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Libratone intros Zipp portable AirPlay speaker with PlayDirect, expectedly wrapped in wool (update)
If you've been following the surge of AirPlay speakers that started hitting the market in 2011, you've likely feasted your eyes on the spendy wool-clad systems by Libratone. While its larger Live and Lounge units have primarily been purposed for households, its new Zipp speaker is the being touted as the "first and only" portable AirPlay speaker. Make no mistake, unlike B&O Play's portable AirPlay-equipped Beolit 12 ($800), the Zipp's loaded with Libratone's proprietary PlayDirect protocol, meaning it doesn't require a separate wireless network / router for iDevices to connect to it over the air. The Zipp moniker is a play on the swappable wool grill which cozies around its vertically-standing tubular enclosures. Weighing four pounds and measuring in at 10.2 inches high by 4.8 inches in diameter, this "portable" unit is a good bit larger than the Blutooth-equipped Jawbone Big Jambox placed sideways, but it'll certainly fit in a backpack -- hey, it does have a leather carrying strap. Thankfully, that weight is partially due to its internal rechargeable battery, which should last up to eight hours. As far as the speakers go, you'll find a duo of 1-inch ribbon tweeters facing the sides for the left and right channels, along with a 4-inch up-firing woofer. The rig also features Libratone's signature FullRoom design, which forces a 360-degree dispersion of the sound by way of deflectors in front of the tweeters. Beyond that, it'll naturally work with Libratone's existing iPhone app, allowing you to change the DSP on the fly for optimal output regardless of its placement in a room. The Zipp will hit Apple Stores later this October wrapped with a single red or grey zippered grill for $399, while other retailers will carry the $449 Classic Color and Funky Color editions, which each come with a trio of those wool grills (black, blue and red for the Classic, and black, pink and yellow for the Funky). Past that, a single grill by itself will cost you a relatively expensive $49 directly from Libratone. In the meantime, join us past the break for more details about the unit itself and PlayDirect, our initial impressions and a hands-on video overview.
Details on Playdead's Limbo successor dredged up in Danish grant list
Playdead is perking up, offering some scant details about its follow-up to 2010's Limbo via a listing for Danish interactive grant recipients spotted by superannuation. The game has a working title of "Project 2" and is slated for PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac.The game will follow "a boy's struggle against evil forces trying to take over the world through questionable experiments on human bodies," as superannuation translates it. "Project 2" is a 2D platformer in a 3D world and is "in color," though from the screenshot above it looks as if those colors may have been scraped from Limbo's leftovers.Playdead received £1,000,000 from the Danish government to work on "Project 2." It began working on this title in 2010 and set its production time at "three and a half years," superannuation notes, bringing its launch to an estimated 2014.
Bank app lets you pay bills with iPhone camera
Danske Bank just made it easier to spend money. Banking customers can now pay bills with nothing more than a photo and a tap, boosting the convenience of online payments. Danske Bank's official app is available for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android devices. Once installed, users simply launch the app, snap a photo of the bill they wish to pay and press a confirmation button. The app uses the photograph to rapidly enter the details for a bill or electronic funds transfer, for example the amount due, payee name and account numbers, without forcing users to key in the information by hand. It's a welcome new feature for those of us with fat finger syndrome. The updated app is the latest from the banking industry to find innovative uses for the cameras found in mobile devices. Both PayPal and Chase Bank offer mobile apps that allow users to deposit a check simply by photographing it with the iPhone's camera. Although most of the app's features are custom built for Danske Bank's customers, the option to pay bills by photograph is enabled for clients of competing banks. Danske Bank offers instructions for setting up this feature on its website. The app, currently only available in Danish, is a free download from the App Store.
Amateur Copenhagen Suborbitals team about to send a dummy into a space, then a man; what have you done with your life?
The non-profit, volunteer-based and sponsor-supplied Copenhagen Suborbitals are an amateur group of Danish crazies that are about to fire a crash test dummy into space. It's all part of a wild plan to send a human into space on a shoestring budget (in the thousands, not the millions), and it seems to be going pretty well so far. The launch of the "Tycho Brahe" spacecraft (pictured above), which is really as small as it looks and will be towed to sea by a submarine built by one of the team members, is slated to take place on August 30th. A manned launch is still probably a few years off, but this is the first full scale launch for the team, and obviously a huge milestone. We wish the team the best of luck, and will have a bottle of our best bubbly standing by to celebrate.
A modern, Danish case for your modern, Danish computer
Wooden computer cases? We've been there before, but few offer the simple elegance of this "Modern Danish-styled PC enclosure" photographed by slipperyskip at Collectors Weekly -- who jokingly indicates it wouldn't look out of place on the set of Mad Men. We think an integrated ash tray is a necessity before it could make the cut at Sterling Cooper, but it does appear to have plenty of room on top for scotch glasses. The case is said to be 85 percent complete, and hopefully some of that last 15 percent includes actually putting some hardware in the thing. Pretty as it is, an empty case won't do you much good.
Civilization building MMO Dawntide sets sights on closed beta
If you ever wanted the chance to create your own society and then rule over it with an iron fist, then you may want to check out Danish developer Working As Intended's first title, Dawntide.Dawntide is taking a more experimental approach to their MMO by attempting to capture all of the Bartle gamer types in one swing -- the explorer, socializer, killer, and achiever. To that end the game is offering meaningful combat, a player driven economy, territorial ownership, item "invention" mechanics, and options for players to create their own societies. Their goal in having players create societies is a hope that this type of play will offer options for everyone -- the socializer to create traction for their government, the explorer to find suitable areas of land, the achiever to push forwards with new ideas and items, and the killer to protect or upend these ideals.Dawntide has just opened up their applications for phase one of closed beta, and you can get into the ground floor by filling out the form on their main website.
Android-powered HTC phones headed to Nordic lands next summer
While most Danes are more concerned with securing a Snuggie right now than securing a next-generation handset, we do have some stellar news for those waiting in tense anticipation for Android to head that way. According to HTC's Peter Frølund, at least one Android-powered handset will be coming to Denmark next summer. In fact, he's quoted as saying that "one or more Android products" will land in all of the Nordic countries simultaneously, though he couldn't get any more specific than that. Bonus Snuggie coverage after the break.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
YouSee / Com Hem expand HD lineups abroad
Despite the lingering feeling that Europe just isn't digging HD, two major cable providers across the pond have just added a dash of high-def to their lineups. Up first is Danish carrier YouSee, which has introduced Eurosport HD just as the French Open Tennis championships got underway. Next up is Sweden's own Com Hem, which has inserted Eurosport HD and National Geographic HD into its HD tier. There's no word on future expansion for either operator, but we're thrilled to see progress being made -- even if it's relatively minor.Read - YouSee expansionRead - Com Hem expansion
Lantic Systems unveils gilded $30000 RC 1 remote control
Here at Engadget HQ, we've no particular issues with superfluousness, but we're just hard pressed to believe that anyone could find value in a $30,000 remote control. Granted, we'd certainly have a change of heart if said remote could grant a trio of wishes, create a clone to handle our 9-to-5 and serenade us on command, but unfortunately, Lantic Systems' RC 1 does none of the above. The discuss-shaped device only offers up control of one's DVD player, TV, CCTV / security setup, audio system, lights, curtains, HVAC and any other standard AV component, all of which can be taken care of for a Toyota or so less. Interestingly, the outfit doesn't even mention how much gold you're really getting here, but considering that those signed on to bring one home likely posses more money than sense, that tidbit probably isn't a dealbreaker.[Via BornRich]
Apple forced to pay up over iBook G4 flaw
Just months ago, the Consumer Complaints Board in Denmark announced that it had "proven" that the logic board within a slew of Apple's iBook G4s were faulty, and now it seems that Cupertino has been forced to cough up reparations. According to InfoWorld, a US-based Apple spokeswoman stated that it "disagreed with the DCCB's findings based on its own investigation, and has a strong track record for customer satisfaction." Apparently, the counter report that Apple assembled wasn't enough to persuade the board that the swarm of customer complaints were unwarranted, and now Frederik Navne Boesgaard (of the CCB) has said that Apple "paid up" after conceding the point.
HortiBot: the autonomous, GPS-enabled weed eradicator
HortiBot won't go down as the first robot with weed extermination as its sole mission in life, but this particular robot ups the ante in a serious way. Conjured up by a team of Danish agricultural scientists, the three-foot by three-foot autonomous machine is "equipped with a computer and GPS to find the exact location of weeds," and being that it's also reportedly self-propelled, you hardly have to keep an eye on it. Moreover, the device can be flanked by an array of weed-removing attachments depending on a farmer's specific needs, and promises to curb "herbicide usage by 75-percent." Currently, the cost of one Hortibot would run around $71,000, but the crew hopes to land a manufacturing partner and reduce those charges when it (hopefully) goes commercial.[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of HortiBot]
Danish devs come up with Pollen Sonata, need publisher
Pollen Sonata is a game that a small team of Danish developers is hoping will interest a publisher enough to pick it up. A small teaser trailer is also available online (embedded past the break, for your convenience), giving us a glimpse into the oddly serene environments and gameplay of the proposed title. We'd play it.Let's hope a publisher will pick it up so we can some day.
Robot lawnmower kills Danish man
In what we surely hope isn't the opening salvo of the robot insurrection, a 45-year old Danish municipal worker was tragically killed by an industrial robotic lawnmower this afternoon, after the unit tumbled off a slope and onto the poor fellow doing his job. Although we've seen quite a few robotic lawnmowers, we're not too familiar with the RC-controlled Dvorak Spider 01 unit the man was using; our only hope is that this is, of course, an isolated incident.
Denmark's GylleSMS, a new kind of early warning system
I expect you will all agree that nothing can dampen a morning jaunt or coffee on the terrace like the smell of freshly spread manure. We aren't talking about the mild pong from a few cows in a field, but rather a full-on liquified spray fest. Well the Danish have a new SMS service to allow farmers the ability to alert their neighbors before they get to work on the fields. Called GylleSMS -- that's "ManureSMS" for the English speakers out there -- the SMS contains all the gooey details about when and where there would be spreading near you. Also under consideration by the farmers is a voting system whereby people near a farm can just say, "No! No! The wind may blow!" [Via Textually.org]
Cellphones finally cleared of cancer charges
We've seen so many chapters of the "dangerous / not dangerous" chronicles with regard to cellphone radiation that we've lost count, but thanks to a Danish study recently carried out on 420,000 avid mobile users, we can finally put those worries to rest (we hope). While it's no secret that mobile phone antennas emit "electromagnetic fields that can penetrate the human brain," we've been yearning for a study such as this to quiet the tin-foil advocates (and ensure our own safety). Researchers from the Danish Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen looked at data on people who had been using mobile phones "from as far back as 1982" in order to draw their conclusions, and after all was said and done, they found "no evidence to suggest users had a higher risk of tumors in the brain, eye, or salivary gland, or developing leukemia." Thankfully, a similar study published earlier this year by the Institute of Cancer Research also concluded that mobile phone use "was not associated with a greater risk of brain cancer." So, there you have it folks, you can safely yap away without fear of mutating into some form of diseased being -- until the next study "proves" otherwise, of course.[Thanks, Billfred]
Bang & Olufsen's Helping Hand reminds you to take meds
While our favorite Danish gadget company, Bang & Olufsen is better known for making fashionphones and audio gear, it also has a medical devices division, known as Medicom. This division has just released a new device to help patients make sure they're on track for taking medication. The aptly named "Helping Hand," which looks like a slightly curved handset, stores a blister pack of medication and then will send a signal to a computer or cell phone (via Bluetooth or USB) to remind you to take your meds. The Helping Hand's red, yellow or green lights will go off to give a visual cues as to how many instances have been missed, and can upload that info to your doctor (or medical assistant robot), so the next time you see her, she can give you a stern reprimand. Speaking of reminders, we'd like to alert B&O Medicom that its press release doesn't have a price or a release date on it -- so get on that, guys.[Via medGadget]
Danish server admin exposes D-Link's "NTP vandalism"
It seems that incompetence on the part of the coders who write network hardware manufacturing giant D-Link's router firmware, and possibly even more insidious willful ignorance at higher levels of the company, may force Denmark's only networked time server to permanently shut down its vital public service. Apparently thousands of Danish servers use Poul-Henning Kamp's pro bono publico NTP server to sync their own clocks -- which is hosted for free by the Danish Internet Exchange (DIX) with the understanding that it is restricted to server-level access, but whose address D-Link hard coded into their device firmware without ever having asked Kamp's permission. The traffic from D-Link devices consists of well over 75% of the packets that the server handles, and has caused DIX to hit Kamp with an $8,800 per year connection fee that may mean the end of the free service and extra work for those thousands of Danish admins, not to mention the embarrassment Danes will have to face when mocked for living in an NTP-free technological backwater (despite their army's snazzy MP3 pillows). Kamp claims that although D-Link is well aware of the issue (they've since updated some, but not all, of the firmware on their site), but instead of fixing their mistake and encouraging customers to upgrade their firmware, the company simply offered Kamp an unspecified amount of "hush" money that doesn't even cover his most direct expenses. Hey D-Link, please drop us a press release if and when you decide to address this issue, because we think your "NTP vandalism" isn't very cool.[Via The Inquirer]
