The Gadget Geek

Keepin’ it real fake: MacBook Pro knockoff rocks Ion 2, thinks itself fly

We’ve stumbled across any number of MacBook Air KIRFs, but it’s not often we see a worthy representation of Cupertino’s heftier model. Never underestimate Shenzhen. This “Dragonfly QT Pro” not only features a familiar aluminum alloy shell, the 14-inch, 1366 x 768 netbook’s also got Ion 2 switchable graphics ahead of its Acer and ASUS cousins. A 1.66GHz Atom D410 and 1GB of memory help pump out 1080p video while keeping case temperatures at a lap-happy 36 degrees Celsius, while a 160GB hard drive, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and HDMI (take that, Mini DisplayPort) round out a 4.2 pound, roughly $3000 RMB (about $440) package. Shame it only gets 2 hours of battery life, eh?

Keepin’ it real fake: MacBook Pro knockoff rocks Ion 2, thinks itself fly originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CES 2007: 3 Doors Down
CES 2007: 3 Doors Down
Volkswagen Electric Scooter Charges in Your Trunk
German car-maker Volkswagen has designed a bike. Weird, right? Actually, no. The Bik.e is actually a sidekick for your car, something you are supposed to remove from the trunk when you have parked up and can go no further on four wheels. The Bik.e is electric, and folds up to fit in the spare-wheel well in [...]

Sony teases VAIO Ultra Mobile, Clippy chuffed (Update: new VAIO P)

Interesting. Sony’s teasing a new VAIO “Ultra Mobile” in Japan. No idea what this could be: refreshed VAIO X lappie, VAIO P netbook, or a new take on its venerable VAIO UX micro PC? With Intel’s Moorestown just around the corner we’re leaning towards the latter, hoping for it anyway — Sony doesn’t tease just any old product without good reason. Oh, wait.

Update: A previously proven Sony tipster tells us that a new VAIO P is the mystery device. In fact, it’s orange and the paper clip to the left actually represents the unit as viewed from the side. Trippy.

Sony teases VAIO Ultra Mobile, Clippy chuffed (Update: new VAIO P) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CES 2009: LG LED LCD TV
CES 2009: LG LED LCD TV

Sony gives NEX3 and NEX5 names to its first ultra-compact interchangeable lens cameras

Those ultra-mysterious folks at Sony are finally starting to loosen their grip on info about the Japanese giant’s entry into the growing market for compact interchangeable lens cameras. Having already witnessed some of the user interface and a few prototype bodies, we’re now seeing the first shots of these new shooters in the wild. Spotted in an Asian pub (what is it with drinking establishments and hardware leaks?), the mirrorless NEX3 body reveals its name, an external flash attachment (with a proprietary connector, boo!), and a a chrome-finished 16mm F2.8 pancake lens. It doesn’t look very pancakey to us, and indeed Sony Alpha Rumors claim it’s bigger than the nearest competitors from Olympus and Panasonic, but apparently that’s because Sony has included optical image stabilization in the lens, perhaps a worthy trade-off. Both new models are expected to sport the 14 megapixel ExmorHD sensor, though the NEX5 will record 1080p video versus the NEX3′s 720p. We’re told to expect a May 11 announcement for the pair, with what’s being described as “very aggressive” pricing relative to their Micro Four Thirds competition. Let it be so.

Sony gives NEX3 and NEX5 names to its first ultra-compact interchangeable lens cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CES 2007: Toshiba
CES 2007: Toshiba

Intel Arrandale shortages leading to premium prices, potential product delays

Now this might explain Apple’s curious choice to not upgrade the 13-inch MacBook Pro to a Core 2010 CPU. Yahoo! News is reporting shortages of the more budget-minded Core i3 and i5 laptop processors launched by Intel this January, which has led to chip buyers outbidding each other to the point of paying 20 percent premiums on contract prices. That’s according to US chip distributor Converge, while research firm CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets estimates that product rollouts could be delayed by up to three months as a result. What has Intel got to say for itself?

“We don’t comment on speculation, what I can say is that we are pleased with the strong product demand for our laptop platforms.”

Well sure, you get paid more on a per-CPU basis, why wouldn’t you be pleased? On a more serious note, during Intel’s latest earnings call both Paul Otellini and CFO Stacy Smith expressed their surprise at the vast demand for their 32nm products, with Smith noting that their production of 32nm chips is the fastest ramping process in the company’s history. So there’s not really any villainy afoot here, just good old demand catching supply napping.

Intel Arrandale shortages leading to premium prices, potential product delays originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Apr 2010 07:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Game Design: Raising the Bar
Game Design: Raising the Bar
Video: 99-Year-Old Enjoys Her New iPad
The latest YouTube star is Virginia Campbell, a 99-year-old Lake Oswego, Oregon resident who’s in love with her iPad. Campbell suffers from glaucoma, which makes it difficult for her to read. Now, with the help of the iPad, she’s reading books and writing limericks. The thing that s so neat is there s nothing between you and the screen, [...]

MiLi’s Powerskin claims coveted ‘thinnest iPhone battery case’ title

And here you were, stylin’ in your Juice Pack Air, thinking you were the king of the charging iPhone case hill with the sleekest hardware money can buy… but guess what? Life isn’t fair, and MiLi intends to prove it by undercutting Mophie’s solution by right around a twentieth of an inch of thickness. It’s still packing 1200mAh of power — the same that the Juice Pack Air offers — which MiLi claims should be enough to just about double your run time. It’s available now in a choice of eight scintillating color combos for £47.99 (about $74).

MiLi’s Powerskin claims coveted ‘thinnest iPhone battery case’ title originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Keepin’ it real fake: iPod classic phone reminds us why we prefer touchscreens

Continue reading Keepin’ it real fake: iPod classic phone reminds us why we prefer touchscreens

Keepin’ it real fake: iPod classic phone reminds us why we prefer touchscreens originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video Games Are Dead Part 1
Video Games Are Dead Part 1

Microsoft changes naughty ‘sexting’ Kin ad, camera to be used for clothed chests only

As a card-carrying member of the Upload Generation, your Kin is about a lot of things: chilling with your peeps and BFFs, taking pictures and video of all of life’s most awesome moments, keeping tabs on your MySpace pals, and documenting the fascinating story of your nipples without a pesky American Apparel V-neck getting in the way. Or wait… maybe not? Microsoft has just pulled a Kin ad briefly featuring a young gentleman snapping shots of his PG-rated parts underneath his t-shirt in response to Consumer Reports‘ concerns that the move encourages “sexting” — a growing problem amongst the world’s technologically-savvy (and hormone-riddled) youth — saying that it “takes the issue of sexting very seriously and it was never our intent to promote it in any way.” It looks like Microsoft has kept the commercial around on the Kin site and just removed the offending portion — it was only about a second long — so hanging out in underground speakeasies with fake hipsters is still okay, apparently. Follow the break for the original, unedited video.

Continue reading Microsoft changes naughty ‘sexting’ Kin ad, camera to be used for clothed chests only

Microsoft changes naughty ‘sexting’ Kin ad, camera to be used for clothed chests only originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BenQ debuts GL series of LCDs with 12,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio

Alright, so we all know (or should know) that a manufacturer’s stated contrast ratio isn’t the best way to judge the quality of an LCD, but we’ve got to hand it to BenQ with its new GL series of monitors, which boast a ridiculous 12,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. That, as you might have guessed, is apparently the industry’s highest and, according to BenQ, helps to add “color depth and definition to darkened and complex visuals.” Otherwise, the 18.5-inch GL930, 19-inch GL931, 20-inch GL2030, 21.5-inch GL2230 and 22-inch GL2231 models each look to pack some decidedly more standard specs, including a 5ms response time, LED backlighting, varying amounts of ports depending on the model, and a 1,600 x 900 resolution on the 20-incher (complete specs on all the models aren’t available yet). That 20-inch GL2030 model is also the first of the lot to roll out (sometime this month), while the rest will be available in July.

BenQ debuts GL series of LCDs with 12,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple iPod Shuffle 3G
Apple iPod Shuffle 3G
TV-Hat, the Dork-Tastic Head-Mounted Theater
This week’s dumbest gadget award goes to the TV Hat, a baseball cap with an elongated peak from which hangs a “personal private theater”. It is a head-mounted blackout tent into which you drop your portable media player, wherein you can watch movies in the glare of the midday sun, or in bed next to [...]
German Laser Dentist
I am not even kidding. This project has German people, lasers, and dentists who use lasers on German people in it. German people in the pre-cursor to the project, if you will. The designer of this project, Muna Sawas, found 50% of Deutsch citizens to be totally afraid to visit …

DXG’s 3D View sacrifices HD, but makes 3D video recording pocketable

It’s not a trade that we’d ever willingly make — dropping to standard definition for the sake of some 3D shenanigans, but DXG is offering you the choice anyway. The budget cam maker has just announced its 3D View stereoscopic shooter, which interestingly comes with a separate 7-inch LCD display (800 x 480 resolution) for playing back your recorded footage without requiring glasses — thanks to some parallax barrier magic. We might be tempted to spend the $400 this package costs just to get a preview of what the Nintendo 3DS — based on the same spectacle-free technique — might look like, but retail availability isn’t expected until June, which is just that tiny bit too far out for our limited attention span.

DXG’s 3D View sacrifices HD, but makes 3D video recording pocketable originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seagate FreeAgent Go
Seagate FreeAgent Go

Who should buy Palm?

Last night’s bombshell news that Palm is allegedly looking for a buyer immediately got us thinking — who should it be? There are more than a few companies out there who’ve been caught up in the rumor mill over the years, so let’s take a look at a few of the big players, where they stand right now, and how they might benefit (if at all) from scooping up Sunnyvale’s finest. Read on!

Update: You wanted a poll, you got one.

View Poll

Continue reading Who should buy Palm?

Who should buy Palm? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 10:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP Monitor
Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP Monitor
Robo Spiders Are Multilegged Mechanical Marvels
<< previous image | next image >> Do we need an excuse to show you a gallery of the most amazing, mind-bending mechanical spiders ever to emerge from the fevered brains of roboticists? No, we do not. Something about multilegged creatures just seems to fire the imagination of robot builders. Their stability, agility and — let’s face it [...]