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- Red Bull Augmented Racing game lets you build tracks with Red Bull cans
- webOS 2.1 SDK now available to all comers, teases 'big push' for Veer launch
- Samsung's Central Station wireless monitor appears in Europe as SyncMaster C27A750
- HTC Thunderbolt hits $175 price point with LetsTalk -- but only for this weekend
- Beautiful Earth's NYC solar powered EV charger follows the sun to Brooklyn Bridge Park
- Tesla opens its workshop, shows off more Model S prototypes
- Theorists get us closer to believing time travel is possible via the Large Hadron Collider
- HTC EVO 3D, EVO View 4G specs revealed ahead of Sprint's CTIA announce?
- Ask Engadget: best PC alternative to 13-inch MacBook Air?
- LucidLogix Virtu in action, discrete graphics and Sandy Bridge together at last
- ICANN has .xxx domain names? Yes!
- OnStar's aftermarket mirror to be called OnStar FMV, gets a new microphone
- Researchers tout self-repairing multi-core processors
- Google TV Remote app now available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
- Lenovo ThinkPad X220 review
- HTC Thunderbolt review
- Engadget Podcast 234 - 03.18.2011
- Motorola Xoom with Sprint insignia, Nexus S 4G logo leak out
- Google guesstimates release dates for movies and games
- Carriers at odds with RIM over NFC payment data
- Arctic Spas shows off hot tub-controlling iPhone app, waterproof iPhone case sold separately (video)
| Red Bull Augmented Racing game lets you build tracks with Red Bull cans Posted: 19 Mar 2011 10:44 AM PDT  Sure, it may all just be an elaborate scheme to get you to buy more Red Bull, but it is a fairly ingenious scheme. In addition to a plethora of in-game advertising, the new Red Bull racing game for iOS devices also has an augmented reality component that lets you build tracks simply by lining up actual cans of Red Bull on the floor -- at least twelve of them for a complete track, and only Red Bull will do, apparently. Not surprisingly, the game itself is free, and you can grab it in the App Store right now to try it out for yourself. Or you can just head on past the break for a video demonstration if you'd prefer to leave the Red Bull on the shelf. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| webOS 2.1 SDK now available to all comers, teases 'big push' for Veer launch Posted: 19 Mar 2011 09:37 AM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung's Central Station wireless monitor appears in Europe as SyncMaster C27A750 Posted: 19 Mar 2011 07:55 AM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HTC Thunderbolt hits $175 price point with LetsTalk -- but only for this weekend Posted: 19 Mar 2011 06:14 AM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Beautiful Earth's NYC solar powered EV charger follows the sun to Brooklyn Bridge Park Posted: 19 Mar 2011 04:54 AM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tesla opens its workshop, shows off more Model S prototypes Posted: 19 Mar 2011 02:36 AM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Theorists get us closer to believing time travel is possible via the Large Hadron Collider Posted: 19 Mar 2011 12:35 AM PDT  Hard to say if Doc Brown would give this his coveted seal of approval, but our gullible minds have already been made up: time travel is not only possible, but it's well within reach. A gaggle of scientists have apparently figured out a theory that could use the Large Hadron Collider to move a Higgs singlet back and forth through time. The 'catch' is that they have yet to prove the existence of said singlet, but the upside is that nothing in theory violates any laws of physics or experimental constraints. In other words, this wouldn't enable a human to move back and forth along the universal timetable à la Fringe, but it could allow for messages to be sent forward and back. About 14 other improbable things have to happen before this could even be tested, but if you're even remotely interested in the concept (c'mon, you are), you owe it to yourself to give those source links a peek. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HTC EVO 3D, EVO View 4G specs revealed ahead of Sprint's CTIA announce? Posted: 18 Mar 2011 10:16 PM PDT  As for the EVO View 4G, it's shaping up to be a CDMA / WiMAX remix of the Flyer -- as expected -- complete with pen input. They're also expected to confirm that the Xoom will be coming in a Sprint flavor (with WiMAX in place of Verizon's LTE, of course) and will be launching "in the coming weeks or months." Looking like it's going to be tough for any other carrier to go this deep at the show -- but hey, we invite 'em to give it a shot. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ask Engadget: best PC alternative to 13-inch MacBook Air? Posted: 18 Mar 2011 08:38 PM PDT  We just have to believe that this fellow isn't in this boat alone, and while the obvious answer is to just install a fresh copy of Windows 7 onto the MBA through Parallels or Boot Camp, it's quite possible that he's trying to shake the entire Apple design. So, outside of MSI's X-Slim series, is there anything on the Wintel side quite like Apple's thinnest laptop ever? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LucidLogix Virtu in action, discrete graphics and Sandy Bridge together at last Posted: 18 Mar 2011 06:53 PM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ICANN has .xxx domain names? Yes! Posted: 18 Mar 2011 05:41 PM PDT  A further meeting is scheduled by ICANN for June 20th to discuss opening up all possible domain name suffixes to registration, pending the validation of a set of guidelines for approval. That's looking quite likely to be passed too, as the AFP sagely notes that there's a celebratory party scheduled for two days after the event. URLs are about to get a lot more varied, it seems; they're certainly going to feature a lot more of the (English) alphabet's 24th letter, whatever the case. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| OnStar's aftermarket mirror to be called OnStar FMV, gets a new microphone Posted: 18 Mar 2011 04:37 PM PDT 
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| Researchers tout self-repairing multi-core processors Posted: 18 Mar 2011 03:48 PM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google TV Remote app now available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch Posted: 18 Mar 2011 03:04 PM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 18 Mar 2011 02:19 PM PDT  Look and feel Yet despite its rigidity and powerful internal organs, the X220, like the X200 and X201 that came before it, is still incredibly light. The 1.25-inch chassis weighs just 3.6 pounds, and that's including its six-cell battery. Strapping on the slice battery adds an extra 1.16-inches in thickness and an extra 1.4 pounds to the overall package. The upside is that the extra battery fits pretty flush with the system, and thus doesn't block any of the important ports -- things like a trifecta of USB jacks, an Ethernet port, headphone connector, and VGA / DisplayPort sockets. There's also an ExpressCard 54 and four-in-one card slot. We should also note our review unit came with a single USB 3.0 port, but that's only available on certain configure-to-order models. Keyboard, touchpad, and screen As with most ThinkPad's there's no shortage of navigation options on the X220 -- unsurprisingly, Lenovo's still not giving up on its pointing stick and touchpad combo. The famed red nub resides smack in the middle of the keyboard, but the bigger news is the new ClickPad -- effectively a touchpad with integrated mouse buttons. The pad itself still has those slightly raised braille-like bumps, but because the buttons are integrated, the surface is longer and wider than the previous X200. (Lenovo says it's actually 45 percent larger now.) That said, the 3.0 x 1.95-inch pad still isn't as spacious as we'd prefer, and it makes for a pretty restricted experience. The pointing and clicking functionality isn't half bad, but the multitouch sensitivity was lacking. Even when we updated with new drivers, it wasn't all that responsive to two-finger scrolling or pinch-to-zoom gestures. So, ironically, despite the two modes of navigation, we actually opted to add a third into the mix – our Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX.  You wouldn't know it by looking at it, but Lenovo has poured a commendable amount of blood, sweat, and tears into a few new video conferencing aspects, so we figured they were worth a deeper look. The 720p webcam served up crisp images of our mug in Skype – so crisp, in fact, that our caller was quick to point out our lack of makeup – and the new noise canceling mics, which are designed to suppress keyboard noise, proved superior to the one on our MacBook Pro. We recorded a quick bit of audio on both systems, and while we could make out the clicking of the keys on the ThinkPad, it was certainty less noticeable than the recording on our MacBook Pro. Performance and graphics On the graphics front, Lenovo's stuck it out with Intel's lowly integrated HD graphics, and the truth is the IGP will be perfectly fine for light video editing or HD playback. Still, the benchmarks below show that Intel's definitely been able to pack some more graphics punch into its new HD graphics options. It's no discrete card, but you weren't really planning on using this one for gaming, were you?
We should also impart that the standard voltage processor doesn't leave you with a sweaty machine. The X220 stayed relatively cool during our usage, and even when we fired up some Hulu, it didn't start to warm our laps.
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| Posted: 18 Mar 2011 01:30 PM PDT  In other words, the Thunderbolt has a very real opportunity to be the finest 4.3-inch device HTC has ever made -- for the moment, anyway. Let's see how it fares. Hardware Pulling the phone out of its cardboard cradle, you instantly recognize that this thing is a beast -- it's just big and heavy. There's no other way to put it. If you're acquainted and comfortable with the EVO 4G, you'll feel right at home -- the EVO's actually a few grams heavier, which took us by surprise when we looked it up -- but if you're coming from pretty much anything else, you'll probably mouth the word "whoa" the first time you take it into your hand. For comparison's sake, it's right around 20 percent heavier than an iPhone 4. We're not necessarily saying that's a bad thing; in general, phones have a tendency to feel higher-quality when they're more substantial and they've got a little more junk in the trunk, and that's certainly the case with the Thunderbolt -- but it's still something to consider. We're fairly certain there will be at least a few potential buyers who are off-put by the weight, so you should swing into a store and spend a little quality time with it before pulling the trigger.  That being said, "last-gen design" doesn't mean "bad design" -- far from it. There are many ways you could screw up the details of a phone this chunky, but the Thunderbolt is a legitimately handsome device. Unlike the EVO, the Thunderbolt's soft touch back cover only extends about three-quarters of the way down from the top, leaving the integrated brushed-metal kickstand permanently attached to the surface of the phone chassis (which is smooth plastic in this bottom area) rather than poking through the cover. Underneath the kickstand (which has "with Google" engraved on it, by the way), you'll find a metal grating that conceals the Thunderbolt's loudspeaker -- which is, in fact, quite loud. The only real problem here is that it's a bit muffled with the kickstand retracted, but we suppose HTC's logic is that you're going to want maximum volume in kickstand-deployed video mode. The Thunderbolt's thickness and design details save it from a problem both the EVO and Inspire suffer from: the camera's rim is essentially flush with the back and the lens is actually recessed, meaning you're not going to scuff up your 8 megapixel shooter simply by setting the phone rear-down on a few too many hard surfaces. The dual-LED flash is arranged exactly as you find it on HTC's other 4.3-inch devices, and it suffers from an unusual (but now familiar) quirk: you can't use it when the Mobile Hotspot feature is enabled. Presumably, it's just too much simultaneous power draw between the giant display, the beefy processor, and the LTE, CDMA, and WiFi radios to add a pair of ultra-bright LEDs into the mix, though it's interesting that Mobile Hotspot uses no more components than you would in normal phone use -- we suppose the WiFi power output might be at a higher level.  The edges of the Thunderbolt are clean and simple; notably missing, of course, is an HDMI-out -- a big deal for some and a complete non-issue for others. The power button is perfect: correct location and correct level of flushness with the surface of the phone. The volume rocker is also perfectly shaped, sized, and in the best possible location along the right edge, but for some reason, it feels really mushy. Not only that, but it feels mushy in distinctly different ways on the top and bottom -- it's just poorly engineered or assembled, as far as we can tell. While you're on a call, it can be difficult to tell whether you're actuating the rocker without proper detents. As for the display, it's pretty fantastic -- definitely an upgrade from the EVO's component thanks to a superior viewing angle that never washes out or inverts. Admittedly, WVGA starts to look just a tad pixellated once you get past 4 inches into the 4.3-inch category, but we're spoiled these days -- and if they Pyramid rumors are true, HTC is hard at work on qHD solutions for its next-gen devices anyway. One characteristic that we've noticed on a number of other phones in the past year that we miss here is the gapless display, a display so close to the glass that it appears to be on the surface of the phone itself (in fact, it's so cool that Sony Ericsson actively markets it as a feature of the Xperia Arc). Well, there's definitely a noticeable gap on the Thunderbolt, but it's a purely aesthetic complaint -- there's zero effect on capability or usability whatsoever -- it's just fun to hold your phone at an angle once in a while and say, "wow." Audio quality ranges from "good" to "great," with two caveats: one, the aforementioned problem with loudspeaker muffling when the kickstand is closed (not severe, but something to take note of), and two, the earpiece could use another level or two of volume. It's plenty clear, but in noisy environments, we found ourselves wishing we could eke a little more out of it on a couple occasions. Callers told us we sounded a little "staticky" but were still totally audible -- we were never asked to speak up or repeat something we'd said.  Interestingly -- unlike the EVO -- we weren't able to find a way to disable the Thunderbolt's 4G radio and stay on on CDMA / EV-DO alone in an effort to conserve the battery. The phone seems to be doing some intelligent radio management, automatically switching between the two when necessary (and, presumably, staying pegged on LTE whenever it can find an LTE signal). From a pure consumer-friendliness perspective, that makes sense... but from a power-user perspective, it's annoying at best. When using this as a primary device, we'd probably consider carrying a portable battery-powered micro-USB charger or a spare internal battery for peace of mind. Camera The 720p video was remarkably free of artifacts or distortion -- it doesn't do continuous autofocus, but you can refocus on the fly with a tap on the screen. Likewise, sound quality was quite good; we were surprised at how clearly our voice cut through the ambient noise when narrating. SoftwareThe Thunderbolt is, of course, running HTC Sense. In this case, it's on top of Android 2.2.1, but it's a bit of a hybrid -- it lacks support for the cloud features introduced with the launch of the Desire HD / Desire Z and HTCSense.com last year, but does include support for HTC's unusual "Fast Boot" option (which was introduced at the same time). It comes disabled by default, but can be found in the Power menu in Settings with the ominous warning, "Turn off to use some Market apps." Which ones? Well, that's for you to guess, and HTC to know, apparently. The feature basically puts the phone into an ultra-low power mode (akin to standby or sleep on a laptop) rather than turning it off altogether, and we'll admit, the results speak for themselves: with Fast Boot on, we were seeing boot times of roughly 9 seconds, as opposed to 58 seconds with it off. If you frequently turn your phone off (say, on airplanes, when they tell you to power down your gadgets rather than simply using airplane mode), that's a notable difference. From a UI perspective, Sense looks exactly the same here as it has on any other Sense device from the past year or so: same colorful menus, custom soft keyboard, home screen elements, and so on, so we won't spend much time talking about it. We're not huge fans -- we prefer almost everything about the stock experience -- but we know that it's largely a matter of personal opinion (and Sense certainly has its share of fans). So instead, let's take a look at the non-standard apps that HTC and Verizon have included, along with descriptions of the less-obvious ones:
Notably absent, though, are Skype and Netflix. Skype video calling on Android was introduced by Verizon at CES (alongside the Thunderbolt) to great fanfare, but recent rumors prior to the Thunderbolt's release had suggested that the carrier elected late in the game to pull the app from ROM. What we don't know, though, is why that happened; we've heard rumors that Skype's partnership with Verizon is souring (there have been AT&T talks, after all), but it could just be a bout of last-minute bugs that Verizon didn't want to hold up the phone's release. Video calling aside, you'd think Verizon would've at least put its standard Skype build on here that allows calling outside WiFi networks, but no dice -- you're stuck with the standard Android app in the Market that locks you out on 3G. Netflix was more of a wildcard, but we thought it might be loaded -- it's got a Qualcomm processor that can handle Netflix's DRM scheme, after all, and that 4.3-inch display and kickstand would be a solid way to get the Watch Instantly functionality off on the right foot. Alas, we gave the leaked APK a whirl, and it wasn't working, either. That's not to say it definitely won't work by the time it's released, but it's a no-go so far. Benchmarks [Update: We've been told by Ookla that the Thunderbolt's massive send buffer is responsible for the erroneously high uplink speeds -- they've got a fix in the works and it'll be available as an update to the Speedtest.net app soon.]   Here are a few other benchmarks we ran on our Thunderbolt that you might be interested in:
Wrap-up Additional reporting by Myriam Joire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Engadget Podcast 234 - 03.18.2011 Posted: 18 Mar 2011 01:15 PM PDT  Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: (I've Had) The Time Of My Life 00:03:34 - iPad 2 review 00:06:00 - iPad 2 launch day: everything you need to know 00:07:05 - iFixit has an iPad 2, and they're ripping it apart (video) 00:15:04 - iPad 2 specs discerned, 900MHz dual-core ARM CPU and PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU blow away graphical benchmarks 00:18:11 - Editorial: It's Apple's 'post-PC' world -- we're all just living in it 00:33:43 - iPad 2 vs. Motorola Xoom vs. HP TouchPad vs. BlackBerry PlayBook: the tale of the tape 00:49:27 - MacBook Pro review (early 2011) 00:54:35 - Apple's Phil Schiller confirms: white iPhone to be available 'this spring' 00:55:00 - Apple TV software update adds NBA League Pass, MLB.tv and Netflix 5.1 audio support 01:00:12 - Microsoft sells 10 million Kinects, 10 million Kinect games 01:06:28 - Microsoft reportedly kills off Zune hardware, will focus on software instead 01:08:00 - Microsoft says Zune isn't exactly dead, that it doesn't want to go in the cart 01:17:15 - Microsoft taking 'extra time' to make sure Windows Phone 7 copy and paste update is solid, targeting late March 01:33:03 - Verizon Wireless stops being coy, confirms HTC Thunderbolt for March 17th at $249.99 01:37:21 - Kyocera Echo hits Sprint on April 17th for $200 01:43:33 - PlayStation Suite coming to Tegra 2 devices Hear the podcast Subscribe to the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace Download the podcast LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast 1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com. Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @engadget @reckless This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motorola Xoom with Sprint insignia, Nexus S 4G logo leak out Posted: 18 Mar 2011 12:23 PM PDT  [Thanks, r0fl]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google guesstimates release dates for movies and games Posted: 18 Mar 2011 12:11 PM PDT  You can already do plenty of calculations and conversions right in Google's search box, and it looks like the company's now made it even smarter still. Searching for the title of an upcoming movie or video game plus "release date" will now instantly give you Google's best guess for when the title will actually be released, which is apparently based on how often it's been mentioned on certain websites. So far, we've only been able to get it to work with movies and games, although it seems pretty likely that it will soon expand to other areas as well -- maybe even gadgets? Try it out yourself and let us know if you find anything. [Thanks, Mario] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carriers at odds with RIM over NFC payment data Posted: 18 Mar 2011 11:46 AM PDT  We've already heard a fair bit about RIM's plans for NFC-based mobile payments, but it's starting to look like some of those plans don't quite line up with what the carriers have in mind. As the Wall Street Journal reports, there's a brewing dispute between RIM and a number of carriers including AT&T, T-Mobile and Rogers over just how NFC payment-related data, or "credentials," are stored, and who actually controls that data. For its part, RIM unsurprisingly wants to store the data in a secure area of the phone itself, which would obviously tie folks to their BlackBerry more than ever, while the carriers are pushing to have that data simply stored on the phone's SIM card, which would let customers move from one phone to another more easily. While things apparently haven't gotten that heated just yet, it does certainly seem like there's a bit of a fight in store -- according to the Wall Street Journal, RIM is already reaching out to banks on its own in an effort to strike some deals, while Canadian carriers have apparently been telling RIM in a "gentle" way that "you won't be doing this." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arctic Spas shows off hot tub-controlling iPhone app, waterproof iPhone case sold separately (video) Posted: 18 Mar 2011 11:28 AM PDT  Frankly, a few things in life are just too hard. Taxes being one of them, and moving from one's spot in a hot tub to adjust the temperature and / or jet pressure being another. In a bid to solve issue number two, Arctic Spas has shoved out an iOS app (Android and BlackBerry are inbound) that interfaces with a WiFi module on some of the company's hot tubs. Once loaded up, owners can control temperature and jets with a simple touch, though we hear that loads of steam and moist fingers aren't exactly great for consumer electronics. Either way, you've got a video to entice you down below. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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