Filed under: Handsets, Others, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA

Can’t say we’ve ever heard of Emgeton, but we’re liking what we’re seeing here. Admittedly, the Enzo candybar takes a swipe (or two… or three) from Sony Ericsson, but this dual-SIM wonder still packs enough personality to keep things interesting. Stated handset reportedly boasts 3G capabilities, a 2.2-inch 320 x 240 resolution display, Bluetooth, 0.3 megapixel camera, a rechargeable Li-ion and a multimedia player. ‘Course, only 50MB of internal memory is provided, but the microSD slot does enable users to carry around a few extra LCD Soundsystem tracks should they select. The only problems? That $388 price tag and the unlikelihood of this thing ever escaping the Czech Republic.

Emgeton pops out dual-SIM Enzo candybar originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Here’s a useful new addition to the wealth of iPhone homebrew apps out there. iPhone Backgrounder is a code application that lets you run multiple iPhone apps at once. That means even if you exit, say, Pandora, you’ll still be able to listen to it while you’re running another application. This is a code app, so there’s no icon for it. To use iPhone Backgrounder, open up the app you want to use and hold down the Home button until you get a pop-up saying “Backgrounding Enabled (Continue holding to force quit). If you want to disable it, just hold down the Home button again. One thing: Backgrounder will be disabled if you respring your SpringBoard. Also, there’s a chance that an application would immediately quit after you hold down the Home button. According to developer gaizin, this may be caused by Intelliscreen’s App Launch Boost feature, which can be disabled in Intelliscreen’s Performance page. The catch here’s that running multiple apps, even in background mode, can drain your iPhone’s battery faster than usual. It’ll also make you device run slower. If that doesn’t bother you one bit, check this app out. It’s available on Cydia for free. Related articles: More homebrew applications for iPhone

Via [apple.qj.net]

Popularity: 2% [?]

The last we heard from the gang at TORC their tech was being used to snag third place in the DARPA Urban Challenge, and now Engineering Television has a couple programs highlighting some of the company’s more portable technology. Compared to other control units, WaySight is relatively small (under three pounds), and can be used to sight the robot either by selecting GPS waypoints via laser range finder in real time, or — if the GPS is unavailable — by sighting the robot and then the waypoint in relation to it. If the operator doesn’t find any of that appealing, the unit can be used to steer the robot using the unit’s built in accelerometer. The unit has a range of up to 400 meters. The AutoNav-Mini, which is installed on the robot, features a GPS unit, low level obstacle avoidance and detection sensors, laser range finder, radar, and more. This technology has all sorts of practical and legitimate uses, for sure — but none so satisfying as the fun we’d have chasing our little sister around the living room with it. Hit the read links for all sorts of crazy videos.

Read: WaySight
Read: AutoNav-Mini

Filed under: Robots

TORC shows off WaySight and AutoNav-Mini for small, expensive robots originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Heads-up, netbook lovers — Sammy’s latest is totally official, though it’s becoming so after a bona fide review. At any rate, Samsung has just recently hosted up a product page for its 10.1-inch N110, which brags about its 9.5 hour battery life, 2.8 pound body and 93 percent full-size keyboard. Specs wise, it’s still rockin’ the tried-and-true N270 / 1GB / 160GB combo, which makes it pretty tough to choose over the far less pricey ASUS Eee Computer 1000HE. At any rate, those who’ve somehow found the value proposition to be more enticing can get in line now for $441.99 at Buy.com, while the Samsung-linked CompSource has it listed for $458.

- Samsung N110 product page [Via Liliputing]
- Buy.com pre-order [Via PortableMonkey]

Filed under: Laptops

Samsung posts N110 product page, pre-orders get going originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed under: Other hardware, Others

Vinyl holdouts have one less excuse for not making the leap to digital thanks to NAD’s PP-3 Digital Phono Preamplifier. Turntables with encoding abilities are nothing new, but if those decks have been beneath your standards then you’ve been out of luck. The PP-3, however, lets you supply your own deck — the audiophile-friendly MC/MM phono preamp is RIAA-equalized and passed through a rumble filter before being output as a soft-clipped digital signal (on a handy USB port) courtesy an onboard A/D converter. The PP-3 also has a line-level input that might come in handy for when you decide to tackle your reel-to-reel tape archives. Available now for $199 — don’t you want to hear this MP3 stuff that all the children are raving about?

NAD’s PP-3 digital phono preamp turns vinyl pits to digital bits originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mitsubishi and Nissan-Renault Alliance seem to be in a see-saw battle to see who can sign up more governments to use and/or support their electric vehicles. The latest round goes to Mitsubishi, which has signed up the Principality of Monaco for its iMiEV. The automaker and Mediterranean enclave have signed an agreement that’ll see a fleet of iMiEVs delivered to a variety of local organizations such as the phone company, post office and some of the hotels and casinos. The vehicles will be used for transportation around the city and the performance will be monitored so that Mitsubishi can evaluate the market potential of the automobiles in Europe.

[Source: Mitsubishi]

Continue reading Mitsubishi iMiEV joins the beautiful people, heads to Monaco

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi iMiEV joins the beautiful people, heads to Monaco originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed under: Nokia

iSuppli, of all companies — you know, the teardown people — is reporting that Nokia has stopped using outside contractors altogether for manufacturing its hardware. Nokia has always had a good deal of in-house manufacturing capability, but certain products — including its upcoming MID, allegedly — have been contracted out to ODMs like Foxconn and its contemporaries, so this calls a whole slew of initiatives into question. Notably, many of its recent CDMA devices are made outside of Nokia proper, so we’ve got to wonder — does this mean they’ll be taking up the slack internally, or is CDMA once again on the outs for these guys? See iSuppli’s full press release after the break.

[Image via Unwired View]

Continue reading Nokia pulling all OEM contracts?

Nokia pulling all OEM contracts? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Popularity: 1% [?]

You’d probably never know it from all the photos, but the Chevy Volt hasn’t actually been fully built before — so far all we’ve seen are “development mules” constructed from the shell of the company’s Cruze compact cars. That’s all gonna change on June 1st, when General Motors states it’s gonna start production on the first 100 percent genuine Volt. According to the unofficial blog GM-Volt, an average of ten automobiles will be made each week until a fleet of 80 have been complete. Of course, you’re still not gonna get to drive one until at least 2010, so don’t go looking for your favorite Gatsby cap just yet.

- Announcement (with glaring mistake)
- Corrections from GM exec Rob Peterson

Filed under: Transportation

First genuine Chevy Volt hits production on June 1st originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Popularity: 1% [?]

iPhone app developer iSoft has released a new version of MySMS, a replacement SMS app kinda like BiteSMS. MySMS now stands at version 0.8.6-1. We don’t have a changelog, though, so let’s look at the features instead. Here’s what MySMS can do: Set main password on app loading Total single / individual SMS or conversation deletion (default client just hide a message, it still be in database. mySMS Secure erase and wipe deleted messages, it can’t be restored) Fast load of program and messages Landscape typing Character counter SMS forwarding (works with chat conversations too) Send contacts through SMS Simple contact list search Use stock message templates or create your own Disable autocorrection Use your own skin A free but unregistered version of MySMS can be downloaded through Cydia. It’s already full-featured, but the devs state that 20 of messages will send a little longer than usual. You can pay US 4.95 to remove the SMS sending delay or go for the full US 24 version that lets you send encrypted SMS messages with 256-AES encryption. Related articles: iPhone homebrew - biteSMS 2.5

Via [apple.qj.net]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Popularity: 1% [?]

It’s the weekend, folks, and you know what that means — time to blow off a little steam. By way of example, the folks that brought us that Wiimote coil gun a while back have returned to the scene with a little something they like to call OfficeDefender. Using the very same servo and ioBridge module as the last time, this hack finds the gun replaced with a Beretta 9mm replica airsoft gun. Also note the nice use of Construx in a non-beer or iPhone related context. If that weren’t enough, this bad boy has a full-auto mode, moves 180 degrees horizontally, can be sighted with the head-mounted webcam and fired via Wiimote. We’re not telling you that you can use this to hassle folks in the office come Monday, but you absolutely could. Videos after the break.

[Via Engadget German]

Continue reading Remote control airsoft gun MacGyvered out of Wiimote, ioBridge, and Construx

Filed under: Robots

Remote control airsoft gun MacGyvered out of Wiimote, ioBridge, and Construx originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Popularity: 2% [?]