Let’s be honest: it’s really hard to dislike Chumby. In fact, you feel almost compelled to root for any company bold enough to put out a product as unapologetically wacky as the original Chumby, a device that somehow managed to marry a soft, cuddly vinyl sphere with WiFi and a touchscreen. It didn’t make a lot of sense, and as far as we can tell, the company didn’t really intend it to — they basically threw it out there and said, “hey, so we’ve got this… uh, thing… now let’s see what you can do with it.” It was an open platform, Chumby encouraged hackers to dig in and understand the guts, and over time, a small-but-vibrant community of users and developers emerged with several hundred widgets capable of doing everything from showing the time to cracking a few Chuck Norris jokes.
A quirky, overpriced alarm clock without broad market appeal can only take you so far, though — someone’s eventually got to pay the bills. Enter the $100 Chumby One, Chumby’s first attempt to grow up and produce an affordable device that loses a little bit of the Chumby Classic’s insanity while carefully staying true to the company’s roots. Will this be Chumby’s ticket out of the geek niche and into mainstream living rooms and offices?
Continue reading Chumby One review
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Chumby One review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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While it may not sport the same egregious number of buttons and blue and white aesthetics as last week’s affront to ergonomics, Sony’s VGP-BMS80 VAIO Bluetooth Laser Mouse certainly doesn’t offer much better looks. It does, however, allow for wireless control of either a PC or a PS3 and, with an optical sensor on top, can be used in the air like a trackpad or on a flat surface like a mouse — a place where that “bar of soap” design will surely not do your carpal tunnels any favors. It’s available now at various internet destinations and, if you’re still interested, about $80 will get you into this party.
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wireless
Sony’s VAIO Bluetooth Laser Mouse pictured in the wild, almost as ugly as last week’s OpenOfficeMouse originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The
Augmented Reality issue of Esquire has hit the newsstands, and our fears have come true: when this magazine comes in contact with your webcam, Robert Downey Jr. is unleashed! Aside from dangerous levels of the Academy Award-winning actor, however, the video (after the break) really highlights how silly the whole affair is: While
AR has been implemented to great effect for a number of different applications, delivering video content that could just as easily been delivered without waving a magazine in front of your computer definitely crosses the line into gimmick territory. Still, the magazine’s design team did pull all the stops — so if you’re curious to see what you’d get for your hard-earned dollar, check out that video walkthrough after the break.
Continue reading Esquire’s Augmented Reality issue goes on sale, and we have video to prove it
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Esquire’s Augmented Reality issue goes on sale, and we have video to prove it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Okay, so we’re total suckers for tilt-shift perspective manipulation, and since we’ve run a fair number of snippy attack ads lately, we thought we’d try and clear the air with this impressive new spot from HP. Part of the relatively-new “Create Amazing” campaign, it’s a miniaturized international tour through Shanghai, New York, Santorini, London, Istanbul, and some custom office sets built in L.A., and, well, we’re in love. Watch the video below, maybe have a second glance at Michael Gartenberg’s Entelligence column on gadget-fan unity from yesterday, and let’s all agree to agree for once in this crazy world.
Update: Sadly, the filmmaker got in touch with us and requested that we pull the video until he can clear it with HP — we’ll let you know.
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
HP Create Amazing ad tilt-shifts our hearts originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tell us, readers — haven’t you dreamt deeply about shoving your hand into a toasty, moist hamburger at work in order to warm your digits without cranking the thermostat and irritating the Antarctica-born top brass? And tell us, haven’t you always wanted a USB hub that doubled as an airplane toy? And honestly, don’t even try to act like you’ve never longed for a fine-toothed comb that would stick out from your MacBook Pro whilst waiting at an airport. Amazingly, all of these radical fantasies can now be your own personal reality, as an unknown amount of faceless companies have inexplicably produced these very items and listed them for sale. Sure, the recession may be “over,” but “hope” is still a long, long way from being found.
Read – iPhone chocolate case
Read – Crab earphones
Read – 4-port USB Aeroplane hub
Read – Hamburger USB warmer pad
Read – Monkey USB warmer pad
Read – Metallic car USB flash drive
Read – Fine-toothed comb USB drive
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Crapgadget: ‘All hope just might be lost’ edition originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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He’s back, folks. Our main dude Josh Topolsky will be infiltrating America’s minds directly from the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this evening — and it’s been an absolutely huge few weeks in gadgets, so trust us when we say JT’s well-stocked with hot new gear to show off. Tune in on your local NBC station at the times listed below, let us know how he’s doing in comments, and make sure to include #joshtops in your tweets!
P.S.- In case you missed Josh and Jimmy goofing around with the iPhone 3GS in June or the Pre back in March, we’ve got videos after the break.
Showtimes:
12:37AM Eastern
11:37PM Central
11:37PM Mountain
12:37AM Pacific
Continue reading Josh is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight!
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Josh is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Korg’s Nanokey MIDI controller is pretty awesome in its own right, but using it with your feet gets a little difficult under “normal” conditions. We can’t say for certain why Marc Fischer decided to convert his perfectly good control board into a MIDI foot pedal, but frankly, that’s beside the point. The point is he did it, and he did it with just a bit of ingenuity, some wooden blocks for risers and a bit of Plexiglas to cover up the missing keys. Hit the read link if you’re interested in doing something similar, and feel free to ask the man himself where that gorgeous shag carpet came from. Kinky!
[Via MAKE]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Korg Nanokey controller repurposed into MIDI foot pedal originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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There’s certainly no shortage of portable
night vision gear available for those that often find themselves out and about at night, but there’s few quite as pocketable as Minox’s new NV mini II scope, which (as you can see) is almost small enough to fit on your key ring. You’ll still get 2x magnification despite that diminutive size, however, and a built-in infrared illuminator for “perfect vision” even in complete darkness. Still no word on a price, but this one should be available from all your usual night vision retailers by the end of the month, if it’s not already.
[Thanks, Stephen V]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Minox NV mini II makes night vision pocketable originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hey, you want to start annoying your kids with your crummy taste in tunes before they’ve even been born? Fine, go for it. The Lullabelly prenatal music belt — which is like a giant, soft cummerbund with a speaker stuffed into it — is here to help. Just plug your fave PMP into it and you’ll be all set to turn the womb into a super musical fun fest. The speaker has an output of about 60 to 80 decibels, and you can jack in with your earbuds to jam along. Just remember: you’re the one with the volume control, and no matter how good the Tran-Siberian Orchestra sounds to you at 11 am, some people would rather listen to Megadeth. This bad boy comes in two slightly different packages, one which will run you $49.99, the other is $59.99
[Via Switched]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Portable Audio, Wearables
Lullabelly prenatal music belt rocks the cradle of love originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Need a digital photo frame? Need a printer? Need them to happen within the same enclosure? If you’re one of the oddballs who curiously answered yes — and you don’t actually need it until after the holiday shopping season — Sony’s got you covered. The DPP-F700 digital picture frame with one-touch printing that we saw pop up internationally just last month has finally been blessed with a US ship date and price, and if you’ve paid any attention whatsoever to the headline, you’re probably well aware of what those two data points are. The frame itself will boast a 7-inch display (800 x 480 resolution), 1GB of memory, a multicard reader and will print out “professional quality” 4- x 6-inch photos at 300 x 300 dpi. There’s also a nifty “screen capture” mode that prints out exactly what’s displayed during a slide show, though there’s literally no telling how pricey those refills will be.
[Via Slashgear]
Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets
Sony’s S-Frame DPP-F700 digiframe / printer hybrid hitting America in January for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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