As much as we’d like this to be a still from a new, secretly-in-development Cronenberg movie, it’s actually an image of the nightmare-inducing mechanical heart that stars in a new series of Sony ads set to air during England’s World Cup qualifying campaign on ITV. The hook, of course, is that the heart is apparently built (by special effects house Artem) almost entirely from Sony gear, including parts from BRAVIA TVs, Blu-ray players, VAIO laptops, Cybershot cameras, PS3s, and even the odd Walkman. No word of any public showings of the heart just yet, but you can check out one of the commercials after the break, and another by hitting up the read link below.

Continue reading Mechanical heart built from Sony gear still pines for AIBO

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Robots

Mechanical heart built from Sony gear still pines for AIBO originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The GAME-800: A Fatty Pocket Emulator [PMP]

The GAME-800 is just another one of those direct from manufacturer PMP all-in-one pocket devices. And maybe it’s just because I was a corpulent kid, but I find the design quite charming.

Emulating NES/Famicom, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Super Famicom and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis titles, the GAME-800 is a crudely controlled but effective looking pocket emulator with a 3.5-inch screen and 4GB of expandable storage. It also doubles as an MPEG4 player, eBook reader (with Chinese/English text to speech) and a low fidelity camera.

The GAME-800 is available now for an $80 import. [China Grabber via technabob]

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Dell Studio XPS 13 unboxing and hands-on

We finally managed to wrestle one of the sleek Studio XPSs from Dell’s mitts, and we’ve got the pics to prove it. At first glance, the 13-inch laptop is striking, with its leather wrapped back and high gloss finish. However, we have a few minor quibbles that make the laptop a little less exciting than we’d hoped. Firstly, the leather is a bit rippled across the top — not a huge deal, but it skews the “design” aspect here. In a similar fashion, the super-glare display is just as distracting as it is on other screens of this type, and there seems to be another slight ripple — or wave — in the plastic (though this isn’t wholly uncommon). Once you open the box, you’re greeted to a matte, low-profile keyboard that feels terrific to the touch, though unfortunately the trackpad is not only minuscule in size, but located to the left of center, which makes no sense to us (especially on something of this size). For hands like ours, we found the experience to be a bit cramped. On the software side, the boot into Vista was certainly speedy, and though we had typical issues (crapware, pop-ups, general bugginess), the system still felt pretty snappy. We’re going to be taking a more in-depth look — especially at the capabilities of that NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G 9500M GPU — but for now, feast your eyes on the gallery below!

Update: Our mistake! We actually have the model with the 9500M GPU. Even better!

Filed under: Laptops

Dell Studio XPS 13 unboxing and hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Aspire One Pro could signal a diluting trend

We’d guess that Acer wouldn’t intentionally put itself in any sort of contretemps, but its actions are proving otherwise. As ASUS did (and continues to do), it seems that Acer is moving closer and closer to obliterating any semblance of separation between its Aspire netbooks. Shortly after hearing of the 11.6-inch Aspire One comes an ever-so-tweaked variant that reportedly caters to professional and business users. Granted, we’re not so sure what suit can sufficiently load those 40 task bar applications on an presumed Atom CPU, but we digress. The always insightful macles has it that the so-called AA1 Pro will sport a more industrial design, a Linux-based OS (Windows optional) and your choice of HDD or SSD. Check the read link for a few more angles, and go ahead and bank on Acer coming clean with the full slate of specs here soon.

Filed under: Laptops

Acer Aspire One Pro could signal a diluting trend originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video Hands On: Samsung’s New Q2 and U5 MP3 Players [Mp3 Players]

On top of confirming pricing for all of their CES gear, Samsung today rolled out a couple new MP3 players—one iPod Shuffle-like, the U5, and one in the Nano price range, the Q2.

The Q2 will save you a few bucks on the Nano, and will net you a little bit more screen real estate at 2.4 inches, QVGA resolution. Controls are via a touch directional pad below—no touch on the actual screen, or any widgets like the P3. They’ll be $100 for 8GB and $130 for 16GB available in April.

The U5 is geared toward exercisers, and its build pretty much like an original iPod shuffle (with an end-cap USB port). A 4-line OLED screen shows you basic info, and you can also track a workout with a built-in timer. It’s $40 for 2GB in five colors, with 4GB and 8GB versions forthcoming.

Both feature FM tuners and voice recorders.

Q2 Multimedia Player
The new Q2 is a flash-memory media player featuring full multimedia functionality, including
powerful sound quality unmatched by any other MP3 player. The slim Q2 delivers up to 50
hours of audio playback and seven hours of video enjoyment, lasting through road trips and
business trips on a single charge. The Q2 also boasts superior acoustical performance through
DNSe 3.0 sound enhancement technology, also available in the P3, Audio Upscaler, 3D Sound
and various Concert Hall settings, along with FM radio, FM recorder, voice recorder and text
viewer. For customizable access, the Q2 also features a “Smart Button” that allows the user to
designate a specific function for quick access.

At a mere 2.04 ounces, the Q2 is equipped with a 2.4 inch QVGA TFT screen and is designed for
the practical techie looking for a hassle-free device with smarter control of media playback.

The Q2 is available in black and white.

U5 Sporty MP3 Player
The Samsung U5 is designed for the active consumer seeking a simple-to-use portable music
device without compromising style. Its lightweight design, user-friendly touchpad and USB
connectivity makes the U5 a perfect companion for consumers always on-the-go and engaged
in sports. The U5 also features an FM tuner / FM recorder, so workouts are less monotonous
with more music options, as well as a voice recorder.

The U5 is available in a multitude of fashionable colors, including black, white, red, pink and
blue.

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Disney Signs YouTube Deal for ABC and ESPN Clips, Hulu Talks Still Happening [Hulu]

Even though Disney just signed a deal with THE YouTube to offer clips from ABC and ESPN, the WSJ says that their talks with Hulu are “continuing and unaffected.” Woz dancing on Hulu, yessssss. [WSJ]

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HP’s MediaSmart Server LX195 Leaked, Is a More Compact Windows Home Server [Hp]

HP’s apparently following up its OS X Time Machine compatible MediaSmart EX487 Windows Home Server with a smaller model, shipping with just 640GB of storage.

No other real details can be seen from this low-rez box shot, but it’s likely that this LX195 doesn’t have Mac support, so don’t hold out for that if you were hoping of a less expensive Windows/Mac compatible server. [MediaSmart Server via Engadget]

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19-Inch Touchscreen Wind Sips On Less Energy than Most Light Bulbs [Msi]

To be honest, netbooks scare me, but nettops scare me even more. Why do I need a neutered PC that isn’t portable? Well, at least the platform doesn’t need much power—even with a monitor.

The Wind Top AE1900 is an Atom 230-based system, supporting a max of 2GB of RAM on top of a 160GB hard drive, DVD burner, wireless n, card reader and webcam. But what makes it all exciting is the system’s 18.5-inch WSXGA 16:9 touch screen LCD, complete with a quick 5ms response time. You see, even with this much screen space, the computer needs only 45W to operate. And yes, that factoid is totally worth regurgitating my headline to reinforce that 45W is less than many light bulbs need.

As Rob at bbGadgets points out, “Now, I’m almost certain I had an Apple monitor that looked just like this about 7 years ago…” We’re pretty sure, too. The crazy thing is that this whole computer will cost thousand(s) less than that Apple Studio Display when it comes out to an undisclosed market at an undisclosed time. [MSI via bbGadgets]

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PS3 Motion Sensing Remote Is Done, Some Unknown Dudes Say [Rumor]

According to some site we didn’t know at all until now, the PS3 Wii-style motion sensing remote is not only not a rumor but a done deal. It’s already finished, they say:

Sony is reaching out to key third-party publishers and asking them to implement last minute functionality into their soon-to-be released games and of course compatibility with select future games.

We don’t know if it’s true or not (heck, I don’t even know if it makes any sense at all for Sony to release a Wiimote, although it’s entirely possible they would, given Nintendo success). They don’t provide any details, however, so remember our first rule of rumors: Fried them until they are golden brown before serving along some veggies and red pepper sauce. Or don’t trust them. I keep confusing this one. [Kombo]

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Sorry, that’s not actually Dark Helmet, it’s a researcher demonstrating the latest Brain Machine Interface (BMI) cooked up for robotics. While it’s not looking too portable, it’s a far nimbler setup than the original MRI Scanner first concocted by Honda to control robots in near real-time back in 2006. This time, Honda Research Institute in coordination with Advanced Telecommunications Research (ATR) and Shimadzu Corporation have achieved robotic thought control using a sensor cap to measure electrical potential on the scalp and cerebral blood flow. While we’ve seen much of this BMI tech applied to video games in the past, Honda claims its technology achieves the world’s highest accuracy at 90% without special training. Impressive, even though it’s clearly R&D work for now. Check the video after the break.

[Via Akihabara News]

Continue reading Honda’s ASIMO could be thought controlled in Spaceballs 2

Filed under: Robots

Honda’s ASIMO could be thought controlled in Spaceballs 2 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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