Gadgets Blog News

by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 12th 2008 at 5:19PM LEDs may be snagging the majority of light bulb headlines these days, but Panasonic’s apparently found some room for improvement with compact fluorescents, with it now proclaiming that its new Pa-Look Ball Premium Q bulbs boast the world first “hybrid lighting method.” That apparent innovation consists of a “Quick Lamp” at the center of the bulb, which helps the bulb reach 60% brightness in half the time a conventional compact flourescent takes, and then shuts off automatically once the bulb has reached full brightness. You’ll apparently have to make do with 54 watts of brightness to take advantage of all that, however, not to mention live in Japan. (Read the full post about ‘Panasonic debuts “hybrid lighting” Pa-Look compact fluorescent bulbs’…)

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Popular rock band Pearl Jam and Verizon Wireless under its V Cast service have reached an agreement that will allow Verizon to sell selected tracks from the band’s long-running live bootleg program. Pearl Jam made the deal in line with its current promotional gig for their summer tour which will kicked off in West Palm Beach, Florida. Moving forward, three tracks from each of Pearl Jam’s shows will be distributed by Verizon via its V Cast service. Likewise, Pearl Jam fans can also either purchase or download those tracks by visiting PearlJamConcerts.com. Those Pearl Jam tracks will be offered in a “dual downloads” scheme, meaning each track will be sent to fans’ mobile phone and at the same time to their computers. (Read the full post about ‘Pearl Jam seals disitribution deal for live bootlegs with Verizon’…)

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 12th 2008 at 3:18PM Robots do all sorts of things, but climbing walls seems to be a goal engineers can’t live without. Meet the Waalbot which is fitted with gecko-like micro fiber feet that can sick to vertical and even ceiling surfaces. In addition, the legs are wheeled with three feet that can rotate and cruise over surface curvature and even grab onto other walls at right angles. Unlike other wall-climbing robots, this one is small and light, and given its diminutive size, capacity varies depending on the surface type and size of feet. (Read the full post about ‘Waalbot, the wall-climbing, gecko-footed robot’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 12th 2008 at 7:18PM Another month, another round of layoffs over at Moto. This time, we’re seeing 120 out of the 600 positions in Motorola Labs — the unit responsible for researching pretty much everything ranging from handsets to radio technology — slashed; another 180 are “being reassigned to work in individual business units.” According to the company, the moves from Moto Labs “will help R&D teams work with their business partners to optimize R&D investment and focus on projects that deliver the greatest value for Motorola,” though your guess is as good as our as to what that actually means. Granted, we wouldn’t normally support hacking off a good part of your innovation department, (Read the full post about ‘Motorola slashing 20% of its research division’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 12th 2008 at 6:35PM Add one more to the WiFi projector heap, as Acer has just blasted out a new one. The P5260i features 802.11b/g WiFi and can theoretically support HD streaming of MPEG1/2/4, WMV, AVI, DivX, XviD, ASF and VOD files. Of course, the native 1,024 x 768 resolution puts a damper on all of that, but other specs you may be interested in includes the 2,700 ANSI lumens, 2,000:1 contrast ratio and VGA / DVI / HDMI inputs. (Read the full post about ‘Acer’s P5260i WiFi projector beams imagery sans wires’…)

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jun 12th 2008 at 10:55AM
If you’ve been on the edge of your seat waiting for a new Palm phone on Verizon — today your dreams come true. Truck on over to Engadget Mobile and see thrilling shots of the new Centro in unboxing and hands-on action. You won’t be disappointed, unless you don’t like the Palm Centro. Then you will be disappointed.

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Tags: speaker, camera, lcd, speakers

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Mitsubishi is proud to present you with its new stylish Mitsubishi LT-52244 LCD HDTV. Offering 25% more colors than standard LCDs, this HDTV sports a 52-inch 244 Diamond 1080p LCD Flat Panel screen. Its ultra thin frame and high quality hidden speakers let you enjoy amazing sound effects. With Mitsubishi LT-52244 LCD HDTV you get a fully illuminated remote control. Features Smooth 120 Hz. Full Spectrum Color. xv Color. Plush 1080p. Color 4D Video Noise. You can easily choose from four different video modes namely, brilliant, natural, bright and game available on Mitsubishi LT-52244 LCD HDTV. This new LCD television incorporates some innovative features like NetCommand, PerfecTint, DeepField Imager, PerfectColor and SharpEdge. (Read the full post about ‘Mitsubishi LT-52244 LCD HDTV’…)

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If your flat panel TV is looking entirely too modern in your home, this prototype design might spark your interest. The M21 Flat Panel definitely looks more like one of the earlier TVs than the sleek ones offered today. Although I love how the flat panels look, someone that has a home that is overly retro might not want to slap something so modern into their living room. Something like this would blend in a lot better. Besides that, if you’re robbed by really ignorant criminals, maybe they’ll be fooled and leave it alone thinking it’s just an old outdated TV. The design was made by Joe Wilkerson, but anyone that is great with their hands could probably easily make something similar. (Read the full post about ‘The very retro M21 Flat Panel TV’…)

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 12th 2008 at 11:19AM
PCI 2.0’s doubled-up speed boost was something to celebrate, but think again if you’re looking for such a bump with PCI Express 3.0. The PCI SIG started eking out some details about the new standards, and as of now it looks like PCI express 3.0 will see transfers speeds of 8-gigatransfers per second, compared to 2.0’s 5.0-gigatransfers per second. Channel width and transfer protocol will ultimately determine the amount of information transferred, of course, so the new standard could have some tricks up its sleeves. The good news is that PCI Express 3.0 will use the same connector and will be backwards-compatible with 2.0. (Read the full post about ‘PCI Express 3.0 details surface’…)

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by Ross Rubin, posted Jun 12th 2008 at 1:04PMEach week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment

The last Switched On discussed the traffic-fighting prowess of the the Dash Express, now available for only $299. Its leading ad hoc local information querying and traffic-finding capabilities represent the best potential to transform the portable navigation device from a product used primarily for unfamiliar terrain, to an everyday tool to expedite getting to point B.

When it debuted online at Amazon, it shared prime real estate with another transparently-connected consumer electronics device: the Amazon Kindle. (Read the full post about ‘Switched On: Dash delivers open roads, open questions (Part 2)’…)

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