Suffire.com | Geek Stuffs, Technology Related

Word on the street has it that the Samsung P3 will be getting its official launch at CES in January, and to whet your appetite we’ve got a video unboxing for you courtesy of those crazy kids at Generation MP3. Apparently the same form factor as the venerable P2 (but in an all aluminum enclosure), the PMP sports haptic touch, WQVGA 3-inch (480 x 272) display, Bluetooth, microphone, speaker, FM tuner, plays all the expected media formats, and will be available in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB. Also in the video, we get a pretty extensive look at those widgets everyone’s been talking about. But don’t take it from us — you can see for yourself after the break.

Continue reading Samsung’s P3 unboxed and caught on video

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Samsung’s P3 unboxed and caught on video originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Looking for an electric bike that does the peddling for you? You have plenty of choices, particularly if you’re willing to drop over $2,000, but finding one that uses regenerative braking to extend the life of its meager on-board batteries isn’t so easy. Panasonic’s Vivi RX10S is about your only choice until February, when Sanyo’s new eneloop-branded bike is set to start pulling weak (or just lazy) Japanese riders up up inclines before recharging itself on the way back down. On a hilly course a charge is said to last about 35 miles without braking, 46 by charging only when braking, and 62 miles in “auto” mode (charging on downhills, too). If you live in Japan it’ll be yours for 136,290 yen, about $1,450 US — but if you live around here we’d recommend not canceling your spinning class just yet, because while Sanyo pledges to ship this elsewhere in the world “at some point in the future,” it could be awhile before this thing starts hitting the diamond lanes near you.

[Via PhysOrg.com]

Filed under: Transportation

Sanyo’s eneloop hybrid bike has basket, will travel originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Something about this Acer Aspire One with wheels just looks so… right. After suiting up the laptop with a tiny motor, some “crazy” wheels and an Arduino Diecimila, the crafty DIY-er wrote a bit of code that commands the unit to perform simple movements like turn left, turn right, move forward, and pause, while transmitting some breathtaking video of its travels back to a different computer via WiFi. The unit doesn’t do reverse yet, nor can it pop wheelies — after all, it’s no Rovio — though the wishlist of possible improvements is fairly uh… impressive. Check the video (not the Acer-transmitted one) after the break, though we have to give you fair warning: the robot steamrolls a cat near the end.

Continue reading Arduino-armed Acer Aspire One and wheels tools around, shoots video

Filed under: Robots

Arduino-armed Acer Aspire One and wheels tools around, shoots video originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Both practical and not-so-practical applications for the Wiimote have been around since Nintendo’s console launched, but this latest hack is quite possibly the oddest thus far. Ken Moore, tinkerer extraordinaire, has inexplicably converted the controller into a new-fangled theremin. By coupling IR-infused gloves with a JV-1080 synth and the Wiimote’s built-in Bluetooth, he’s been able get his PC to recognize the left hand position as volume, and the right hand position as pitch. Once the IR camera in the Wiimote sends the positioning info back to the PC, MIDI sends it to the synthesizer to create sound. Now, you could just pick up a copy of Guitar Hero or Rock Band if you wanted to casually riff on some classics, but if you’ve got an intrinsic urge to perform a rendition of the original Star Trek theme, this might be your speed. Peep the setup in video action after the break.

[Via Joystiq]

Continue reading Wiimote repurposed into theremin, Vincent Price’s ghost perks up

Filed under: Gaming

Wiimote repurposed into theremin, Vincent Price’s ghost perks up originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

If this thing were coming from any source other than the legendary Eldar Murtazin of mobile-review, we’d go ahead and assume this was a knockoff nabbed off eBay for a few bucks — but amazingly, we think it’s the real deal. The dead-on-arrival burgundy slider with gold accents looks like it could’ve been part of a reinvigorated l’Amour series (or something along those lines), clearly putting styling at or near the top of its priorities — but it also steals the 6260 slide’s totally capable guts, which means it features a 5-megapixel camera, tri-band 3G, and a 480 x 320 display. If they had to choose between this and the 6260, the right model came out on top — but we gotta admit, it’s so far outside Nokia’s styling comfort zone that we find it tolerable in a really sick, twisted way.

[Via Daily Mobile]

Filed under: Cellphones

Canceled 5-megapixel Nokia slider almost looks like a fake originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Samsung’s Omnia is nice enough to find a good home in many a professional’s pocket, but in terms of overall desirability it doesn’t quite compare to the iPhone or G1. Why, then, did Verizon price the thing $50 higher than its alternate-platform competition? Your guess is as good as ours, but at least the company didn’t take long to see the error of its ways, dropping the handset under the magic $200 mark just a few days after the early-adopters got done paying too much for theirs. We’re thinking Verizon might have been targeting the $249 Touch Diamond, but really that could do with a price cut of its own. $199 seems about right for an Omnia, so you go right ahead and click on if you want; we’ll wait for the higher-res one, thanks.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Verizon drops Omnia to $199, hopes you’ll pay attention now originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Ah, so this is a yearly treat? Almost a year to the day after SageTV’s STX-HD100 HD Media Extender was revealed, in flies the unit’s proper successor. The simply named HD Theater (or HD200, if you prefer), is launching for the same $199.95 and sports a slightly smaller footprint, the same remote as the HD100, USB ports on the front and rear, an Ethernet jack, HDMI / component / S-Video / composite video outputs, a S/PDIF audio port, network / local media streaming capabilities and the SageTV Media Center for Windows software bundle. Per usual, you’ll find support for a cornucopia of formats (MPEG 1/2/4, H.264, WMV9, VC1, MKV, MOV, AVI, FLV, AAC, MP3, WMA, FLAC and JPEG just to name a few), and it looks as if it’s ready to ship as we speak.

[Via GeekTonic]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

SageTV launches HD Theater (HD200) media streamer originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

We’ve covered plenty of wind turbines over the years, but most tend to be awfully conceptual or rather unsuited to consumer applications. Being eco-geeks at heart we’re happy to report on a new one that is both consumer-friendly and in production now. Mariah Power’s Windspire is a 9 meter tall vertical turbine intended for residential or commercial installation, capable of providing about a quarter of the power an “average” household needs (2000 kWh annually). It’s “bird-friendly” thanks to a relatively slow maximum blade speed (2.5 times that of the wind) and even includes WiFi so you can watch your carbon footprint shrink wirelessly. The company is accepting orders now, and while prices aren’t listed on the website (you’ll need to request a quote), we hear you can get yourself into a 2009 model with a 5 year unlimited rotation warranty for around $5,000 — plus customization if you want one in something other than “Soft Silver.” We’ll take ours in magenta, thanks.

[Via Digg]

Continue reading Windspire vertical turbine on sale now, aiming to capture the consumer wind power market

Filed under: Household

Windspire vertical turbine on sale now, aiming to capture the consumer wind power market originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

In case you missed it, last week TechARP said that Vista SP2 is scheduled for an April 2009 release to manufacturing — that means not you… not yet anyway. We’re guessing that it will hit a month later for general release if the Vista SP1 rollout was any indication. So who’s TechARP? Oh just the same group of Malaysian kids that like to boast about how they broke the Vista SP1 and XP SP3 release schedules to the world. That makes their “confidential source” worth listening to. The source adds that Microsoft will deliver a SP2 release candidate as early as February so we’ll know soon enough how accurate this rumor is.

[Via PC Advisor]

Filed under: Desktops, Handhelds, Laptops

Windows Vista SP2 set for April launch to manufacturers? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments