We’ve heard
promises of an Android-based photo frame as far back as May of this year, but it looks like the folks at
Parrot are now finally set to deliver with their new Grande Specchio designer frame. As you might be able to surmise from words like “grande” and “designer,” however, this one doesn’t come cheap (a hefty $650), but you do of course get quite a bit for all that extra cash. That includes a large 10.4-inch touchscreen that doubles as a mirror (on purpose), WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, a USB port and SD card slot for expansion and, of course, Android hiding under Parrot’s custom interface. Unfortunately, it’s not clear if you can actually use the frame as full-blown Android device, but you do at least have easy access to a web browser, and Parrot is even promising to develop some apps specifically for the frame — though it curiously says they’ll likely be limited since there is “
no easy way to get them installed on the hardware.” Look for more details when Parrot officially launches this one on November 17th.
Filed under: Displays, Household
Parrot debuts Android-based Grande Specchio photo frame originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You know that friend — we all have one — that bores you with incessant tweets regarding his weight, his caloric intake, number of miles jogged, so on and so forth? Well, don’t let him get a hold on this: finally available in the US, the
WiFi Body Scale by Withings has received a bit of an upgrade, with its web app now offering Twitter integration. Not only does this bad boy register your weight, body fat, and BMI, but you can now configure it to send your stats to “the Twitter” either daily, weekly, monthly, or each and every time you weigh — and your followers will start dropping faster than even you could imagine. But don’t take our word for it! As our man Cedric Hutchings (the company’s general manager) states, “adding this social functionality makes the WiFi scale by Withings the first true flagship of the Internet of Objects.” Right. He might have added that the company’s given “fail whale” an entirely new meaning. Yours for $159. PR after the break.
Continue reading Withings WiFi Body Scale integrates Twitter, launches in the US
Filed under: Household
Withings WiFi Body Scale integrates Twitter, launches in the US originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Just yesterday the internets were buzzing with the latest design from Art Lebedev: the Rozetkus 3D; a standard outlet that pops out of the wall with a simple push to support multiple connections. Lebedev, you’ll recall, made quite a name for himself by taking the Optimus Maximus programmable OLED keyboard from art to part, so to speak. Since posting about the Rozetkus 3D we’ve been informed of another very similar design concept called the Letout Outlet. So similar, in fact, that it would appear that we’ve got a copycat on our hands. Unfortunately for our friends at Lebedev, designer Damjan Stankovic created his Letout Outlet concept in January of 2009 and was recognized with a prestigious reddot design award in the “domestic aid” category back in August. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and good artists copy while great artists steal, well, then congratulations to one and all. Unfortunately, only Damjan Stankovic will be on stage during the formal reddot awards ceremony on November 24th in Singapore.
Update: Artemy Lebedev has responded to our inquiry calling this a “funny (and unpleasant) coincidence.” Art tells us that his design shop’s Rozetkus 3D was first published in Lebedev’s internal idea-collecting intranet dubbed, The Brain, back in November 2006. He assures us that his art is prior, had no knowledge of Damjan’s work, and that no wrongdoing should be assumed by either party.
Read — Letout Outlet
Read — reddot list of winning concepts 2009 [Warning: Excel]
Filed under: Household
Art Lebedev’s Rozetkus 3D vs. Letout Outlet… Fight! (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’re getting ever closer to wireless power, but without a doubt have many years of life with plugs ahead of us. It’s a drag, but fancy concept receptacles help to make our tethered existences slightly more interesting. The UK Folding Plug concept wowed us over the summer, and Art Lebedev’s Rozetkus power strip from a few years ago was great, but now his studio is taking us to a new dimension with the Rozetkus 3D socket. It looks like an unassuming and soothingly blue socket but, push the little button above, and it pops out like a Lemarchand box with openings (and, possibly, eternal damnation) on each face. No word on a possible release, but we’re guessing manufacturers foreign and domestic are flooding Art’s inbox right this very moment.
[Via Yanko Design]
Filed under: Household
Art Lebedev’s Rozetkus 3D socket concept gives you five plugs where once there was one originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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BOO! It’s Halloween and it’s also a Saturday, so let’s not hear any pathetic excuses for not carving pumpkins. While we’re no experts, we’ve got a few tips for making your jack-o’-lanterns better looking and more unique:
- Always mark where you’re carving first instead of freestyling, especially for the lid. Once the knife’s in there’s nothing you can do about it.
- Want an accurate carving? Draw or print your pattern on paper first and then stick it on the pumpkin, so that you can use a pin to punch an outline.
- Use a scalpel. Seriously, it’s so much better than kitchen knives.
- Be creative: consider using a variety of carving depths instead of just cutting out holes. It’s best to start off with the darkest areas so that you know where the threshold is. If it’s too shallow you can always scrape the trench.
- Don’t use candles — they don’t last and aren’t safe for the kids and animals; many LED candles have a convincing flickering glow, so try those. Alternatively, why not convert a cheap solar garden light into a lid for your jack-o’-lantern? Or go Ben-Heck and try the Cylon mod?
- Keep the seeds for roasting — they make a good snack.
Feel free to refer to our gallery for the whole process. Enjoy and have a happy Halloween!
Filed under: Household
How-to: geek up your pumpkin originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Cooking tablets and
recipe readers have been pretty limited (and not very good) in the past — but this one looks extremely promising. Called the Qooq, the 10.2-incher boasts — in addition to a bunch of recipes, of course — complete meal prep videos, instructions and advice on choosing ingredients, shopping lists, meal planners — all which can be updated monthly via a subscription service. Specwise, we’re looking at a glass touchscreen, Ethernet and USB ports, an SD slot, WiFi, and a built-in stand. The custom UI looks pretty attractive, but there are some drawbacks. The Qooq does not have a browser (though it’s got built-in weather, digital photo viewing, and internet radio apps), and it’s only available for
French language speakers for now. If you do speak the language of love, you can get one of these puppies for €349 (about $513), with the subscription service running an additional €12.95a month (about $19).
[Via Red Ferret]
Filed under: Handhelds, Household
Qooq recipe and cooking tablet launched for French speakers only originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’ve always heard that holiday calories “don’t count,” but disregarding urban legend for a minute, we’d say AlterG’s timing here is nothing short of impeccable. Nearly 1.5 years after the outfit’s P200 series was a-okay’d by the FCC, an all new walking machine has entered the fray. The M300 treadmill brings along the same “anti-gravity” feel (useful for rehabilitation and athletic training), but in a machine that’s a third of the price and way, way sleeker. The idea here is to reduce the strain on joints and muscles as one exercises, and while that’s certainly commendable, we’re still thinking it’ll take one or two more iterations to get one priced for the everyman. You know, unless you consider $24,500+ (or $499+ per month for the rest of your Earthly life) “affordable.”
[Via MedGadget]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household
AlterG’s M300 treadmill: same ‘anti-gravity’ vibe, now ‘only’ $24,500 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sure, we’ve been frustrated by
solar-powered iPhone chargers and amused by the irony of
solar-powered lamps in the past, but that doesn’t mean we’re not looking forward to the day when we can meet our gadgets power needs without relying on fossil fuels. That’s why we’re pleased to note that a company called ReNu has just announced a solar panel that can be used to charge your iPhone or iPod, power the device’s sound dock, or even keep your desk light shining sans mains power. Featuring a modular design, the panel can dispatched to your window to soak up the rays for 10 or 20 hours (depending on the amount of sunlight it receives) and then returned to your dock for about nine hours of music playback, recharge your iPhone (twice!), or provide about four hours of light with the LED desk lamp. Of course, most people are going to hang this thing in the window once, forget about it, and then spend the next several years powering their devices with the included AC adapter — but at least they’re trying, right? Available for pre-order now, the ReNu solar panel ($199) and the Renu panel / iPod dock combo ($249) both ship in February 2010, while the Side Light desk lamp ($89) ships in next March, and the Sound Dock ($149) should see the light of day sometime in April. Hit the read link to place that order, but not before peeping the galley below.
[Via TreeHugger]
Filed under: Cellphones, Household
ReNu solar panels announced for iPhone charger, sound dock, LED desk lamp originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We know what you’re thinking: what could be more impressive to your “friends” than an incredibly super sweet landline telephone about 9 years after most people stopped having them? That’s right, a landline. Bang & Olufsen’s BeoCom 5 is destined to take things to the next level with hot functions like “hold” and the ability to store up to 400 contacts. The BeoCom 5 also boasts a rad looking speaker phone if you want to get a whole group convo going like we did back in junior high. Other good news here is that this baby can handle two separate lines — in case one is simply not enough. No word on when the newest BeoCom will be unleashed, or how much it will cost, but we’re going to guess it won’t be cheap.
[Via Acquire Mag]
Filed under: Household
Bang & Olufsen BeoCom 5 landline: all the cool kids have one originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We can’t fault Dyson for chutzpah. After putting the company’s spin on vacuum cleaners and then hand dryers, we probably should’ve guessed that a revolution in table fan engineering was next up. When we first saw an image of the Dyson Air Multiplier “bladeless fan” a few spurious theories popped into our heads as to how it works, but it didn’t take long to figure it out: it has blades in it. It’s just that these blades are inside the lower canister, rather similar to, dare we say it, how a vacuum cleaner is set up, with the air then routed through the ring up top. The benefits of this tech are that there are no nasty blades to get fingers caught up in, but also that there’s no “buffeting” — that on-off gush of air caused by fan blades unceremoniously chopping up the air into inelegant segments. Unfortunately, the downside of the Dyson method is that you can’t make Darth Vader voices through the backside of the fan, and the whole assembly is closer in noise pollution to that of an actual vacuum cleaner than a regular table fan. And then there’s the matter of price: $300 for the 10-inch model, $330 for the 12-inch, and neither of them offer nearly as much wind as a regular fan this size — quite a steep entry fee for the gentle breezes that emanate out of this plastic wind tunnel. Full PR is after the break.
Continue reading Dyson’s Air Multiplier is the overpriced bladeless fan you never asked for
Filed under: Household
Dyson’s Air Multiplier is the overpriced bladeless fan you never asked for originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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