instant messaging to $30 for email, IM, and web browsing. Sprint, Verizon, we anxiously await your press releases.

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Telus announces HTC Touch Diamond for a summer release

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Though the Sprint version is the most well-scooped CDMA variant thus far, Telus is actually becoming the first carrier 'round these parts to announce the Touch Diamond imbued with a little EV-DO for your data-consumption pleasure. The phone will run $149.99 CAD (which is just about a wash in US dollars) on a three-year contract, accompanied by data plans ranging from $15 for email and instant messaging to $30 for email, IM, and web browsing. Sprint, Verizon, we anxiously await your press releases.

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Pentax K200D gets reviewed

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

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Pentax K200D gets reviewed

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

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Dashwire

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Dashwire An easy and effective way to back up and remotely view all the data stored on your Windows Mobile phone. 0.00 Dashwire An easy and

Dell Inspiron 1420

Posted by admin in : Tech Reviews , add a comment The basic 14-inch Inspiron 1420 is a reasonable choice for budget buyers who want something a little smaller than the standard 15-inch chassis, but this laptop has missed out on recent updates other Inspiron models have received.

Dell Inspiron 1420

Posted by admin in : Tech Reviews , add a comment The basic 14-inch Inspiron 1420 is a reasonable choice for budget buyers who want something a little smaller than the standard 15-inch chassis, but this laptop has missed out on recent updates other Inspiron models have received.

Dell Inspiron 1420

Posted by admin in : Tech Reviews , add a comment The basic 14-inch Inspiron 1420 is a reasonable choice for budget buyers who want something a little smaller than the standard 15-inch chassis, but this laptop has missed out on recent updates other Inspiron models have received.

Scientists create sea-power generating ‘Anaconda’

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Scientists may have discovered a new way to combat the global energy crisis -- and they're calling it the "Anaconda" (we'll give you a moment to purge your mind of any J. Lo films). The system works by utilizing the power of the ocean and long, black rubber tubes (hence the name). The rubber "snakes" are laid just below the sea's surface where they're pounded by the ocean's waves. That movement creates "bulge waves" inside the water-filled tubes, which are then carried up through the devices to a turbine, which in turn sends the energy it produces to shore via cables. So far scientsists have only tested the system on a small scale, though they say the full-size devices could be 200 meters long and seven meters in diameter. That's one giant, deadly snake.

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Sony MDR-222KD Children’s Headphones (black)

Posted by admin in : Tech Reviews , add a comment With their pint-sized design, volume limiting feature, and itty-bitty price tag, the Sony MDR-222KD headphones are a great choice for kids who aren't too concerned with audio quality.

Sony MDR-222KD Children’s Headphones (pink)

Posted by admin in : Tech Reviews , add a comment With their pint-sized design, volume limiting feature, and itty-bitty price tag, the Sony MDR-222KD headphones are a great choice for kids who aren't too concerned with audio quality.

MacBook Air SSD option gets slightly more affordable

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Filed under: Laptops

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MacBook Air SSD option gets slightly more affordable

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OpenMoko says “screw it,” starts taking FreeRunner orders a day early

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

July 4 was the date, but hey, what's the harm in opening up the floodgates just a handful of hours early? Get past the lack of 3G, EDGE, camera, and a rock-solid set of tested, commercialized apps, and open-source phoning nirvana can now be yours for $399 on the plastic.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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OpenMoko says “screw it,” starts taking FreeRunner orders a day early

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

July 4 was the date, but hey, what's the harm in opening up the floodgates just a handful of hours early? Get past the lack of 3G, EDGE, camera, and a rock-solid set of tested, commercialized apps, and open-source phoning nirvana can now be yours for $399 on the plastic.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Nokia E71 - white (unlocked)

Posted by admin in : Tech Reviews , add a comment Mobile professionals who need a powerful but sleek messaging-centric smartphone will be well-served by the Nokia E71; just be prepared to pay a price.

Nokia E71 - gray (unlocked)

Posted by admin in : Tech Reviews , add a comment Mobile professionals who need a powerful but sleek messaging-centric smartphone will be well-served by the Nokia E71; just be prepared to pay a price.

Court Gives Viacom Window on YouTube User Activities