Aside from with a handful of stateside early adopters (and a few million others in Japan) eager to embrace any new technology, Sony’s rather extensive line of MiniDisc Walkmans never had a chance to dominate the portable audio market. But for one reason or another, the company kept up production of the optical player / recorder combos for nearly 20 years, after the first Sony MZ1 launched in Japan in September of ’92. With a countless selection of more affordable solid-state alternatives available today, however, it’s certainly not shocking to see good ole MD go the way of the laserdisc and the cassette. Now, only one question remains: How long until we see the compact disc suffer a similar fate?

Continue reading Sony MiniDisc Walkman to stop spinning in September (video)

Sony MiniDisc Walkman to stop spinning in September (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba announces Oak Trail-based WT310/C Windows tablet for Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 18:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you ever get tired of poking away at your smartphone’s screen like a doorbell, you’re not alone. The forward-looking folks over at Microsoft Research have been working away at a new touchscreen system designed pick up on more natural, whole-hand movements, effectively allowing users to break free from the finger-based paradigm that governs most tactile devices. Developed in coordination with engineers at Microsoft Surface, the company’s Rock and Rails interface can detect three basic hand gestures: a balled fist, which holds items on the screen, an extended hand that can align objects (see the cell marked “d,” on the right) and a curved paw, around which users can pivot images (see cell b). This taxonomy opens up new ways for users to crop, re-size or generally play around with their UI elements, though it remains unclear whether the display will trickle down to the consumer level anytime soon. For now, it appears to operate exclusively on the Surface, but more details should surface when the system’s developers release a paper on their project, later this year. Hit the source links to see a video of the thing in action.

Microsoft’s Rock and Rails touchscreen lets you massage your photos with both hands originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 00:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ah, would you look at that. Earlier this year there were rumors about Apple ditching the physical home button on upcoming iOS devices, and now we have what appears to be a new iPod touch prototype matching such description, courtesy of CrunchGear via Mr. Blurrycam. According to its About screen, this “DVT-1″ (a late milestone) device packs 128GB of memory — twice as much as the largest available capacity option right now (remember that 64GB iPhone 4 prototype in Hong Kong?) — as well as a model number “MC550LL” which isn’t far off from those of the fourth-gen iPod touches (“MC54xLL”), though this similarity doesn’t help prove its authenticity nor indicate whether it’ll make it to the market. Still, if Apple does go ahead with this grubby device or at least its capacitive home button, we might see new gesture controls for the bezel area below the screen à la webOS, as suggested by an earlier patent. But hey, let’s not take this too seriously for now — all this could turn out to be just a much belated April Fools’ prank, right?

iPod touch prototype with capacitive home button leaked? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If your foremost dream is to jack into a dystopian cyberpunk reality where hackers play with human brains (and you also happen to love Japanese anime), you’d best book your flight to Tokyo right now — a Shibuya department store has set up a basic cyberspace simulator straight out of Ghost in the Shell. That’s the film Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society, to be precise, which just got a stereoscopic 3D re-release in Japan this week, and in its honor creative services company Kayac set about constructing a high-quality Kinect hack. Microsoft’s depth camera tracks the lean of your body, while the honeyed virtual reality is projected onto a pair of nearby walls, and it’s your objective to slap the Tachikoma tank silly without falling over yourself. Get a peek at what it’s like to play with in the video above.

Kinect dives into anime cyberspace, dares you to catch cute robot tanks (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you fancy using Twitter as much as we do, you’ll probably scream like a pre-teen when you lay your eyeballs on what toy maker Takara Tomy has conjured up in Japan. Dubbed Twimal, this loveable Pokemon-esque desk companion plugs into your Windows machine via USB and has one reason for its existence — to read your tweets. Available in blue or white (male or female voice, respectively), these little bots are able to read all sorts of tweets (replies, lists, user-specific, etc.), in what appears to be Japanese only. If you’re interested in getting your 140-character messages read in the cutest way possible, look for these toys on digital shelves in Japan on March 31 for ¥2,480 (around 30 bucks). And do yourself a favor; watch the video after the break. You’ll thank us later.

Continue reading Twimal the Twitter reader reads your tweets, looks adorable while doing so (video)

Twimal the Twitter reader reads your tweets, looks adorable while doing so (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 07:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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