dimdim isn't cool because it's open-source web conferencing. It's cool because of what open-source web conferencing allows technology providers to do with web conferencing that price and proprietary licensing hitherto precluded.

Another day, another CEO with more lip gloss than brain matter. Jeffrey Katzenberg has been talking to USA Today on what seems to be his favorite topic these days, 3D, and telling us that the glasses ain't no big deal. After all, "many many many people" wear glasses -- that's three lots of many for those keeping count at home -- and the new and improved 3D appendages are so "beautifully styled" that he expects them to start popping up at your local optometrist right next to the sunglasses and designer eyewear isles. In fact, this dude's sipping the corporate firewater so hard, we half-expect him to tell us that 3D offers "very high value" for money or ... wait, he said that too? Alright, we give up.

CE-Oh no he didn't!: Katzenberg says 'beautifully styled' 3D glasses won't make you look like a dweeb originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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David Riesenberg obviously had his head in the clouds when he dreamed up the OO High Definition Wireless Projector, but it's not like we're kvetching about his imagination's ability to go far beyond the limits of most humans. For one thing, the concept 1080p projector looks (and lands) like a stunning orange UFO; for another, the specs are otherwordly. Should the device ever come to market, Reisenberg says it will pack SSD storage, WiFi and internal decoder chips into its svelte, 11-inch round carbon fiber frame, as well as three independently articulated legs for balance and a Li-ion battery for up to three hours of cord-free HD streaming and playback. Did we mention it's got a matching touchscreen remote? And our deepest affection, forever and ever? See what we're drooling over in Riesenberg's subtle video homage to a certain interstellar piano waltz right after the break.

[Thanks, David]

Gallery: OO High Definition Wireless Projector Concept

Continue reading OO HD wireless projector concept reaches for the stars, almost grabs 'em (video)

OO HD wireless projector concept reaches for the stars, almost grabs 'em (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When games like Farmville have 83 million users, designers who are used to working on games that took years to build have little choice but to embrace the era of Facebook games.

Ready for your daily dose of ingeniousness? That word is actually real, and so is the Happy Hour Timepiece -- a watch that doubles as a bottle opener, because as the tagline reminds us, "it's 5 o'clock somewhere." It has just become available to buy from Time Tap's website, and its black leather-strapped awesomeness can be yours for $49.95. Click past the break to see video of it being demonstrated as well as a shot of the watch face itself -- it even has dual digital and analog time displays, so much value!

Continue reading Happy Hour watches open bottles, doors unto new worlds (video)

Happy Hour watches open bottles, doors unto new worlds (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Did you know there was a Digital Inclusion Summit going on? We already know the FCC isn't best pleased about the fact 93 million Americans are making do without access to home broadband, and this latest event was an opportunity for it to dish some more info on its forthcoming National Broadband Plan. The major obstacles to broadband adoption identified by the FCC were noted as cost, computer illiteracy, and a sheer lack of awareness about the benefits the web offers (outside of cute kitties). The big Plan will be delivered to Congress a week from today, and its suggestions will include the creation of a Digital Literacy Corps, who'll be performing missionary duties among the unenlightened, and the big whopper: a proposal to "consider use of spectrum for a free or very low cost wireless broadband service." Yeah, if you can't jump over the cost hurdle you might as well eviscerate it from existence. Quite naturally, such radical plans have been met with much grumbling opposition, and Business Week reports that it may be years before the full reforms are implemented ... if at all.

FCC will consider 'free or very low cost wireless broadband' service originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While the verdict is still out with regard to consumer appetites for a 3rd portable computing device, PC makers are betting the farm on consumer interest in tablets that fill the gap between small-screened smartphones and bulky (by comparison) netbooks/laptops. We've already seen an uptick in tablet devices on display at the big CES and CeBIT trade shows, now tablet and MID device vendors look ready to blow out Computex when it kicks off on June 1st in Taipei. According to Roy Chen, ARM's ODM manager for worldwide mobile computing, more than 50 ARM-based tablet PCs will launch in 2010 starting in Q2 with "a lot more" landing in the third quarter -- a date that just happens to line-up with the most optimistic Chrome OS launch schedule. ARM's seeing so much interest that it had to rent additional floor space to show off the devices. Chen said that many of the tablets are slated for China although all of the world's top 10 carriers have signed up as well. ARM was showing off two Android based tablets at the press event, including the 7-inch Compal device (pictured above) we gave a whirl at CES. Let's just hope that tablet makers have plans for some compelling content and service hook-ups with a focus on the user experience -- 50 near-identical slabs of touchscreen computing won't generate much enthusiasm around here.

Over 50 ARM-based tablets launching this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In 2007, steampunk musician Yoshi Akai wrote his master's thesis on how to turn color into sound, and he's been dreaming up unorthodox ways of producing music ever since. Case in point: the Lego Sequencer MR II, a contraption that uses three-dimensional Lego structures to emulate a three-channel, eight-step sequencer, where each differently colored plastic brick produces a different sound and complex combinations (including tremolo and overdrive) are possible when the blocks are stacked. Akai tells us it works using resistors embedded in each and every block, with parallel networks of resistors formed as the bricks pile up, equalling lower resistance and thus a higher frequency sound generated by the contraption. While the result certainly won't back a techno track -- Akai says he's "building sound more than playing sound" -- it looks like a good step up from the lethargic phaser noise produced by his Wireless Catcher, a lot of fun to play with, and much less expensive than hiring a team of hot models. Video after the break.

Continue reading Steampunk sequencer generates audio from Lego blocks

Steampunk sequencer generates audio from Lego blocks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tired of the limited legroom, bad food, and worse movies you have to put up with during a flight? Well, it's time to bust out your company credit card and get yourself a Martin Jetpack, which has just become the first commercially available jetpack. Driven by a pair of washing machine-sized fans strapped to your back, this personal transporter will give you a pretty cool 30 minutes of flight time and comes with a bunch of redundancy systems to ensure any mistakes don't turn fatal. The rotors are built out of a carbon / Kevlar composite and are powered by a two-liter V4 two-stroke engine capable of delivering 200hp (or 150kW). Good old gasoline is the fuel of choice here and private individuals are expected to be offered the chance to fulfill every geek and geekette's dream later this year. Just make sure you have $86,000 lying around to fund it.

Martin Jetpack priced at $86,000, mere mortals will soon be able to buy one too originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Man, MIT is making all of these other places of higher learning look silly. For what seems like the fortieth time this month, scientists at the university have revealed yet another breakthrough that might just change the way we compute in the future. Polyethylene, which is about as common a polymer as they come, could very well become a vital part of the way your next processor is cooled, as MIT boffins have figured out how to cause said polymer to "conduct heat very efficiently in just one direction, unlike metals, which conduct equally well in all directions." If you're still struggling to figure out why this matters, have a listen at this: "this may make the new material especially useful for applications where it is important to draw heat away from an object, such as a computer processor chip." In fact, even Intel is taking notice of the development, though no one's saying outright when exactly this stuff will leave the lab and hit Dell's supply chain. There's no time like the present, guys.

[Thanks, Kevin]

MIT gurus use polyethylene to suck heat away from your next CPU originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Jobs personally threatened to sue Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz says. Sun warded off that and a Microsoft threat with its own patent portfolio.

Steve Jobs personally threatened to sue Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz says. Sun warded off that and a Microsoft threat with its own patent portfolio.

Whether you covet your Irish friends' ability to make in-flight cellphone calls or value your aerial naps too much to care either way, you must admit that the promise of in-flight SMS, MMS, voice messaging, and text email is tantalizing. To this end, the kids at Asiq have announced a little something called the Bluetooth Access Point. This device uses the aircraft's satellite link to send data to your respective carrier, eliminates the need for a picocell, and boasts up to 3Mb/s speeds. Now let's see how quickly this bad boy gets approved for use! (Or not.) PR after the break.

Continue reading Bluetooth Access Point brings text messaging, voice messaging, email to the friendly skies

Bluetooth Access Point brings text messaging, voice messaging, email to the friendly skies originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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"A new report from Games Industry indicates that MMO gamers in the United States paid $3.8 billion to play last year, with an analysis of five European countries bringing the total close to $4.5 billion USD. In America, the report estimated that payments for boxed content and client downloads amounted to a measly $400 million, while the subscriptions came to $2.38 billion. Hopefully that will fund some developer budgets for bigger and better MMOs yet to come. The study also found that roughly a quarter of the US population plays some form of MMO. Surely MMOs are shaping up to be a juicy industry, and a market that can satisfy people of all walks of life."

By and large, EA Sports' Season Opener event here at GDC was underwhelming, but one glimmer of newness did manage to shine through. Nearly a year after Active hit stores (video after the break) and encouraged Wii gamers to drop those unwanted pounds before hitting the soft sand in the summer, the company has announced that Active 2.0 (a working title) is currently in development for Wii, PS3, iPod touch and iPhone. We're told that a "new suite of fitness products" will be launching in the fall, with the Active 2.0 program delivering "true fitness results by featuring an innovative wireless control system powered by new leg and arm straps with motion sensors, a heart rate monitor to capture intensity and a new online hub to track and share workout data." Outside of that, details are nonexistent (like how exactly the iPod / iPhone components will factor into this equation), though we get the feeling that Xbox 360 owners may be left out of the party. Here's hoping we're wrong.

Gallery: EA Sports Active 2.0 accessories at GDC 2010

Continue reading EA Sports introduces Active 2.0 at GDC, complete with sensors galore

EA Sports introduces Active 2.0 at GDC, complete with sensors galore originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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8-bit NYC
New York, just like I pixeled it
Want to see more 8-bit cities? Help us expand on Kickstarter!




a map by Brett Camper why? how? share this map

This is a big source of controversy in the world of game design right now. Braid creator Jonathan Blow said Skinnerian game mechanics are a form of "exploitation." It's not that these games can't be fun. But they're designed to keep gamers subscribing during the periods when it's not fun, locking them into a repetitive slog using Skinner's manipulative system of carefully scheduled rewards.

Six months later, however, iTunes LP doesn’t prompt much consumer recognition, and none of the industry sources with whom I spoke said they viewed it as being anywhere close to game-changing from a format perspective. Rather, it’s considered more of a curiosity. Like an enhanced CD or a DVD packaged with a physical album, iTunes LP’s bonus materials may interest super-fans, but they aren’t generating much buzz among mainstream consumers, and don’t appear to be stimulating LP sales at all. “It’s something most people will look at once,” is how one person put it.

There's no denying that the Mini 5 is real, but up until now, we've had to provide all of our own promotional material. At long last, it seems as if the suits in Round Rock are finally getting around to crafting the first advertisements for the upcoming slate, and while we knew about the 5-inch WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, capacitive touch front buttons, front-facing VGA camera (for video chatting) and the 30-pin docking connector, we weren't aware of Dell's plans to reveal a slew of vivacious color options. If this here flyer proves legitimate, we could eventually see the Mini 5 available in an array of premium finishes and hues (thanks, Design Studio!), and we're hoping for a few different spec builds as well. So, are you opting for the pink, or are you crossing your fingers in hopes that Dell allows you to print that embarrassing shot of you and Mr. T on the rear of one?

Update: Oh, snap! We just landed a few more official slides from an internal Dell document, and it's safe to say that the company is going to call this beauty the Streak. Or, at least that's the internal codename. Better still, it looks as if it'll launch with an Amazon content partnership, which will bring a Kindle e-book reader app, Amazon MP3, Amazon video streams and pretty much any other material that Amazon sells in digital form right to the slate. C'mon now -- how's about a ship date and a price?

Gallery: Dell Streak leaked internal documents

Leaked Dell Streak flyer shows multitude of color options, confirmed specifications originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had a hunch that Pentax was readying a 645 Digital, and sure enough, the company has come clean with that very camera today. The May-bound 40 megapixel 645D is a medium format beast, but unlike similar options from Hasselblad, this one won't actually destroy your hopes of sending four generations of offspring to college. Boasting a 44mm x 33mm sensor, a 3-inch rear LCD and a virtually indestructible chassis, this monster promises high res images that only pros can appreciate, and there's a pair of SD / SDHC card slots for those who love to surround themselves with options. You'll also get a newly designed 11-point AF sensor, a fresh dust removal system, 77-segment multi-pattern metering system and a battery good for around 800 images when fully charged. 'Course, with a retail price of ¥850,000 ($9,442), you'll also expect amenities like an HDR mode, dynamic range expansion and an HDMI output, all of which just so happen to be included. Oh, and if you're in the market for some new glass, there's also a 55mm F2.8 lens that'll ship alongside of this here body for the princely sum of ¥100,000 ($1,110).

Pentax gets official with 40 megapixel 645D medium format camera originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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