If you’ve taken your Lego Mindstorms NXT kit to the Nerd Cup, created a 3D scanner to digitize your Precious Moments collection, and trained it to solve a Rubik’s Cube, you might think you’ve run out of things to do. Perhaps this was the problem that Peter Cocteau faced — or maybe he just wanted to make the most bombastic NXT project yet. He created an 8-bit sample drum machine with 24 sounds controlled entirely by two Lego rotation sensors. He did have to make a few augmentations to get the audio output working (and to add in that bitching DJ-style light to make it more club friendly). He’s kindly provided all the source that you’ll need to get your little blocks bumpin’, but if you want yours to be just like his you’ll need to do your own soldering.

Continue reading Hacker creates Lego Mindstorms NXT-606 drum kit, just because he can (video)

Hacker creates Lego Mindstorms NXT-606 drum kit, just because he can (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading TWC rebadges Sprint Overdrive, offers it as IntelliGo mobile 3G / 4G hotspot

TWC rebadges Sprint Overdrive, offers it as IntelliGo mobile 3G / 4G hotspot originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This isn’t just a watch, it’s a horological machine. The HM4 Thunderbolt, recently unveiled by designer Maximilian Busser, represents an intriguing mixture of high-grade materials, precision engineering, and outlandishly macho design. The case is composed of titanium and sapphire — which collectively take over 200 hours of machining and finishing to achieve the desired aerodynamic look — while ensconced within it are over 300 parts composing a “transcendental” engine. We can’t say we’re not attracted by the bullet-shaped dials offering us our time with a side order of superfly, but then the $158,000 price tag ensures that we won’t be able to do something foolish like buying one for ourselves. See the HM4 on video after the break.

Continue reading MB&F HM4 Thunderbolt considers legible time ‘a fringe benefit’ (video)

MB&F HM4 Thunderbolt considers legible time ‘a fringe benefit’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 08:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A new nuvi is coming down the highway, and it means business. Navigational business. It’s the Garmin nuvi 1695, a connected GPS device that offers Bluetooth and GSM, much like the 1690 before it. In fact, it’s not entirely clear what makes this different from the last year’s 1690, but GPSTracklog speculates this will offer Garmin’s traffic trends feature also found in the 3700, augmented by real-time updates from every other 1695 user similarly stuck in traffic. Seems like a good guess to us, but we’re of course more curious about how much the thing will cost — $500 for the 1690 when it was new was a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.

Garmin connected nuvi 1695 takes an immediate left turn out of FCC HQ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Samsung pushes out BX2350 and BX2335 1080p monitors

Samsung pushes out BX2350 and BX2335 1080p monitors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you don’t understand the significance of what you’re looking at then you’re probably not paying attention. First off, that Aava slab of WoW slaying smartphone is underpinned by Intel’s Moorestown processor. Yes, Intel, not ARM, as Chipzilla gets serious about taking its silicon mobile. Second, that’s the freshly minted MeeGo OS for handsets that just made its first alpha appearance last week. And it just happens to be the OS that Nokia, the world’s largest handset manufacturer, will be building its future generation of super smartphones upon. We’ll give you a second to take it all in.

Fortunately for us, the device is in the hands of Steve “Chippy” Paine over at Carrypad / UMPC Portal. As such, this is just the first of many revelations to come. Hit the man up on Twitter if you want to follow his adventure first hand.

Aava Moorestown phone running MeeGo hits the wilds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Exactly how many eBook stores do we need? Depends. If you own a dedicated e-reader then one is all you get. Own a tablet or smartphone and the world of eBook stores is pretty much yours for the taking through competing apps. Borders looks to be taking a hybrid approach by offering up the $150 Kobo, $120 Aluratek Libre (available July 20th), $170 Sony Touch, and $150 Sony Pocket eReaders and today’s launch of a self-branded eBook store powered by Kobo’s catalog of more than 1.5 million titles — “thousands” of which are free and available in a variety of formats including ePub (primarily) and PDF. Borders also has desktop PC and Mac apps ready for download in addition to a few apps listed as “coming soon” for both Android and BlackBerry devices — these join the apps already released for Apple’s iOS. It just went live so why not hit the source and have a browse.

P.S. Funny enough, there’s not a single mention of Spring Design’s Alex on Borders’ new site. Funny sad, not ha ha.

Update: The Android and BlackBerry apps are now live.

Continue reading Borders’ Kobo-powered eBook Store now live with 1.5 million titles, Android and BlackBerry apps (update)

Borders’ Kobo-powered eBook Store now live with 1.5 million titles, Android and BlackBerry apps (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While we’ll let competitors tell us whether the chip’s “an industry first,” Sharp’s certainly serious about devices with twin screens — this new LR388G9 controller chip pumps pixels simultaneously to each of two 1,024 x 480 LCDs. Sure, that resolution may sound pathetic compared to your Cinema Display, but this silicon’s intended for the likes of e-readers and phones, where a single image that size is desirable and a pair would be most welcome. Never mind that the chip can send 1080p content at 24fps to an external display, too. Of course, what we really want to see is a nice autostereoscopic smartphone fitted with Sharp’s 3D HD camera module. Pretty please?

Sharp’s LR388G9 LCD controller suggests more products with dual screens originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boy, these Franco-Swiss research teams sure do like to exhibit their work to the world. After the Large Hadron Collider crew did a live webcast of their record-breaking 7 TeV proton collisions, here’s Captain Piccard’s Solar Impulse gang showing off their latest feat via a live video stream. Taking off shortly before 7AM Central European Time today, the HB-SIA craft is currently cruising above the idyllic plains of Switzerland, with the plan being for it to start gently descending through the night and plopping itself back down on terra firma early in the morning. Hit the source link to track its laps in real time, replete with sporadic commentary from the monitoring crew. It’s riveting stuff.

Solar Impulse begins 24-hour test flight, lets you watch the whole thing live originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nothing like rumors of corporate layoffs to throw 89,000 Microsoft employees into unproductive turmoil. This time the rumors are being mongered by the Wall Street Journal and TechFlash, both of whom have been told to expect “far smaller” cuts than the 5,000 heads lost during the global financial downturn. And while it’s easy to come to the conclusion that this round of layoffs is the result of the Kin debacle, keep in mind that Microsoft is entering a new fiscal year — the perfect time to trim down and refocus on new strategies. Still, if this does affect the Kin team, then let’s just hope that the skilled engineers toiling inside the project’s pink trenches are spared when the reductions begin as soon as today, according to TechFlash. While J Allard may be gone, one executive alone doesn’t create a culture and governance model that builds multi-million dollar silos of duplication and then turns a blind eye to inter-team stonewalling. We say aim high when it comes time to swing that axe Microsoft.

Microsoft layoffs: the axeman cometh? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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