Engadget Expand
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Poll: Engadget Expand asks: What should robots be helping us with?
We're just a few days away from Expand, and all of us are insanely excited about the agenda we have lined up. To get you pumped for our Sunday morning session with Chris Anderson (CEO, 3D Robotics and former editor-in-chief, Wired), Steve Cousins (CEO, Willow Garage) and Marc Raibert (President & Chief Robot Lover, Boston Dynamics) we have a little thought experiment for you. Read on to take our short and sweet robotics poll...
Giveaways Galore: Win a boatload of sweet stuff at Expand!
We've already given you plenty of reasons to head on out to Expand this weekend in San Francisco, on top of a truly action-packed agenda. And anyone who has been to an Engadget event before knows we make it a habit of giving away beaucoup gadgets to attendees. But what exactly could you go home with from Expand? We're glad you asked! We've worked with our sponsors and partners to come up with a seriously healthy list of giveaway items you could walk away with as your very own. Read on to find out what you could win at Expand...
The Weekly Roundup for 03.04.2013
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 7 days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Last-chance Expand ticket giveaway and congrats to our Photo Contest winner!
In celebration of Expand, our first enormous electronics extravaganza next weekend at San Francisco's Fort Mason, we're giving away 4 pairs of tickets to 4 lucky @EngadgetExpand followers. This will be your last chance to score a free pass before the big event, so be sure to join us for this one! Here's how to enter: mention @EngadgetExpand in a tweet that also includes which session in the now fully-unveiled agenda you are most looking forward to. That might not be the easiest task, since there will be a lot going on at the show: from DJ Spooky's live performance to Veronica Belmont's appearance on the Sci-Fi panel to Make Magazine's Mark Frauenfelder co-hosting the Insert Coin awards - and then some. To be eligible to enter, you must be 18 years of age and a U.S. resident (please peruse the full rules). Get your tweets in by midnight EST this Sunday night for your chance to win; we'll choose 4 entries at random to each receive a free pair of tickets. UPDATE: Our lucky winners are: Alan Tikwart Alden of South San Francisco, CA (@SeriesAPartners) Crystal Gomez of Colma, CA (@cryscrys7) Caitlin Petrakovitz of San Francisco, CA (@misscp) Kevin Lind of Walnut Creek, CA (@zedklind) Read on for our Samsung Galaxy Camera winner...
The Daily Roundup for 03.08.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Engadget Expand agenda unveiled: Come see the full schedule for our big event!
Over the past couple of months we've been letting you know about the awesome speaker lineup for Expand, our big event that's just around the corner at San Francisco's Fort Mason on March 16th and 17th. Now you can check out the full agenda of sessions and speakers who will be gracing our stage for two days full of in-depth discussions about the frontiers of technology. From 3D printing to crowdfunding, from robots to space (and undoubtedly some robots in space) and more, you're not going to want to miss the Expand experience. And if you're looking for even more reasons to attend Expand, how about 10 of them? Go on and pick yourself up a full pass for the weekend and get a free six month subscription to Make Magazine to boot. See you at Expand! And don't forget... We now offer day pass options for folks who can't make it out for the entire weekend Join us for Insert Coin winner voting on March 16-17! If you're a company that would like to work with us on an exhibition or sponsorship level, please drop us a line at sponsors at engadget dot com (DIYers and small startups, please ask us about our Indie Corner option!) If you're a member of the media interested in covering Expand, please contact engadget at shiftcomm.com for more information.
Engadget Expand needs volunteers: Apply within!
Pssst hey buddy: want to attend Expand for free and get a chance to go behind the scenes and help us actually put on the show? Read on! We're looking for a few good volunteers to help us out on site at Fort Mason in San Francisco this coming March 16th and 17th. In exchange for free tickets, we ask you to work with us for a half day for a six hour shift from the following options (all times are PST): Friday 1pm-7pm Saturday 7am-1pm Saturday 1pm-7pm Sunday 7am-1pm Sunday 1pm-7pmRead on to find out more about volunteering at Expand...
Engadget Expand speakers, Round Eight: Nine big reasons to join us March 16th and 17th
If you've been following along with our speaker announcements for Expand, you know we've already got a lineup chock full of some of the most interesting technologists at the forefront of innovation. You'll also appreciate that this last batch is a bit of a doozy -- consider this the big reveal before the Big Reveal of the full agenda, coming very soon: Nate Mitchell: Vice President of Product, Oculus Rift Jason Parrish: Director, Lenovo ThinkPad Strategy & Planning Hod Lipson: Professor of Engineering, Cornell University Tamar Yehoshua: Director of Product Management, Google Ujesh Desai: Vice President of Product Marketing, NVIDIA Bob Heddle: Director, Kinect for Windows at Microsoft John Wilson: Vice President, Systems Product Group, Razer Corinna Proctor: Senior Research Manager, Lenovo User Research Center Jim Denney: Vice President of Product Marketing, TiVo Here's why else you need to be at Expand...
Announcing the Insert Coin: New Challengers finalists!
Hard to believe, but March is here, and with this lambing-lion of a month comes Engadget's first-ever Expand conference in San Francisco. It also marks the impending culmination of our first-ever Insert Coin: New Challengers competition. Late last year, we asked makers to submit their projects for a chance to win $25,000 in prizes. We whittled that list down to 10 semifinalists and asked you to help up get it down to a final five, which will go up in front of our all-star panel of judges on March 16th and 17th. Finalist voting closed yesterday, and we've tallied the 5 projects that will be demoed on stage. Check them out after the break, and be sure to follow our coverage at Expand for a chance to help pick the Grand Prize and People's Choice winners.
Expand Photo Contest: Win a Samsung Galaxy Camera!
Our first ever Expand event is around the corner, this March 16-17 in San Francisco. In addition to oodles of interesting speakers, there'll be shiny sights to see: robots, retro games, of course gadgets galore and a few surprises we haven't even unveiled yet. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to record said sights with your own state-of-the art camera? Show us you can shoot an awesome photo of your favorite gadget, and you could win a Samsung Galaxy Camera! We described it thusly: "Samsung's Android-powered Galaxy Camera is a bit of a wild card, marrying Google's Android Jelly Bean OS with a 16-megapixel camera - heck, it's even got a 4.8-inch 1,280 × 720-pixel (308 ppi) touchscreen display... the entire back consists of that 4.8-inch screen, edge-to-edge..." Check out our full review for all the details and specs. Want a chance at nabbing this bad boy for your very own? Step 1 is to Like the Expand Facebook page. Step 2 is to use the entry form on our Facebook page to submit a photo you've taken of your favorite gadget, title the photo and give a short description about why it's your chosen top device. Team Expand will judge entries based on creativity, style and skill. Show us why you deserve a new camera! Good luck, and may the best shot win -- you have until this coming Monday, March 4 at 5pm EST to get your entry in. To be eligible to enter, you must be 18 years of age and a U.S. resident (please peruse the full rules).
Announcing the Insert Coin: New Challengers judges!
You've already voted for your favorite Insert Coin: New Challengers finalist, right? What? You haven't yet? What are you waiting for? Seriously. The voting's nearly closed! We've already whittled the list down to 10 finalists and asked you to help us get things down to five. Of course, there can only be one big winner, and for that we're bringing in the big guns. MAKE Magazine Editor-in-Chief and Boing Boing co-editor Mark Frauenfelder will be joining us at Expand to help present the top five projects, each of whom will be getting time on our stage to convince readers and judges alike that they deserve to take home the top prize of $20,000. As for the judges themselves, we couldn't be happier -- the list includes four of the biggest names from the world of design, DIY, crowdfunding and gadget blogging. Check out the judges, after the break.
The Daily Roundup for 02.26.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Engadget Expand speakers, Round Seven: Moon, music, media and more!
It's time for another round of additions to the speaker lineup for our big Expand event coming up in just a few weeks. You'll want to be sure to pick up your tickets so you don't miss out on these folks up on stage: Alexandra Hall: Senior Director, Google Lunar X PRIZE DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid: Artist Victor Agreda, Jr.: Editor-in-Chief, The Unofficial Apple Weblog Raghu Tarra: SVP & General Manger, Sling Media, Inc. In addition to joining us on stage, DJ Spooky will be playing a set at Expand on Sunday -- so you'll want to stick around with us all weekend at Fort Mason Center. If you can't be with us for 100% of the fun though, don't forget we also offer day passes for either Saturday or Sunday. Your Saturday pass also gets you into our Day 1 after-party, where we'll have upright cabinets and modern game consoles for retro and current-generation gamers alike to have a little friendly competition. Please join us! And don't forget... Insert Coin finalist voting is still open! Cast your vote by this Wednesday, February 27, at 3:30pm EST. If you're a company that would like to work with us on an exhibition or sponsorship level, please drop us a line at sponsors at engadget dot com (DIYers and small startups, please ask us about our new Indie Corner option!) If you're interested in speaking at the event, please contact expand at engadget dot com to inquire. If you're a member of the media interested in covering Expand, please contact engadget at shiftcomm.com for more information.
Insert Coin semifinalist: Snapzoom connects any scope to any smartphone
There are adapters out there that allow you to hook up your phone with a telescope or a pair of binoculars. Most of them, though, aren't universal. And we mean that on both sides of the equation -- they won't connect to all scopes or all phones. Snapzoom wants to be all things to those with a hankering for long distance photography, such as bird watchers or amateur astronomers. The solution is so simple that it actually stuns us that no one had thought of it before. That's not to say there isn't a lot of smart design involved, but ultimately the Snapzoom boils down to a set of adjustable clamps that provide an incredible amount of freedom. While image quality will rest largely on your choice of smartphone, there's no shortage of incredible shooters out there that you can slide into the mount. Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!
Insert Coin semifinalist: Ziphius is a smartphone-controlled aquatic drone
Who doesn't want a little aquatic drone to call their own? Azorean's Ziphius is a partially submerged device that can be controlled via iOS or Android smartphone or tablet. There's an on-board HD camera that offers up visuals to give the user a first-person view both above and below the water. Azorean plans to open the API on the vehicle and software to let developers create all manner of games and apps that'll harness augmented reality. Inside of the drone, you'll find a Raspberry Pi, an Ardunio-based plate and two differential motors. The company's promising intuitive handling and even a bit of autonomy with the Ziphius. But why talk about it, when we can play you some videos of the little guy in action? You'll find those after the break. Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!
Insert Coin semifinalist: smARtPULSE is a hackable Bluetooth oximeter
Oximeters aren't exactly the sexiest gadgets in the world, but they're definitely quite useful. Monitoring pulse and blood oxygen levels are important for patients in hospitals, athletes trying to squeeze every last drop of performance from their body and anyone making a sudden trip to high altitudes. smARtPULSE uses pretty standard photodetection technology for tracking oxygen levels, but its ability to tether to a whole host of other devices via Bluetooth 4.0 is what really sets it apart. There are free Android and iOS apps for those that just want to check their vitals and be done with it, but tinkerers can have a field day with the open-source hardware and upcoming API. At the end of the day, connecting the smARtPULSE to any computer (be it Linux, Windows or OS X) will be pretty simple, and there will even be libraries available for Arduino, Raspberry Pi and Electric Imp. With the prototyping out of the way, now the team is finishing up the API and ironing out the final design. Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!
Insert Coin semifinalist: Smart Knob brings keypad access to your front door
Keys? Who needs keys? The Smart Knob is an attempt to do away with those pesky metal things for property managers and renters, attaching a keypad to your front door's deadbolt. Owners of the property can issue codes remotely for a chosen period of time. Visitors can also get codes by calling the service's automated phone system. The Smart Knob is compatible with all standard circular deadbolts, and its creators insist that the installation process takes under a minute. The battery should last "up to two years" with daily use -- and when it gets low, a warning will let you know. Check out a video of the original plastic prototype after the break. The final version will, thankfully, be made of metal. Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!
Insert Coin semifinalist: Radiator Labs wants to help you control your heat
Just about any apartment-dwelling urbanite can tell you that radiators are a bit of a necessary evil in the world of city living. What if there was a way to control the heat to individual rental units, without relying entirely on a landlord's temperature-controlling omnipotence? The Radiator Labs team has developed a device to help realize this dream. It's essentially a housing that sits on top of an individual radiator unit, controlling heat transfer to a room. Turn it off, and the insulation hampers the heat from making a room too hot. Turn it on, and the ducted fan spreads the heat out to the room. Radiator Labs has a bit more info on its page, which you can check out in the source link below. You can also view graphical breakdown of the technology after the break. Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!
We're celebrating Insert Coin semifinalists with a giveaway makers will love
On Wednesday, we opened voting so you can help us choose five finalists in our first Insert Coin: New Challengers competition. It was hard enough for Engadget editors to decide on 10 semifinalists out of the myriad awesome crowdfunded projects entered, including such futuristic fare as bipedal robots, high-tech puppetry and more. Now it's your turn to pick which final five entrants will also present on stage at Expand this March for the chance to win a total of $25,000: $5,000 for the Reader's Choice winner and a whopping $20,000 Grand Prize. Voting closes this coming Wednesday, February 27 at 12:30pm PST / 3:30pm EST, so get your vote in! To celebrate the DIY ingenuity and high tech innovation demonstrated by our intrepid entrants, we're running an Insert Coin Twitter Giveaway that gives a little something back to all the makers out there. We're giving away the following three kit prizes: Grand Prize is the Egg-Bot, an art robot that draws intricate designs on eggs or other round objects including ornaments, golf balls, and light bulbs; 2nd Prize is an Apple 1 Replica Kit designed with permission from the Apple I's original creator, Steve Wozniak; 3rd Prize is the Adafruit FLORA GPS Starter Pack including a Flora motherboard, a GPS module that can also perform location datalogging, eight ultra-bright chainable RGB pixels and more. To win, simply send a tweet naming which of the 10 semifinalists you want to win, in the following format: "I think [PROJECT NAME] should win $20,000 in the @EngadgetExpand Insert Coin Competition!" Of course while you're at it, don't forget to vote! To be eligible to enter, you must be 18 years of age and a U.S. resident (please peruse the full rules). Name your inventor of choice by 5pm EST on Monday, February 25 (one entry per person, please!). We'll choose three winners at random to win each kit prize and will notify them via Twitter. Plus, make sure to follow @EngadgetExpand for more chances to win tickets, prizes and other goodies. UPDATE: We have our lucky winners! Thanks for entering and keep looking out for more chances to play... Grand Prize Winner: Jerry Yuan 2nd Prize Winner: Jason Lee 3rd Prize Winner: Richard Espy
Insert Coin semifinalist: Observos serves up the internet of places
Internet of things? That's so 2012. 2013? Well maybe, just maybe, it'll be all about the internet of places. Hexagonal Research founders Loren Lang and Ronald Bynoe are betting that the next big thing will be environmentally aware computers. The pair have created Observos which combines an ATMEL microcontroller (with integrated wireless) with a host of on-board sensors. What began as a prototype built around a tower of Arduino shields is now a small first-run integrated board with spots for connecting XBee radio cards and a small LCD display. Right now the focus is on humidity, temperature and barometric pressure, though other environmental variables would be relatively trivial to tack on. While the Observos board is isn't quite ready for prime time, its already getting some serious field testing in a plant nursery, restaurant and other diverse locales. In addition to the small display, the board can be programmed to send text message or email alerts, and in the future could tie into venting or heating systems for completely automated control. There's even a rudimentary web interface for monitoring the various data coming in from the sensors. Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!
