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Five questions for the man who's determined to put life on Mars
Bas Lansdorp has sunk his fortune into Mars One, a nonprofit with a singular aim: to put a human expedition on Mars by 2025. Before then, the outfit intends to put an unmanned probe on the red planet by 2018, shortly followed by a rover in 2020. It's an ambitious project, and one that's unique given that it'll raise the majority of its planned $6 billion budget by selling the broadcast rights to the event and by covering the exploration rover in advertisements. In the run-up to launch, there'll also be a reality TV show that documents the selection and training of the volunteers who've signed up for this one-way mission to the stars. We're going to sit down with Lansdorp at Engadget Expand on November 8th*, and you can come see the show for free, but to get you in the mood, here's a short Q&A with the man himself. *2:30pm at the Javits Center, the big glass building just off the High Line.
Ben Huh wants internet culture to go pop so you can has more lulz
If Ben Huh, the man behind the meme-generating Cheezburger site, were writing this, you'd probably just be looking at a string of gifs and the occasional LOLcat. And, chances are, you'd find that seemingly random list of internet flotsam and jetsam amusing. Maybe you'd even save one to your desktop, enhance it with some low-level Photoshop skills and share it back out to the web. Which is precisely what Huh would want you to do; to catch, remix and re-release "found content" with an added layer of humor and whatever tools are available. It's what Huh, speaking at Engadget Expand, calls a "Happy Moment," and it evolves with every new format. You need only look to Twitter for the greatest example of this.
Mercy! Check out all the sweet gear you could win at Expand NY
On the off chance an incredible list of sponsors, an action-packed conference and all the other things we've already told you about aren't enough to get you out to the Javits Center for Expand NY this weekend, we thought you might want to take a look at all the great stuff you could win, too. We were right, weren't we? But before we do, we'd like to give a big shout out to our massively generous sponsors! Read on to find out what you could win at Expand NY...
Going to Engadget Expand? This web app is your personal guide
So, like a flute to a cobra, we've charmed you into attending Engadget Expand in NYC -- hooray! It'll be quite the busy weekend, but this handy Expand web app will help you prepare for the event. We've outlined the full agenda for both days (November 9th and 10th), listed every exhibitor and even included a floor map of the convention center within the application. You can also find the full roster of speakers (along with their Twitter accounts) and a link that takes you straight to the Insert Coin voting page. It'll work on any device since it's a web app, so bookmark it for easy access while on the plane, train or automobile to the Big Apple. If you're searching for even more ways to stay on top of vital info, you can follow the official Expand Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well.
Daily Roundup: Interview with Oculus Rift, G Pad 8.3 review, iPad Air teardown and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Daily Roundup: McLaren's futuristic P1 'hypercar,' Moto X price drop, Scentee hands-on and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Reminder: Insert Coin voting ends tonight at 11:59PM PT!
What's that? You say you haven't voted for the second Insert Coin: New Challengers? What are you waiting for -- voting wraps up tonight at 11:59PM PT / 2:59AM ET. The competition was one of the highlights of March's Expand San Francisco, and we're pumped to do it again at the Javits Center in November. You can cast your votes here, and if you need a bit of a refresher on the candidates, check out these longer writeups of the nominees. Now get cracking!
Our Engadget Expand New York schedule is now live!
Are you ready to Expand? We sure are. We've been rolling out speaker announcements over the past few weeks, including people like LeVar Burton, Reggie Watts, Peter Molyneux and Ben Heck and companies like Google, Sony, Pebble, Wikimedia, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In fact, we've got one more name to add to that list: Facebook's Erick Tseng, who will be joining us to discuss the social network's mobile strategy and show off some entries from the company's recent wearables hackathon. You can check out the full list of speakers here. We're also ready to pull the curtain back on our full show schedule. Click here to find out what'll be happening on stage next month at the Javits Center in NYC. Stayed tuned for more updates about the show, and we'll see you in November!
Meet the judges for Expand NY's Insert Coin competition: Ryan Block, Ben Heck, Hilary Mason and Peter Rojas
There are but two days left (including today) for all you makers and would-be entrepreneurs to submit your projects for our Insert Coin competition for Expand NY. And, you may be wondering, who, exactly will be judging the worthiness of your work? Well, MAKE Magazine Editor-in-Chief Mark Frauenfelder will once again be helping present the five finalists on stage, and we've got quartet of tech industry insiders who will decide which project gets our $10,000 Judge's Choice prize. (There's also a $15,000 winner chosen by you, our dear readers.) Our judges are: Ryan Block, VP of Product, Aol; Editor Emeritus, Engadget Ben Heck, Master Modder on element14's, The Ben Heck Show Hilary Mason, Data Scientist in Residence, Accel Partners Peter Rojas, VP, Strategy, Aol Brand Group So, if you've got a bright idea, but haven't already signed up for the chance to put it in front of our judges panel, what are you waiting for? Head past the break for all the pertinent info, then fill out this form -- YOU could wind up winning!
Hey makers, the clock is ticking -- Insert Coin submissions close in two weeks!
Insert Coin: New Challengers was far and away one of the highlights of March's first-ever Engadget Expand, and we're excited to see what the maker community has in store for round two. Time's running out to get those projects in -- we're closing the door on submissions on September 27th. Think you've got what it takes to earn a trip to Expand to compete for the $10,000 Judge's Choice and $15,000 Readers' Choice awards? Check out the contest fine print after the break and click the source link to submit your project!
Show us your old tech for a chance to win a trip to Expand NY!
On November 9th and 10th, Expand NY will bring you face to face with the future of tech -- but how did we arrive at a world where we're wearing computers on our faces? With your help, we'll be reliving that journey. Help us find the coolest vintage tech, and you could find yourself with a trip to Expand NY on us -- or a chance to let us update that old tech for you. So, what's hiding in the back of your closet? An Apple II? Commodore 64? A transistor radio or Motorola StarTAC? Maybe you cuddle with Teddy Ruxpin each night? Whatever the case may be, snap a pic of your most retro piece of technology and upload it to Instagram starting today. Tag us (@EngadgetExpand) and use the hashtag #ExpandThrowback in your post. Then, enter the official contest on our Engadget Expand Facebook Page, so we know where to find your photo.
Don't miss LeVar Burton, Ben Heck, Adafruit and Planetary Resources at Expand NY!
We're getting more and more excited watching the Expand NY agenda come together. We've already announced our first set of speakers (by which we mean people on stage, not those kind of speakers) including legendary game designer Peter Molyneux, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky, io9 editor-in-chief Annalee Newitz and the man responsible for clogging the Internet's tubes with funny cats: Ben Huh. But wait, there's more! Joining us at Javits Center this November will be: LeVar Burton, Actor, Director, Educator, co-founder of RRKidz Chris Lewicki, President and Chief Engineer, Planetary Resources, Inc. Becky Stern, Director of Wearable Electronics, Adafruit Industries Ben Heck, Master Modder on element14's The Ben Heck Show
Get inspired by these speakers at Expand in New York this November!
We had an amazing time at Expand SF this past March (couldn't make it? see for yourself!), and we're super excited about making Expand NY an even bigger and more spectacular show this November 9th and 10th. The tech luminaries you'll be hearing from on stage are a big part of what makes the Expand experience one you won't want to miss, so let's start filling you in on who those folks are!
Ziphius gets fully funded on Kickstarter, expected to ship in March
Now that's what we like to see. Our first-ever Insert Coin: New Challengers winner has secured full funding over on Kickstarter -- and just in the nick of time. With just over a day to go before the end of its fundraising period, Ziphius has managed to pass its lofty $125,000 goal. That means we can expect to see the cool little aquatic drone shipping to backers in March of next year, just in time for the warm weather. And we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that you too can live the crowdfunding dream. We've opened up entries for our second Insert Coin competition, as of late last month. It may not get you all the way to a final product, but with $25,000 up for grabs, it's a heck of a head start.
Submit your hardware to Engadget's second Insert Coin: New Challengers competition
Roughly this time last month, we opened up our second Insert Coin: New Challengers competition to all you entrepreneurial makers. The first one was an unquestionable highlight of March's first-ever Expand event in San Francisco, and we're psyched to see what you guys have in store for us this time. Ten semifinalists will get tickets to the show and a $1,000 travel stipend. One Judges' Choice winner will walk away with $10,000 and one Readers' Choice winner will get $15,000. Both will also score a product review on this site. Ziphius, which managed to pick up both prizes back in March, is entering the home stretch in its own search for $125,000 over on Kickstarter. The aquatic drone managed to capture the imagination of the Expand crowd and our online audience, beating out a number of impressive finalists, including the Make-a-Play, SmartPulse, Smart Knob and Snapzoom. Think you've got something just as good in the works? Well, now's the time to show us. Submissions are open now through September 27th. You can find all the necessary rules over on our event page.
Submissions for Expand's Insert Coin: New Challengers competition now open!
Calling all makers, dreamers, inventors and entrepreneurs, Insert Coin: New Challengers is back for round two! We were absolutely blown away by the responses to our Expand San Francisco competition. We had a hell of a time whittling all of the submissions down to a group of semi-finalists and had a blast interacting with all of the finalists on the show floor. Ultimately, Ziphius' head-turning aquatic drone took home the gold, a well-deserved and hard fought win. This time out, we'll giving 10 semifinalists tickets to the show, along with a $1,000 travel stipend. One Judges' Choice winner will walk away with $10,000 and one Readers' Choice winner will get $15,000. Both will also score a product review on this site. Think you've got what it takes to walk away with the big prize at Expand NY in November? Well, now's your chance. We're opening up submissions today through September 27th. Semifinalists will be announced on this site and the big winners will be unveiled at the show. Submissions rules can be found after the break and over on our event page. We can't wait to see what you've got cooking this time out!
The Engadget Show 42: Expand with OUYA, Google, DJ Spooky, robots, space, hardware startups and more!
Listen, we're not going to promise you that watching an hour-long episode is the same as going to Expand. The good news for those of you who were unable to attend due to scheduling or geography, however, is that the ticket price is a bit lower, and many of our favorite moments have been saved for posterity. We've done our best to whittle a weekend at San Francisco's beautiful Fort Mason center into one bite-sized chunk of Engadget Show goodness. We'll take you behind the scenes at the event and show you what it takes to run your very own consumer-facing electronics show. We've got conversations with Google's Tamar Yehoshua, OUYA's Julie Uhrman, Jason Parrish and Corinna Proctor from Lenovo, Chris Anderson, DJ Spooky, Mark Frauenfelder, Veronica Belmont, Ryan Block, plus folks from NASA, 3D Robotics, Oculus, Google Lunar X Prize, TechShop, Lunar and IndieGogo. We'll go for a spin on ZBoard's latest electric skateboard and show off the da Vinci surgical robot, the Ekso robotic exoskeleteon and the latest UAV from 3D Robotics -- we'll also be taking you out on the town in a Tesla Model S. And for a little bit of high drama, there's our first-ever Insert Coin: New Challengers competition, including conversations with the semi-finalists and the big moment of truth. All that plus kids, dogs and your favorite Engadget Editors. Join us after the break for a warm and fuzzy Engadget Show, won't you?
The After Math: Engadget Expand SF special
Welcome to The After Math, where we attempt to summarize this week's tech news through numbers, decimal places and percentages. Last weekend, we wrapped up our inaugural Expand event, and while several of our international editors (yours truly included) are still battling an unhappy combo of jet lag and the sniffles, we've pulled together some numbers that should offer at least a glimpse at how the weekend in San Francisco all went down. What if you missed out on all the tech, discussions, Engadget editors and giveaways this time? We wouldn't worry. Next stop, New York.
Distro Issue 83: Oculus, Valve and a shared vision of virtual reality
Since last August, gamers have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Oculus Rift after a stellar Kickstarter campaign that far exceeded its fundraising goal. Of course, with new hardware comes the need for fresh software, and Valve has partnered with the aforementioned outfit to tackle VR. In this issue of our weekly, we take a look at the story behind the Rift, go heads-up with the final dev unit and visit with Valve to chat about the whole lot. Samsung's Galaxy S 4 gets previewed, Hands-On tackles a slew of new gadgets and the Insert Coin: New Challengers winner floats through the Q&A. A tablet mag full of weekend reading awaits via the download links that follow. Distro Issue 83 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro in the Windows Store Distro APK (for sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
Engadget Expand San Francisco panel discussion: Has Apple lost its groove?
Over the weekend, our sister site Engadget held its first consumer expo. Engadget Expand featured a two-day conference and exhibits held at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center, with demonstrations of some astounding technology as well as panel discussions with some of the big names in the business. TUAW Editor-in-Chief Victor Agreda, Jr. was joined by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster and TechCrunch columnist MG Siegler yesterday for a spirited talk about Apple's products and what we can expect in the future. Engadget Editor-in-Chief Tim Stevens was the moderator for the discussion, which is viewable below.
