Google takes Nexus 7 camping for its first ad, can afford to pack light (video)

Posted on 23/07/2012 by Jon Fingas

There's more than a small amount of fervor swirling around the Nexus 7, so it only makes sense that Google wants to seize the moment and pitch its first Nexus tablet to the world. Its first commercial is a very Norman Rockwell-like, father-and-son camping trip -- if Rockwell replaced Boy Scouts with Jelly Beans, that is. The 7-inch slate handles just about every task the two could care for, whether it's learning about (and exaggerating) the local fauna as well as keeping busy on a rainy day. We'll let you witness the slight twist of an ending first-hand, although we'll add that Google is careful to use a lot of Nexus 7 features that don't demand always-on WiFi: the search giant wants us to know that we can head to the boonies without the tablet becoming a paperweight. The one shock is the absence of that all-important $199 price, which you'd think would help trigger some impulse shopping. You can reconcile your disbelief and enjoy some family bonding by catching the full commercial after the break.

Continue reading Google takes Nexus 7 camping for its first ad, can afford to pack light (video)

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Google takes Nexus 7 camping for its first ad, can afford to pack light (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 10:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast’s super-speed reactive electromagnetic display is 44,000 dots of promotional awesome (video)

Posted on 19/07/2012 by James Trew

TNT wanted to launch its new crime show Perception, in style, and we have to give it to 'em, this is pretty cool. Working with professional technological tinkerers, Breakfast, they created a 23 x 12 foot display made up of 44,000 electromagnetic dots. Imagine those ticker boards you see at train stations, jazzed up with a little modern flavor. The dots are white on one side, black on the other, and move at 15 times the speed of their typical rail-station counterparts -- giving a real-time effect. The installation is set up in Manhattan's Herald Square until July 29th, and is fully interactive. When pedestrians walk past, the board updates to reflect their movement, and this "silhouette" interacts with words and images on the screen. Extra sensory stimulation also comes from the noise the board makes, literally letting you hear your movements. If a picture paints a thousand words, then 44,000 dots in a video paints even more. Head past the break to see the beast in action, plus more details on how it was done.

Continue reading Breakfast's super-speed reactive electromagnetic display is 44,000 dots of promotional awesome (video)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Internet

Breakfast's super-speed reactive electromagnetic display is 44,000 dots of promotional awesome (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 23:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rogers offers 6GB Super Plan, guarantees that Galaxy S III will stay busy

Posted on 18/07/2012 by Jon Fingas

Cellular promos come and go. Rogers, however, wants to make sure that its 6GB Super Plan is one to remember: the carrier is offering the 6GB of monthly data that has become its summer tradition, only this time as part of a bigger plan that tucks in 200 minutes, unlimited messaging and the usual evening and favorites perks for voice calls. At $60, the combo isn't just a better deal than usual, it's impossible to build otherwise -- the closest that exists is a $73 monthly plan that tops out at 3GB. The promo's August 8th cutoff date doesn't afford much breathing room for would-be adopters, but it should let new Galaxy S III buyers milk that LTE for all it's worth.

Filed under: Cellphones

Rogers offers 6GB Super Plan, guarantees that Galaxy S III will stay busy originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 03:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Origin PC wants to put you ‘in the fast lane’ with back-to-school promo, hands you a free SSD

Posted on 09/07/2012 by Edgar Alvarez

You know how some philosophical folks say that great things always come in pairs? Well, as it turns out, sometimes that is indeed the case. Not content with handing its fans a free trip towards the promised Ivy Bridge land, Origin PC's kicking off its 2012 back-to-school promotion with a couple of solid-state goodies to help you save some time during your every-day computer activities. The deal is quite simple: shell out some cash on one of the outfit's qualifying machines and you've got yourself a gratis 128GB or 256GB SSD -- this, naturally, includes the EON11-S, EON15-S, EON17-S and that beastly GENESIS, just to mention a few. As Origin PC points out, the worldwide deal's limited to one per customer, can't be combined with any other offer and it'll run until there's no more supplies to give. If all that sounds good, then head over to the company's site to get in on it, as well as check out the full list of units involved in the BTS promo.

Continue reading Origin PC wants to put you 'in the fast lane' with back-to-school promo, hands you a free SSD

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Origin PC wants to put you 'in the fast lane' with back-to-school promo, hands you a free SSD originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jul 2012 15:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony drops VAIO T from free PlayStation offer, hikes real cost of entry to $970

Posted on 29/06/2012 by Jon Fingas

Remember how it seemed too good to be true that Sony's back to school promo would let you buy a VAIO T and get a free PlayStation 3 or Vita worth a third of the value of the Ultrabook you just bought? Well, it was. Sony has quietly dropped the $750 laptop from the PCs that qualify for the deal, raising the real qualifying price to $970 for a 15.5-inch VAIO S. Some will cry foul at being denied such a killer bargain without warning, but it's easy to see why Sony backed out: that's a lot of gear to give away for little in return. Dreams of heading to class with an ultraportable in hand and a PS3 at the dorm will have to be postponed, then, even if it's still an ample discount.

[Thanks, Gabriel]

Sony drops VAIO T from free PlayStation offer, hikes real cost of entry to $970 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony kicks off an Xperia Ion TV ad campaign for the US, meets your daily explosion quota (video)

Posted on 25/06/2012 by Jon Fingas

Sony isn't known for rolling out the red carpet when one of its phones arrives Stateside, although that's partly because US carrier-endorsed versions are few and far between. It clearly sees the Xperia Ion as worth the five-star treatment it's giving the rest of the 2012 Xperia line: the company is starting a rare TV ad campaign to pitch its 720p wunderkind to an American audience that might not have noticed the Ericsson badge going away. As you'd expect, the pseudo single-take spot ends up being as much a vehicle for pushing other Sony projects as it does for the Android phone in question; we hope you don't mind getting a brand overdose. With that in mind, there's more action and explosions per square capita than in any other smartphone ad in recent memory, so if you're upset that other smartphone ads are just too... peaceful, click Play and get your fill of danger.

Sony kicks off an Xperia Ion TV ad campaign for the US, meets your daily explosion quota (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hasselblad cuts H4D prices by up to 23 percent, might let you afford rent

Posted on 20/05/2012 by Jon Fingas

Hasselblad is typically known for everything but price cuts, and sometimes goes in the opposite direction. As such, we're more than a little caught off-guard by a round of price cuts on what's usually considered the definitive medium format camera line. The 'entry' H4D-31 has been cut down by as much as 23 percent; we're not sure we'd call it a steal at $11,995 without a lens, but it's now an option if you think even a Nikon D800's full-frame sensor is puny. Price slashes aren't reserved for the bargain models, either, as even the 200-megapixel, status symbol H4D-200MS shaves enough off the cost (now $35,995) to be a worth look for those sitting on the fence. You can get the full details at the source link, and you won't have to survive on ramen noodles for a year to shoot billboard-sized photos.

Hasselblad cuts H4D prices by up to 23 percent, might let you afford rent originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 20:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zero Motorcycles will pay for your first 25,000 e-motorbike miles, wants you to ride guilt-free

Posted on 18/05/2012 by Jon Fingas

If you've been staring lustfully at an electric motorcycle but needed that little extra push to make the jump, Zero Motorcycles has a unique incentive in store: it'll pay for your first 25,000 miles on the road. Should you take the keys to any one of the company's two-wheelers between now and the end of May, you'll get a Visa gift card for the amount within a few weeks. Of course, the reason it can make such a seemingly generous offer is through the sheer efficiency of an electric engine: at a typical 10 cents for every kilowatt-hour, you're looking at just under $200 for what's likely several years of driving, even if you're particularly enthusiastic. Knowing that riding the same amount with a gas-powered bike practically requires taking out a small mortgage in the current economy, though, we'd say that Zero is just reminding us of an an advantage e-motorbikes already have.

Zero Motorcycles will pay for your first 25,000 e-motorbike miles, wants you to ride guilt-free originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 15:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New promo video for ASUS N-Series Notebooks makes us want to hug it out

Posted on 03/05/2012 by James Trew

Nothing stokes the emotional coals like slow-mo drops of water and orchestral strings. That's at least what the team behind this ASUS promo video seem to think. Amidst the melodrama there are actually a few new nuggets of info about the rained-on N-series Notebook. There's "SonicMaster Premium" sound from Bang and Olufsen on board, which the firm claims should please the pickiest of ears, and full HD wide-view screens. A backlit keyboard and fancy touch pad are also shown off, with the latter matching the aspect ratio of the screen for "intuitive control." The claimed (up to) two-week standby time should please the infrequent user, while the impatient will like the two second wake-up time. Whether it'll have Oscar-winning performance to match the video, however, is yet to be known.

New promo video for ASUS N-Series Notebooks makes us want to hug it out originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 May 2012 09:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Android users in India offered 1GB of free data, courtesy of Google and Reliance

Posted on 17/04/2012 by Zachary Lutz

In an effort to stir the interest for Android smartphones in India -- and, to let new customers test drive its 3G network -- the carrier Reliance Communications has partnered with Google to provide 1GB of data usage for all new activations of CDMA Android handsets. The promotion is available to both pre-paid and postpaid customers, who may take advantage of the deal now through June 15th. Once aboard, subscribers will have 30 days to burn through their allotment and discover the joys of a smartphone. Additionally, the carrier will extend a similar offer for new GSM Android activations, which is set to begin on May 5th. Reliance plans to drive its promotion with an ad campaign that sports an Android bot in the carrier's colors -- though, we're still partial to green. Just sayin'.

New Android users in India offered 1GB of free data, courtesy of Google and Reliance originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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