Live from the Engadget CES Stage: OLPC VP Giulia D’Amico
Best known for its nonprofit wing, dedicated to bringing computing to developing nations and low-income communities, One Laptop Per Child made its first play in the consumer space with last year’s XO Tablet. We’ll be speaking with the company’s VP of business development, Giulia D’Amico about OLPC’s play in the consumer market at what it means for the organization.
Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
3D Systems shows off a $500 3D scanner that clips onto your iPad
As excited as we were to play around with the Sense 3D scanner, the first-generation consumer scanner had some shortcomings. Near the top of the list was the fact that it only worked with Windows. While the operating system has a plenty large install base, any semblance of portability with the thing required the user to own a Windows tablet — which, for obvious reasons, severely limited the device’s potential install base. Among a torrent of announcements at CES this year, 3D Systems has just unveiled a solution, right on our CES stage. It’s called the iSense. We’ll give you three guesses as to which mobile operating system it works with.
The iSense snaps directly onto an iPad, giving you the same sort of easy scanning functionality you get with its slightly older siblings. Want to see more? Us too. Tune into our interview with the company’s CEO happening right now. The iSense is set for a Q2 launch, priced at $499 — that’s a $100 premium over the Sense.
Filed under: Peripherals
ZTE crams a 1080p projector, a 4-inch display and an LTE hotspot in one Android-powered package (hands-on)
ZTE’s Projector Hotspot is exactly what its name suggests: a 1080p projector and an LTE hotspot bundled in one highly portable box. Strangely, it even has a 4-inch touchscreen display and Android 4.2 as its operating system, so you could potentially surf the web and send emails from it. The entire package is very compact, measuring only 4.72 x 4.72 x 1.12 inches and weighing in at about 400 grams. We held it for a few minutes at a ZTE meeting, and it does indeed feel quite lightweight, which will be good for business travelers who yearn to pack light. It also packs a 5,000mAh battery in case you want to project your presentations on the go. As far as the video quality goes, we thought it was decent enough from the demonstration we saw, though we’re not sure if we recommend using this for movie night (we’ll need more than a few minutes to judge that). The hotspot functionality accommodates up to eight WiFi-enabled devices. Other features include 802.11b/g/n, HDMI, a headset jack, Bluetooth and audio output. We asked a ZTE representative if you could make calls with it, and while he said there aren’t any phone capabilities, we imagine it might be possible to ring someone using Google Voice if you wanted to be completely ridiculous. The projector is set to be available sometime this year, though the price has yet to be determined.
Filed under: Peripherals
Source: ZTE
AMD’s impossibly thin nano PC prototype sits on your TV, but don’t call it a set-top box
Let’s take a moment to forget the technical nonsense. Seriously. Besides, we only really know the broad strokes about Mullins, AMD’s next-gen ultra-low voltage APU. Instead, let’s just gaze upon the tiny wonder that is the Nano PC for a bit and soak it all in. This reference design from the Sunnyvale company packs enough power to run Windows 8.1 pretty seamlessly and even get in a quick game of FIFA 14 at 1080p. Inside, in addition to a Mullins chip, is a 256GB SSD, a camera, Bluetooth, WiFI and a DockPort connector. And, it’s really not much larger or thicker than a Note 3 — it’s pretty much a marvel of engineering. It’s the last of those specs that’s pretty important, since it allows you to connect to a tiny breakout box with HDMI and USB ports. Obviously you’ll need one of those to connect it to a TV, which the Nano PC is designed to sit atop. Here’s hoping that a company or two picks up on the design and starts making absurdly thin machines of their own.
Here’s that $500 3D scanner for the iPad
That new consumer 3D scanner we told you about a little while ago? Here it is. Well, sort of. This iSense is actually a prototype, as you can probably tell from the 3D printed mold behind the camera. We asked CEO Avi Reichental if there was any possibility that the company might 3D print the casing at some point, to help future-proof the peripheral, and he certainly seemed open to the idea, though don’t expect that in the version of the product shipping in Q2. At a cursory glance, the camera and the sensor appear similar — if not exactly the same — as the ones found on the sense. Around this, you’ll find a brushed metal housing that helps the camera blend in a bit more with the iPad’s backing.
As for why this unit is $100 more than the Sense, we suspect it has something to do with the much smaller form factor, which helps make this a truly portable scanner, with a Lightning cable that plugs directly into the tablet. We couldn’t take a shot of the software, as that’s also still firmly in the beta stage, though you can expect it to be pretty similar to what you get with the Sense.
Must See HDTV for the week of January 7th: Justified, Helix and Alpha House
We’re running a bit late due to CES (tripped over a curved Ultra HD TV), but there’s still plenty to watch this week. The BCS National Championship dominated last night, but tonight we’re focused on the season premiere of one of our favorite TV shows, Justified on FX. If the Elmore Leonard-inspired story of a US Marshal doesn’t tickle your fancy, try the premiere of a new show from Battlestar Galactica’s Ron Moore called Helix. It airs Friday night, the same day you’ll be able to pick up Wii Fit U and get started on those New Year’s resolutions and when Amazon’s original series Alpha house posts its season finale episode. On Blu-ray, this week’s highlights include Riddick, Fruitvale Station and Carrie. Check after the break for our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and gaming.
Blu-ray & Games
- Riddick
- The Butler
- Carrie
- You’re Next
- Thief
- Enough Said
- The Spectacular Now
- Fruitvale Station
- In the Heat of the Night
- Don’t Starve (PS4)
- Wii Fit U (January 10th), Wii U
Tuesday
- Dads (winter premiere), Fox, 9PM
- Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (winter premiere), ABC, 8PM
- NCIS (winter premiere), CBS, 8PM
- Pretty Little Liars (winter premiere), ABC Family, 8PM
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine (winter premiere), Fox, 8:30PM
- Intelligence (series premiere), CBS, 9PM
- Boston’s Finest (season finale), TNT, 9PM
- New Girl (winter premiere), Fox, 9PM
- Ravenswood (winter premiere), ABC Family, 9PM
- The Goldbergs (winter premiere), ABC, 9PM
- The Mindy Project (winter premiere), Fox, 9:30PM
- Trophy Wife (winter premiere), ABC, 9:30PM
- Justified (season premiere), FX, 10PM
- Cougar Town (season premiere), TBS, 10PM
- Chicago Fire (winter premiere), NBC, 10PM
- Marshal Law (season finale), TNT, 10PM
- Person of Interest (winter premiere), CBS, 10PM
Wednesday
- The Middle (winter premiere), ABC, 8PM
- Revolution (winter premiere), NBC, 8PM
- Super Fun Night (winter premiere), ABC, 8:30 & 9:30PM
- Psych (season premiere), USA, 9PM
- The 40th Annual People’s Choice Awards, CBS, 9PM
- Law & Order: SVU (winter premiere), NBC, 9PM
- Modern Family (winter premiere), ABC, 9PM
- Inside the NFL, Showtime, 9PM
- The Real World (season premiere), MTV, 10PM
- Chicago PD (series premiere), NBC, 10PM
- American Horror Story, FX, 10PM
- 60 Minutes Sports, Showtime, 10PM
- NFL Turning Point, NBC Sports Network, 11PM
Thursday
- Heat/Knicks, TNT, 8PM
- Community, NBC, 8PM
- The Taste, ABC, 8PM
- The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 8PM
- Parks & Recreation, NBC, 8:0PM
- The Millers, CBS, 8:30PM
- Sean Saves the World, NBC, 9PM
- The Crazy Ones, CBS, 9PM
- The Michael J Fox Show, NBC, 9:30PM
- Two and a Half Men, CBS, 9:30PM
- Parenthood, NBC, 10PM
- Ground Floor, TBS, 10PM
- Elementary, CBS, 10PM
- The Assets, ABC, 10PM
- Thunder/Nuggets, TNT, 10:30PM
Friday
- Betas, Amazon Prime Instant Video
- Alpha House (season finale), Amazon Prime Instant Video
- Bones (winter premiere), Fox, 8PM
- Last Man Standing (winter premiere), ABC, 8PM
- The Carrie Diaries, CW, 8PM
- The Neighbors (winter premiere), ABC, 8:30PM
- Hawaii Five-o (winter premiere), CBS, 9PM
- Raising Hope (winter premiere), Fox, 9PM
- Shark Tank (winter premiere), ABC, 9PM
- WWE SmackDown, Syfy, 8PM
- Grimm, NBC, 9PM
- Enlisted (series premiere), Fox, 9:30PM
- Banshee (season premiere), Cinemax, 10PM
- Dracula, NBC, 10PM
- Helix (series premiere), Syfy, 10PM
Saturday
- Atlantis, BBC America, 9PM
- Lucas Bros. Moving Company, Fox, 11PM
- Golan the Insatiable, Fox, 11:15PM
Sunday
- 60 Minutes, CBS, 7PM
- The Simpsons, Fox, 8PM
- Bob’s Burgers, Fox, 8:30PM
- Shameless (season premiere), Showtime, 9PM
- True Detective (series premiere), HBO, 9PM
- Family Guy, Fox, 9PM
- Downton Abbey, PBS, 9PM
- The Good Wife, CBS, 9PM
- Revenge, ABC, 9PM
- American Dad, Fox, 9:30PM
- Girls (season premiere), HBO, 10PM
- The Mentalist, CBS, 10PM
- Betrayal, ABC, 10PM
- House of Lies (season premiere), Showtime, 10PM
- Episodes (season premiere), Showtime, 10:30PM
Filed under: HD
This is the final hardware for Scanadu Scout: a real, functioning tricorder
It’s been a long time coming, but a real, functioning tricorder is almost here, and we got to see the final hardware for it today at CES. Scanadu Scout is its name, and in case you aren’t familiar, we’ve been tracking the little hand-held human health tracker since its inception in late 2012. Since that first glimpse of a prototype, the device has gotten a new design, been funded to the tune of more than $1 million on Indiegogo and the two devices you see above are the versions that’ll be shipping out to backers at the end of March. The devices themselves are tightly crafted, with uniform seams around the chrome bits, and while they feel solid, they are still quite lightweight.
Getting to this point hasn’t been easy, however, as Walter de Brouwer, Scanadu’s founder and CEO, tells us that the toroidal design he and his team dreamed up has proven exceedingly difficult to manufacture. Despite that fact, the tooling up has begun, and rest assured; the devices that make their way to the public will look like the ones we saw. And, should you like to live vicariously through us, you can see more of Scout in our gallery below, along with a few screenshots of the still-in-development companion app, too.
Tablo streaming DVR now available for pre-order, ships in February for $219
Nuvyyo promised that its internet-savvy Tablo DVR would arrive early in the new year, and it’s making good on its word by launching pre-orders. You can now buy two- and four-tuner versions of the streaming video hub at respective prices of $219 and $250, with both models due to ship in February. Either set-top box will let you record over-the-air TV to your choice of USB storage without having to pay extra fees, although dedicated viewers will want to shell out for a programming guide subscription at $5 per month, $50 per year or $150 for life. Tablo may not be the cheapest way to wean yourself off of cable or satellite, then, but it’s potentially a big bargain if you don’t want to give up timely access to TV shows just because you’ve cut the cord.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Tablo
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: The Engadget Podcast
We’re kicking off this year’s Engadget CES podcast with a couple of old friends. Brian will be joined by Tim Stevens and Darren Murph to discuss the week to come.
Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
AMD’s Project Discovery tablet for work or play… but mostly play
Part of the goal with the energy-sipping Mullins APU and the DockPort connector is to create small devices that have the power and versatility to perform a myriad of tasks. The Project Discovery tablet is an experimental reference device designed to work all day and play all night (it’s the Vegas way, after all). The whole concept of DockPort, is that it’s can expand to a host of connections. So slot it into a productivity dock, and you can power Excel across two screens while using a traditional keyboard and mouse. But, when you head home to unwind, you can slap it into a gaming cradle like the one you see above and play some FIFA 14 or Dirt 3. It’s not all that dissimilar to the Razer Edge… in concept at least. As with most of the really interesting things at CES this is not a shipping product, nor do we expect it to be. Instead it’s a concept that AMD is using to promote its vision of the future. Now it just needs an OEM or two (or twelve) to take up the torch and start getting these things out the door.
Filed under: Peripherals, Tablets, AMD
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