HTC Flyer lands at Best Buy on May 22nd for $500, Magic Pen sold separately

The 16GB-equipped, 7-inch Flyer from HTC is making its way west this week. Best Buy, which gets the honor of exclusively launching the WiFi-only Android tablet in the US, has revealed Sunday as the official first day of availability for the Flyer, at a price of $500. As you’ll recall, the stylus that ships in the retail box just about everywhere else will be markedly missing from the Best Buy bundle, costing an extra $80 to those who simply must have it. You’ll be able to purchase your Flyer online and at all brick-and-mortar Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores, but if mobile connectivity is more important to you, we’d advise holding out a little while longer for the 3G- and 4G-capable Evo View variety on Sprint.

HTC Flyer lands at Best Buy on May 22nd for $500, Magic Pen sold separately originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 May 2011 02:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Walmart prices HP TouchPad 32GB at $599?

PlayBoy Magazine might not have had the HP TouchPad’s price dead to rights, but it also might not have been far off the mark — if this allegedly leaked Walmart database entry is correct, the 32GB version of the webOS slate will cost $599. PreCentral nabbed the above image, as well as supplementary documentation suggesting an $80 sticker price for the Touchstone Dock, $50 for a first-party case, $30 for a spare AC adapter and $70 for the official Bluetooth keyboard. Of course, that $599 price tag puts the 9.7-inch tablet squarely in the sights of Apple’s 32GB iPad 2. We can’t wait to see if it’s worth the cash to pick up this underdog.

Walmart prices HP TouchPad 32GB at $599? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 22:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Galaxy Tab 8.9 keyboard dock spied in Russia, TouchWiz poked on video

Galaxy Tab 8.9 Keyboard Dock

Hey, look at that: it’s a keyboard dock for the Galaxy Tab 8.9. The folks at mforum.ru caught this guy on camera at the Russian launch of Samsung’s latest slates. We don’t have a lot of details here, but it looks a heck of a lot like the dock for the original Tab. In fact, the only difference we could spot is that it seems to cradle the tablet in landscape mode instead of portrait, which is a small but very welcome change — Sammy probably just pulled out the plastic insert used to prop up the older model and called it a day. As for price or ship date, only Samsung knows for sure but, so you don’t walk away feeling cheated, there’s a lengthy hands on video after the break. We don’t speak Russian, so we’ve got no idea what the handler’s impressions are, but you get a pretty thorough tour of the TouchWiz tweaks for Honeycomb.

Continue reading Galaxy Tab 8.9 keyboard dock spied in Russia, TouchWiz poked on video

Galaxy Tab 8.9 keyboard dock spied in Russia, TouchWiz poked on video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 20:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Schwarzenegger puts acting career on hold

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delayed his Hollywood comeback Thursday as he braced for what could be a costly divorce prompted by revelations that he had an affair and child with a housekeeper who worked for his family for 20 years.

Citizens in Flood Zone Build Homemade Levees to Protect Their Homes

All of that water pouring out of spillways and topping levees up and down the Mississippi River has to go somewhere, and many living in those areas prone to flooding have taken drastic action to keep from being inundated. In what could be called a testament to the human instinct to protect hearth and home, some in the disaster zone are holding out by taking civil engineering into their own hands, building makeshift levees to keep the rising waters at bay. Click through the gallery to see how far some homeowners have gone to protect their properties.

Click to launch the photo gallery

Many residents of low-lying areas can’t rely on government infrastructure to protect their homes–in fact, in some cases it’s the government that’s flooding them. In an effort to spare population centers like New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the Army Corps of Engineers have opened the Mississippi’s three major spillways–the Birds Point-New Madrid spillway in Missouri, the Morganza spillway near Morganza, La., and the Bonnet Carre just north of New Orleans–the first time all three have been opened up at the same time.

In other places, the overflowing Mississippi has left local rivers with no place to put their overflow. Floodwaters claimed their first victim today as a 69-year-old man was pulled form the waters by firefighters in Vicksburg, Miss., which is today buried beneath the levee-topping Yazoo river. The destruction in Vicksburg–where the water is expected to crest at 57.1 feet today–and along the Yazoo River (where the images in the gallery above were taken) is just a microcosm of the larger devastation stretching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf.

Fujitsu to launch 7-inch Android tablet later this year, might be priced lower than $400

Fresh off the Japanese launch of its LifeBook TH40/D Windows 7 tablet, it appears that Fujitsu is gearing up to release a new seven-inch Android slate. According to DigiTimes, Fujitsu’s forthcoming slab is scheduled to hit the market during the third quarter of this year and will run on Android 3.1 Honeycomb. It’s unclear whether or not the device will sport the same stylus support and sliding keyboard that its Windows 7 counterpart features, but Fujitsu is reportedly planning on selling the tablet for anywhere between about $350 and $700, which effectively ranges from “bargain” to “blimey.” We’re certainly hoping that the final price falls on the low end of that spectrum, but we’ll have to wait and see if our dreams become a reality.

Fujitsu to launch 7-inch Android tablet later this year, might be priced lower than $400 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 12:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is Viagra Making You Deaf? [Health]

As if Viagra users didn't have enough to worry about—now they're being told that the impotence drug could be causing sudden hearing loss. In the UK, official healthcare watchdogs are looking into it, after receiving numerous complaints. More »







BBC shows us what it’s like to live with a bionic hand

We’ve posted a fair share on bionic limbs and their advancements over the years, but rarely have we had the chance to see a video of one in real world use, on a real person. The BBC has shared a video of a man named Patrick using his bionic arm, which — long story short — was partially the result of being electrocuted at work. This is his second one to date and specifically, it’s a prototype Otto Bock mind-controlled prosthetic arm equipped with six nerve sensors that let him use the hand as if it were his own– it supports pinching and gripping with the fingers as well as lateral and circular movement of the wrist. Although the footage is a mundane roll of various day to day tasks — gripping a bottle to pour a glass of water for instance — it’s quite amazing to realize technology is helping him do things he’d otherwise be deprived of. We’d suggest checking it out at the BBC by clicking the source link below.

BBC shows us what it’s like to live with a bionic hand originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Battleship Drinking Game

Mauricio Harion, a product design student from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, made a drinking game based on Battleship. When you hit an opponent’s ship, they have to drink a shot.

This is the Enigma, the classic Battleship game turned into a simple to play (and fun) bar game. It’s played just like the usual Battleship game with one addition. If you miss the target you drink a sip of water, and if you hit an enemy boat you opponent empties the corresponding shot glass.

Sharp shows off the world’s first Super Hi-Vision LCD with 16x more detail than 1080p

While Japan’s NHK has been working on the successor to HDTV, Super Hi-Vision, for years, there haven’t been any direct-view HDTVs capable of showing its full 7,680 x 4,320 pixel resolution until this prototype unveiled today by Sharp. Its 103 pixels per inch may be just a fraction of those found in some of the pocket displays we’ve seen at SID this week, but that’s still far more than the 36ppi of a 60-inch 1080p HDTV. If estimates are correct, we’ll still be waiting until around 2020 for that 33MP video and 22.2 channel sound to actually be broadcast, although there’s a possibility of some demonstrations happening during the 2012 Olympics. Skip past the break for the available specs and a video demonstration, or just head over to the NHK's Science & Technology Research Laboratories in Tokyo between the 26th and 29th of this month.

Continue reading Sharp shows off the world’s first Super Hi-Vision LCD with 16x more detail than 1080p

Sharp shows off the world’s first Super Hi-Vision LCD with 16x more detail than 1080p originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 05:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft rebuts Intel’s claims about Windows 8, calls them ‘factually inaccurate’

Bad Intel! Microsoft has issued a strongly worded response to comments this week from Intel SVP Renee James describing the future of Windows 8 on ARM as fragmented and backwards-incompatible. Those statements, says Microsoft, were “factually inaccurate and unfortunately misleading,” though we’re left without clarification as to what specifically was untrue. James claimed that legacy x86 programs won’t be running on the ARM architecture, requiring a re-write for developers and probably a re-purchase for users. She also went on to suggest that each of the four hardware suppliers for Windows 8 systems-on-chip will have a different code stack, incompatible with the rest, which sounds like a far worse allegation to us. Now the issue is to try and figure out which of those two big accusations Microsoft has taken offense to. The Redmond team had nothing more to say on the matter, offering only a reminder that Windows 8 is still at the tech demo stage and there’s still a long way to go.

Microsoft rebuts Intel’s claims about Windows 8, calls them ‘factually inaccurate’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 05:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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the difference a year makes

came with this note:
Both pictures were taken on July 4th. At the time of the photos my family and I were living in the Washington DC metro area. I was in the Army and stationed at Fort Myer, VA. Both photos were taken at our apartment complex in the early afternoon. After lounging by the kiddie pool, we picked up and moved to the National Mall to see the incredible fireworks display from the base of the Washington Monument! We did this both years covered in the photo. In the first photo, my wife (Savannah) was just 4 days away from her due date (July 8th, 2009). My son (Richie also!) ended up coming 2 days late (July 10th, 2009). We hadn’t planned on taking a picture like this from the get-go. I had taken the first photo, and my wife thought it turned out so well, we might as well re-create it on it’s one year anniversary. It remains one of my favorite pictures.

Logitech outs a pair of keyboard cases, gets into the tablet accessories game

Technically, we suppose Logitech already made a play for the tablet accessories market when it launched a rebranded Zaggmate keyboard case earlier this year, but today the peripheral manufacturer’s getting serious about slates with the launch of two new portable products. Lacking a Smart Cover to keep your iPad 2 on edge? You could try the $70 Logitech Tablet Keyboard pictured above, which comes with a hardshell sleeve that doubles as a tablet stand and dedicated iOS or Android shortcuts. The keyboard itself is slick, roomy and somewhat plasticky, with a definite Notion Ink Adam vibe. There’s also a redesigned Zaggmate, now known as the $100 Logitech Keyboard Case, which comes with “a more intuitive keyboard layout and improved keystrokes for even more comfortable typing” — a claim we weren’t able to test — as well as a rebranded $100 Logitech Z515 Bluetooth speaker system, and a $50 Bluetooth mouse. Pricey? Definitely. Worthwhile? Decide for yourself later this month, when they’re scheduled to hit shelves.

Continue reading Logitech outs a pair of keyboard cases, gets into the tablet accessories game

Logitech outs a pair of keyboard cases, gets into the tablet accessories game originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 04:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Streak Pro Honeycomb tablet pictured, likely to be with us in June

Android Honeycomb OS, 10-inch screen size with 1280 x 800 resolution, and NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 (T20) chip on the inside. If those specs sound familiar, it’s because most manufacturers already have a tablet just like Dell’s upcoming Streak Pro. This slate from Round Rock got us a little hot under the collar recently, when it appeared it would ship with the T25 Tegra 2 silicon — which runs at 1.2GHz and offers 3D support — but nope, it’s same old, same old from Michael and company. Still, the Streak Pro will apparently come will a brushed aluminum back, 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB storage options, dual mics, dual cameras (2 megapixel on the front, 5 megapixel ’round back), and a choice of four colors: blue, pink, black, and red. If that’s not enough customization for you, Dell’s also adding its Stage UI atop Android, while support for AT&T's LTE network is also said to be under consideration. You can see some of the new tablet's accessories at the source link below, which also advises us to expect the Streak to go Pro in June, as previously anticipated.

Dell Streak Pro Honeycomb tablet pictured, likely to be with us in June originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 03:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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