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Toshiba's Windows 10 laptops all have a built-in Cortana key
Toshiba just unveiled its back-to-school laptop lineup, and while mainstream notebooks are normally a bit of a snooze, there's at least one detail that makes these worth a second look. Everything in the line, from the $395 entry-level model to the souped-up 4K editions, has a built-in keyboard button to launch Cortana in Windows 10. Just hit what appears to be a search key in the Function row, and you'll bring up Microsoft's voice assistant, which can respond to commands like "what's the weather?", "tell me a joke" and "sing a song". (With all due respect to Cortana voice actress Jen Taylor, you might want to skip that last one.) Toshiba is not the only PC maker that's chosen to add extra features related to Cortana, but the built-in hotkey is still pretty novel.
Radius combines fitness videos with custom workouts on your iPhone
NBCUniversal's new on-demand fitness service, Radius, is the virtual trainer to rule them all: one that pairs hours of fitness TV with customized workouts by famous trainers like Nicky Hollander, Basheerah Ahmad and (if you've heard of them) several more. You can check your workouts and "lifestyle programming" across the Radius site, a fitness app available only on iOS, as well three hours of TV shows per weekday on NCBSN. You might remember Fitstar's efforts to bring a modern version of the fitness DVD to your iPad, but that lacked a for-real TV component. For a cent short of 10 bucks per month, Radius is also promising a broad menu of workout options for utter beginners to armchair olympians.
Toshiba intros a slimmer Chromebook, budget Windows convertible
Toshiba isn't showing off a whole lot here at IFA, Europe's biggest trade show. That said, the stuff it has announced at least manages to run the gamut. Today, for instance, the company unveiled both a slimmed-down Chromebook 2 and the Satellite Radius 11, a small-screened Windows convertible. Starting with the former, the Chromebook 2 has the same 13-inch screen size as its predecessor, along with the same textured plastic design. This time, though, it's thinner and lighter, at 2.95 pounds, with the sort of compact dimensions you'd expect to find on a 12-inch system. Toshiba bumped up the resolution too, so that you can now get it with a 340-nit, 1,920 x 1,080 IPS panel (the base model still has a 1,366 x 768 display). Depending on the resolution, you can expect either 11.5 hours of battery life on the lower-res version, or nine hours with full HD. In addition, Toshiba added Skullcandy audio. The firm seems proud of it, but after a few minutes of hands-on time, I actually found the sound to be rather tinny (it is loud, though).
Toshiba is the latest PC maker to rip off Lenovo's Yoga line
The last time we heard from Toshiba it was doing its annual back-to-school notebook dump. Turns out, the company wasn't quite through: It just announced a trio of convertible laptops. Of the three, the closest thing to a flagship would be the Satellite Radius, a 15-inch notebook that essentially apes Lenovo's Yoga line. Which is to say, it has a 360-degree hinge that can be positioned in one of five modes, including notebook, tablet, "Presentation" (upside down, keyboard in), "Audience" (screen out, keyboard tucked under) and "Tabletop," with the entire machine lying flat on the table. Sound familiar? That's because it is.
Netflix inks deal with Weinstein Co.-owned Radius-TWC, films coming to watch instantly next year
Netflix will be expanding its streaming offerings a bit next year, thanks to a content deal struck with the Weinstein Company's Radius-TWC distribution label. The multi-year deal will be bringing films like the Sundance "sensation" The Bachelorette and the Tobey Maguire / Elizabeth Banks movie The Details to the service, along with Only God Forgives, Nicolas Winding Refn's followup to Drive. The fruits of the deal will hit Netflix's watch instantly early 2013. More information, meanwhile, can be found in the press release after the break.
DARPA-backed Power Pwn is power strip by day, superhero hack machine by night
Call the Power Pwn the champion of white hat hacking. Underneath that Clark Kent power strip exterior, there's a Superman of full-scale breach testing that can push the limits of just about any company network, whether it takes 3G, Ethernet or WiFi to get there. Pwnie Express' stealthy sequel to the Pwn Plug ships with a Debian 6 instance of Linux whose handy hacking tools are as easy to launch as they are tough to detect. There's just one step needed to create a snoop-friendly Evil AP WiFi hotspot, and the box dodges around low-level NAC/802.1x/RADIUS network authentication without any help; in the same breath, it can easily leap into stealth mode and keeps an ongoing encrypted link to give do-gooders a real challenge. The hacker doesn't even need to be in the same ZIP code to crack a firewall or VPN -- the 3G link lets the Power Pwn take bash command-line instructions through SMS messages and doles out some of its feedback the same way. While the $1,295 device can theoretically be used for nefarious purposes, DARPA's blessing (and funding) should help keep the Power Pwn safely in the hands of security pros and thwart more than a few dastardly villains looking for weak networks.
NextComputing's Radius 'portable' workstation infused with Sandy Bridge
Not news: NextComputing's Radius portable workstation is still stretching destroying the bounds of what's actually considered mobile. News: But now, the Radius is a lot more powerful than the prior iterations. The newfangled Radius is now available with Intel's Sandy Bridge processors, with the latest model of the all-in-one workstation offering multiple full-length / full-height PCI Express slots, multiple terabytes of storage and an integrated display. As for applications? It's still aimed at those who need serious oomph in the field, and frankly, editing political commercials or crunching SETI data in the Amazon sounds far more enjoyable than doing so in [insert your city here]. No offense of anything.
Engadget's recession antidote: win Radius earphones for iPhone 3G!
This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got a set of Radius Atomic Bass Silver Aluminum Earphones for iPhone W/ Built-in Mic ready to rock your skull and let you chat it up. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff! Oh, and for those who miss out, coupon code 'engadget' will net you 20 percent through Google Checkout at Radius' site. Major thanks to Radius for providing the gear!The rules: Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine. Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Winner will be chosen randomly. One (1) winner will receive one (1) set of Radius Atomic Bass Silver Aluminum Earphones for iPhone W/ Built-in Mic. Approximate retail value is $49.99. If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Entries can be submitted until Thursday, June 11th, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.
Radius' noise-canceling earbuds for your iPod nano
Got a third-generation iPod nano? Looking for a new set of earbuds, preferably with noise-canceling abilities? If so, look no further than Radius' new set, which plug right into the dock in order to extract all the juice they need to block out extraneous clamor. The radStrap canalphones are expected to ship in black, green and silver, and feature a neck strap, on / off switch for the noise-cancellation, an aluminum housing and frequency response of 20Hz to 20kHz. Check 'em out next month for ¥8,980 ($82), but don't get your hopes up for a bonafide US release.
The radJupiter cigarette lighter iPod dock
If you've been looking for a redundant iPod accessory that likely won't fit into 9 out of 10 cigarette lighters, this new radJupiter nano dock from Radius should fit the bill nicely. The little unit comes in white and black, and also has a shuffle version with a USB port instead of dock connector. Along with charging your iPod, the radJupiter contains an FM transmitter to get tunes to your stereo, and houses a stereo mini jack to get audio from other devices. You can get your rad on for about $50, but we're pretty sure that the rad-ness will be Japan only for the time being.
