The Droid's slated for a second helping of Froyo, the Droid 2 came with one, the Droid X will see Android 2.2 by early September -- when's Droid number four getting its due? According to Mashable's anonymous sources, August 18th will be the day Verizon begins the Droid Incredible's OTA rollout -- which lines up pretty well with what we heard a couple weeks back, not to mention the fact that HTC just released the handset's Android 2.2 source code. As always, dates slip and Verizon often dishes out small batches at a time, but now you've got a ballpark estimate to assuage your troubled mind. And hey, you can always go shoot something in 720p if you get tired of waiting.

Droid Incredible getting a spoonful of Froyo on August 18th? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first prototype of a Nao robot that can develop emotions as it interacts with a human caregiver has been completed. A team across Europe was led by Dr. Lola Cañamero of the University of Herefordshire in the UK to develop the bot, which differs in several significant ways from those that came before it. These robots develop over time in much the way that a child does, learning to interact with and respond to the human beings around them. Modeled after human and chimpanzee childhood development paths, they are programmed to be highly adaptable to the people around them, and to become attached to whatever person is most suited to its needs and 'personality' profile. Over time, the more they interact, the more they learn and bond to the human being. These little ones, moreover, are capable of expressing a wide range of emotions, including anger, frustration, fear and happiness. The next steps are to research the bots' emotional and non-linguistic behavior, and to move toward combining linguistic and non-linguistic communication to become further attached and adapted to them. Yes, we want one.

Prototype of robot that develops emotions on interacting with humans officially complete originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Can't say we've ever seen anything like this before... well, aside from those cameras of old that forced you to look down into the viewfinder while cradling the camera against your gut. In fact, that's exactly the experience that Yaniv Berg is attempting to recreate here, with his Digital Reflex Camera concept shaped more like a periscope and less like a camera. In theory, at least, all of the hardware would be encased in a tube, and if you flip the camera, the LCD turns into a display, creating an undercover spy device of epic proportions. Naturally, there's probably no hope that this will ever hit retail, but feel free to check back a few score from now to see just how close this was to predicting the future.

Digital Reflex Camera concept puts the viewfinder on top, everything else in a tube originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 07:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Can't say we've ever seen anything like this before... well, aside from those cameras of old that forced you to look down into the viewfinder while cradling the camera against your gut. In fact, that's exactly the experience that Yaniv Berg is attempting to recreate here, with his Digital Reflex Camera concept shaped more like a periscope and less like a camera. In theory, at least, all of the hardware would be encased in a tube, and if you flip the camera, the LCD turns into a display, creating an undercover spy device of epic proportions. Naturally, there's probably no hope that this will ever hit retail, but feel free to check back a few score from now to see just how close this was to predicting the future.

Digital Reflex Camera concept puts the viewfinder on top, everything else in a tube originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 07:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Saturday Engadget Mobile podcasts are like Halley's Comet -- majestic, awe-inspiring, and exceedingly rare. Join Chris and Myriam after the break for this most rare of live events... or, you know, just catch the replay when we've got it posted. Your call.

Continue reading The Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 4:30 ET!

The Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 4:30 ET! originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 26 Jun 2010 16:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trent left town, so we had to produce this podcast with our own feeble hands. If you don't like it, blame Trent Wolbe.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Special Guest: Joanna Stern
Music: Evacuate The Dancefloor

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Engadget Podcast 201 - 06.19.2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 17:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Consider this: you may have an Android phone with a front-facing camera, and so do your distant loved ones (yes, friends count too). Now slap that free IM app Fring onto your phone, and the once-dormant chat camera shall finally come to life -- right now only the Streak and EVO 4G are confirmed to be supported, whereas the others (like the X10) will have to rely on their main cameras. Better yet, Fring isn't locked down to any particular connection method, so if you're already rocking unlimited monthly data allowance, then welcome to the world of free 3G video calls! Take that, FaceTime. Read on to see our very own transatlantic video call.

Continue reading 3G video call on Fring for Android: bringing HTC EVO 4G and Dell Streak together (hands-on)

3G video call on Fring for Android: bringing HTC EVO 4G and Dell Streak together (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

In the short course of about 18 months, Android has gone from an upstart operating system on a single handset to one of the fastest growing mobile operating systems around to one that's increasingly being used beyond the handset on new devices like slates, smartbooks and now televisions. As fellow Engadget columnist Michael Gartenberg pointed out last week, the idea of putting the web on a TV has been with us for well over a decade with little acceptance.

But the content and role of the web has changed dramatically since Sony and Philips launched their first devices based on WebTV's platform. As I mentioned last week, the web has become home for a growing family of mainstream sites upon which we've grown increasingly dependent. It's also become an outpost for both first-run and long-tail video. And the progress of standards such as CSS has improved the display of web sites across browsers and devices. HDTV has quadrupled the resolution of televisions and enabled flicker-free display of text. While few consumers directly connect their PCs to their TVs, several of the former sport HDMI connections, and many of the latter sport VGA connections.

Continue reading Switched On: Android's shot at TV stardom

Switched On: Android's shot at TV stardom originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Jun 2010 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We've seen plenty of novelty cufflinks in the past, but these ones -- well, they're actually kind of useful, in addition to being cool and weird. These ones are a pair of 4GB USB flash drives which are disguised to look like... well, cufflinks. They come in gunmetal, gold and silver finishes, and they're engravable to boot. They're not super cheap at $195 a pair, but if your dad's the kind of guy who needs to have a lot of top secret documents on him at all times, they might not make a bad Father's Day gift.

4GB USB flash drive cufflinks: wear your nerdery on your sleeve, literally originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Jun 2010 04:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Put down that "rare" Transformers figurine, hide that box of "real" Japanese Anime, and don't even think of showing us your Ninja Turtles costume: we've found the ticket to cool you've been looking for. CTA Digital, who has always excelled in building stunningly superfluous gaming accessories has outdone itself with the new Inflatable Racing Kart. The best news? It'll support up to 300 of your hip-cool-guy pounds. Check out a video after the break in case you're not convinced.

Continue reading CTA Digital's Inflatable Kart for the Wii: at last you can be the coolest kid on your block

CTA Digital's Inflatable Kart for the Wii: at last you can be the coolest kid on your block originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 May 2010 18:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tesla Motors seemed to have scored quite the coup earlier this month when it landed a deal with Toyota, but it now looks like things might be a tad more complicated than first suggested. According to Tesla, there is no formal deal with Toyota on electric car development, only an "intention to cooperate," and Toyota's proposed $50 million investment in the company isn't a done deal either. It's apparently dependent on Tesla's IPO happening before December 31st of this year -- if that falls apart or gets pushed back, the deal is off. What is officially happening, however, is Tesla's $42 million purchase of a closed Toyota plant in San Francisco that will be used to produce the Model S sedan -- which itself is apparently still set to go into production in 2012, and run about $49,900.

Tesla deal with Toyota is 'not formal,' $50m investment dependent on IPO originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 May 2010 04:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Keep your eyes tuned to this post -- because at 5:00 PM ET, we'll be starting The Engadget Show live, with Adobe's Chief Technical Officer Kevin Lynch and special guests, Engadget Editors Laura June and Chris Ziegler. Josh, Nilay, and Paul are back of course, plus we'll have music from minusbaby and visuals from notendo and much, much, more! You seriously don't want to miss it!

In the spirit of awesome, we've enabled tweeting directly to the live stream! To be a part of The Engadget Show broadcast, just include the hashtag "#engadgetshow" and watch for your tweet on the ticker at the bottom of the screen. One thing to note, The Engadget Show is a family program, so any single instance of swearing or trolling will force us to turn off the ticker... and it won't come back on. So, keep it clean and have fun!

Continue reading The Engadget Show Live! with Adobe's Kevin Lynch, HTC EVO 4G, and Editor Q&A

The Engadget Show Live! with Adobe's Kevin Lynch, HTC EVO 4G, and Editor Q&A originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 May 2010 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week at WES 2010 we sat down with the good folks from CrackBerry and Phone Scoop to wax-poetic about the highlights and lowlights of WES 2010. We flipped on the mic and Michael, BG and I all jumped on. We’ve got the podcast all ready to go for you below. Big thanks to the crew from CrackBerry for bringing all the podcasting gear.

Now, what do you know about that? Our very own Chris Ziegler stopped into Best Buy (undoubtedly right after leaving CB2) and spotted something we didn't expect to see just yet... the Sony Dash. That's right, the Dash - which is available for pre-order but wasn't supposed to hit retail until April 29th -- is already on the shelf. Now, there was only one unit available and it was just squeezed in between some other wares, so we're not sure if it was put out by accident or what, but if you're really dying to get your hands on one a few days early, hitting up your local BB might turn up something. Let us know in the comments if you nab one!

Update: Chris reported back to us to say that when he tried to purchase it, it came up with a price of $999 and a code of "DO NOT SELL." He was also told to come back next Friday if he wanted to purchase it.

Sony Dash spotted on shelf at Best Buy a few days early originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Apr 2010 21:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another day, another Apple leak. This time it's an eBay double whammy of the camera-donning iPod touch, which appears to be of the same design from August but now with iPod branding on the back. Furthermore, the two devices bear the prototype identification codes "DVT-1" and "DVT-2" ("DVT" stands for "design verification test" in Apple-speak, according to Daring Fireball), while the DVT-2 model wears an extra bar code label seemingly stamped by the "Apple Development Team." We tried to verify using the FCC ID "BCGA131B" at the bottom, only to be let down by a kaput FCC database -- we'll give it another spin later. Unsurprisingly, the eBay listing was quickly taken down, but it's not like any mere mortal could've gotten much use out of that Transformer-themed (and familiar-looking) "SwitchBoard" test-bed software -- maybe it was a displeased Michael Bay who killed the auction. A couple of backside shots after the break.

[Thanks, Sam]

Continue reading One more thing... two iPod touch prototypes with camera briefly show up on eBay

One more thing... two iPod touch prototypes with camera briefly show up on eBay originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Holocube Touch demonstrated on video, no glasses required

Holocube Touch demonstrated on video, no glasses required originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hm, is there anything to talk about today? We're sure we can think of something. We'll be live at 5:30PM EST, but the chat's open now, so get comfy!

Continue reading The Engadget Podcast, live at 5:30PM EST!

The Engadget Podcast, live at 5:30PM EST! originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Apr 2010 16:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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