CrunchGear |  |
- Daily Crunch: Sea Comb Edition
- Videos: Toyota’s Humanoids Play The Trumpet And Violin
- Volvo Announces First Plug-In Diesel Hybrid Wagon, A Combination Of All Our Likes
- HP To Sell TouchPad In April?
- ScentScape On-Demand Odor Accessory To Hit This Year
- The $100k Fisker Karma Gets Put To The Test
- Another Alleged iPad 2 Case Caught On Camera
- Review: Razer Anansi Gaming Keyboard
- New Sony TV Would Send Different Pictures To Different Parts Of The Room
- Comcast Launches Xfinity 3D, A Full-Time 3D Channel
- A Very Happy 25th Birthday To The Legend Of Zelda
- Read The Fine Print: No Motorola Xoom Flash Support Until ‘Spring 2011′
- Is The First Official Chrome OS Device A Monitor Or All-In-One PC? Nope.
- The iASUS Stealth Bluetooth Throat Mic Instantly Makes You Hardcore
- Video Review: 2011 Scion xB
- Kinect For Windows SDK Coming This Spring
- CueThat: Add Any Movie On The Web To Your Netflix Queue
- Crytek: Crysis 2 Leak Build ‘Really Ugly,’ Final Game To Look Much Better
- New Amazon Kindle Commercial: “The Book Lives On”
- With Sequel Confirmed, What Does The Next Medal Of Honor Need To Do To Distinguish Itself?
| Daily Crunch: Sea Comb Edition Posted: 22 Feb 2011 12:00 AM PST | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Videos: Toyota’s Humanoids Play The Trumpet And Violin Posted: 21 Feb 2011 11:02 PM PST
Toyota isn’t just a car company: as we reported multiple times over the last years, it produces quite cool robots, too. The company’s music playing robots are particularly amazing, and the latest versions were presented over last weekend in Tokyo. This video shows a human and the humanoid violinist playing a song together: The robo violinist up and close: Trumpet-playing robot and human violinist: Toyota also showed the latest version of i-real, its amazing robot vehicle: Via NODE [JP]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Volvo Announces First Plug-In Diesel Hybrid Wagon, A Combination Of All Our Likes Posted: 21 Feb 2011 09:38 PM PST
If a car company ever wanted to make an efficient plug-in hybrid, they would combine a diesel engine with an electric powertrain. No one has done this yet — possibly for noise and vibration issues — but Volvo thinks it won’t be a problem when they release a plug-in diesel hybrid of their V60 wagon. Combine the torque from a diesel engine with the instant power of an electric motor and you’ll have one helluva ride. The Volvo is also reportedly able to travel around 30 miles from one charge of its electric batteries and 746 miles total with diesel range extender. It will go on sale in Sweden later this year; hopefully by time it makes it over here they decide to keep the diesel engine.
       [via autoblog]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 21 Feb 2011 06:38 PM PST
The earlier the better, HP, but with the Xoom and Galaxy Tab 10.1 (among others) in the running as well, it could be a tough debut. I get the feeling someone’s going to end up with a lot of units in warehouses.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ScentScape On-Demand Odor Accessory To Hit This Year Posted: 21 Feb 2011 06:20 PM PST
It’s called the ScentScape, and it’s a USB accessory that uses pre-packaged blocks of scent to waft the appropriate odor over you during, say, a bombardment or a peaceful scene in a field. And it’s coming to a PC or console near you in 2011.
There are 20 different scent elements, apparently able to be morphed into such complex evocations as “Indian Summer,” “Hot Toddy,” and “Blueberry Cobbler.” I’m not sure I even know what cobblers smell like! Crust mainly, right? It’s pretty weird. But at $70 it’s cheaper than a lot of other peripherals I review, and the cartridges are supposed to last for 200 hours. That’s a hell of a bargain, kind of. [via 1up]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The $100k Fisker Karma Gets Put To The Test Posted: 21 Feb 2011 05:31 PM PST
Looks like we were right about production beginning in March. The long awaited Fisker Karma was put to the test this week by a few automotive publications and they had a few good things to say about it.
From the looks of it, the Karma will be a neat car that can satisfy a niche market. Some of the test drivers had this to say about it:
        [via dailytech]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Another Alleged iPad 2 Case Caught On Camera Posted: 21 Feb 2011 05:30 PM PST
If we go with the assumption that it’s real, though, it’s looking mighty thin, as we heard it would be, though we’re no wiser regarding the mystery port at the top right. I really have no idea what it would be — not storage, since that would mess up Apple’s whole system. Not SIM. Not USB (they’ll likely just do an adapter). Not DisplayPort or MiniDVI (adapter again, and at any rate Apple wants you to watch things on the device, not from it). It really is a mystery to me, especially considering how thin the sucker is. Any guesses out there?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Review: Razer Anansi Gaming Keyboard Posted: 21 Feb 2011 05:00 PM PST
Pros:
Cons:
Full review:
The premise of the Anansi is that it’s a keyboard designed to create the maximum number of macros possible. It does this by having not only a few dedicated macro keys on the far left, but by having a full seven keys below the space bar dedicated to imitating such combinations of modifier keys as “Shift+Alt,” “Alt-Control,” just plain “Control,” and so on. Seven of these keys!
You can customize them just like every other key on the board — Razer’s robust configuration utility allows you to set the Y key to type a Q if you want, or to perform a 50-stroke macro. So in the end, these keys are really just extra keys of no particular merit. They are located conveniently under your thumb, though, which makes them a natural fit for modifiers. The keys are regular membrane switches, not mechanical like the Black Widow or scissor-switch like the Lycosa. Personally, I prefer either of those to this feel, but that’s a personal preference. The keys on this (and similar) keyboards just feel mushy after using a mechanical keyboard, and unnecessarily deep after typing on scissor switches.
Backlighting is easy to configure, and can be quite bright. You can also set it to rotate through the colors, which is cool for a minute but gets old fast. There are no USB or audio ports on the keyboard, which is disappointing. Gamers use lots of accessories and are generally power users; their keyboard should be a versatile tool. The Anansi is really a one-trick pony, although if you’re a macro guy and have lots of taunts, obscure moves, or what have you, the thumb modifiers could come in handy. Conclusion
Overall there’s just not much to recommend the Anansi over its numerous competitors, including those by Razer. For an all-purpose keyboard either the Lycosa or Black Widow work better, and for macro fiends the Sidewinder keyboards (and, as someone invariably mentions, the options from Roccat) are just as good an option. For a hundred bucks you can, and should, get more keyboard than this. Product page: Razer Anansi keyboard     
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Sony TV Would Send Different Pictures To Different Parts Of The Room Posted: 21 Feb 2011 04:30 PM PST
Very cool, but imagine if you could have two channels on at once, one facing the kitchen and one facing the couch? Or three or four, with wireless headphones sending just that image’s audio to each person? Of course, taking it too far obliterates the “cooperative” nature of watching TV shows, but I think it could still be really cool. Of course, prepping people for your demo by saying “this will hurt your eyes” probably isn’t the best way to sell it. I’m guessing it’s still got a ways to go, but this could be a feature that actually sets Sony TVs apart if they pull if off.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Comcast Launches Xfinity 3D, A Full-Time 3D Channel Posted: 21 Feb 2011 04:05 PM PST
Launched just yesterday, Comcast’s Xfinity 3D will be a new full-time 3D TV channel offering up a big mix of content from music and sports to movies and original programming. Xfinity 3D joins ESPN 3D, n3D and 3net as full-time 24/7 3D content providers and they kicked off their premiere with an NHL hockey game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Calagary Flames. After the game, Kings of Leon played it out from Germany. This channel reminds me of HDnet, one of the first channels to be full-time HD, before many others joined. Does this mean that more 3D channels will come out and be full-time?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A Very Happy 25th Birthday To The Legend Of Zelda Posted: 21 Feb 2011 02:58 PM PST
At any rate, Zelda has to be among the top few game franchises of all time, not just in sales, but in mindshare. Personally, my favorite is still A Link To The Past on SNES. Agree? Disagree? Let’s just take a minute to appreciate how awesome these games have been. There we go. Thanks for all the good times, Link (and link-alikes). And one last thing that may blow your mind if you didn’t know it already:
Yeah, they’re all on the same map. So awesome.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Read The Fine Print: No Motorola Xoom Flash Support Until ‘Spring 2011′ Posted: 21 Feb 2011 01:45 PM PST
Bad news for those of you who were looking forward to the release of the Motorola Xoom, the world's first Honeycomb-based tablet. It seems that the tablet will not ship with Adobe Flash at launch, and that you'll have to wait to sometime this spring to see proper Flash support. That's a shame. The Xoom will be released this Thursday, and eyes keener than mine have spotted, in tiny print alongside the bottom of a Verizon Wireless ad this ominous warning: "Adobe Flash expected Spring 2011." Expected, eh? Let's not forget that, technically, Spring 2011 can be anywhere from late March to late June. Wonderful, no? This, taken together with the fact that the Xoom will cost quite a bit more than the iPad, would seem to be the kind of news that Android fans could do without. But that being said, how big of a loss is the lack of mobile Flash? It's not like you can watch Hulu on anything but an approved browser, and YouTube and Netflix (and others) work just fine using non-Flash implementations on the iPad. Not to sound like an iPad fanboy—guess who came up with the five reasons not to buy a tablet?—but I don't see anything here that would knock it off its perch.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Is The First Official Chrome OS Device A Monitor Or All-In-One PC? Nope. Posted: 21 Feb 2011 01:19 PM PST
Weird, right? Well yes. Because from what we’re hearing, that’s just not true at all.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The iASUS Stealth Bluetooth Throat Mic Instantly Makes You Hardcore Posted: 21 Feb 2011 01:12 PM PST
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 21 Feb 2011 12:26 PM PST Last week, we got a Scion xB to drive. Our initial impression was that it looked "tastefully tuner" and was very spacious inside. A quick glance over its tech and we quickly realized that Scion probably added the gear as an afterthought. A lot of the gear doesn't work together; instead they're all separate, like what you would get from installing different aftermarket parts. Scion says that's the whole image it brings the younger generation, but we think it could be done better. There's a lot to like about the xB. Slamming the door barks a thud indicative of a solid build. As much as you'd want to think it's a cheap piece-of-junk, it really isn't. At no point did the quality feel super-budget. Which is a good thing, because this car isn't super-budget.
It's well within the range of young buyers at $16,950, but add up all the options and the as tested price easily climbs up to $26,459. What were the options?
As you can see, the xB we tested has a laundry list of features, but none of them stand out as a necessity. Most of the options on the tech side can be gone without. Add up the Alpine radio, XM receiver and BLU logic handsfree and you'll notice a higher price than a fully integrated aftermarket unit – and it would look better.
Start looking at the prices of the sport gear, however, and the gear becomes much more desirable. For only $400, Scion will install and warrant lowering springs; add another $570 for a rear sway bar and front strut brace and the handling becomes much sportier. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better deal than that, unless you're a suspension technician. As for the sport muffler and oil filler cap, we'd skip those.
With the sport options, including the dangerous-in-winter summer tires, the Scion grips dry pavement very well. The car easily handles 40 mph over advisory turn speeds. Should you need to use the "oh shit" lever, well that works very well too, and our Scion didn't have the TRD racing brakes. The car owes much of its great driving dynamics to the sport options and very-low weight — the interior space to weight ratio is pretty high. It's apparent that unnecessary parts were left off the xB to keep weight down. We even noticed that the springs to raise the declined front seats were missing and we had to raise the seat using our hands. Hopefully, that was intentional.
With all that lightness, you'd expect some great gas mileage. The truth is, it's not that great. EPA says it gets 22/28 mpg but we averaged about 22 combined. On the highway we recorded only 23 at best, due to the boxy design.
The boxy design isn't going to frustrate you because you have to hit the pump every 200 or so miles (the tank is that small). Most people immediately noticed the benefits of the boxy design: huge interior space. After folding the seats flat, the Scion swallowed a 55-inch TV that needed to be transported across town. While it was tight, the little xB did it. For the generation that only needs to move an apartment full of stuff after every school year, the xB is perfect. The xB even satisfies the prerequisites for road trips.
Your buddies will be happy to know that rear seat comfort and legroom is surprising. Not only that makes it worth enduring a long trip, but the dual 7-inch DVD monitors help as well. One thing that makes for a sore road trip is the hard plastic armrests: they're unacceptable for longer trips. So who buys this car? Well, I would, but I’d pass on half the options and add on my own. It’s worth it if you’re someone who can install the stuff yourself. If not then it's worth letting Scion install and warrant the gear. Young people looking for a practical city car that carry around some friends, groceries or turntables will love the xB. If you're one that enjoys having something different — and relatively urban — then the xB will make a great car. Just don't get all wrapped up in the superfluous options.
         2011 Scion xB A Week In A Factory-Customized $27k Scion xB  2011 Scion xB Tech: Light On Substance
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kinect For Windows SDK Coming This Spring Posted: 21 Feb 2011 12:20 PM PST
Put on your coding hats! Microsoft will release a Kinect software development kit for Windows this spring. It will be a non-commercial release, and is being developed for "academic research and enthusiast communities to create even richer experiences using Kinect technology." No more having to hack together Kinect PC support for your various exploits. Microsoft says there will be a commercial version of the SDK, but they've given no details of that release as yet. The SDK will give developers access to "audio, system APIs, and direct control of the sensor." I can see it now: a few months from now Microsoft will release a Kinect PC package, and you'll be able control Windows Media Center (or other Windows media centers, like XMBC) with your flailing limbs. Should be interesting to see what the tinkers out there come up with here.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CueThat: Add Any Movie On The Web To Your Netflix Queue Posted: 21 Feb 2011 12:01 PM PST
You may remember these guys from their previous apps like ChumpDump and ParsePlz. I love the way they think quickly and creatively to solve real UX problems in a couple of days instead of a couple of months. This is a great addition to their swiftly increasing number of relevant products.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crytek: Crysis 2 Leak Build ‘Really Ugly,’ Final Game To Look Much Better Posted: 21 Feb 2011 11:15 AM PST
More fallout from the Crysis 2 leak. The Guardian has started a new series of gaming interviews, and EA was the most recent guest. And guess what was discussed at length? You betcha: the leak, how it affected morale, and where Crytek goes from here. Keeping in mind that Cevat Yerli had already told the community that Crytek deeply appreciated the general response to the leak, noting that everyone there was "completely overwhelmed by the support" the community has shown it, Nathan Camarillo, also of Crytek, got into further detail:
That's a tremendously interesting development right there, that it wasn't a Crytek employee who leaked the game. Who then? The build was from mid-January: who has access to a game two months before its release? Are we looking at a Half-Life 2-style break in here? Camarillo also said that the leak, even though it was a build from mid-January, was "really ugly," (there was no DX11 support) noting that when you have a team as large as Crytek's "thousands of bugs get fixed in a heartbeat." One month and counting.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Amazon Kindle Commercial: “The Book Lives On” Posted: 21 Feb 2011 10:34 AM PST
One thing that is noticeable in the commercial is that all of the actors appear to be in their twenties and thirties, which shows that Amazon is clearly trying to target a younger demographic in the spot. And the tagline “The Book Lives On,” appears to be a new one.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| With Sequel Confirmed, What Does The Next Medal Of Honor Need To Do To Distinguish Itself? Posted: 21 Feb 2011 10:00 AM PST
Danger Close, the developers of last year's Medal of Honor reboot, has confirmed that it's working on a sequel. In the words of Opie, "Good luck, bro." The game's producer, Greg Goodrich, confirmed the development on the Medal of Honor blog, and promised that the team has taken the game's criticism to heart:
What should Danger Close do for the next game? The multi-player wasn't too bad, but that's primarily because it was essentially a "streamlined" Battlefield. But Battlefield 3 will be released later this year: why play a "streamlined" game when the real deal is readily available? It's tricky: where do you find the balance between sophomoric nonsense (Modern Warfare 2) and sophisticated elegance (Battlefield 3)? More bluntly: why would this even need to exist? A glut of multi-player military shooters has cluttered the landscape, and it's harder and harder to tell these things apart. The campaign mode? For my taste it was entirely too linear, but that's probably a symptom of it being a console shooter more than anything else. I'm not saying the game needs to be Stalker, or even Crysis (at least the first part of the game before you discover the "other"), but at parts it felt like I was playing Time Crisis or House of the Dead: on rails the whole time, always pushing forward, with the left-click button essentially being the "win" button. For all the talk of it being a visceral experience, I felt decidedly let down. The very first Medal of Honor game, first released for the PlayStation in 1999, felt more impactful. Another problem with Medal of Honor: people tend to be put off by "real" war. How well have any of the movies based on the Iraq War have done? One of them, The Hurt Locker, even won an Oscar, and more people probably have probably seen a random episode of iCarly than have seen that. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare takes place in a fictional country with a caricatured "bad guy" that you can tell the audience to hate without having to get too political. And even if Danger Close goes out of its way to only tell the story of the solider on the ground (as opposed to the various machinations that put him on the ground in the first place), there's still a feeling of, "Man, this is actually happening right now, and here I am playing it on my couch. Hmm." In the Call of Duty games you're very clearly playing a silly video game that doesn't dare try to be "heavy" or "weighty." But more than anything else, the fact that every other publisher now has its Call of Duty killer necessarily means that each game seems a little less special, a little less unique. How many more totally awesome scripted sequences can you play on your Xbox 360 before saying, "I could have sworn I played this same thing last year"?
|
Earlier today we received a tip to check out the blog 
Amazon has just 
| You are subscribed to email updates from CrunchGear To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment