Engadget

What's better than an Engadget reader meetup? An Engadget and gdgt reader meetup! That's right, folks, Engadget + gdgt Live is a mere five days away, and you can (and should) come join us. Doors open on June 24 at 6pm at 82Mercer in Manhattan (the physical address is 76 Mercer Street). The best part: tickets are free and you can get 'em right here. Those who come out will get to kick it in mobile lounges packed with the latest tech from from Samsung and Sony. And, we'll have many more companies showing off their wares, including Qualcomm, Toshiba, Slingbox and Goji, the smart lock company that won our Startup Contest. Plus, there will be on-stage chats with Sony about 4K, Samsung about its Galaxy devices and an editors roundtable with journalists from around the web talking the latest tech news.

We'll also be giving away tons of gear, but you'll have to attend to find out how to grab the schwag for yourself -- rest assured, it'll be worth your while. If free stuff won't entice you (unlikely, we know), then the prospect of an evening with a gaggle of Engadget editors and thousands of other like-minded gadget-geeks should do the trick. Still not enough? We'll be capping off the night with live musical performances by Sound of Contact (featuring Phil Collins' son Simon) and Vernon Reid (Living Colour founder). So, come on out, folks. You'll be glad you did.

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Researchers at the University of Tokyo's Ishikawa Oku Lab have been hard at work on a camera system that can track fast moving objects incredibly well, and the technology may change the way sports like baseball and soccer are televised. Recently, the team building the system has entered the next phase of testing: taking it outside, to see if will perform as well as it has in a lab setting. If all goes according to plan, they expect it'll be ready for broadcast use in roughly two years.

Demos of the tech are pretty impressive, as you can see in the video below showing the (warning: not recommended watching for those easily prone to motion sickness). To get the ping-pong ball-centric shots, the system uses a group of lenses and two small mirrors that pan, tilt and move so the camera itself doesn't have to. The mirrors rely on a speedy image tracking system that follows movement, rather than predicting it. Swapping the camera out for a projector also has some interesting applications -- it can paint digital pictures on whatever its tracking. Sounds like the perfect gadget for folks who wish their table tennis balls looked like emoji.

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Facebook comment threads are apparently a bit too calm, so the social network company's decided to mix things up with the addition of in-line image embeds starting today. But wait -- put down the link to your hottest GIF -- apparently the service only supports static images for now. And not everyone has it thus far, with the service only rolling out to folks who have a camera icon appear in the comment response field.

The functionality is rolling out on both web and mobile versions of Facebook; product engineer Bob Baldwin debuted the addition on his Facebook profile, where he said he built the image embedding "at a hackathon" with a gaggle of other FBers. Let us know in the comments below if you've already got it, and leave some pictures on the Engadget Facebook page!

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We knew it was coming, but AT&T has now officially announced the NEC Terrain. Set to become available on the same day as BlackBerry's physical QWERTY-packing handset, the LTE-ready Terrain boasts a "high-resolution" 3.1-inch display, a decent 1.5GHz, dual-core Snapdragon S4 CPU and 8GB of built-in storage which can reach up to 32GB via microSD -- all while running a not-so-fresh version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. Given that NEC designed it with the business folk in mind, this little ruggedized (MIL-810G) smartphone also offers on-device encryption for VPN access and compatibility with AT&T's Enhanced Push-to-Talk services, which the company says makes for the perfect blend of "the necessary features needed for work and personal use." As stated earlier, the NEC Terrain will be hitting shelves on June 21st, carrying a $99.99 price tag with the accustomed two-year deal on the Rethink Possible carrier.

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Apple won a contract this week with the Los Angeles Unified School District to provide iPads to its students, netting Cupertino $30 million across the next two years. The agreement will roll out iPads to students at 47 campuses; the iPads cost $678 apiece (nearly $200 more than a standard entry level iPad) and come loaded with educational software. Bizarrely, with tablets priced at $678 apiece, $30 million only nets LA schools approximately 45,000 iPads, while the school district comprises 640,000 students. We asked Apple to clarify and were told that the contract is for 31,000 iPads (for both students and teachers) which come with "Pearson Common Core System of Courses delivered via a new app." That's in addition to Apple standards like iWork, iLife, and iTunes, as well as "a range of educational third-party apps" included. The first iPads arrive in classrooms this fall, in what is deemed the "first phase" of a larger rollout.

The battle for LA's school contract was hard fought, with both board members and a Microsoft rep pushing back against student / teacher ratings and the overall cost. The teachers union president Warren Fletcher requested the money be spent on hiring new staff over mass-buying iPads, while district officials argued that national student tests require computer literacy, the LA Times reports -- the board voted unanimously (6 - 0) to approve the contract.

Traditionally, iPads have been used in college-level education -- both Seton Hill (not Seton Hall) and Tennessee's Webb School use Apple's tablet.

[Image credit: 'flickingerbrad']

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Rdio, that lover of social streaming and sworn enemy of the vowel, is finally opening up its new TV and movie service to all users in the US and UK. Previously only the realm of Rdio Unlimited subscribers, Vdio lets users rent, buy and do various social activities with television and film. At present, the service is offering a solid set of new releases, like Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook, which can be rented for $2.99 and $5.99, respectively. Each movie description also lets you know which of your friends have watched the feature, with help from the Facebook sign-in up front.

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