Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Stanford builds robotic Audi for racing, robotic Volkswagen for parking

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/26/stanford-builds-robotic-audi-for-racing-robotic-volkswagen-for/

You can make a robotic car, and you can make a robotic car -- and it looks like Stanford is leading the charge on the no compromises approach with its new driverless Audi TTS. That, of course, is only the latest in a long line of robotic cars from the folks at Stanford, and it looks like it's also by far their most ambitious, as it's going above and beyond the usual DARPA challenges in the hope of breaking a few records and winning a few races. In fact, the car apparently already holds the "unofficial" speed record for an automous car at 130 miles per hour and, in the long term, Stanford hopes that it'll be able to complete the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, which stretches some twenty kilometers and includes no less than 156 turns. To balance all that adreneline, the Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Laboratory at Stanford has also developed a new VW Passat "valet system" that may not win any races, but can sure do some mean parallel parking. Videos of both after the break, more details a few hands-off impressions courtesy of BotJunkie at the links below.

Read - BotJunkie, "Stanford's New Robotic Audi TTS Knows How To Drift, Will Tackle Pikes Peak Next Year"
Read - BotJunkie, "VAIL Demonstrates Autonomous Valet Parking System"

Continue reading Stanford builds robotic Audi for racing, robotic Volkswagen for parking

Stanford builds robotic Audi for racing, robotic Volkswagen for parking originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC confirms it has Android 2.0 handsets in the works

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/26/htc-confirms-it-has-android-2-0-handsets-in-the-works/

Of course nobody expects Motorola and Verizon to be the sole benefactors of Android 2.0's Donut-ey goodness in the long run, but in an age of increasing Android ubiquity it seemed odd to see them as the only ones with a more-or-less-confirmed Android 2.0 handset on the way. Well, Sascha Segan over at Gearlog did some digging and while Samsung wouldn't confirm any Android 2.0 work, HTC was forthcoming in saying that it's had Android 2.0 around for a while, and is working on it for future phones. Perhaps the HTC Desire (dubbed Droid Eris) or the Passion will be one of those phones? It would be odd to see Verizon introduce a 2.0 handset from Motorola and only 1.5 or 1.6 handsets from HTC, but we'll just have to see how it all goes down next month -- Motorola sure seems buddy buddy with Google on this one. But if Dell could track down a copy, we don't see how far behind HTC could be on this one.

[Via SlashGear]

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HTC confirms it has Android 2.0 handsets in the works originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix for PlayStation 3 requires a disc, software solution coming late 2010

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/26/netflix-for-playstation-3-requires-a-disc-software-solution-com/

It can't all be sweet, right? So Netflix is indeed coming to PlayStation 3, but there's a catch, and that is a disc (badly photoshopped into the picture above) will be required for use -- not just for a one-time install, but every time you want to stream. Joystiq shot some questions off to the company, who justified this as being "fastest and easiest way to let PS3 enthusiasts get Netflix on the PS3" and that an embedded software solution through XMB will be coming late next year. It denies this has anything to do with Microsoft's exclusivity agreement, but frankly we're a bit bummed by this perplexing hurdle in convenience. At any rate, be sure to go reserve your disc now if you want to start streaming -- assuming, of course, PlayOn hasn't already satisfied your Netflix needs.

Read - Netflix interview
Read - Disc reservation page (must be logged in to see)

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Netflix for PlayStation 3 requires a disc, software solution coming late 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New iMac doesn't play nice with Apple's Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/26/new-imac-doesnt-play-nice-with-apples-mini-displayport-to-dvi/

Apple hasn't exactly been making any promises to the contrary, but it looks like anyone hoping to use the company's Mini Display Port to DVI adapter to hook a game console or other device up to a brand new 27-inch iMac is flat out of luck -- for now, at least. That's because the system's exciting (but pricey) ability to be used as a standalone monitor only applies to devices equipped with their own Mini Display Port at the moment, which does limit your options quite a bit. Of course, it's almost certainly only a matter of time before Apple or a third-party manufacturer comes out with an adapter that does work, but we haven't heard anything firm on that front as of yet.

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New iMac doesn't play nice with Apple's Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Voice can now manage your cellphone's voicemail (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/27/google-voice-can-now-manage-your-cellphones-voicemail/

You read that headline correctly, Google Voice now works with your existing mobile phone number -- no need to choose a new Google number that must be communicated to friends, family, and co-workers. This "lighter" version of Google Voice then lets you hand-over voicemail responsibility (and your data) to Google's authority where you can listen to (or read via automatic voice to text conversion) your voicemail on a computer (in any order you like), read them as text messages on your phone, and choose personalized greetings by caller. A side-by-side feature table that compares Google Voice when choosing a Google number versus your existing cellphone number can be found after the break. We've also dropped in a cutsie video overview of the change -- surely a company that produced it can't be evil, can it?

Continue reading Google Voice can now manage your cellphone's voicemail (video)

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Google Voice can now manage your cellphone's voicemail (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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