Family Learning Center

Posts Tagged ‘Tad’

Panasonic adds silver and pink body options to GF1, exhibits poor timing

It’s pretty much common knowledge these days that we’re big fans of Micro Four Thirds cameras, and while Olympus may already be shipping its second generation hardware, Panasonic is holding firm with the still highly desirable GF1. Tweaking up the formula just a tad, the company is throwing its Japanese audience a bone with a pair of frankly stupendous color options, led by the silver (looks more like gunmetal to us) number above. We’re digging the contrast between the black sections and silver body, though the real highlight must be that we don’t find the pink option (pictured after the break) intolerable. Good job by Panasonic on picking out these hues, but why on earth are they coming out on March 12 — shouldn’t the marketing department be aware of certain global consumerist events that exist pretty much exclusively to stimulate indulgent purchases of superficially appealing new gear?

Continue reading Panasonic adds silver and pink body options to GF1, exhibits poor timing

Panasonic adds silver and pink body options to GF1, exhibits poor timing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Panasonic  | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…

Heineken Bot does what it says on the keg, soon to be man’s new best friend

If you ask us, our theory is that the Daleks are rather huggable by nature, but they probably partied a tad too hard with these beer-toting fellas before trashing the world. One such “Heineken Bot” — crafted by the geniuses at Middlesex University — turned up at Kinetica Art Fair in London. Daring humans can stop this drifting bot by hovering their hands above its sonar-sensing head, and then place a cup in its holder for some bevvy spat out of its keg. When you’re served, the lonewolf continues to wander along its pre-programmed path, probably waiting for the assassination signal from Skynet. See for yourself after the break while you’re still alive.

Continue reading Heineken Bot does what it says on the keg, soon to be man’s new best friend

Heineken Bot does what it says on the keg, soon to be man’s new best friend originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…

AAXA intros L1 laser pico projector / media player

AAXA intros L1 laser pico projector / media player originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PicoProjector-Info  |  AAXA  | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…

Analyst: There’s a market of four to five million iPhones a year in China

Filed under: Apple Financial, Apple, iPhone

I thought Apple sounded a tad bit defensive about China on the conference call Monday, but Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty says there’s nothing to worry about: she expects Apple to sell up to four or five million iPhones in China per year. Apple told us on Monday that they’ve activated about 200,000 iPhones in China so far, but Huberty claims that there’s a market for maybe 50 million iPhones over there, and echoes Tim Cook’s assertion that price is the main issue. “Hardware pricing, service plan pricing and the large up-front payment,” she says in her report, “were cited by 85%, 66% and 56% of respondents respectively, as reasons they were not likely to purchase an iPhone.”

Keep in mind that the four to five million figure is a top end — in the first year, Apple has said that they’re aiming for more like one or two million. But there is definitely a solid market to be found in China, and significant sales there could help buoy Apple earnings reports over here for sure.

TUAWAnalyst: There’s a market of four to five million iPhones a year in China originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…

Pioneer AVIC-X920BT brings Pandora streaming music to your satnav via the iPhone

Your car’s dash just got a tad bit more interesting with the introduction of Pandora music streaming in Pioneer’s latest navigation unit. The double-DIN in-dash device exploits your iPhone’s cellular connection to glean tunes from the ether and comes with a 6.1-inch display, Bluetooth, 3D video accelerator, and 4GB of built-in memory expandable by MicroSD. Coming out in March for $1,200, this is slated to be a direct challenge to satellite and old school radio services, and for more on the greater market impact of its introduction, you can see the WSJ coverage below. For the full specs of this new flagship device, as well as a new AVIC-U220 add-on nav unit, hit the source link below.

Pioneer AVIC-X920BT brings Pandora streaming music to your satnav via the iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Pioneer  | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…

CoolerBot photographs nature, gets its power from it

If you’re into real life bunny wabbits and other such wildlife, but not a fan of the cold, wet and windy outdoors, what do you do? We’d say just boot up the console and shoot you some pixelated peoples, but Steve Norris’ idea might be just a tad more practical. He has authored the above mobile snap-station, which is equipped with an infrared video camera, a Nikon DSLR, and pairs of motors, 10Ah batteries, and solar panels. Power flows from the latter into the former to turn wildlife stalking into a pleasurable pastime for even the most indoorsy of folks. Video demonstration of the hardware after the break.

Continue reading CoolerBot photographs nature, gets its power from it

CoolerBot photographs nature, gets its power from it originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Digg, ecofriend  |  Norris Labs  | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…

Android 2.1-equiped Motorola Sholes tablet spied in China as XT701?

No sooner do we get brief corner glimpses of the supposed Motorola Sholes tablet do we get tipped off to this writeup from Androidin.net which has a number of pictures of an eerily similar keyboard-less handset with a 3.7-inch screen, Android 2.1, FM radio, and interestingly enough, only a 5 megapixel camera — last we heard it was going to be 8. Also debatable is a HDMI port, since the image that would show it is a tad too blurry. Otherwise, it seems to be about in line with what we expected, and it also seems destined for China Unicom as the XT701 (analogous to China Mobile’s Motorola Android device). Now how about a few dashes of hope we’ll see this stateside, eh Moto? Two more shots after the break.

[Thanks, yee]

Continue reading Android 2.1-equiped Motorola Sholes tablet spied in China as XT701?

Android 2.1-equiped Motorola Sholes tablet spied in China as XT701? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Androidin  | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…

Cambridge Consultants Suma sensor is designed to add ‘3D’ input to traditional control schemes

They’re short on details, but the folks at Cambridge Consultants might just be onto something with this new “Suma sensor system” of theirs. Basically it translates the deformation of its soft material into 3D data that can be used in a video game to “unleash the full capabilities of both the human hand and the user’s imagination.” Sounds a tad far fetched, but the exciting part is that this “Suma skin” control material can replace the traditional casing of a regular gaming controller for less than a buck in parts, meaning that with (relatively) little effort we could see tactile squeezing, gripping and other sorts of finger-friendly input worked into console gaming without having to bid farewell to the form factors we know and love. Cambridge Consultants doesn’t mention robotics, but we could also see this sort of material being quite the cost-effective, sensor-laden skin replacement. Just as long as nobody tries to get us to control Ezio with that little stress-ball pictured above.

Continue reading Cambridge Consultants Suma sensor is designed to add ‘3D’ input to traditional control schemes

Cambridge Consultants Suma sensor is designed to add ‘3D’ input to traditional control schemes originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…