Whiz Reviews

Japanese minicar manufacturer Takeoka Jidosha Kogei's Milieu R is the perfect car for anti-social folks, featuring only one seat and a range of 50km that's just enough to make your commute while being limited enough to get you out of going to the bar afterward. Thus far those who socialize only with (very) small animals have been left out of the company's offerings, but that all changes with this new prototype, the T10. It's ever so slightly larger, gaining 90mm in length and 40mm in width, making room for a shelf to the left of the driver's seat intended for some sort of pet (we're guessing hamster, possibly a petite guinea pig). The other specs, including that 50 km range and top speed of 55 km/h, stay the same, meaning there'd still be no concerns about getting to work early or having to socialize afterward, but we're not sure its charming looks make up for a price tag set to be somewhere north of ¥856,000 (about $9,520); awfully close to that of a "real" car. At least it looks a little safer than the HUVO.

Filed under: Transportation

Takeoka Jidosha Kogei's electric minicar gets slightly more macro, even more cute originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With Android getting all Flash-ey, Apple's "Goldilocks" position on Flash -- the full Flash player is too hefty, Flash Lite is too weak -- seemed pretty untenable. Now Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen has revealed that Apple and Adobe are "collaborating" on making Flash a reality on the iPhone, citing the technical challenge it presents. What's clear is that with all this work to do, it doesn't seem they're going the watered-down Flash Lite route, but we're trying not to hold our breath for a full-on, Hulu-friendly version that will finally help us get that Doogie Howser fix on the go. Naturally, there's no word on when this will hit.

[Via AppleInsider]

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video

Apple teams up with Adobe for iPhone Flash at long last originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

In a recent interview with Elevation Partners' Roger McNamee, the Palm investor explained that Palm knew it had to step up its game after RIM launched the BlackBerry Pearl, which he described as "the first real consumer electronics product in the smartphone category." The Pearl launch served as the coming out party for the BlackBerry brand among consumers as RIM began stepping up its advertising, and the product's narrower hardware design was a noticeable break with the staid stylings of previous BlackBerry devices.

Indeed, back in November of 2006 as Palm rolled out the somewhat consumer-focused Treo 680, I wrote a Switched On column noting that the Pearl broke with the evolutionary path that RIM had been on and served as an example for the kind of hardware shift Palm needed to make.

Palm finally answered the Pearl with the Centro, a compact, inexpensive, and successful smartphone that has apparently served as the final resting place of the original Palm OS architecture. However, between the release of those two devices, the entry and subsequent SDK of Apple's iPhone proved a far more significant turning point in the evolution of consumer smartphones. The iPhone's resonance and popularity have provoked responses from many competitors, but there is a particular contrast in the flagship CDMA touchscreen handsets released by RIM and Palm --- the other two smartphone developers that grow their own operating systems -- since then.

Continue reading Switched On: With Pre, Palm breaks from the Storm

Filed under: Cellphones

Switched On: With Pre, Palm breaks from the Storm originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That Motorola Inferno is looking more real than ever for a couple reasons: first, we've been able to confirm it with a trusted source of ours, and two, Boy Genius Report has it on good authority that it's about to start field trials this coming week. In keeping with the pyrotechnic theme pioneered by the Krave ZN4's "Blaze" codename, it seems the production device may now be called "Torch" -- and, somewhere along the course of its R&D evolution, may have lost the translucent cover. Ironically, we really liked the cover on the ZN4 -- the touch sensitivity is one of the more trick features we've seen on a handset in recent memory -- but, you know, we wouldn't want to question Moto's infinite wisdom.

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola Krave ZN4's successor named Inferno, now moving to field trials? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is true art, friend. The amazing "brotato" (rhymes with potato, in a perfect world) has hacked together netbook components, an ancient keyboard and a 14.2-inch LCD into this classy case, dubbing the project "The Poor Man's Netbook." The box is running Windows XP, but he tested it out with Windows 7 and Mac OS X and it performed beautifully, except for the Bluetooth 2.1 module. The box is based on a Mini-ITX Intel D945GCLF2 Dual Core 1.6Ghz Atom motherboard, with 2GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD and 802.11n WiFi -- though you'll have to hunt down an outlet, there's no battery power here. The best news is that he's selling the whole conglomeration on eBay, perfect for completing that piece of horrible cyberpunk fiction you've been slaving over on your boringtop.

[Thanks, Ryan]

Filed under: Desktops

Netbook in a suitcase: all the shortcomings of a subnote in a large, inconvenient package originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you live anywhere but Japan and you're looking to put yourself through that seasonal ritual of torture by getting a good, hard look at everything Japanese carriers have that you can't, look no further. Engadget Mobile has assembled complete galleries and details on every one of KDDI au's new models presented as part of its Spring 2009 collection -- and yeah, needless to say, there are some whoppers in here. So have a look, read through, and cry softly to yourself for a while; don't worry, you're not the only one.

Filed under: Cellphones

A frighteningly close look at KDDI au's Spring 2009 phone lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Those obsessives over at Laptop Mag wrangled up a new MSI Wind U120 and did the review thing, and while there's plenty of good here, the wide availability of similarly specced, strongly designed netbooks throws the Wind's flaws into sharper relief. With the same internals and battery of the original, and yet oddly less battery life, the main improvement here is the more "professional" chassis design. Not a ton to get excited about, but at least the $379 pricetag has a decent edge on other higher-end (in looks, anyways) laptops of this ilk.

Filed under: Laptops

MSI Wind U120 hits the review bench, short on thrills originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nearly a year to the day after we heard that WiFi trials were beginning on some of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit trains, WiFi Rail has announced a deal that'll last a score and provide high-speed WiFi "throughout the BART transit system and on all BART commuter trains." Reportedly, the network has successfully been tested to handle loads and provide speeds in excess of 15Mbps on trains moving 81 miles-per-hour. As it stands, four downtown San Francisco stations and some segments of the tunnels are already fully functional, but it'll take until the end of 2010 before the entire network is complete. There's no mention of what the price table will end up looking like, though we are told that subscriptions will be available by day, month or year. Now, if only this would filter out to every other mass transit entity in America, we'd be just jolly.

Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

WiFi Rail finalizes 20 year deal to bring internet to BART trains originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew the name, but when it comes to phones, it's not really the name we care about, now is it? (Is it?) Looks like we now have the first totally unofficial shot of Motorola's upcoming ZN300 slider, said to feature a QVGA display and 3 megapixel cam around back. Unless this puppy runs Android through some comical error in communication between Moto's executive and engineering teams, the glossy front, generous bezel, and rockin' offset "M" logo aren't enough to do it for us -- but we're sure they'll manage to sell a few for a song on contract when it's finally announced. Go, sk8r boi, go!

[Via PHONE Magazine]

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola ZN300 looks possibly okay, sort of originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, bollocks! If one particular spokesman who opened up to ZDnet today is accurate, Philips' totally sweet 56-inch Cinema 21:9 HDTV won't ever be sold on American soil. Quite frankly, we're wondering what's up with Philips and its apparent disdain for the US market. It farmed out its Blu-ray / DVD and TV operations in North America to Funai, it didn't even bother showing up in Vegas for CES, and anything even remotely swank that it produces seems to be reserved for those overseas. What happened to the worldwide love, Philips? Did someone give you the impression that Yanks wouldn't buy one of these completely mesmerizing new panels? Sigh.

[Thanks, Sean]

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Philips' 56-inch Cinema 21:9 HDTV: not for Americans originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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