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Philips unveils new Hue Smart button and upgraded Go lamp
Philips has announced new additions to its lineup of Hue smart lighting products today at the IFA tech show. The new entries include an upgraded Hue Go with Bluetooth capability, a Smart Button that users can place anywhere to turn their lights on and off, a Smart Plug and a new set of colors for the Hue smart light bulbs. As far as smart lighting goes, we've ranked Philips Hue as the best we've seen. The latest additions appear to create more options for style and portability.
Watching 'Sharknado' with Syfy Sync and Philips Hue
When I open my mailbox, I often find Amazon packages that I don't remember ordering. But today's surprise was a DVD of Sharknado, a movie I absolutely did not purchase. My first instinct was to contact Amazon and change my password, but then I found a note inside: "For you to test out the new Syfy Sync app with your Philips Hue lights." Wait, what? A quick web search cleared things up pretty quickly -- the latest Syfy Sync app enables full control of a Hue bridge (and connected lights) on the same network. The movie, app and lights work together, in theory, to bring you a more immersive entertainment experience.
Engadget's back to school guide 2012: docks and clocks
Welcome to Engadget's back to school guide! The end of summer vacation isn't nearly as much fun as the weeks that come before, but a chance to update your tech tools likely helps to ease the pain. Today, we have speaker docks in our sights -- and you can head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here. If there's any post-adolescent period that deserves its own soundtrack, it's your college years. Sure, our portable audio picks will let you jam on the go, but the best collegiate experiences are shared with friends -- and listening to music should be no exception. Even if you'd prefer to keep your playlist out of your friends' feed, be it in person or online, you'll still need to wake up each morning, and what better way to ease into the waking world than with your favorite tracks? These speaker docks offer more functionality than your average smartphone clock, and they're certainly better equipped to play DJ when it comes time to close the books. Join us past the break for our 2012 picks.
Philips introduces AirPlay speakers, Engadget goes hands-on
No, those units you see above aren't cannons -- they're speakers, released by Philips and branded as the Fidelio SoundSphere DS9800Ws, according to our buddies at Engadget who got to see a version of the speakers wirelessly playing through the AirPlay hookup. Like most great speakers with lots of bells and whistles, however, these aren't cheap. The full size models will run US$800 for the pair, with the smaller models running $400. Want something a little more affordable? The AD7000W models run (only?) $230. All of the speakers will be out in time for the holiday later on this year, and for more on how well they work, you can check out the video on Engadget. For my money, a nice headset will probably be cheaper than these speakers and provide sound that's just as solid. If you want some sweet AirPlay functionality to show off to house guests, that's one thing, but if you just want to listen to 16-bit music files, why spend all that money?
Super Mario's Wacky Worlds should have stayed buried
Well, here's an unexpected treat for your Labor Day: A peek at a Mario game you've probably never heard of and almost certainly will never touch, Super Mario's Wacky Worlds. If the video we found at Unseen64 is any indication, it's likely for the better. Created for the ill-fated Phillips CD-i by Novalogic, SMWW took Mario out of the Mushroom Kingdom (bold!) and plopped him in real-world locales like Egypt (puzzling!). Though touted as a successor to Super Mario World, it seems this would have been lucky to have been a successor to Hotel Mario.
Guitar Hero III + amBX = party machine
Well, any rhythm game really, but this example uses Guitar Hero III. Honestly, we'd never heard of amBX before, but Phillips would have you believe it's the next step in interactive technology. Nope, it's not touch screens or big ass tables, it's ... colors? Desperate marketing aside, when combined with Guitar Hero III, amBX does make for an impressive light show. Whether or not it gives the $99 Rock Band stage kit a run for its money remains to be seen. At twice the price, you'd think it would (or hope so anyway). Unfortunately, it looks like we'll have to wait for the 360 version of amBX hardware -- this video utilized the PC version -- as it's still in development. We're waiting with sarcastically bated breath.
Phillips' AJL308 clock radio / digital photo frame is like a real life widget
If you've ever wanted to pop up Dashboard outside of the desktop, this is probably as close as you can get. Phillips' multi-purpose clock radio / photo frame comes across like a swipe from the widget world, with its pleasant blue backdrop, "Polaroid" photo section, and cutesy little calendar page. If we didn't know better, we'd swear someone from Yahoo! Widgets was behind this. But alas, it's a bona fide Phillips nightstand-sitter, complete with a built in FM tuner, audio player (MP3 / WMA), USB, SD and MMC connectivity, dual alarm times, and soothing nature sounds. Sure, it won't tell you the weather, notify you of new emails, or play Sudoku... but it only costs a $129.99.[Via Crave]
