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Gadget bandz bring gear lust to tween wrists
You know about Silly Bandz, right? Well, maybe you don't have subscriptions to Tiger Beat and spend your evenings at home alone on Bieber message boards like we do, so allow us to explain. They are rubber bands that are shaped like things--unicorns, peace signs, hamburgers, aliens, emoticons--traditionally worn on the wrists, and eventually traded with like-minded collectors. They are very popular in the 8 - 12 demographic. You might relate them to Pogs, slap bracelets, Lisa Frank pencils, and baseball cards. Now that you know what's up, the point is that they are now available in gadget shapes: iPod nano, laptop, iPhone 3G, NES controller, digital camera, and the "most collectible" iPad...er, "tablet." That is all.
Book Review: You Are Not a Gadget
You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier (January, 2010) Alfred A. Knopf, 209 pages, $24.95 I'm often accused of being a Luddite -- mostly based on my fervent and affectionate clinging to several physical objects that are quickly becoming cultural artifacts: the ink pen, the paper book, and the vinyl record -- but those items haven't been the only 'evidence' my accusers have historically cited. In addition to that physical evidence, there has always been my suspicion that some of the things I valued in life -- listening to a whole album, reading an entire novel in one sitting before grabbing another off the shelf -- were also going the way of Betamax, and being replaced by short attention-spanned, sound-bited fragments of conversation that didn't convey knowledge or ideas in nearly the same way. This suspicion, this "feeling" if you will -- obviously doesn't originate with me, and it's often diluted (by the internet) into some version of "the internet is making us dumber" argument. Of course, that's not really the argument at all, but who needs to be bogged down with details these days? Enter You Are Not a Gadget, which I review below.
Shocker: CEA's spending report finds Americans buying more technology
Guess what kiddos? That recession that harshed your mellow all last year is officially over and done with... according to the Consumer Electronics Association, anyway. Based on a new report put out today by the CEA (you know, that organization that sets up CES each year?), the average US household spent $1,380 on consumer electronics over the past dozen months, which represents an increase of $151 from last year. The report also found that the average household spent 12 percent more on CE devices over the past year, and individual consumer spending shot up 10 percent year-over-year. Other tidbits included: ladies spent more on CE wares than the did last year (but still trail the guys overall), and the average home reported owning 25 consumer electronic products, up from 23 in 2009. We're also told that 86 percent of all US households own at least one computer, making it the third most owned CE product behind TVs and DVD players. Oh, and as for those pesky netbooks? 12 percent of US households own one of those, while 58 percent own "laptops" of some sort. Head on past the break for the full skinny -- we hope you're in the mood for good news, 'cause that's all you're getting. [Image courtesy of TooMuchNick / WireImage]
iPad international launch pushed back until the end of May
Listen, foreigners: We're sorry, okay? America's avarice for sleek, ultra-hip gadgets has overwhelmed Apple, who sold over half a million iPads during its first week in the market. In response to this "unexpected" sales surge, and in anticipation of even higher demand for the tablet, Apple has delayed the international launch of the device from late April to the end of May. Overseas readers will have to wait until May 10 before finding out exactly when the iPad will be available for purchase, and the price point at which it will be sold. Heck, by that time, the U.S. will have already moved on to the next big thing in mobile technology: The Tamagotchi. That's right. We're bringing it back. [Via Engadget]
Hands-on: Parrot AR.Drone
We've never written about the Parrot AR.Drone on our humble news site because we've yet to see its applications in the gaming space. Don't get us wrong -- it's as inherently awesome as you'd expect a hovering, camera-equipped drone (that's controlled by your iPhone!) to be. However, "random things that are awesome" doesn't really align with our editorial purview. At GDC, Parrot went to great lengths to show off the gaming applications of the Drone. A representative presented two tech demos to us, both of which use the device's front-mounted camera to recognize "tags" in the environment, creating augmented reality overlays which allow the user to virtually interact with an object. In layman's terms: It recognizes predetermined patterns, and turns them into virtual targets, at which you can then shoot virtual bullets and missiles. %Gallery-88139%
We would like to own this clock which plays Pong, please
We admit it -- we're suckers for a stylish timepiece. A surprising portion of our income goes towards purchasing new, fancy clocks, turning our living quarters into a slightly less melty version of Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory." The latest object of our affection? Adafruit's Pong-playing MONOCHRON clock, in which two AI opponents compete in pixelated table tennis, and the players' scores denote the current time. Check out a video after the jump to see the chronometer in action. Sure, it's not the first Pong-clock we've ever laid eyes on, but with a slim $80 price tag, it is the first we've ever considered actually purchasing. Sadly, you have to assemble the clock yourself, a process which requires "some basic soldering & hand tools." Curses! We knew our decision to take home economics instead of shop class would come back to bite us one day. [Thanks, PT!]
Wearable PS3 suit lets you play games anywhere
Don't you wish there was a PlayStation system you could just carry around with you everywhere you go? Wait, they made one of those? Drats! That didn't stop Epson from creating a Ghostbusters-inspired wearable PS3 suit. Equipped with a PS3 Slim as a backpack, and an Epson projector, this "extreme" gamer takes his hobby to the street, literally. [Thanks Camron!]
Emotiv mind-control device shipping December 21 for $299
Wait, you guys are still playing video games with your hands? What, are they baby games? For babies? We've been using Emotiv's EPOC human-computer interface for months now, allowing our cerebellums to play our games for us, completely cutting our appendageal middle men out of the equation. You'll have the same opportunity on December 21, when Emotiv ships limited quantities of the device to customers who decide to pony up for the $299 price tag. Of course, it doesn't work with all your games. Actually, from what we've seen, it's only capable of making boxes spin around and disappear. What it's really great at, however, is creating super awkward press conferences. [Via Engadget]
Code something for Ryzom's new API, win cash!
If you're bored, have some free time, and enjoy coding programs then do we have the contest for you! The team over at Ryzom have put together a brand new API for their game, and they're celebrating its launch with a contest for budding developers! Even better, the prizes are all monetary!What the Ryzom team is looking for is people who can utilize their new API for whatever gadgets, tools, or websites they can dream up. The winning use of the API will be the one that displays innovation, usefulness, ease-of-use, multilingual support, validity and completeness, and optimized coding. Popularity, stability, and availability will be taken into consideration as well with all coding entries.The winning entry will receive 3,000 euros (approximately 4,200 US dollars), second place will receive 1,000 euros (1,400 US dollars), and third place will be netting 500 euros (700 US dollars.)So what are you waiting for? Get coding![Thanks, J3kyll!]
Sprint looking to wholesale bandwidth to connected gadget makers
So, what's a flagging cellular operator to do once it has succumbed to the grim realization that no one wants to sign up for your service and you've already collected the dough from selling off nearly all of your towers? Go wholesale, of course! Unbeknownst to most, all of the Kindle downloads on Amazon's white-hot e-reader go through Sprint's network, and given just how successful that little venture has been, the carrier is hoping to expand its revenues from wholesaling bandwidth (which currently sits at just 3 percent of its total) by inking similar deals with connected gadget makers. From internet-connected vehicles to GPS systems to cameras, the options are darn near limitless, and with so much free capacity on Sprint's network, it might as well find companies to use it. 'Course, it's not like Sprint's the only one out there trying to carve these kinds of deals into stone, but it's definitely the one that needs to do it most immediately.
Never wonder about Lord of the Rings server status again
Play Lord of the Rings Online? Yes? Good. Now, are you running Windows Vista? If you said yes again, then do we have a gadget for you.Galdorad over at the LotRO forums has found a pretty nice gadget for the Vista sidebar that checks in on the status of LotRO servers. He's made a few tweaks to the gadget to add some more functionality, but it's still a handy little gadget that can keep you apprised of the game's state.With it, you don't have to log into the patcher or leave it running, if you want to keep your system resources down. If you're interested, you can jump on the gadget download over at the forum post, which also shows you how to add the LotRO patcher news feed into your Vista RSS reader.And yes, we know you're going to complain about Vista in the comments. We're psychic, you know.[Via 2 High Road]
White bread wrist rest is non-organic yet ergonomic
Okay, let's say you're big into ergos. You've got your iPosture beeping at you like crazy whenever you slouch, ball-chair toning those core abdominals, and a split adjustable keyboard to make hunting and pecking that much more of an adventure. But what about maintaining the proper mousing angle? Put those fancy silicon pads away and reach for the riboflavin. We've seen a baguette-styled wrist rest before, but if that's a little too fancy for you, Brando has a another option: the plain white sliced bread. Sure, it's probably stuffed with GM wheat and has been bleached so thoroughly there's not a lick of nutrition left, but it might just delay the onset of carpal tunnel by a few years while whisking away any troublesome wrist perspiration. You're just six dollars a slice from this healthy mousing option -- $10 if you want enough to make a wrist sandwich.[Via Crave]
Livescribe and the Pulse Smartpen on the Mac
The Pulse Smartpen has been around for a while, but until late last month the desktop software from Livescribe was Windows-only. The pen captures what you write, and the desktop app allows you to store and playback your writing and captured audio on your computer. I had a chance to test drive the Pulse and the beta version of the Mac app, and now we're giving that demo unit to one lucky TUAW reader. Details on the giveaway at the end of the review.I was informed that some of the folks who had a hand in creating the Mac app for Livescribe were honest-to-Jobs former Apple employees and the app is written in Cocoa -- a refreshing change of pace in a world beset by hasty Mac ports. Livescribe Desktop on the Mac certainly looks and behaves as a Mac app should, but unfortunately the Mac version doesn't yet have all the features of the Windows version. Now there's a familiar refrain.On the Mac, you can print your pages but to save as a PDF you drop into the Print dialog. That's pretty normal. You can export audio recordings as AAC files. What you can't do is marry the animation of your drawings (that is, the replay of your writing) with the audio for export. On the Windows version you can export a Flash file that shows you drawing and plays audio as it was recorded. Of course, the app is still in beta, and the feature is coming, but this is a limitation for some. There are other features "coming soon" I'll describe in the main review.Check out the gallery for lots of screenshots and close-ups of the pen. If you're the impatient sort, I can say that I really like the pen and the software. There's a "gee whiz" factor when you see your notes "playing" on the screen, with audio, and the pages turn as it progresses. If you need digital copies of everything you write, or want to capture a lecture with written notes, there's simply nothing this compact and efficient. Read on for the full details.%Gallery-38381%
USB webmail notifier lights up your life when you've got mail
The reams and reams of spam found with every check of our inboxes here at Engadget HQ have quashed the surge of emotions we used to experience when that new-mail notifier started blinking. So, we went looking for something to help get our e-mail groove back, and we've found it: the USB webmail notifier. It's a little box with the iconic envelope design on the front that lights up in green, blue, or red when you receive mail. The color indicates either the location of the received message, for those of you who rock Outlook for work and Gmail for personal, or the volume, for those who need some encouragement to clean out that inbox. It is somewhat less useful than other multi-purpose USB indicators we've seen, but its simplicity, and its $17 price tag, make it our choice to bring back that lovin' feeling.
Do your kids play with your iPhone?
Once my kids were beyond putting random technology into their mouths, I have let them play with gadgets. But what about my iPhone? It started innocently enough: a Leapster for a birthday. Then I cleaned out the garage and let them "borrow" a few antique Palm devices. Then I got them hooked on an old iBook G3 running OS 9 and some great old classics (the original "Toy Story" interactive storybook is a nearly-perfect example of the genre). A Palm T|X loaded with games, music, photos and movies might have been a step in the wrong direction, as was the Dell Axim with the same. Access to those was limited until the iPhone came along.Once a kid has used iSaber (currently unavailable from the iTunes store) or played DizzyBee, it's over. When you show them you can add yet more fun diversions the question becomes "got anything new on your iPhone?" By then it's over. Now the question becomes, what's the harm? Is there harm? I've limited their use to the inevitable "we're waiting right now" moments. But still, no matter what we've done that day that was new and exciting, if my son plays with the iPhone for 5 minutes that's all Mom hears about when he's going to bed. I grew up with an Apple ][ in the house and I'm sure that had a hand in my love of tech. But there's also a case for letting kids find their own way, at an age-appropriate level. I cringe when they swing my naked iPhone around using iSaber, expecting Wii-style damage to our windows and the device itself. Yet I can't help but think that getting used to technology early -- something that will increasingly invade their lives as it becomes more embedded in our world -- is maybe a good thing. Everything in moderation, of course. I certainly don't want them erasing my high scores; I'll let iTunes do that.Son's favorite games: Cannon Game and MotionX Dice. (iTunes links)Daughter's favorite games: DizzyBeeFree (guess I better buy it!) and aSleep (iTunes links)We've covered MotionX and aSleep before.%Poll-19107%
iPhone wins awards, will win a lot more before 2008
We're getting closer and closer to the end of the year, and that means it's almost time for everyone to announce their "best tech product of the year" awards. Gadget website T3 has gotten an early start, and not surprisingly, Apple walked all over everyone else, with the iPhone grabbing tons of awards, and iTunes and the MacBook Pro picking up a few more.Which means: get ready, because the iPhone is going to pretty much win every award imaginable for 2007. What else came out this year that came even close to moving gadget technology ahead? As predicted, it sold tons of units, captured the nation's imagination at launch, singlehandedly pushed cell phones ahead light years (even while bringing some harsh light to Apple's closed architecture policy), and just generally changed the world of gadgets. Is there any other product released in 2007 that could really be called "Gadget of the Year"?I'd think not. The Wii is awesome and all, but my guess is as these end of the year awards come out, even Nintendo's little marvel of an input device demo won't hold a candle to Apple's communications device. Thanks, Charles B!
Brando offers up USB-powered Plasma Ball
Yeah, this is just what everyone needed: more pointless electronic rubbish to clutter up your desk. Lacking the charm of other useless USB accessories (USB sushi: it's got cred!), Brando opted to give a regular Plasma Ball the USB connectivity it never wanted. For $16.99, the ability to awe your colleagues and family members with an interactive light show they've seen dozens of times is within your grasp! Hey, at least the base isn't lined with blue LEDs.
USA Today: iPod is lifechanging
USA Today recently chose 25 inventions they felt had changed people's lives in the last 25 years. Along with cell phones, laptops and DVDs, USA Today chose iPod as their #8 life changing gadget. It has, they suggest, reinvented the way people walk down sidewalks. Presumably before the iPod, no one had apparently ever heard of, let alone used, the Sony Walkman. But that's just a small quibble. We here at TUAW aren't argumentative. If USA Today says that the iPod is life changing, who are we to argue?
Nintendo Wii takes Engadget Awards
Nintendo Wii Fanboy is related, in an odd sort of second-cousin once-removed kind of way, to the hyper-popular Engadget, which like totally everyone reads all the time forever. As such, their annual Engadget awards are nothing to sneeze at, and so we look with great pride (we helped, after all) at their selections for 2k6. Let's take a glance at the honors: Reader's Choice: Most Innovative Peripheral Reader's Choice: Game Console of the Year Editor's Choice: Game Console of the Year Reader's Choice: Gadget of the Year (!!!) Editor's Choice: Gadget of the Year (!!!) Yeah, that's right. That means the Wii pretty much wins at life. It's quite a series of awards, but which console will take home 2007? It may come down to one showdown: Halo 3 vs. Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Which will suck up more of the average gamer's free time? Bring it, Chiefy.
Ted and Gadget weep as MAST tether project fails to deploy
While a number of recent space-based experiments have proven quite successful, it must not have been Ted nor Gadget's day. The daring duo that made up the MAST project was supposed to "test the survivability of a thin, braided tether in space," but due to a glitch in the restraint system that "kept Ted from pushing away hard enough to keep unreeling the tether from its spool," the once hopeful mission has come to an ill-fated close. Rather than reaching a full kilometer, the tether was only able to reach a few meters before coming to a stop, but the team at Tethers Unlimited aren't calling it quits just yet. They did admit to not knowing precisely what caused the costly mishap, but the crew also suggested that they'll try to use the small amount of data they did gather to analyze "how a short tether behaves in microgravity." Don't worry fellas, there's always next time.
