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Sony Japan unveils Bravia HDTVs with 500GB storage, Sony USA unveils no such thing

By Joseph L. Flatley
Sony intro’d some 3D Bravia HDTVs a while back, and while that didn’t really whet our appetite an LCD with built-in storage is always palatable. To be released by Sony Japan, the BX30H is available in in up to 32-inches and packs 500GB of storage — not particularly earth-shattering, but it should prove useful for DVR-ing episodes of The Marriage Ref. [Did we say that? We meant WWE: Raw.] Available in both colors (black and white), this model is, sadly, only available in Japan. For those of us stuck in the states, the BX300 is available in 22- and 32-inch sizes (and only in black). All of the above feature a 100,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, CCFL backlighting, 720p HD resolution, 5.1 channel audio output and more. Yankees can expect to pay $279 for the 22-inch or $419 for the 32-inch, while prices in Japan TBA.

Sony Japan unveils Bravia HDTVs with 500GB storage, Sony USA unveils no such thing originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alcatel-Lucent New API Bundles for Developers

By Ubergizmo

Alcatel-Lucent New API Bundles for Developers

Picture: the Alcatel-Lucent Dashboard launched at MWC, picture with new features coming soon

[SXSW] Alcatel-Lucent today announced the packaged API (Application Programming Interfaces) bundles, and an associated revenue sharing model that eliminates upfront costs for developers and offers new revenue streams for service providers. Additionally, a new business and application modeling tool has been released; it allows developers to get the most out of their applications, according to the company. I am not a developer and I have not seen the bundles or the tool, if you are a developer attending SXSW, go to the “Eleven API Lounge” of the Hilton Hotel, (directly across from the Austin Convention Center): Alcatel-Lucent will demo its new offering, which is part of its developer platform and program. More info about the new product after the jump.

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Is the Viliv N5 launching in May?

By Matt Burns

Viliv’s first clamshell is coming soon. We knew that. But the company was previously very quiet about when. Apparently though, the N5 could launch as soon as May. *fingers crossed*

Apple iPad — model A1337 — phreaks the FCC

By Chris Ziegler

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Apple_iPad_model_A1337_phreaks_the_FCC_Engadget’; A pair of iPads was just revealed in the FCC’s system in perfect synchrony with that little pre-order sitch with which you may or may not already be familiar. Apple, of course, has a track record of timing its FCC filings perfectly so that virtually nothing is revealed before Cupertino wants it to be, and frankly, you’re not going to get much here that you didn’t already know — the photographs (both external and internal) and the user manual are all still under confidentiality. Both units were tested for WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth, while one — model number A1337 — adds in GSM 850 / 1900 and UMTS 850 / 1900, so it appears that Apple has bundled all of its 3G and non-3G models into just two filings regardless of storage capacity. We caught A1337 flipping through an old issue of 2600, so for all we know, it socially engineered its way to FCC approval — whatever it takes to make that late-April launch window, right?

Apple iPad — model A1337 — phreaks the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The $20,000 iPad has diamonds all over it. That’s one way to tell everyone you’re a jerk.

By Nicholas Deleon

It’s going to take $40,000 worth of diamonds to get me to buy an iPad. So nice try, Mervis Diamond Importers. They’ve taken an ordinary iPad—not sure which model, I’m afraid—and added 11.43 karats worth of diamonds. Yup.

Sony Japan announces Disney-themed Walkmans

By Serkan Toto

In September last year, Sony rolled out the S Series Walkman, portable audio and video players, which are supposed to compete with the iPod Nano. And today, Sony in Japan announced [JP] a branded version of those Walkmans, namely the “Disney Character S Series Walkman”. To be more exact, Sony introduced nine Disney-themed Walkmans, a special case and a Mickey Mouse stand.

Sobees For SXSW and MIX10

By Ubergizmo

Sobees For SXSW and MIX10

[SXSW] I saw Sobees for the first time at DEMO 09, it is a social sites networks aggregator that looked pretty good when I saw the demo, it offered a monetization model via brand sponsorship. Today, the company launched Sobees for SXW and MIX10: the Sobees event applications aggregate Flickr photo stream, Google news, Twitter real time search, the official RSS feed from the event, the official Twitter messages from the event, your personal Twitter and Facebook accounts. Sobees partnered with Salsadev.com to provide the trending keywords within each conference, allowing to refine the search and finding news, photos and tweets related to the trending topics at SXSW and MIX10.

You can try the applications here (Silverlight 3 working on Macs and PCs for most browsers):

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InstantAction streams full games to any web browser, gives indie developers a business model (video)

By Darren Murph

Look out, OnLive — you’ve got company. InstantAction is having their coming out party at GDC, and we stopped by for a lengthy chat about the technology, its future and the hopes / dreams of the company. Put simply (or as simply as possible), IA has developed a browser-based plug-in that allows full games to be played on any web browser so long as said browser is on a machine capable of handling the game. In other words, you’ll still need a beast of a machine to play games like Crysis, but the fact that you can play them on a web browser opens up a new world of possibilities for casual gamers and independent developers. You’ll also be notified before your download starts if your machine and / or OS can handle things, with recommendations given on what it would take to make your system capable.

Oh, and speaking of operating systems — games will only be played back if they’re supported on a given OS, so you won’t be able to play a Windows only title within a browser on OS X or Linux. Rather than taking the typical streaming approach, these guys are highlighting “chunking.” In essence, a fraction of the game’s total file size has to be downloaded locally onto your machine, and once that occurs, you can begin playing. As an example, we were playing The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition — which is the sole title announced for the platform so far, though Assassin’s Creed was demoed — within minutes, and since you’re curious, that’s a 2.5GB game, and we were on a connection that wasn’t much faster than a typical broadband line.

More after the break…

Gallery: InstantAction demonstrated at GDC 2010

Continue reading InstantAction streams full games to any web browser, gives indie developers a business model (video)

InstantAction streams full games to any web browser, gives indie developers a business model (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plastic Logic QUE proReader delayed: time to reevaluate that pre-order?

By Thomas Ricker

Did you by any chance get in on the early QUE proReader pre-order? Well, we’ve got news for you that might be good or bad depending upon your perspective. A pre-orderer just forwarded us an email received from Richard Archuleta, CEO of Plastic Logic, detailing a shipment delay from mid-April to sometime in the summer, a date echoed by the QUE product site at Barnes & Noble. According to the email, the delay is due to a desire to “fine-tune the features and enhance the overall product experience.” Now the good news: credit cards have not been charged leaving disgruntled hopefuls either $649 (for the 4GB WiFi model) or $799 (for the 8GB WiFi + 3G model) to spend on something else. There are certainly more e-reader choices available now than when the QUE proReader went up for pre-order on January 7th — though not with the same sophisticated business-use approach or big 10.5-inch display… for that, you’ll have to wait for Skiff to ship. Or maybe you’d prefer a full color LCD tablet instead? Regardless, you do have choices. Full email after the break.

[Thanks, Anonymous Tipster]

Continue reading Plastic Logic QUE proReader delayed: time to reevaluate that pre-order?

Plastic Logic QUE proReader delayed: time to reevaluate that pre-order? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pre-order Your iPad At Five-thirty In The Morning, April 3rd

By Ubergizmo

Pre-order Your iPad At Five-thirty In The Morning, April 3rd

If you’ve been jumping up and down in anticipation of the iPad launch on April 3rd, here’s a little tidbit to further whet your appetite. You can begin to pre-order your iPad online at apple.com at 5.30am Pacific Time on Friday, March 12th. You’ll can pre-order any model you like, though Wi-Fi models will be available on April 3rd, while 3G models will arrive in late April. Have you managed to save your pennies in time for the official launch yet?

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OnLive Game Service out this June 17

By Ubergizmo

OnLive Game Service out this June 17

Mark June 17 on your calendars as that would be when the OnLive ’Games-on-Demand’ service powered by cloud-servers arrives. Steve Perlman and Mike McGarvey, founders of OnLive, has taken the opportunity to announce the subscription plans for the service for both PCs and Macs, albeit only for folks living in the US, with no word on availability and their respective subscription plans for the European region at the moment. What is OnLive? It is a ‘Games on Demand’ service powered by Cloud-servers and based on subscription model. The moment you access the huge library of games, you can play them instantly over the Internet without having to worry about system compatibility and going through the whole tedious installation process. With 720p HD quality video gaming, expect to spend more time cooped up at home now. For more context, check out our hands-on of the OnLive Game Service at last year’s GDC.

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Sonic Defenders ear plugs

By Ubergizmo

Sonic Defenders ear plugs

Want to preserve your hearing in the iPod age? The Sonic Defenders ear plugs sure comes in handy, where they’re better known by their model name, the SureFire EP-3. These ear plugs will not only let you enjoy your favorite music while letting you hear safe and routine sounds including conversations and a honking car behind whenever you start drifting onto the road while jogging, but it will also prevent potentially harmful sounds above 80dB from reaching your ear drums, thanks to the company’s ‘Hocks Noise Braker’ filter. A tiny removable stopper will block out virtually all sounds if you want to go for a personal silent retreat. At $12.95 a pair, it certainly is cheap!

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