by Shane McGlaun

I’ve stayed in my share of storage hotels over the years. There was one we stayed in during a family vacation when I was young that had more roaches than a Grateful Dead concert. I have also stayed in my share of swanky places that cost more than I care to think about. We’ve seen our share of long haul airliners outfitted with beds and other features for those long flights from the US to Europe.

A new aircraft called the Hotelicopter has been announced that’ll offer 18 passengers a travel experience similar to a cruise liner in the air. The Hotelicopter is a large Mil V-12 prototype helicopter that was built in 1968 in Russia. The aircraft has been updated and augmented with an additional floor and enhancements for efficiency.

The rooms inside the large copter are as luxurious as a 5-star hotel with queen size beds, a mini bar, Wi-Fi and more. The aircraft itself is 137 feet long, 91 feet high and has a maximum takeoff weight of 232,870 pounds. The max speed is 158 mph and the cruise speed is 147 mph. Updates to the aircraft include aerodynamic enhancements and four GEnx turbofans producing 75,000 pounds of thrust each. The copter will be used for flying tours and will have is maiden voyage this summer. Tickets will sell for an undisclosed amount.

[ Hotelicopter ]

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It didn’t take long for Echostar to turn its ViP 922 SlingLoaded DVR for DISH into a tru2way powered HD DVR for cable viewers ready to placeshift live and prerecorded TV, and now we’ve got a glimpse of what it will look like. The specs show off a 1TB hard drive ripped from its still-yet-to-launch predecessor, but new for the T2200S is a backlit capacitive touch control mounted up front, while that no numbers required touch remote the 922 flashed at CES is so far missing from the mix. It’ll be at least Q4 before these go into production, but you can believe Echostar is pitching them to all willing to listen at Cable Show ‘09 this week, while interested customers are being advised to contact their cable provider and let ‘em know they want a piece.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Echostar shows off its SlingLoaded T2200S HD DVR for cable originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Evan Ackerman

A week or so ago, we wrote about some little miniature camera toys that you could get as prizes in Japan. They were cute, but they didn’t do anything. This tiny model of a Canon 5D DSLR actually does do something, with a 4 gig USB flash drive hidden inside the lens, which is a decent enough 24-105mm f/4 IS. ‘Course, if you want to store your files in high quality, you’d have to find yourself a Nikon D3X flash drive, instead.

These Canon 5D flash drives pop up on eBay for a absolutely ridiculous $100 and up, but if you can afford a 5D, you probably won’t care.

[ eBay ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

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Ruh roh. In a move that will undoubtedly cause an incredibly raucous stir, only to fade away as motion picture renters realize that Netflix is still the best deal going, America’s most adored by-mail rental service is hiking the price of Blu-ray rentals once again. If you’ll recall, Netflix already implemented a $1 per month fee for Blu-ray customers back in October, and now it’s looking to push that premium higher by around 20 percent across its pricing tiers. The company asserts that the increase (slated to hit April 27th and only applicable to BD customers) is due to it buying more titles on BD to “accommodate the increasing number of Netflix members who prefer renting movies on Blu-ray.” In fact, almost 10 percent of all Netflix customers are choosing BD now, and obviously these platters cost quite a bit more for anyone (even Netflix) to procure. Head past the break to see how large of a hardship this will be on you.

Continue reading Netflix raising rates for Blu-ray subscribers by around 20 percent

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Netflix raising rates for Blu-ray subscribers by around 20 percent originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Andrew Liszewski

Designed by BERU f1 systems, the Factor 001 training bike is chock full of Formula One racing technology which makes it one of the most advanced bikes ever built. Besides the requisite made-to-measure one piece carbon fiber frame and ceramic brakes, the Factor 001’s real secret weapon is its built-in accelerometers that monitor the bike’s lean and other physical factors like wheel speed, torque levels and crank cadence. It will even have a biometric monitoring system for keeping tabs on the rider’s physical condition like body temp, respiration rate and even ECG data. All that for roughly $30,000, depending on the options you order. (That’s the starting price.)

But all that information the bike is gathering is no good if you can’t study it later on. So for an additional $8-10,000 you’ll be able to buy the Factor 001’s custom software package that grants the data to be uploaded to a PC and analyzed in order to improve your performance. Needless to state you’ve to really want to wear that yellow jersey to be shelling out this kind of money for a bike.

[ BikeRadar.com - Formula One experts use automobile technology to build bike ] VIA [ Wired Gadget Lab ]

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Oh sure, we’ve already seen this thing spotted at Ideal Buy, but there’s just something especially titillating about pics with clarity. CNET’s UK branch managed to get their camera all up in the BD-P3600’s area, and they definitely enjoyed what they saw. For starters, the 7.1-channel analog outs are a real boon to those still using that circa-1999 AV receiver, and the bundled WiFi dongle means BD-Live is now entirely more accessible. Granted, we aren’t similarly impressed by the 40 second BD load time, but maybe we’re just spoiled by the hasty OPPO BDP-83. Head on down for a few more looks.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Samsung’s sleek BD-P3600 Blu-ray player gets hands-on love originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Evan Ackerman

As sexy as the Tesla Roadster is, and as much as I want one, it’s really just a massive costly toy. It’s not a practical vehicle for a consumer (i.e. people who have children and need to bring home their own groceries) to purchase. Tesla gets this, and has just unveiled their new Model S electric sedan concept that we first got a glimpse of back in October of last year.

The Model S has four doors, and is apparently capable of seating seven people… Five adults, plus two children in a rear facing seat in the back. Inside, the most notable feature is a 17″ touchscreen in the center panel, which controls the climate, navigation, and entertainment systems, has 3G connectivity built in, and features auxiliary and iPod inputs. It also manages to have more cargo space than a station wagon, thanks to a second trunk under the hood.

Details on the drivetrain, and more pics, after the jump.

While not as nimble as the roadster, the Model S can make it to 60 mph in about 5.5 seconds, with a 120 mph top speed. It has a range of about 160 miles, but different option packages include extended range batteries that can make it to 300 miles. The batteries will fully charge in 4 hours from a 220 volt source, and there’s a 45 minute “quick charge,” even though Tesla doesn’t say how much charge it is (my guess is 40-50%). An interesting thing to note is that the battery packs can apparently be swapped out in 5 (!) minutes, which might provide a way to get around the whole charging issue when taking a long trip, even though buying or renting a spare battery pack will no doubt be pricey. The batteries themselves should last 10 years with normal use.

The base version of the Model S is expected to cost $49,900, including government tax incentives (you’ll pay more like $57,400 up front). Production should begin near the end of 2011, and by mid 2012, Tesla hopes to be pumping out about 20,000 vehicles per year. That’s a tiny ways off, and there’s still the potential for all kinds of things to happen before then… Most likely production delays plus a price increase, just because that’s what always happens. But still, it’s a serious effort at a usable and more or less affordable electric car, and might actually give the Chevy Volt a challenge on features, if not price.

[ Tesla Motors ] VIA [ Jalopnik ]

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Not that we haven’t seen completely off-the-wall viral marketing ads before (including one from LG, in fact), but this one just takes the proverbial cake. In a perfectly staged LGenius presentation, we’re informed about a few extraordinary up and coming Television advancements. The first one intelligently replaces all swear words with baby laughter or eerie silence, while the “Happy Time” feature automatically detects when a program is too sad for one’s health and adds random images of adorable puppies and kittens. Finally, the “Family Time” feature turns any sensual scene into one with cartoon characters, making even the steamiest bedroom romance seem perfectly acceptable for innocent eyes. Seriously, this one has to be seen to be believed — mash that play button and have a gander.

[Thanks, Kellen]

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Video: LG’s LGenius presentation lays out absolutely fake, remarkable TV advancements originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Chris Scott Barr

Way back in 2007 David and I had the opportunity to go up to Michigan and drive some of GM’s current line of automobiles, which was a blast. The ‘08 Corvette was definitely my favorite, and one of the features that I thought was really cool (other than the horsepower, smooth transmission, etc.) was the HUD-style speedometer. It was nice not having to take your eyes off the road to check your speed (which was probably ideal when I was hitting 120mph on the test track). Well now you can add this feature to any vehicle with the HG400 Heads Up Display.

This gadget uses GPS technology to measure your speed, which is prone to be more reliable than the speedometer in older cars. Besides just projecting your speed and heading onto your windshield, it can also be set to inform you when you go over a certain speed, hopefully saving you from getting a speeding ticket. It gets its power from your car’s cigarette lighter, and can interact with your other gadgets via Bluetooth, though I’m not really sure why my phone wants to know how fast I’m going. The HG400 seems care about it might be cool, but unless you’re really worried about your car’s speedometer, I’m not sure it’s worth the $125 price tag.

[ InternationalAuto ] VIA [ RGS ]

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Samsung’s being a bit ambiguous with this one, but we won’t deny that we’re drooling pretty heavily over these new panels. Said outfit has just revealed that mass production has begun on the industry’s first “ultra-slim LCD panels suited for big size Televisions,” and while we’re wondering what exactly it means by that, we can’t help but appreciate the attributes. We’re told that the unique edge-lit LED backlighting offers lighter weight and thinner designs compared to standard direct-lit LED LCDs, and moreover, a 55-inch Samsung HDTV with edge-lit LED backlighting “uses up to 40 percent less power than conventional LCD Televisions.” The panels measure just 0.42-inches thick and are being produced in 40-, 46- and 55-inch sizes. We’re still waiting to hear back from Sammy on whether these are the same ones used in the energy-efficient LCD HDTVs announced at CES or new models altogether, but ’til then, you can feel free to begin digging in the couches for spare pennies.

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Samsung begins production on edge-lit LED-backlit HDTV panels originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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