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Hyundai imagines an EV future where cars 'crab drive' sideways to park
Every urban mobility EV concept needs some kind of fun gimmick, and Hyundai has delivered quite a few with its latest Mobis M.Vision concepts.
fuboTV recruits CBS to take on cordcutter rivals
Folks generally cut the cable cord to save money, but fragmentation means you might have to subscribe to more than one service. Case in point is fuboTV, which focused on international soccer (football, for our international readers), but not much else, when it launched a $10 monthly service in 2015. To attract a broader audience, it later introduced a $35 Premier bundle with more regular TV channels. As part of that, fuboTV has now gone live with CBS, making it a viable rival to services like DirecTV and Sling TV.
Logitech's Pop buttons can control Apple HomeKit devices
Smart devices give you more control of your home while simultaneously making it more complicated. Logitech launched its Pop Smart Button last year to help simplify things a bit, and now they've made it more useful with Apple HomeKit compatibility. That'll let you control any HomeKit peripheral using the button, including Honeywell Lyric thermostats, Philips Hue Lights, iHome smartplugs and more. There is a catch: You'll need the Pop button bridge, which will be sold exclusively by Apple to start with.
Logitech's Pop button controls your entire smart home
As slick as smart home technology may be, you lose some ease of use. With certain exceptions, you can't just flick a switch to set everything in motion. Logitech thinks it can change that. It's introducing the Pop Home Switch, a button (yes, the name is a bit misleading) that can control multiple devices at once. It not only talks to typical smart home tech like lighting (including Philips Hue bulbs) and door locks, but also Logitech's own Harmony hubs. If your remote can control it, the switch can too. It'll even access Sonos playlists (in case you need some relaxing music to go with your mood lighting), and you can assign up to three actions per switch thanks to single, double and long button presses.
Postmates is set to launch 15-minute food deliveries in NYC
Even as Uber kills off its own rapid lunchtime delivery service in New York City, Postmates announced on Tuesday that it will launch its own version tomorrow starting at 11am EST. NYC deliveries will rely on Postmate's existing Pop program, which launched last October in San Francisco and last week in LA. A similar hour-long service should be launching in London later this year as well. With Pop, anyone on Manhattan between 34th street and the Bowery will get their orders in a quarter hour, at no additional delivery fee. Now you'll be able to get your 4/20 munchies tomorrow in record time without having to get off the couch.
The latest band to embrace VR is ... New Kids on the Block?
Here's a sign that virtual reality has lots its veneer of cool before it even really arrived. Pop TV has revealed that it will use the tech for the next season of Rock This Boat featuring New Kids on the Block. If you've no idea what any of those words mean, the show is about fans on a cruise ship with the '90s boy band (NKOTB, if you're cool), "as they engage with each other and rock out with their fans, both on- and off-stage."
Nuka-Cola Quantum available in time for 'Fallout 4'
No one really knows what's in those bottles of Fallout Beer, but they likely won't hit US shores. What will however is Nuka-Cola Quantum. The folks at Fallout developer Bethesda have teamed up with the purveyors of funky fizzy drinks, Jones Soda, to put the "irradiated" refreshment on Target shelves just in time for Fallout 4's launch. Come November 10th, you'll be able to start slugging down what looks like the company's Berry Lemonade (a picture's embedded after the break) in preparation for what we're affectionately calling "Vault Day" here at Engadget. You know, what everyone else is referring to as November 10th, a.k.a. Fallout 4's release date.
Keurig's soda machine will let you make Dr. Pepper drinks
Keurig just got a big edge over SodaStream in the make-it-yourself beverage wars. The normally coffee-focused company has reached an exclusive deal that will let you make some of the Dr. Pepper Snapple group's drinks in its upcoming Keurig Cold machine, which arrives this fall. There's no mention of the exact brands, but it wouldn't be surprising if you get pod-based versions of big names besides Dr. Pepper or Snapple, like Canada Dry and Crush. Between this and a pact last year with Coca-Cola, about the only recognizable soft drinks you won't make with Keurig's machine are from Pepsi, which has been testing versions of its beverages with SodaStream. It's too soon to know if these on-demand versions of major drinks will taste like the real thing, but you at least won't have to settle for generic recipes when making fizzy liquids at home. [Image credit: Frankieleon, Flickr]
Alcatel introduces Pop S series of budget-friendly LTE phones
After seeing Alcatel OneTouch announce a series of mid-range Idol phones and a lower-cost fitness-centric phone yesterday, a family of budget devices may not seem quite as... cool. Regardless, the company is pushing out a new trio of Pop smartphones known as "Pop S" (the 'S' stands for -- you got it -- speed) that throw in Cat 4 LTE connectivity while keeping down the price. First, there's the Pop S7 (pictured above), which features a 5-inch qHD display as well as MediaTek's new quad-core 1.3GHz LTE chip, Android 4.4 KitKat, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, a 5MP rear camera and VGA front-facing camera, microSD support and a 3,000mAh battery. It'll come in two flavors of LTE, depending on where you live, and will be making its way to Europe and Asia first. The device will go for 189 euro ($260). If you want something bigger, the S9 might be a better fit -- it's a 6-inch 720p handset with a 3,400mAh battery and comes in at 8.5mm thick. It features a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm 8926 processor, 8MP rear camera, 2MP front-facing camera, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and 8GB internal storage (along with a microSD slot that takes up to 32GB). The device should launch in March in Europe and Asia, but we expect to see it on Tracfone in the US sometime in the second half of this year. All this can be yours for 219 euro ($300). Lastly, there's the Pop S3, which is a much more petite size and comes with a variety of swappable back covers in the box. The specs are pretty minimal in certain places, but impressive in others: 4-inch WVGA display, Android 4.3 and 2,000mAh battery aren't nothing worth talking about, but it offers a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, the same high-speed LTE connectivity, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, a 5MP rear camera and VGA front-facing cam, 4GB internal storage and microSD that supports up to 32GB. This particular device should head to the UK sometime around May, and it'll eventually make it to the US, we're told. All in all, it's a fairly impressive stack of phones that'll bring solid speed to emerging markets and developing countries, but the big question will be if the price is right.
Alcatel's 7-inch OneTouch Pop tablets are colorful, and subject to leaks
Way back in January this year, Alcatel trotted out some new tablets set for debut in Q3. Some we saw come to light in August. But, what's this we have here? Perpetual thorn in every product release's side -- @evleaks -- has just thrown up images of what are apparently new colorful 7-inch tabs from Alcatel. The difference here, to what we saw earlier, seems to be that they are part of the OneTouch Pop family, much like those recent budget handsets we saw -- which incidentally should start popping up in stores soon. As well as the hues you see above, we hear the covers are removable, and it will come in black, too. Plus there's word of a translucent flip-cover to keep it clean. Whenever it gets official that is.
New Halo 4 figures include the most adorable Cortana ever
Funko's Pop! Vinyl line of collectible figurines is welcoming four new Halo 4 figures into its already plentiful ranks of super-deformed pop-culture characters. Available on November 8, the new line includes Master Chief, both red and blue Spartan Warriors, as well as the unbelievably cute Cortana figure seen above.Seriously, it's like if Betty Boop were a hyper-intelligent, holographic artificial intelligence from the future. Check out all four figures in the gallery below.%Gallery-169460%
Gmail advanced search gets autocomplete in 'from' and 'to' fields, three lab features become standard
Coming on the heels of Google announcing additional languages for Gmail search, the dev team out in Mountain View is rolling out a few more tweaks. For starters, when you use advanced search, you'll now see autocomplete predictions in the "from" and "to" fields. Google is also "graduating" three labs: Refresh POP accounts, Filter import / export and Navbar drag and drop. Starting with that POP feature, you'll be able to click the refresh link at the top of the inbox to populate your inbox with new messages, and also fetch messages from any other POP address you've got set up. Moving on, that filter import / export feature should come in handy if you want to share filters with friends or feel the need to back them up. Wrapping things up, the ability to drag and drop gadgets on the left-hand pane is good for, well, you get the idea.
Email client alternatives to Sparrow for the Mac
Sparrow announced late last week that the company had been acquired by Google; that means that the Sparrow email clients have been put into maintenance mode, with no new features expected going forward. Many customers, like me, who enjoyed using the email client are now contemplating the task of finding an alternative. Yes, Sparrow is useful in its current form, but even if the Mac client behaves well in OS X Mountain Lion and the iPhone client works in iOS 6, that won't necessarily hold up indefinitely -- and if there's a feature you've been waiting for, it's unlikely to ever arrive post-acquisition. Thankfully, there are several alternatives worth mentioning that can take the place of Sparrow, especially for heavy Gmail users. Here is a short list of email clients (and some borderline cases) for OS X that you can check out; I'll cover iOS options in a separate post. If you know of any other titles, please share them in the comments. Postbox ($9.95) For Gmail users, Postbox might be a good alternative. It supports labels and archiving, two features commonly used by Gmail users. It also detects appointment dates inside email messages and lets you add them to your Google calendar. A badge counter on the app's dock icon keeps track of incoming emails, and Growl can be used for notifications. Postbox supports POP or IMAP email accounts as well as services like Yahoo!, Hotmail, iCloud, and more. Besides its email features, Postbox also ties into social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and lets you update your status from within the email client. One of the best features of Postbox is its integration with third-party services like Dropbox and Evernote. The Dropbox support lets you send large files via email as Dropbox links, while the Evernote integration lets you save your emails as a note. It's a great way to share files and organize emails without cluttering up your email client. Interested OS X users can give Postbox a spin for free by downloading the 30-day trial. A single-user license that you can install on every computer you personally use (PC, Mac, or both) is available for US$9.95. MailMate ($29.99) MailMate is an OS X IMAP email client that shows its strength in its many options. The app supports multiple accounts, offline access and dynamic signatures that'll insert a signature based on your previous emails with that person. It also supports Markdown formatting and custom keyboard shortcuts that provide access to almost everything within the app. One strong point is MailMate's search feature that lets you find emails based on the body text, first or last names, email addresses and quoted text. If you don't like how MailMate looks, you can easily switch to an alternative layout like widescreen, three-pane, or threaded view. MailMate is not as easy to use as the default mail client of OS X, but it's a worthy upgrade for power users. Interested in Mac users can download a free demo to try it before buying it. Mailplane ($24.99) Several people mentioned Mailplane in the comments, so I downloaded the client and took it for a quick spin. Mailplane handles Gmail very well because it pulls the Gmail web interface into the app. Gmail users get access to their priority inbox and labels just like they would if they opened Gmail in their web browser. It's an interesting experience as you get the familiar look and feel of Gmail inside a full-fledged app. As a result, Mailplane lets you do more with your message than the web-based version of Gmail. There are bonus features like built-in support for Evernote and a Screenshot function that lets you grab a screenshot and automatically attach it to an email. The app also uses growl for notifications. Mailplane supports multiple Gmail accounts, but there is no unified inbox like the one you have in Postbox and other clients. You have to switch between Gmail accounts to see all your email. Interested OS X users can download a 30-day free trial from Mailplane's website. Thunderbird (Free) Thunderbird is an open source IMAP/POP3 email client from Mozilla that's inspired by the Firefox browser. The email client has a tabbed interface that lets you jump from one email to another quickly and a built-in search function that'll search the web. It also supports add-ons. It's not as easy on the eyes as the default Mail app in OS X, but it's functional and efficient. It's also free. As several readers have pointed out, Thunderbird's support from the Mozilla Foundation is transitioning from full-time feature investment to support and stability, which to some degree puts it in a similar boat to Sparrow in terms of future features. The main difference is that Thunderbird is an open-source client, and can be supported, forked and improved by the developer community; Sparrow is not. Outlook ($199 as part of the Microsoft Office bundle) Outlook is bundled into Microsoft Office and offers a full-featured client for Microsoft Exchange 2007 (or newer) email accounts, as well as accounts from major providers such as AOL, Gmail, MobileMe, Windows Live Hotmail, and Yahoo (all POP and IMAP services are supported). For Mac users working in a Windows back-end environment, Outlook is a good choice for managing your email, contacts, calendar and other documents within the Office bundle. Of course, Apple's built-in Mail app, iCal/Calendar and Address Book/Contacts all interoperate with Exchange too. Apple's Mail.app (Free) For users who need a basic email client, the default Mail app for OS X will fit the bill. It's free with OS X and supports POP3, IMAP, modern versions of Exchange and other popular email services like Gmail and Yahoo! Mail. Mail has a pleasing interface that includes a widescreen view and threaded messages so you can see all the emails exchanged in a conversation. The upcoming Mountain Lion version of Mail will also include VIP contacts (flag and sort mail from specific high-priority senders) and granular support for the new systems Notification Center alerts. MailTab for Gmail (Free, or $1.99 Pro Version) MailTab for Gmail isn't an email client per se. It sits in your menu bar and alerts you (via Growl if it's installed) when you receive a new email. You can view your Gmail emails by tapping on the icon in the menu bar. There's a compose button so you can quickly write an email without opening a web browser or any other client. If you want to manage your emails in greater detail, the app will open the web version of Gmail in a new tab. For OS X users who have one Gmail account and receive a manageable amount of email, MailTab may fit the bill for checking and responding to incoming messages. I sometimes use it to check on two Gmail accounts at once. One account is open in the web browser, while the other is open in MailTab. MailTab is free to try from the Mac App Store. There are several in-app purchases that will unlock notifications and remove ads. You can also buy the Pro version which is available for $1.99. Fluid (Free, or $4.99) Fluid also serves as more (or less) than an email client, but it does provide a handy way to keep Gmail access going without managing a tab in your primary browser. Fluid creates single-site browsers (SSBs) with their very own application icon and space in the Dock. If you want to have a Fluid SSB for your webmail session, it's a matter of a few clicks to set it up. You'll get all the functionality, keyboard shortcuts and capabilities of the web client in a standalone app. Fluid is free to use, and the $4.99 optional feature upgrade adds several handy tools; for mailreading, the split cookie storage in the upgrade means that you can manage a different Gmail account in Fluid from the one you're logged into in the regular browser. If you've got a favorite email client that we didn't touch on, please do let us know in the comments!
Insert Coin: POP portable battery comes with 25,000 mAh of power, charges multiple devices (video)
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. If you're a geeky pack rat who likes to travel with a mini Radio Shack store in your bag a la Steve Wozniak, then you're likely always looking for ways to keep your precious devices powered up. One option that may be worth a peek is the POP rechargeable battery -- a portable power pack that eschews the brick-like design of many of its brethren and comes with 25,000 mAh worth of juice to help bring your gadgets back to life. According to POP creator and Edison Jr. co-founder James Siminoff, the portable battery has enough capacity to charge either 10 standard smartphones or 1 1/2 third-generation iPad tablets.
Sparrow 1.6 for Mac available with POP support, more
After releasing its mail app for the iPhone, Sparrow is back again with another update of its Mac email client. Version 1.6 adds the highly-anticipated support for Pop accounts, giving you a true unified inbox. There's also a handful of minor tweaks and bug fixes that'll make it easier for you to send and receive mail on your Mac. You can see the full list of changes on Sparrow's blog. Sparrow for the Mac is available from the Mac App Store for US$9.99.
Sparrow mail app for iOS hits version 1.1, Push support to follow 'with or without Apple'
Good news today for Sparrow iOS users. As expected, the company has updated its splendid lil' email app to version 1.1 and loaded it with a few hotly anticipated features. Among some bug fixes, you can now make use of a built-in browser, "Send and Archive" messages, filter specific folders and labels, clear your spam and trash bins and even set which accounts you'd like to show or hide dock badges for. While the app is still sorely lacking Push support, Sparrow believes that Apple may change the privacy guidelines for its Push API, which the company plans to include in version 1.2. That said, it's partnered with folks outside of Cupertino's walled-garden, so that it can bring the feature to fruition "with or without Apple." Furthermore, that future version's other features have been detailed -- it'll include landscape support, vertical swiping through messages and localization for an additional nine countries. In related news, version 1.6 of Sparrow for Mac OS X is being readied for release, and it'll pack support for POP email accounts. You can glide on down to the source link for further details.
Sparrow for iPhone will wow with its design, but lacks push notification
After a long wait, Sparrow for iOS made its debut in the App Store on Wednesday. Similar to the desktop version, the iOS mail client promises to provide you with an efficient and pleasant mailing experience, and the app mostly delivers on this promise. Sparrow supports Gmail, iCloud and IMAP, but not POP email accounts. When you launch the app for the first time, you are prompted to setup your first email account. The app will try to auto-configure your settings using your email and password. If it fails, you can enter the server details manually. During the setup process, you can also link to Facebook and pull down your contacts' images. The first thing you notice about Sparrow is the user interface, which is clean, efficient and intuitive. Unlike the native mail client which uses tapping to navigate through the app, Sparrow relies heavily on swiping. You can swipe left and right to move between your account settings, mailbox and individual messages. When you're reading an email, you can swipe up and down to move through other messages in the conversation. You can also swipe on any message to reply, star, label, archive or delete a conversation. Sparrow is not only easy on the eyes, it also supports advanced features like Google labels and identities. I've used lots of email clients, and many struggle with the management and usage of identities. Sparrow, however, is just perfect. Identities are easy to setup and even easier to select when you are going to send an email. Just tap the "From" at the top of the email composition window and a list of email accounts will appear. The app also tracks which account received an email and will automatically select the correct identity when you reply. Like any good email client, Sparrow has a search function that lets you search up to 1000 messages on your phone. You can filter by "From", "To" and "Subject". Search on the phone is great in a pinch, but I found it easier to search on the desktop which is faster and extends to all your messages. Message composition is straightforward. You are prompted right away to select a contact and assign them to either the main recipient, the CC or BCC. As noted above, you can easily select the account from which the email is sent. Writing the email is as simple as typing in text or using the voice-to-text feature. There is no text markup so you can't bold or underline parts of your message. Sparrow also lets you add an image from within the app. When you click on the paperclip icon, you are presented with the option to pick an image from your library or take a new one. Images can be resized when you hit the send button. All this simplicity, however, is overshadowed by one missing key feature: push email. For most people, email is time sensitive. You need to know when an email hits your inbox so you can respond (or at least read it) right away. That's why you need push notification and why Sparrow for iOS is disappointing in that regard. The beta version of Sparrow had push notification, and it worked wonderfully. Unfortunately, Apple rejected the app. According to developer Dom Leca, Apple said no to Sparrow because it used an API, the same one used by VoIP apps, that allows an app to be woken up in case of a network event. This lets Sparrow stay virtually connected to the mail server so it can receive push emails. This always-on type of connection is not allowed by Apple. Even though the solution worked flawlessly in the beta, Sparrow had to remove it for the public release. As it works now, Sparrow will sync your email when you open the app or manually pull down to refresh. You can read Sparrow's statement about push notifications on its website. Without push notification is Sparrow really worth the US$2.99? It depends. If you can't miss an email and your response time is critical, then you should stick with the native mail app. On the other hand, if you're looking for a fresh UI and an efficient way to manage your emails, then you should buy Sparrow without hesitation. You will quickly learn to live without push email or find ways to work around it. It's not elegant, but one work around is to keep notifications in the native Mail app active and then use Sparrow to read and respond to your mail. As noted by Think iOS, you can also use Boxcar notifications to alert you of an incoming email. You can follow the setup instructions on Think iOS's website to get Boxcar up and running. Sparrow for the iPhone is available in the App Store for $2.99.
The Game Archaeologist reminisces with EQMac vets
I can hear you right now: "What, another week on EverQuest Mac? There's, like, six people who play that! Move on to Neocron already!" Oh, be patient my lovelies. I know that the whole EQMac termination/salvation thing is so yesterday's news, particularly with SOE embroiled in a completely different community fiasco last week, but I had one last thing to share with you. You see, a month ago when I heard that EQMac was going to be shut down, I put out some feelers for any players who might want to share their side of the story. Apparently, this small community is downright fanatical about this game and deluged my inbox with stories and pleas. While it seems like the crisis has passed for these players, I still want to share some of these testimonies with you because that's what this column is about. So indulge me with one last week of EQMac discussion before we shift our attention elsewhere. If you're curious why players in 2012 would deliberately choose to game on an archaic server with extremely old-school rules, then the answer awaits you after the jump. And if you'd like to try out this completely free version of EverQuest, then head over to the EQMac.com forums for step-by-step instructions.
PopDrive backs up your backup, gets your hard drive poppin'
A hard drive that backs up your hard drive isn't exactly a groundbreaking concept, but a mirror drive that goes pop? Now, that's something special. PopDrive, weighing in at just over a pound and measuring a touch larger than a wireless mouse, uses two stacked laptop hard drives, encased in an aluminum shell, to guarantee that your backed up data stays that way. So where does the pop come in? Well, if one of these little hard drives crashes, you just pop in a new one like you would a CD. It does RAID-0, RAID-1, JBOD, and connects via eSata. We still haven't seen a price on it, but the company's website suggests that it won't take too much to get this thing poppin'. PopDrive will announce pricing and availability at CES later this week.
Kia Pop recharges in 6 hours with 87mph top speed and 100-mile range
After an August tease the all-electric Kia Pop concept car is now getting a proper reveal at the Paris Motor Show. Pop is a three-meter long three seater featuring a number of futuristic touches like rear-view cameras in each door, a full length glass roof, and an otherwise transparent OLED panel that displays all your instrument readouts only when the car is running. A second touch panel to the right of the steering wheel controls the vehicle's other functions including audio, sat-nav, and climate. Under the hood you'll find a 60-ps, 190-Nm motor powered by lithium polymer gel batteries capable of charging in just six hours. Combined we're looking at an 87mph (140kph) top speed and 100-mile (160-km) max range. Of course, knowing the auto industry, by the time it hits the assembly lines it'll likely resemble an unimaginative shoebox using whatever off-the-shelf parts Kia can find. But a boy can dream can't he?%Gallery-103731%
