Reality Bites
Round up the local ET-fighting militia — the first ever video footage from alien invasion TV series Falling Skies is out. We like the look of the aliens, and Steven Spielberg’s producer credit. But will the show itself be good? More »
Because our brains have a way of creating a synthesized happiness when we don’t get what we want, it’s often hard for us to make a “wrong” decision. As a result, you’re better off just deciding and moving forward. More »
We’ve seen our fair share of budget tablets from the Augens, Cobys, and Viewsonics of the world over the last six months, but let’s not forget that before everyone and their mother jumped into the cheap-o Android tablet pool, Archos was already in the shallow end with its own sub-$200 tablets. But, while the company was first to market, products like the Archos 5 and 7 Home Tablet certainly weren’t anything to wait in line for — they both packed slow processors, resistive displays, and ran outdated versions of Google’s mobile OS. Whether it was the mediocre reviews or the competition coming up behind them, the French company knew it was time to step it up, and its Archos 70 and 101 attempt to right all those wrongs. The 7- and 10-inch tablet both have Android 2.2, 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processors, and capacitive screens. Oh, and don’t forget the front-facing VGA cameras. With each ringing up at $299, has Archos finally mastered the art of the cheap tablet? Find out in our full review!
Gallery: Archos 70 and 101 Internet Tablets
Continue reading Archos 70 and 101 Internet Tablet review
Archos 70 and 101 Internet Tablet review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Dec 2010 12:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
We’ve seen plenty of Kinect hacks over the last few weeks — trouble is, beyond the initial wow factor they’re just not very useful on a daily basis. That situation just changed, however, with the release of KinEmote, a free public beta that lets Windows users navigate XBMC and Boxee menus using nothing but hand gestures. Better yet, the software is built around OpenNI and NITE middleware from PrimeSense, the company behind the Project Natal reference gear. It certainly looks impressive in the video after the break. Good enough that we suspect many of you will hit up the source link below instead of finishing up your last minute holiday shopping — hey, Santa can wait, this is progress!
KinEmote: Kinect gesture control for Boxee and XBMC media centers now available (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Dec 2010 01:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
KinEmote | Email this | Comments
Remember that video of Navy pilots dunking helicopters in Lake Tahoe? Turns out they did it to take Facebook photos for their squad’s page. The stunt resulted in $505,000 in damage to the helicopters, but neither crew was punished. More »
It's good to be prepared for all contingencies — so here's a holiday zombie survival guide! From the great minds at Team Unicorn. More »
When a deer is trapped on an icy river and a helicopter is dispatched to rescue it, you’d think it would pick up the deer and fly it to safety. No, it just blows it across the slick surface. More »
We’re assuming it would still prefer you use Internet Explorer for all your web browsing needs, but Microsoft is now lending something of a helping hand to Windows 7 users that insist on using Firefox for one reason or another. It’s just released a plug-in that gets around Firefox’s current limitations in handling H.264-encoded videos on HTML5 pages by taking advantage of the H.264 support built into Windows 7. On a more technical level, that means the plug-in parses HTML5 pages and replaces the Video tags with a call to the Windows Media Player plug-in, which then allows the content to be played right in the browser. Sound like just what you’ve been waiting for? Hit up the link below to download the add-on and try it yourself.
Microsoft releases H.264 video plug-in for Windows 7 Firefox users originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
CNET | Microsoft Interoperability Bridges and Labs Center | Email this | Comments
A-suh-ss? Ah-sue-ss? As-ses? Nope, all wrong. We’ve been informed by ASUS that its head honcho has recently set a new rule in an attempt to rid our frustration, so what used to be “Ah-seuss” is now “A-seuss” (or “Eh-SUS” according to Taiwanese phonetics, as pictured). The logic behind this? Apparently it’s a direct chop from the pronunciation of “pegasus” — the origin of the company’s name — which ironically seems to favor the former diction. Anyhow, let’s not confuse ourselves any further and just study this lovely lady’s video demo after the break.
Continue reading How to pronounce ASUS (video)
How to pronounce ASUS (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
In gaming, 3D graphics get more powerful, environments get more expansive, enemies get more intelligent, but still facial animations haven’t progressed much since Pac-Man chomped his first power pellet in 1980. Finally, a major breakthrough courtesy of Australian company Depth Analysis. It has developed technology called MotionScan, which enables a high-res 3D recreation of a person’s face — not just capturing bits and pieces of facial animation but their entire head, right down to the hairstyle. It’s getting its first use in next year’s L.A. Noire, a 1940s PS3 and Xbox 360 murder mystery game from Rockstar, and while we don’t know enough about the title to be able to say whether it’s worth plunking down a pre-order now, after watching the video embedded below it’s clear that the bar has been raised.
Continue reading L.A. Noire’s amazing MotionScan facial capture system demonstrated (video)
L.A. Noire’s amazing MotionScan facial capture system demonstrated (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Gizmodo | Email this | Comments
What were the ten most-watched YouTube videos of 2010? If I had my way it would just be the Bed Intruder song on repeat. But! Here’s how it actually played out. More »
Did you know that it takes nearly seven and a half million pounds of thrust to get a Space Shuttle off the ground and into the final frontier? NASA opts to generate that power by burning through 1,000 gallons of liquid propellants and 20,000 pounds of solid fuel every second, which as you might surmise, makes for some arresting visuals. Thankfully, there are plenty of practical reasons why NASA would want to film its launches (in slow motion!), and today we get to witness some of that awe-inspiring footage, replete with a silky voiceover explaining the focal lengths of cameras used and other photographic minutiae. It’s the definition of an epic video, clocking in at over 45 minutes, but if you haven’t got all that time, just do it like us and skip around — your brain will be splattered on the wall behind you either way.
NASA’s Space Shuttle launch videos are spectacularly incredible, incredibly spectacular originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Slashdot | interbartolo (YouTube) | Email this | Comments
YouTube has announced that it is in the process of removing the 15-minute time length restriction imposed on videos. While the limit has, so far, only been lifted with a few special content partners like National Geographic and Lonelygirl15 (a channel which apparently still has viewers), it should pave the way for longer videos for all moving forward. So, why the change now after years of limits? Joshua Siegel, a product manager at YouTube told The New York Times that the company now has copyright issues under control via ContentID, which scans roughly 100 years worth of uploaded video per day in an attempt to fend off violations. There’s no word on when the time limit will be further lifted, but for now, you can at least finally check out epic, full length National Geographic videos on YouTube (one of which we’ve linked below).
YouTube lifting 15-minute time limit for some videos originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Is Japanese band Sour’s “Mirror” music video the single best HTML5 thing we’ve ever seen? It probably is. Load it up in Safari or Chrome and make sure you connect your Facebook, Twitter, and webcam — we tried it out and it’s totally fine. In fact, it’s more than fine. It’s stunning.
Sour’s ‘Mirror’ HTML5 music video is absolutely wild originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink The Fader | Sour | Email this | Comments