Jul 28 2010

RIM takes control of blackpad.com, laughter takes control of our minds

Category: Industry Happenings — admin @ 5:20 pm

A quick WHOIS confirms that RIM’s taken control of blackpad.com — yes, it’s long been rumored as a potential name for the BlackBerry tablet, but we’re certainly hoping Waterloo’s just parking a domain name to keep squatters at bay, because, seriously, we just got over the iPad jokes, you know?

P.S.- And might we see whatever this is at the RIM / AT&T event on Tuesday? Consider our interest piqued.

RIM takes control of blackpad.com, laughter takes control of our minds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 23 2010

OnStar expands smartphone control over entire 2011 GM lineup

Category: Industry Happenings — admin @ 11:17 am
OnStar expands smartphone control over entire 2011 GM lineup

It’s safe to say that General Motors is struggling for relevancy these days and, while the Chevy Volt could be a huge step into the modern era for the company, that still leaves every other car looking a bit — traditional, technology-wise. OnStar is going to help, expanding its Volt-specific controls to the entire 2011 lineup of GM cars. When we saw OnStar’s Volt app earlier this year we loved how it not only let you control recharging but also unlock the doors and monitor system specs from anywhere. While monitoring recharging status obviously won’t be much good if you’re rocking a good ‘ol ICE vehicle, you will still be able to start the car remotely, unlock doors, and also monitor stats like tire pressure and oil level from your iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android handset, as demonstrated in a video after the break. Yes, you’ll need to be an OnStar subscriber to use the app, with rates currently starting at a somewhat steep $18.95 per month. Now, if only there were an app that could help us to afford a new ZR1.

Continue reading OnStar expands smartphone control over entire 2011 GM lineup

OnStar expands smartphone control over entire 2011 GM lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 30 2010

HD 101: IR blasters, HDMI-CEC, RS-232 and IP control

Category: Industry Happenings — admin @ 11:18 am
IR blaster

You’d be hard pressed to find a TV without some sort of extra box attached to it these days — and with each box comes another remote. The sad part is it doesn’t have to be this way, nope, the necessary interaction between devices really isn’t that complicated. The problem is the devices just aren’t designed to work together, but that isn’t because the industry hasn’t tried. All the political reasons aside the technology to let your cable box carry on a two way conversation with your TV and other equipment does exist. So we’re going to explain what’s out there. If you’ve ever wondered how you can gain more control over your gear using everything from an IR blaster to sending TCP commands via IP, then read on.

Just getting into? Check out these HD 101 features:
HD 101: Overscan and why all TVs do it
What is ATSC, PSIP, QAM, and 8-VSB?
How to use Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD with your PS3
Why there are black bars on HDTVs

Continue reading HD 101: IR blasters, HDMI-CEC, RS-232 and IP control

HD 101: IR blasters, HDMI-CEC, RS-232 and IP control originally appeared on Engadget HD on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 26 2010

Parrot’s AR.Drone does a high-speed flyby of the FCC’s control tower

Category: Industry Happenings — admin @ 2:17 am

While you’re busy saving up for the totally awesome AR.Drone’s $300 price tag as it makes its way toward a September launch, you can now bide your time sifting through its fifteen-odd documents posted to the FCC this week, including a bunch of internal and external photos that do a good job conveying the last thing you’ll see just before you meet your four-rotor hovering doom. There’s also a quick start user’s manual, which interestingly suggests that users put their iPhones into airplane mode before firing up the AR.Drone app — in other words, you should take the cellular modem offline and leave WiFi active for optimum performance. And honestly, who wants to be interrupted with calls and texts while you’re trying to maneuver this beast for the kill shot?

Parrot’s AR.Drone does a high-speed flyby of the FCC’s control tower originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 14 2010

Microsoft demos new Kinect dashboard and voice control

Category: Industry Happenings — admin @ 2:18 pm
Microsoft demos new Kinect dashboard and voice control

Thought Kinect was just for kicking balls and making a fool of yourself? Oh now, you can now use it to do everything from find your friends and to control media playback. With a wave the Xbox 360 pops into a new Dashboard which you can manage by moving your hands around. It also supports voice control, enabling you to say “Xbox Play” or “Xbox Pause” or, you know, whatever. Easy!

Microsoft demos new Kinect dashboard and voice control originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 11 2010

Exclusive: a look around ESPN’s 3D Master Control room

Category: Industry Happenings — admin @ 2:17 pm

Not sure if you knew, but today marks the launch of ESPN’s first dedicated 3D channel, predictably titled ESPN 3D. For now, the channel will only be active whenever 3D sporting events are being aired, starting with a full 25 FIFA World Cup matches from the Republic of South Africa. It’s a pretty monumental launch for the world leader in broadcast sports, and it’s obviously taking a pretty big leap with only a smattering of 3D sets available and an obviously limited amount of content at its disposal. That said, there’s hardly a better way to enjoy 3D content than to see sports in the third dimension, which makes the appeal of this new station that much stronger. We’re here live at the company’s kickoff event in Bristol, Connecticut, and we’ll be bringing you lots of coverage from behind the scenes.

One important piece that has yet to be revealed to the public is exactly how this material is getting from the field to the consumer, with Comcast, DirecTV and AT&T (U-verse) signed on from day one. During our shooting for The Engadget Show (don’t worry — we’ll be cutting it up and getting it live as soon as possible!) we were able to stop by ESPN’s 3D Master Control room, a box no larger than the average American kitchen but infinitely important in the grand scheme of things. Amazingly enough, the room pictured in the gallery below didn’t exist six weeks ago, and in an insanely short period of time ESPN has managed to create a control room that sucks feeds in from all over the world, adds graphics (along with a specialized ESPN 3D “bug“), ensures that everything is aligned properly and then pipes it out to the aforesaid carriers.

Read on for more…

Continue reading Exclusive: a look around ESPN’s 3D Master Control room

Exclusive: a look around ESPN’s 3D Master Control room originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 23 2010

MIT researchers develop the most fabulous gesture control technique yet

Category: Industry Happenings — admin @ 11:18 pm
When looking for a cheap, reliable way to track gestures, Robert Wang and Jovan Popovic of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory came upon this notion: why not paint the operator’s hands (or better yet, his Lycra gloves) in a manner that will allow the computer to differentiate between different parts of the hand, and differentiate between the hand and the background? Starting with something that Howie Mandel might have worn in the 80s, the researchers are able to use a simple webcam to track the hands’ locations and gestures — with relatively little lag. The glove itself is split into twenty patches made up of ten different colors, and while there’s no telling when this technology will be available for consumers, something tells us that when it does become available it’ll be very hard not to notice. Video after the break.

Continue reading MIT researchers develop the most fabulous gesture control technique yet

MIT researchers develop the most fabulous gesture control technique yet originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 May 2010 22:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 13 2010

Evoluce 47-inch HD multitouch display gets off-screen gesture control

Category: Industry Happenings — admin @ 2:18 pm
Evoluce, the manufacturers of that mammoth 47-inch full HD touchscreen, are out of control! Apparently, they’ve decided that unlimited simultaneous touch inputs (and thus unlimited simultaneous phalanges) was not enough, so they’ve gone an’ added gesture support — up to half a meter from the device. Apparently this bad boy supports Windows 7, although if you want your interface du jour to put the “unlimited” in “multitouch” you’ll most likely have to roll your own. Interested? Wealthy? Check out some righteous video and PR after the break.

Continue reading Evoluce 47-inch HD multitouch display gets off-screen gesture control

Evoluce 47-inch HD multitouch display gets off-screen gesture control originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 May 2010 13:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 09 2010

Magic Mouse syncs with jailbroken iPad, enabling cursory cursor control (video)

Category: Industry Happenings — admin @ 4:18 pm

The pun is so obvious it practically insults your intelligence, but we just can’t help ourselves — the iPad has just gotten a little more magical. Using the BTstack application that brought Bluetooth mouse support to iPhone, enterprising individuals discovered the same technique works on a jailbroken iPad as well, and hooked up Apple’s own Magic Mouse to show it off to the world. Mind you, while this implementation does look quite useful, we do detect the barest hint of lag — so it may not be your weapon of choice for pixel-doubled Doom sessions. Video after the break.

Continue reading Magic Mouse syncs with jailbroken iPad, enabling cursory cursor control (video)

Magic Mouse syncs with jailbroken iPad, enabling cursory cursor control (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 May 2010 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 03 2010

RIM converts BMW’s iDrive into ‘a remote control for your BlackBerry’ (video)

Category: Industry Happenings — admin @ 4:17 am

If there’s one thing business types love more than their BlackBerry, it’s their BMW — or so we’re told. It makes all sorts of sense, therefore, that the two companies would partner up to help the things they sell communicate with each other more effortlessly. Using Bluetooth MAP (Message Access Profile), BlackBerry devices can now beam emails and contacts over to BMW’s iDrive dash system, where the driver can listen to his messages via a text-to-speech option or make calls using the car’s speakerphone. The first supported handset is the newly minted Pearl 3G, and we’re told this functionality will come as an integrated part of BlackBerry 6. To see how it works on a 335is, click past the break for the video.

[Thanks, Horatiu]

Continue reading RIM converts BMW’s iDrive into ‘a remote control for your BlackBerry’ (video)

RIM converts BMW’s iDrive into ‘a remote control for your BlackBerry’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 May 2010 04:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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