Leopard O.S.

Filed under: Portable Audio

See that? That’s how far JVC’s eco-friendly designers will prostrate themselves in hopes of recycling your paper money into their bank accounts. On display in Tokyo at the Designer’s Week exhibition, the Sound Garden “Kirikabu” speaker combines your choice of potted plants with multi-directional speakers consisting of a woofer, and left- and right-channel stereo speakers powered by an internal amplifier. Just add water and let the electrifying fun begin. The pods can also be joined into hives where guinea pigs and other varmints of doom can breed and ultimately wash away the rain of our despair. See that particular construction after the break.

Continue reading JVC’s Sound Garden concept thrives beneath a black hole sun

JVC’s Sound Garden concept thrives beneath a black hole sun originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Storage

pureSilicon’s rugged Renegade SSDs may be tough as nails, but if you’re lookin’ to start up your own video-on-demand server or online transaction processing center, you may want to look Samsung’s way. The outfit has just announced that it’s mass producing 25GB and 50GB Enterprise SSDs, which are designed for “performance-optimized server applications.” Sammy proclaims that the SLC-based drives have around “twice the random write performance of its standard 32GB and 64GB SLC SSDs,” and better still, they consume less than 25% of the power of a 2.5-inch 15k SAS HDD. More specifically, this duo will provide 100 times the number of IOPS per watt as a typical 15K 2.5-inch SAS HDD and five times the number of IOPS per dollar as a 10K 2.5-inch SCSI HDD. Not surprisingly, Samsung doesn’t bother dishing out prices, but you can expect to pay top dollar given the abuse these are built to withstand.

Samsung’s 25GB / 50GB Enterprise SSDs can’t stop, won’t stop under heavy loads originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

If you managed to pull in the reigns and hold off on Fanatec’s wireless Porsche 911 Turbo Racing Wheel back in April, you can get a beautiful alternative right about now with even more utility. Today, the outfit has introduced the limited edition Porsche 911 Turbo S Racing Wheel for Xbox 360 — which, contrary to its name, actually plays nice with the PlayStation 3 and PC. Of note, there are three variants from which to choose: a 911 Turbo S Edition, Clubsport Edition, and Pure Edition, all of which are licensed by Porsche Lizenz- und Handelsgesellschaft mbH and feature a 900° steering angle. You’ll also find a 6+1 shifter, and if you opt for the Clubsport Edition, you’ll get high-end pedals that are actually crafted from aluminum and feature a load cell pressure sensor for the brake. The pain? $250, $400 and $150 in order of mention, 90% of which is totally paying for that logo in the middle.

Fanatec’s Porsche 911 Turbo S racing wheel plays on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Laptops

Sure, Windows 7 will run just fine on a thick slab of screaming desktop, but what everyone’s really wondering is how it’ll perform on laptops, or better yet, down-market netbooks. The very same stage that put Linux into the grubby hands of the Wal-mart consumer and forced Microsoft to extend the life of XP just to stay in the game. It’s all pre-beta stuff for now mind you, but Laptop loaded up its early Windows 7 build onto an Eee PC 1000H (10-inch, 1.6GHz Atom, 1GB RAM) with decent results. For the most part, it ran “pretty well” with Laptop managing to get the netbook’s features working from the XP drivers supplied by ASUS. And just as Microsoft demonstrated, the relatively lightweight Microsoft OS required just 485MB of RAM when Windows 7 was fully loaded, sans applications of course. Hot. There were some problems with graphics performance as demonstrated by jumpy, 720p video playback and video conferencing over Skype. Still, pre-beta is exactly that, pre-beta. Drop a gold-release Windows 7 OS onto an Eee PC convertible touchscreen and Microsoft and ASUS might be on to something come mid 2009.

[Thanks, Avram P.]

Lightweight Windows 7 pre-Beta on Eee PC 1000H looks very promising originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

The Wii Fit might have some competition brewing, if Men’s Fitness magazine is a publication worthy of the public’s trust, that is. The details are vague, to say the very least but, here’s what we “know”: Dave Kushner, executive producer at EA Sports, told the magazine that the company is planning an ‘unnamed fitness game’ with a ‘new peripheral’ which will connect the Wiimote to the player’s body, enabling all sorts of newfangled measurements, movements, and exercises barely dreamed of before. Sounds totally awesome, right? Well, if and when it materializes, we’ll be sure to rush to the store, buy one, then sadly rue its unused, guilt-inducing existence every day thereafter.

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

EA plans a Wii Fit-slaying exercise game? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

We heard some pretty far-fetched stuff back in June to the tune of a break-apart DualShock 3, and lo and behold, it seems that someone at Sony Computer Entertainment America is taking the idea quite seriously. A recent patent application was filed by the company, and it fairly clearly lays out the very kind of design we’d (not really) been expecting. In essence, the gamepad would consist of two pieces, each of which would utilize an “ultrasonic tracking system” for some type of game console / peripheral to recognize 3D inputs. Best of all, the approach here sounds significantly different enough from what’s used in the Wiimote that Sony could avoid months upon months of litigation — imagine that, right? It’s hard to say whether this stroke of genius will ever amount to anything, but at least there’s a chance, however minuscule.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Sony patent app details motion sensing break-apart controller originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

There’s a slight possibility that you haven’t noticed, but Samsung SDI is on fire. Like, seriously burning down FPD International 2008. After treating onlookers to a flexible OLED, a 40-inch Full HD OLED display and an assortment of other eye-enticing panels, the outfit has one-upped itself once more with a 63-inch 4k x 2k plasma. Sure, actually finding 4k x 2k content will be a challenge, but who wouldn’t want to be ready for the inevitable worldwide domination of Super Hi-Vision? Most of the other specs (contrast ratio, luminance, where it’s being stored with loose security, etc.) were sadly absent, but with a native resolution like this, the rest takes a back seat anyway.

Samsung SDI shows off 63-inch 4k x 2k plasma originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This camera redefines the “mega” in megapixel, with a whopping 21.1. Add to that a superb user interface and Dual Digic III processors, and you’ve got one of our favorite high-end DSLRs.

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Filed under: Ask Engadget, Digital Cameras, Displays

Oh sure, the unremitting release cycle of new digital photo frames is growing a bit tired, but that’s not to say these things don’t make for the perfect holiday gift. Oh, and after you’ve contributed to the cause here, drop your own question in at ask at engadget dawt com.

“I’m looking for the best digital photo frame out there to snag for the holidays. My requirements are pretty simple: good picture quality, WiFi, RSS / Flickr support without any fees. Any help?”

Short and sweet there, eh Adam? At any rate, we’ll toss in some general screen size requirements (let’s say 5-inches and up), and now, we’ll let you to it. Light up the comments below!

Ask Engadget: What’s the best digital photo frame out there? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Right on schedule, it looks like Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex is now available. Linux fans should look forward to performance gains and a new Connection Manager with 3G support, as well as the ability to install from USB drives and built-in BBC content availability. Torrents should be popping now — and if you haven’t hit up the ‘bu yet, what’re you waiting for?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Ubuntu 8.10 now available for download originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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