Remember Klipsch’s $ 500 Gallery G-17 Air soundbar that wowed our ears last holiday season? If you weren’t fond of the AirPlay-enabled rig’s piano-black finish, you might be pleased to know that the company is ready to let you spice it up visually. If you’ll recall, the unit features a removeable magnetic speaker grill, which can now be customized to your heart’s desire — provided you’ve got another 25 bucks, a 300 DPI image file and four weeks of waiting time to spare. Naturally, we’re partial to seeing it affixed with the Engadget white and blue, but feel free to give it a go with your something of your own favor at the source link below.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Klipsch Gallery G-17 Air soundbar further befits its moniker with custom speaker grilles originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Jul 2012 04:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Speed and cars go together like jam and sandwiches. Relatively speaking, electric vehicles, have still been slicing the loaf, while their fossil-fueled cousins slather on the thick, fruity speed. Things are changing though, as eloquently demonstrated by Drayson Racing at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. The EV set a new race record for an electric machine, coming in at 53.91 seconds on its second run. So, while the 850 horsepower B12/69EV came 11th overall, it does show that the capabilities of the emission-less engines are making ground. With the recent record at the Nürburgring also tumbling, perhaps it’s time to reassess your motoring lunch bag.
Drayson Racing’s B12/69EV sets new Goodwood record, electric cars move further up the grid originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Jul 2012 04:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mozilla has been rapidly pushing out new versions of the open-source email client Thunderbird lately, including version 13 just one month ago. The cycle’s come to an end, however: Mozilla has announced it will be stopping development of the application because “continued innovation in Thunderbird is not a priority for Mozilla’s product efforts.” The company won’t be leaving the application’s more than 20 million users stranded, however. On November 20th Mozilla plans to release one more version, bringing complete feature parity to both it and the Thunderbird ESR (Extended Support Release) version. Both branches will receive security updates every six weeks thereafter for the duration of the ESR lifecycle, which is currently capped at one…
Watch out, Best Buy and Samsung. Ikea is seemingly doing to home entertainment systems what Apple did to portable electronics. The company previously revealed its upcoming entrance into the home theater market. As the video above clearly shows, Ikea is injecting a full dose of their Swedish magic into the Uppleva line. Never mind about the thought that Apple might disrupt the TV market. Ikea is already doing it.
Ikea gets it. Francis Cayouette, an Uppelva designer, said it best in the video, “People actually consider the TV as a piece of furniture but it is always something that looked very technical has a lot of cables, is complicated and it just doesn’t fit in the home environment.”
As someone who sold TVs for a good chunk of my admittedly short adult life, I can attest that there is a lot of truth in this statement. The majority of buyers look at TVs as another piece of furniture rather than an electronic toy. Consumers often look at the style of the casing or stand before they consider the technical specs — if they consider them at all. The TV set most often sits within their house at a prime location, often being the centerpiece of a living room. By selling furniture system along with the screen Ikea is essentially reinventing TV shopping. But as this video shows, the HDTV itself isn’t a slouch either.
As previously detailed, the screen is a top-of-the-line 1080p display with a 400Hz response time and built-in apps. This video sheds a bit of light on the remote, which uses a sliding mechanism to hide the number pad. The user interface seems simple enough with a grid of large icons. Ikea previously stated that it would sport popular apps like YouTube, Netflix and more.
“The expression should come from the solution and not the electronic itself,” said Cayoutte. That mantra is very similar to the underlining thought in most Apple products. Instead of a smooth glass or aluminum exterior, Ikea is wrapping its electronic goods in laminated press wood. But the result as a simplified user experience is the same to the user.
The Uppleva line is set to hit key European locations this summer with a more broad release set for next year. Complete systems including a Blu-ray player, 2.1 audio system and furniture are expected to retail for less than $ 1,000 — and of course some assembly is required.
Taking the term home theater in a box to a new level, Ikea made waves a few weeks back when it announced plans to start selling a self-branded HDTV and home theater system with a starting price under $ 1000. However, the company didn’t out all the tantalizing details at the time. Gigaom managed to get a bit more info on the system including the type of apps included on the rather impressive HDTV.
The Uppleva system, as it’s called in traditional Ikea fashion, allows buyers to customize their whole entertainment system starting with the screen size but also including the type and size of cabinet and so on. The approach takes the focus away from the TV and instead on the owners space. Each Uppleva system will ship with a Blu-ray player, 2.1 audio system with a wireless sub, and some sort of media cabinet.
As detailed in the original announcement, the HDTV isn’t a slouch. The 1080p display has a 400Hz response time and built-in apps. GigaOm learned that the system will launch will at least 15 apps including YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, TuneIn Radio, and a browser (possibly Opera for TV). That puts this Ikea set on the same level as sets from Sony, Samsung and LG.
The original plan is to systemically roll the HDTV system out starting in select European stores this year followed by a broad launch in 2013 that includes the US. If this system lives up to its potential, it could be the most disruptive force in home theater since the advent of buying from Internet vendors. Best Buy better have an answer in place.
So far, we have seen neither hide nor hair of that rumored LG-built Boot to Gecko developer device. Mozilla hasn’t exactly been keeping quiet, though. The company announced a pair of partners on the web standards-based mobile OS: Telefónica and Deutsche Telekom. The German parent company of T-Mobile will be lending members of its Innovation Labs team to the development of the project. Telefónica will be bringing hardware to the equation. It revealed plans to build “open web devices” based on B2G for release this year. Qualcomm and Adobe are also throwing their weight behind the HTML5 platform. Before the week is through we should be able to scrounge up a few more details and spend some hands-on time with the OS.
Mozilla partners with Telefonica and Deutsche Telekom to further Boot to Gecko project originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A single blogger recently relayed comments made by a single Tesla service tech who reportedly knew of five Teslas that were “bricked” by owners who left them off the charger too long. This single unverified report spread like wildfire across the blogosphere. Tesla came out and acknowledged that it was possible to destroy the Roadster’s battery pack by keeping it unplugged but Tesla has employed numerous counter-measures to prevent that from happening. The company responded further today in a lengthy blog post titled “Plug It In.
Here’s a key excerpt from the blog post,
A plugged-in Tesla is not only charging its battery, it is also keeping key systems within the car functioning properly. Tesla owners around the world keep their cars charged on a daily basis without any issues at all. If ever the battery in your Tesla runs low, the car is designed to let you know with repeated visual and audible warnings. If you continue to ignore the warnings, they will persist and increase. The vehicle also protects the battery itself by communicating with other systems in the car to conserve energy when the state of charge gets too low. Starting with Roadster 2.0, owners can also elect for their car to contact Tesla headquarters once the state of charge falls below a specified level, and we can then contact the owner.
For what it’s worth Autoblog, our sister site in our Aol Huffington Post Media Group, did a little Googling and discovered that the random blogger and apparent Tesla owner are long-time business partners and not random acquaintances as the original blog post would have you believe.
Tesla’s service is legendary. I’ve spent a lot of time following the company over the last four years and have only heard extraordinary reports. I’m not saying the company is perfect, and it is totally possible to brick a Tesla, but the company has taken reasonable steps to prevent that from happening. But sometimes morons slip through the cracks.
Here are some of yesterday’s Gadgets stories: Dyson Turns Up The Heat, Releases The Dyson Hot AM04 Air Multiplier Netflix Releases Revised Subscriber Estimate, Stock Takes A Nosedive Did Case-Mate Just Leak The iPhone 5? Mint Robotic Swiffer Gets An Upgrade Panasonic Creates Triathloning Robot
According to ComScore, out of the 82.2 million people in the US with a smartphone (up ten percent from last quarter), Android came in first as the biggest platform yet again, capturing a whopping 41.8 percent of the market like a boss. In a not-so-close second, Apple was able to snag 27 percent, followed by RIM in the third place spot with 21.7 percent — down 4 percentage points from last quarter. Pulling up the rear is Microsoft with 5.7 percent, and lastly Symbian with a grim 1.9 percent — both down when compared to the previous three months. As far as US hardware manufacturers goes, Samsung is still on top with 25.5 percent of the market, while LG got 20.9 percent and finally Motorola with 14.1 percent, down 1.5 percentage points from before. Apple was able to snag some standing in the OEM space with a 9.5 percent share, while BlackBerry-maker RIM only captured 7.6 percent. As the battle wages on, looks like Androids, iPhones, and BlackBerrys (oh my) are still on top — at least for this quarter. Check out the PR after the break for the full scorecard.
Continue reading ComScore calls Android top dog, Apple pulls further ahead of RIM
ComScore calls Android top dog, Apple pulls further ahead of RIM originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’re still waiting for our first i-MiEV deliveries here in the US and in Japan they’re already prepping new variations on the tiny electric car for the 2012 model year. One, the M, goes the budget route, slashing 1.38 million yen (about $ 17,000) off the price of the 2011 model. It does sacrifice some range, 40km worth, to meet that price — you’ll need to plug in about every 120km (75 miles). A second option, the G, weighs in at 3.8 million yen (almost $ 47,000) but boosts the between charge range to 180km (110 miles). The M will start appearing in Japanese showrooms on July 25 and the i-MiEV G will follow in August. Meanwhile, the American edition, known as the Mitsubishi i, is edging ever closer to release. The all important EPA tests are out of the way, and the i scored the equivalent of 126 MPG in the city and 99 on the highway for an overall rating of 112 MPGe, about 20 MPGe better than the Leaf. Check out the pair of press releases after the break.
Continue reading Mitsubishi i-MiEV goes cheaper and further in Japan, scores 112 MPGe in the US of A
Mitsubishi i-MiEV goes cheaper and further in Japan, scores 112 MPGe in the US of A originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jul 2011 03:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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