Archive for the ‘Gadget’ Category
July 14th, 2010 | 
Author: The CEO of mobile games developer Fishlabs, Michael Schade, has proclaimed that an “iPad HD” will be headed to the market within the next year and that mobile devices will be shipped with rendering capabilities greater than those of the Xbox 360 in that same time frame. A new iPad doesn’t seem like a stretch, but could we really see mobile devices on par with the 360 so soon? Schade certainly seems to be confident in that happening.
“I think you can expect some time next year to have rendering capabilities on mobile devices superior to the Xbox 360,” Schade said during the ‘Mobile Becomes Console’ session at a recent Develop Conference, according to Develop.
He continued, “And I believe by the end of the year the ‘iDevices’ could have sold 120m copies, which puts them close to a par with the PS2’s 140m.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 
Tags: 
Take this one with a bucket of salt and whatever else goes well with unconfirmed reports, but according to the online rumor mill, Samsung’s upcoming i9200 Galaxy S2 — the successor to the Galaxy S — will sport some serious hardware when it supposedly shows up in early 2011.
According to leaked reports, the Galaxy S2 will come outfitted with a 2GHz processor paired with 1GB of RAM (and 4GB ROM). Like the original Galaxy S, the S2 is expected to strut into the mobile scene with a Super AMOLED 2 display capable of a 1280×720 resolution, only this one will measure 4.3 inches.
Other rumored hardware consists of 32GB of built-in flash memory, a microSD card slot, 8MP camera with Full HD recording, GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, 3.5mm audio jack, accelerometer, gyroscope, and proximity and ambient light sensors. Read the rest of this entry »
The latest demonstration of Aldebaran Robotics’ Nao robot shows 20 robots performing a 3-part synchronized dance, preparing for France’s Pavilion Day. The Nao robot, humanoid in design, showcases its great range of motion by deftly moving its numerous joints and appendages in an impressive mimicry of human movement.
While these robots might not win “So You Think You Can Dance?” any time soon, close inspection of their movements shows that Nao has 25 degrees of freedom. Particularly impressive are the moves requiring Nao to stand/sit. See the video here.
The Nao robots have been around for since 2006, but are continuously being upgraded, and programmers are finding increasingly impressive ways to show off their abilities. Read the rest of this entry »
1. Civilization V
This fifth incarnation of the grand-daddy of strategy games looks like it will be the best one ever. New to the world- and empire-building mix this time around: more nuanced victory options, increased tactical depth, a cloud-based save-game system that will allow you to play your games on different systems, the elimination of unit stacks, and a much more vibrant and dynamic game map.
2. Portal 2
GLaDOS and the Aperture Science Labs are back, and so is the smartest first person game we’ve ever played. Valve showed off a short demonstration of Portal 2 that introduced a handful of new puzzle-solving mechanisms including pneumatic-style tubes and texture paints with special properties, as well as a hilarious new sidekick.
3. Origin PC EON15-3D
If you read the August issue of Maximum PC, you probably remember that Origin PC’s Genesis system was the fastest PC to ever grace our lab. Imagine our delight when we stumbled upon the company’s EON15-3D laptop at the show. It’s fully customizable—you can build one out with up to a Core i7 820QM quad-core CPU—and is fully enabled for 3D gaming. Read the rest of this entry »
I can’t claim to be a lifelong soccer fan, but as someone who began following the sport with a convert’s fervor in the past few years, I’ve come to rely on coverage from The Times Online for my footy fix. The London newspaper provides exhaustive coverage of the game that not only satisfies fanatics but that novices should find accessible as well.
Just in time for the World Cup, Times Newspapers has rushed out a mobile version of its soccer coverage. The Game–World Cup Edition delivers the strong content you’d expect from The Times. Unfortunately, with the first version of this $4 app, the delivery is a little lackluster.
The Game divides its content among four tabs running along the bottom of the screen–Blog, News, Matchcentre, and Webchat. Screenshots for the app promise a fifth tab–Podcasts–but that doesn’t appear in the 1.0 version of the app I downloaded a few days ago. (More on that later.) Read the rest of this entry »
Even if you reject the iPad on an intestinal level—you know, because you don’t want to be associated with mock turtlenecks and man bags—then you should still view Apple’s device as a referendum on the looming wave of tablet computers. The bottom line is that the iPad is damn useful. The referendum has passed.
The LED-backlit display clocks 1024×768 pixels across 9.7 diagonal inches. Those are netbook-like specs in a physical formfactor that’s more attractive (both aesthetically and functionally) than any netbook. The best part about the screen is that it defines the iPad in toto—without the baggage of a hinged physical keyboard, track pad, or pointing stick, the iPad thrives when typing, web-surfing, or doing similarly simple tasks while lying on your back.
For couch-based computing, just prop the iPad in the angle of your lap. In landscape mode, the virtual keyboard stretches 7.75 inches edge-to-edge, providing easy typing targets. But it’s really the iPad’s touch navigation that makes the device so convenient when working in a prone position. Read the rest of this entry »
Pandigital, best known for making digital photo frames, announced today an Android-powered e-book reader called Novel, a slick device with a 7-inch touchscreen LCD. Let’s first check out the specs: the Novel has a 7-inch color 800-by-600 LCD. It lacks 3G and a camera, but the Novel has an ARM 11 processor, Wi-Fi, and 1GB of internal memory (a 2GB model will be available in June) as well as slot for SD/MMC cards. The battery life is purportedly good for around six hours, or about one flight across the US.
On top of an Android operating system (this means lots of apps!), you’ll be able to download over a million e-books from Barnes and Noble’s eBookstore, as well as watch video and show off photos. Novel supports PDF, ePUB, as well as HTML.
Let’s talk about price: the Novel will set you back $199, while Amazon’s Kindle costs $259 and Apple’s iPad starts at $499. Pandigital already has a huge network of retailers, so you’ll be able to pick one up at stores like Kohl’s, Macy’s, Costco or even Bed, Bath & Beyond. Read the rest of this entry »