As reported on The Verge. By Adrianne Jeffries The ethics of war machines By the time the sun rose on Friday, December 19th, the Homestead Miami race track had been taken over by robots. Some hung from racks, their humanoid feet dangling above the ground as roboticists wheeled them out of garages. One robot resembled a gorilla, while another looked like a spider; yet another could have been mistaken for a designer coffee table. Teams of…
As reported on Engadget. BY MICHAEL GORMAN Dell’s betting that a bunch of businesspeople want to be able to carry their work computer around in their pocket. Not literally, of course, but with the release of the company’s $130 dollar Wyse Cloud Connect dongle (formerly known as Project Ophelia), you can do just that. It connects to any TV or display with an HDMI or MHL port, and hooks up to mice and keyboards via Bluetooth or mini-USB. There’s also…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Greg Kumparak I’m a pretty patient person, but there’s one thing that instantly makes me go all ragey: driving away from home only to realize I forgot to put something important in my car. That U-turn? It feels like defeat. If I’m already running late when I notice my mistake, prepare to learn some new swear words. Bringrr is a gadget for people like me. It sits in your car’s cigarette lighter port,…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Frederic Lardinois Amazon scored one of the greatest tech PR coups in recent history when it got CBS to put its quadcopter-powered delivery service on air the day before Cyber Monday. Sadly, CBS pretty much ignored that this was a pretty unrealistic proposal for the time being, not in the least because commercial drone flights will remain illegal in the U.S. for the next few years. If journalists aren’t even allowed to…
As reported on Engadget. BY RICHARD LAI Here’s yet another option for wirelessly mirroring your computer screen to another display, but don’t worry, this one rather impressive. Airtame, the creation of a group of Danish folks, is an HDMI dongle that links your PC — be it running on Windows, OS X or Linux — to whatever display it’s plugged into over WiFi. Installation is a breeze: all you need on the PC side is just…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Darrell Etherington French Bluetooth company turned drone-maker Parrot has some new hardware for CES 2014, including two brand new smartphone-controlled bots. One is the rolling, jumping Sumo and the other is the MiniDrone, a super small version of its popular AR Drone that flies, rolls and hugs the ceiling and the walls. The MiniDrone is remarkably small, coming in at about a tenth of the size of the full version, which…
As reported on Engadget. BY DANIEL COOPER Just before a big tech show, ASUS likes to wheel out a baffling teaser to get us all in the mood. Normally, the clips involve panning over some brushed metal, promising that the new gear will transform your life. But every now and again, ASUS decides it’s time to travel to a world heritage site for a spot of vandalism. The latest victim is theStatue of Liberty, which throws a peace “V” to…
As reported on Engadget. BY STEVE DENT In order to squeeze the ultra-fast 10Gbps USB 3.1 standard into the next gen of slim devices, the USB 3.0 Promoter group has just announced the USB Type-C connector. It’ll be similar in size to existing USB 2.0 Micro-B connectors, while bringing USB 3.1 speeds and other distinct advantages over current cables. For starters, the new design will be reversible like Apple’s Lightning ports, meaning at long last you won’t have to worry…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Chris Velazco Between launching a charity-friendly buying program, announcing Sunday deliveries, and gearing up for the first wave of frenzied holiday shoppers, Amazon has been busy these past few weeks. But that didn’t stop CEO Jeff Bezos from spending a decent chunk of time talking to Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes about something, well, new. 60 Minutes has been more than happy to tease the unveiling with a clip of Bezos…
As reported on Engadget. BY ALEXIS SANTOS While Sony was content to toy with radical designs for the PlayStation 4’s controller, it turns out Microsoft took a more conservative approach when building the Xbox One’s gamepad. GamesBeat scored a look at the controller creation process and discovered that Redmond was reluctant to tweak the Xbox 360 controller at all since it considers the hardware “best-in-class.” After some pressure from Zulfi Alam, Xbox’s general manager for accessories, Ballmer and Co.…