Wednesday, November 10, 2010

'Beautiful Modeler' app turns iPad into multitouch 3D sculpting device

'Beautiful Modeler' app turns iPad into multitouch 3D sculpting device

Sure, it might not make for as good of an R&B album title as Nilay Patel's "Beautiful Handcuffs," but Interactive Fabrication's "Beautiful Modeler" iPad app is probably a bit more useful (though not as useful with the ladies). The concept is to use the iPad's multitouch screen as an input for multi-finger 3D modeling on a computer, while the tablet's tilt sense lets you navigate around the object. Sure, it's not as slick or precise as, say, the Axsotic 3D mouse, but it also looks a whole lot more "tangible." Unfortunately, the app is currently unavailable on the App Store, and we have no idea if it's ever headed for a computer near you -- Interactive Fabrication is all about the high concept stuff, leaving the execution to individuals -- but there's some freely available GPL-licensed source code if you want to take a crack at compiling and making a real product out of this. Check out a video of the sculpting in action after the break.

[Thanks, Danil]

Continue reading 'Beautiful Modeler' app turns iPad into multitouch 3D sculpting device

'Beautiful Modeler' app turns iPad into multitouch 3D sculpting device originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Razer Sixense controller becomes virtual camera for your next machinima epic (video)

Razer Sixense controller becomes virtual camera for your next machinima epic (video)

Razer Sixense controller becomes virtual camera for your next machinima epic (video)

Fan of machinima? Then you're used to static shots in which a character walks into the scene, says his line, makes a silly joke, and then walks off again. Panning and smooth, flowing shots are not the forte of films created in a virtual world, but the repurposing of some Razer Sixense controllers could let the director really get into the scene thanks to researchers at Abertay University. They borrowed an idea from Avatar, in which James Cameron commissioned cameras with motion-tracking viewfinders so that he could see the virtual world through which the actors were moving. The team at Abertay uses Sixense controllers similarly to control a virtual camera, which would let gamers find dramatic, sweeping angles for their replays. Or, you know, just get a super closeup of that post-melee victory dance.

Continue reading Razer Sixense controller becomes virtual camera for your next machinima epic (video)

Razer Sixense controller becomes virtual camera for your next machinima epic (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rough edges cut deep: Android still facing years-old unlock screen bug, Gmail 2.3 attachment woes have Google stumped

Rough edges cut deep: Android still facing years-old unlock screen bug, Gmail 2.3 attachment woes have Google stumped

So, that new 2.3 version of Gmail that launched in September? Yeah, we'd steer clear if you haven't nabbed it yet. Google's currently trying to track down a bug that's leaving many users (including our own hapless Chris Ziegler) unable to download any attachments. Interestingly, or disconcertingly if you're of the pessimistic sort, Google actually has a "Gmail attachment issues investigation" page set up to allow highly technical users to submit debug reports of the problem. Sure, we're all for crowd sourcing, but we also wouldn't mind a big sturdy "hey guys, we've got this" on an issue of this magnitude. The worst part? You can't revert to the old version of Gmail if you've got the latest OTA update on your fancy new T-Mobile G2.

Interestingly, while we were discussing this issue, ensconced in the Engadget HQ jacuzzi, adult beverages in hand, we got a tip from some poor soul detailing a bug that's been in Android since the G1 days. Basically, if you fail at the pattern unlock too many times, the phone will ask you to enter your Google account info to unlock your phone. Sounds like a smart security feature, but unfortunately it doesn't work. The insanely detailed thread on Google's Android bug tracker reads like a history of the Android platform and the futility of man rolled into one, with various workarounds being discovered for different phones, and many desperate users resorting to wiping their phones and starting over. Sure it's minimal in the grand scheme of things, and plenty of platforms have outstanding bugs years after release, but we figured a little *bump* couldn't do anyone any harm. This one's for you, Dylan R.

Rough edges cut deep: Android still facing years-old unlock screen bug, Gmail 2.3 attachment woes have Google stumped originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TAT's Dimension S3D is a user interface for stereoscopic TVs (video)

TAT's Dimension S3D is a user interface for stereoscopic TVs (video)

You can't quite see it without 3D glasses, of course, but this clock is actually sticking out of the screen -- one of several illustrious illusions in this latest concept interface from the dreamers at TAT, spotted at Open Mobile Summit 2010. Give that watch face a spin, and you'll find a working countdown timer on the back, or browse through icon-based music, weather and Twitter interfaces, a media browser and a Rubik's Cube that spins in 3D space. The firm's calling the setup Dimension S3D, though like most TAT concepts, it's not for sale in its present form -- the company hopes to license the underlying framework to TV manufacturers who want to build menus in 3D, and hopefully attract content providers to build 3D apps as well. TAT wasn't naming names, but said that two "major" TV manufacturers had already expressed interest in possibly signing up. See what it looks like (in just two dimensions, of course) on video after the break.

Continue reading TAT's Dimension S3D is a user interface for stereoscopic TVs (video)

TAT's Dimension S3D is a user interface for stereoscopic TVs (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 23:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LaCie speeds up Philippe Starck mobile hard drive with USB 3.0

LaCie speeds up Philippe Starck mobile hard drive with USB 3.0

We've always been fans of LaCie's Starck Mobile Drives, designed by the inimitable Phillip Starck, and now they're getting a little speed boost, courtesy of USB 3.0. The 500GB drive is still housed in the same "liquid metal trapped in a box" enclosure as the previous editions, and it comes bundled with 10GB of online storage at Wuala Online for $109 in the US and £89 in the UK. Looks like it's out of stock just at the moment, but we'd imagine it'll arrive soon. Shot of the back and PR after the break.

Continue reading LaCie speeds up Philippe Starck mobile hard drive with USB 3.0

LaCie speeds up Philippe Starck mobile hard drive with USB 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry PlayBook to cost 'under' $500

BlackBerry PlayBook to cost 'under' $500

RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie finally gave us a crucial bit of information about the BlackBerry Playbook this morning: price, or at least a threshold. According to a Korean interview, Balsillie said that RIM's 7-inch tablet will be "very competitively priced" with Bloomberg quoting the man saying that it will be "under" $500 when it hits North America in the first quarter of 2011, expanding globally in Q2. A price that should at least match the 9.7-inch WiFi-only iPad (16GB) and undercut the 7-inch 3G Galaxy Tab which goes on sale on Verizon tomorrow for $599.99. Thing is, by the time Q1 rolls around we're going to be looking at many, many more viable tablet alternatives including a likely Apple refresh.

BlackBerry PlayBook to cost 'under' $500 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 01:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung 7-inch Super AMOLED panel showcased on 'next gen' Galaxy Tab

Samsung 7-inch Super AMOLED panel showcased on 'next gen' Galaxy Tab

We were promised a 7-inch Super AMOLED display at FPD 2010 and Samsung has duly delivered. What's less predictable about this yummy new hardware's debut, however, is the fact that it was built right into a Galaxy Tab. Yes, our postulations that Samsung intends to spruce up its "pocket-friendly" slate with a ~~1200~~ x 600 resolution and an extra lick of hyper-advanced screen technology seem to have been spot on, as OLED-Display reports the device on show was indeed the company's "next generation" Tab. We only wish there was more than just that one image -- we'll be hounding the internet for more, rest assured!

Update: Samsung's official note on the matter lists a WSVGA resolution (i.e. 1024 x 600 as on the current Tab) and some amateur geometry applied to the image does indeed show the prototype screen above has a smaller ratio than the requisite 2:1 for a 1200 x 600 pixel display. Ah well, we still want one. Also, check out Netbook News below for more images.

Continue reading Samsung 7-inch Super AMOLED panel showcased on 'next gen' Galaxy Tab

Samsung 7-inch Super AMOLED panel showcased on 'next gen' Galaxy Tab originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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10.1-inch Galaxy Tab teased with prototype panel?

10.1-inch Galaxy Tab teased with prototype panel?

Does that look like a 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab to you? Sure does to us though Tech-on! is calling it an "electronic book reader" prototype from Samsung. Thing is, when was the last time you made a 3G video call using a dedicated ebook reader? The 10.1-inch panel is a 1.8-mm thick LCD prototype on display right now at the FPD International trade show in Japan. It features a 1,024 x 600 pixel panel resolution, 250nits brightness, 1,000:1 contrast, and covers 50 percent of the NTSC color gamut. Oh, and it's said to be unbreakable. And while this particular slim panel won't be ready for commercialization for another two or three years, there's nothing stopping Samsung from bunging a production-ready LCD into the 10-inch Galaxy Tab promised for 2011. Check the new LCD in profile after the break.

Continue reading 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab teased with prototype panel?

10.1-inch Galaxy Tab teased with prototype panel? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 03:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Venue Pro has a microSD card slot, you'll just need to void your warranty to use it

Dell Venue Pro has a microSD card slot, you'll just need to void your warranty to use it

Remember the good chap that brought us pictorial evidence of the Venue Pro in Microsoft stores on Monday? Well, he was fortunate enough to snag one of those precious devices for himself and today he's back on the path of spreading enlightenment by revealing that Dell's 4.1-inch WP7 slider comes with a microSD card slot. Storage expandability is something of a running ~~joke~~ backstory for Windows Phone 7, with HTC hiding its expansion slots deeply within the 7 Mozart and HD7 and Samsung's more readily accessible one on the Focus also throwing up issues. The Venue Pro's approach is closer to Samsung's, insofar as you don't have to tear down the phone to stick a new microSD card inside it, but it does expect you to bust through a warranty sticker to get at the port. So it's there and can be used, but the risk will be all yours if you do.

[Thanks, dawookie]

Dell Venue Pro has a microSD card slot, you'll just need to void your warranty to use it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 04:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8 welcomes iPads, iPhones and iPods into its emporium of awesome

Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8 welcomes iPads, iPhones and iPods into its emporium of awesome

iPod and iPhone users aren't exactly bereft of choice for places to dock their audio transporters, but what if you prefer to keep your music collection on your iPad? Okay, actually there are a couple of options for you out there as well, but few will be quite as bodacious (or as expensive, we're sure) as Bang & Olufsen's latest. The BeoSound 8 straps a pair of cones to a connecting bar, adds some feet, a wall bracket, and a remote control, and sends you home to enjoy some "outstanding sound performance." USB and auxiliary line-in connectors are available if you're not dancing to Steve Jobs' tune, while the body can be had in white or black and the speaker covers come in a variety of colors to express your individuality with. Look for the BeoSound 8 at your nearest B&O outlet later this month.

[Thanks, Jesper]

Gallery: Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8 speaker dock

Continue reading Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8 welcomes iPads, iPhones and iPods into its emporium of awesome

Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8 welcomes iPads, iPhones and iPods into its emporium of awesome originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 06:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monday, November 08, 2010

How NOT to conduct surveys and interpret the results; why surveys are utterly useless (go ahead, I dare you to read it) http://bit.ly/cPQXrl

Samsung shows off 70-inch 'Ultra Definition' 3DTV

Samsung shows off 70-inch 'Ultra Definition' 3DTV

Continuing a fine tradition of large, high resolution prototype displays, Samsung Electronics picked today to show off its latest innovation, in the form of the world's first 70-inch, "Ultra Definition" 240Hz 3DTV. That UD tag indicates a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels that puts your current HDTV and even larger projection 1080p 3D units to shame. The big deal in this version is the super high speed silicon Samsung has developed to drive all those pixels fast enough to support smooth motion and 3D viewing -- glasses still required, of course.

Continue reading Samsung shows off 70-inch 'Ultra Definition' 3DTV

Samsung shows off 70-inch 'Ultra Definition' 3DTV originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 12:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rocketfish serves up 4-port WirelessHD kit, wireless headphones

Rocketfish serves up 4-port WirelessHD kit, wireless headphones

Remember the FlyWire? Time to fuhgettaboutit it. While Belkin saw fit to kill the flagship wireless HDMI product of the last decade, a number of other firms have moved forward with similar ideas -- thankfully for far less cheddar in many cases. Take this guy, for instance. Best Buy's in-house Rocketfish label has just introduced a four-port WirelessHD kit, which consists of two separate pieces that work in unison to pipe 1080p content from up to four HDMI sources (one at a time, obviously) to a single HDMI-equipped display. It's utilizing the same 60GHz WirelessHD protocol that's been hanging around for years, and supposedly it can operate with around 33 feet of space between boxes. There's support for 3D video, CEC remote functionality and surround sound, and it'll even auto-sense which HDMI socket is active and change over to that one for you. At $299.99, it's definitely one of the cheaper ways to cut an HDMI cable from your setup, but only time will tell if artifacting is an issue. In semi-related news, Rocketfish is also debuting a set of wireless cans at $119.99, with the full details on those waiting just after the break.

Continue reading Rocketfish serves up 4-port WirelessHD kit, wireless headphones

Rocketfish serves up 4-port WirelessHD kit, wireless headphones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 09:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OCZ RevoDrive X2 PCIe SSD reviewed: blisteringly fast in every conceivable way

OCZ RevoDrive X2 PCIe SSD reviewed: blisteringly fast in every conceivable way

Hard to say why OCZ Technology pushed out revision two of its RevoDrive so soon after the original launched, but it's hard to complain with numbers like this. Just in time to shock the performance hound in your life with an outlandish Christmas gift comes the RevoDrive X2, and this here PCIe SSD solution has now been benchmarked to the hilt. The bottom line? It's fast. Really fast. In fact, Hot Hardware calls it "simply one of the fastest PCI Express based SSD solutions" that they have tested, noting that it went toe-to-toe with Fusion-io's ioXtreme while costing a good bit less. Critics over at Tweak Town echoed those thoughts, and while both teams felt the $680 asking price for a 240GB model was a touch pricey, neither felt that it wasn't worth it if you've got the coin laying around. Hit the links below for more charts than you'd ever want to see as an eight grader.

OCZ RevoDrive X2 PCIe SSD reviewed: blisteringly fast in every conceivable way originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 11:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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advertisers getting smarter (video effectiveness) - http://bit.ly/bU3pqs; consumers shopping savvier (private label) - http://bit.ly/9yBfm8

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