Gadget Train

We’ve seen iPod hacks run the gamut, from the useful to the just plain absurd, but no matter how rough around the edges such a project may seem, we always get a kick out of the ingenuity and hard work involved. Today’s DIY wonder comes from a cat named Benjamin Kokes, who’s using his engineering chops to put together a GPS peripheral for the iPod nano. As the project stands right now, he’s taken a reference board sporting a Nemerix GPS and written a screen driver for it, allowing it to do its thing on the handheld. Apparently, all this bad boy is capable of doing right now is finding a satellite and displaying your latitude and longitude — but we’d like to see your old nano do that! Hit the read link for the whole, sordid tale in geek-tastic detail, or to speak with the developer if you’d like to give this a shot your own self. Tell him Engadget sent you.

[Via Technabob]

Filed under: GPS, Portable Audio

iPod nano GPS hack ensures that you and your MP3s make it home safely originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So far, sending files to your Kindle cost a flat fee — one dime per document for conversion and download over Whispernet. Looks like that honeymoon is over, as Amazon’s announced that as of May 4th, the Personal Document Service will be a variable fee of $0.15 per megabyte, rounding up. It’s still free of charge if you transfer the documents over via USB, and sending them to “name”@free.kindle.com will return converted files to your email address gratis. If you’re trying to be frugal, we might suggest combining all those pending transfers into one fat PDF and sending it off sometime this weekend.

[Via GearDiary]

Filed under: Handhelds

Amazon to charge per megabyte to send personal documents OTA to your Kindle originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As if we didn’t have enough Pre rumors to sort through, along comes TechCrunch and Mikey A. with some hard hitting stuff. According to the TC honcho, one of his “better sources” claims that Palm is “very far along” on a second webOS device which is smaller and slimmer than the Pre and may or may not have a physical keyboard. Apparently, this won’t be the iPhone 3G to the first-gen iPhone, rather a device which addresses “a different part of the market.” Details are still sketchy, but Arrington claims that the “Mini-Pre” (his name) will land sometime this year — possibly as soon as the Fall. This is all complete rumor right now, but Palm has previously said that there would be more than one webOS device, so the idea of another model in the oven doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. Stay tuned for further updates as we get them.

Palm launching smaller Pre-like device later this year says rumor-mill originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We would love to see the efficiency of solar panels increase to a level where you don’t take longer to charge compared to using the device itself. The Gramo Speakers are a step in the right direction, and by harnessing the power of the sun, they are also wireless in nature - which means you run less risk of tripping over by accident with these around. The Gramo Speakers is extremely flexible as it plays nice with a wide array of devices, ranging from notebooks to a portable media player. Just in case you listen to most of your music at night, there is always the internal battery pack that can store energy converted during the day. These speakers also have the added advantage of being folded completely to be flat enough to carry around in a pocket.

Permalink: Gramo Speakers Are Solar Powered from Ubergizmo | Cheap | Hot: Apple’s Netbook | Hot (FR): Test du Palm Pre

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After being let down by the Atom 230 processor in our review of the Ion-based AspireRevo, we’re comforted by NVIDIA’s promise of more Atom / Ion configurations on the horizon. Forty of ‘em by the end of the year including some based on the beefier dual-core Atom 330 processor just like this ASUS reference design that NVIDIA was showing off earlier today. Of course, the Computex show in Taipei (kicking off June 2nd) would be the obvious venue for such a full scale assault against Intel’s GMA lethargy. Fortunately, Engadget Chinese will be on point to witness the carnage.

[Via Tweaktown]

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

NVIDIA: 40 Atom-based ION platforms by end of 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We don’t have a formal unveiling for Motorola’s Verizon-bound A4500 world phone just yet, but an operation manual and some snapshots of its dress rehearsal from the FCC should suffice in the interim. From what we glean, it supports CDMA for VZW’s network and quad-band GSM for SIM-packing Vodafone customers and other overseas roaming needs. No points for design originality (Q9, anyone?), but it does boast a wealth of good features including two megapixel camera, EV-DO, stereo Bluetooth, 2 megapixel camera, Windows Mobile (presumably 6.1), and a biometric fingerprint reader on the back of the phone. Not that we expected you to be eagerly anticipating this one, but we’d venture to say a cameo in the FCC means it’s on track for release some time in the near future.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola’s A4500 world phone caught in the FCC covered in Verizon tattoos originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back when we were growing up, we had three cassette players all our own (one in the bedroom, one in the playroom for dancing, and one kept by the back door for travelling) which were tiny, pink, and had the audio quality of of a GBV record cranked thorough a baseball park sound system — but still, many of us have at least one cassette player laying around the house, sad and disused. Make has posted a project by Leadtowill which puts an old cassette radio player’s parts to use by removing the motor, adding an input to the amp part of the circuit, and adding a spring to convert the speaker to a driver. The end result is a spring reverb, which he plans on augmenting further by repurposing the radio as a white noise generator. Us? Well, we still use our tape player for the occasional outdoor rollerskating / baton routine so we’ll leave this one to the pros. Hit the read link to check out the very cool photo set.

[Via Make]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Portable Audio

DIY spring reverb from cassette player brings noise, nostalgia originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s crazy, we know. Just hours after hearing shockingly believable whispers that Apple’s white-hot iPhone 3G could be sashaying over to Verizon Wireless, in flies a Wall Street Journal report asserting that the suits in Redmond are (also?) in talks with America’s largest carrier. ‘Course, we’ve heard rumors that Microsoft was banging out a smartphone behind closed doors for centuries now, but much to our chagrin, there’s no mention of “Zune” in “Project Pink.” Instead, we’re told that said handset in a touchscreen-based multimedia phone that will aim to extend the Windows Mobile OS while “adding new software capabilities.” Not surprisingly, we’re told that Windows Marketplace would be front and center on the phone, and potentially most interesting is this tidbit: “a third-party is expected to make the device.” Hey HTC — seen any strange calls originating from the 425?

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Filed under: Cellphones

Microsoft’s “Pink” smartphone could rival iPhone on Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While attempts to add feedback to touchscreen displays via vibration and audible tones are laudable, these attempts are nothing by comparison to the tactile euphoria felt at the press of a well-designed button. Still, many of us are willing to sacrifice tactility in order to maximize display sizes on our pocketable or portable devices. Now researchers at Carnegie Mellon have developed touch-sensitive displays with physical buttons that “pop-out” from the surface. CM’s prototypes pump air through geometric-shaped holes to create concave or convex “buttons” on a screen covered with a semi-transparent latex — IR sensors and cameras detect finger placement while a projector cast images (like numbers and graphics) onto the display. It can even sense press-force by monitoring changes in air pressure. Sure it all sounds overly cumbersome until you see the technology demonstrated. For that you can travel to Pittsburgh to count the rivers or just hit the read link below for the video.

Read — Video
Read — Technology Review

Filed under: Displays

Carnegie Mellon morphs ‘pop-up buttons’ onto multi-touch display originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple is reportedly adding native support for YouTube in QuickTime by making it easier for users to convert and upload movies formatted optimally for the online video site. This comes in addition of the strong support already present in the iPhone and Apple TV products. What Apple gets is that YouTube steps back from Flash Video, an Adobe proprietary format (to be fair Flash video sucks in fullscreen HD). YouTube gets support from a powerful brand with a lot of content creators. YouTube might also get “better” video uploads, meaning that files are optimally formatted for YouTube might even use less storage space. (Note: the image above is just a concept)

Permalink: Apple Embedding YouTube Support into Quicktime from Ubergizmo | Cheap | Hot: Apple’s Netbook | Hot (FR): Test du Palm Pre

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