Just how the Samsung OmniaHD’s video could reach directly from phone to TV screen was a bit of a mystery until the Engadget Spanish crew spotted the WMG100. Don’t already own one of Samsung’s high end sets with WiFi and DLNA built in? This dongle bridges the gap with all the necessary tech built in, pushing a max 480p (whether HD streaming to other devices from the OmniaHD will work is unknown) from its mini HDMI or component outputs for around €160 ($200), and is already available in Korea with a European debut planned for this spring. The idea that we’d ever get exhausted of watching that sweet AMOLED display is a bit of a reach, but just in case check out the gallery for some hands on photos.

Filed under: Digital Cameras, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Samsung WMG100 brings OmniaHD video to the TV, via WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Luke Anderson

I’ve been out paintballing a few times, and it’s actually a lot of fun. The trick is to get hit as tiny as possible. While I enjoyed running around with a few friends on two different teams, I always thought it would be cool to have a set of turrets to defend each other’s bases. Of course building a paintball turret isn’t exactly an easy task, but if you do a good job at it, you’ll have a menacing contraption like the picture above.

Words can’t even describe the level of awesomeness reached by this DIY project. Envision having a paintball turret that can fire up to 34 balls per second and can be controlled up to half a mile away with a HUD. If you’ve got between $500-$1100 lying around and about 30 hours of free time, you too can build your own menacing turret. I bet for a few extra bucks you could make it speak like the turrets in Portal.

[ InventGeek ] VIA [ SlipperyBrick ]

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Samsung sure has made some high claims about its OmniaHD supermegaphone, and now we’ve got some HD footage and stills to put those claims to the test. The camera does seem pretty stellar for a phone, and the video is undoubtedly HD, but we saw pretty sluggish performance in the HD recording mode, both in the on-screen preview and in the finished product. We’ll chalk that up to the super-early build of the device software, but hopefully this will be resolved before the phone ships. The phone also does ultra-slowmotion video, which is awesome, but seems similarly inconsistent and stuttery in frame rate. We’ll shut up and let you see it all for yourself, both in the gallery below and the videos after the break. Again, this is all from a pre-production phone, and we’re really expecting (or at least hoping for) the frame rate to smooth out by launch. The video was shot in 720p, but it was downsampled for web playback — it looks pretty sharp in native form, and the first image in the gallery is a screencap from the video in full resolution for your perusal.

Continue reading Samsung OmniaHD’s camera put to the test

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras, Handhelds, HDTV

Samsung OmniaHD’s camera put to the test originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Luke Anderson

Each year at about this time I start to get really antsy for Spring. That’s because we start to get a taste of warmer weather for a day or so, then it turns back to bitter cold for a week. Despite my affinity for technology and the amount of my time spent in front of a computer, I like spending time outdoors. Unfortunately when it’s cold out, I prefer to stay inside where it is cozy and warm. So how does one beat the cold without putting on layers upon layers of clothing? With heated pants of course.

These heated pants aren’t the most stylish out there, though the gray ones don’t look half bad. I was always told that it’s what’s on the inside that counts. In this case, the built-in heater is what really matters. If you’re going to be out in the cold for long periods, it’s not really going to matter what your pants look like if they’re keeping you warm. The heater is powered by a rechargeable battery that slips into your pocket. These toasty pants will set you back a cool $121.

[ DogFunk ] VIA [ Coolest-Gadgets ]

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By Luke Anderson

The Rebel forces might not have quite the resources of the Galactic Empire, but they can usually get the job done. The other day we saw an Imperial sound system, the AT-AT Boombox. That left me wondering what exactly the fearless Rebels had to counter such a menacing audio output device. The answer? An R2-D2 sound system.

It appears that our favorite little astromech droid was hiding a few more surprises that we didn’t know about. It looks as though he’s actually a Transformer, or at least he has a cousin that’s a boombox. This piece is a part of the Hype Hustle Rip-Off exhibition by Bill McMullen. I haven’t had a radio that big in a very long time, maybe if it had looked like R2 I wouldn’t have gotten rid of it.

[ TheConstantGallery ] VIA [ Technabob ]

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Far be it for us to judge the decisions of a massive corporation and its ad campaign, but Sony announcing a new line of BRAVIA HDTVs while the vast majority of the consumer electronics industry is intently focused on cellphones in Barcelona seems a bit peculiar. For those who need a break from MWC 2009 shenanigans, we’ve got 19 new hi-def havens here, spanning 6 different models: WE5, W5500, E5500, E5300, V5500, and S5500. Boasted features include BRAVIA Engine 3 with 100Hz Motionflow and Image Blur Reduction for smoother images, a widget-rich on-screen AppliCast that gives you basic internet-on-TV functionality, DLNA for streaming media from a personal, and Sony’s Xross Media Bar (XMB). Not each model here boasts all the new technology — you’ll have to invest in the V5500 (pictured, background) for the full experience. Sony boasts its 2009 LCD lineup is its “greenest ever,” with most models carrying the “EU Flower” eco-friendly label from the European Commission, and not to worry, even some of the most coveted sets here carry the green mark. Hit up the read link for full specs.

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Sony brings BRAVIA Engine 3, AppliCast on-screen widgets to HDTV lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Difficult though it might be to believe, Panasonic showcased a conceptual in-dash BD deck of its own back in October of 2007. Obviously, nothing has really come of that, so Mitsubishi’s stepping in with a prototype of its own. It’s said that the player has only a third of the volume compared to a traditional “home Blu-ray player,” with it somehow being able to slip into a standard single-DIN opening. Superior still, we’re told that the final unit — which is slated to hit production during fiscal year 2009 — could also boast a mobile TV tuner in select markets, giving us even more reason to not pay attention to pedestrians, road signs and stop lights while taking that Sunday cruise.

Filed under: HDTV, Peripherals, Transportation

Mitsubishi unveils prototype in-dash Blu-ray player originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Evan Ackerman

Looking for a badass new yacht for free? Sea Shadow, commissioned by DARPA and now a US Navy castoff, is about as badass as it gets. You may be familiar with Sea Shadow from the Bond move Tomorrow Never Dies, but it’s a real ship, and it’s really stealthy. It’s 160 feet long, and comes with 12 bunks, a table, a microwave, a fridge, and a gigantic covered mining barge that the CIA used to keep Sea Shadow protected from satellite surveillance. The catch is that you’ve to take the barge too, and getting anything for free from the Navy is apparently “a bloodthirsty, paperwork ridden, permit-infested, money-sucking hole…” Why does that not surprise me.

If nobody comes up with an offer, Sea Shadow (which originally cost nearly $200 million) is going to be scrapped at the end of this year.

VIA [ WSJ ]

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NVIDIA’s really promising the moon here, and if they even halfway deliver we could have a real “game changer” (as they state in the business) on our hands. What’s on offer is a theoretical $99 slide-out keyboard MID, running a Tegra 600 chipset and Windows CE — NVIDIA, as usual, offers the innards and the concept, but will leave it to manufacturers to create (and price) the actual units. The device could handle HD video playback, “days” between battery charges and always-on wireless connectivity. This form factor lands in between NVIDIA’s Tegra APX chipset for smartphones and ION GeForce chipset for netbooks, and if it actually delivers it seems like it could actually make MIDs viable in the market. Of course, there’s the question of what sort of Windows CE skin it’ll take to make this fun to use for the target market — perhaps the fact that Tegra is coming to Android in the near future is enough to make this all moot, but we’re willing to give the $99 MID a fighting chance.

Filed under: Handhelds, HDTV

NVIDIA’s Tegra to power $99 MIDs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Andrew Liszewski

We’ve all got that nagging voice in the back of our heads telling us we should make a conscious effort to use less energy, but I’ve found it’s easy to drown it out by leaving my blender running 24/7. So it doesn’t hurt to have other reminders about our wasteful ways around the home.

The SmartSwitch is an intelligent light switch that lets you know when your home, or even your local electrical grid, is using substantial amounts of power. Now it doesn’t actually prevent you from turning on the light, but thanks to a built-in ‘brake pad’ the act of sliding the switch does become more difficult during the hours of peak energy demand in your neighborhood. That way you would think twice about whether you really needed that light on, or if you could use a more energy-friendly alternative like simply opening the curtains.

The SmartSwitch was created by Peter Russo and Brendan Wypich from Stanford University for the Greener Gadgets Design Competition.

[ Core77 - SmartSwitch ] VIA [ SlashGear ]

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