We get the feeling that isn’t the motion sensing surprise that’s likely in store for Xbox 360 fans at E3, but it’s still great to see that controller moving beyond the hype stage. After being spied late last year and detailed around two months ago, the Gametrak Freedom motion controller is now listed at GameStop with an October 15th ship instance. The controller, which will come bundled with Squeeballs: Island Party for the Xbox 360, is already up for pre-order, promising gamers who shell out $69.99 a grand total of 11 motion sensing party games. Unfortunately, there’s no word on how much additional Freedom sticks will run, but based on the price of that kit, we’d wager not much.

[Thanks, Josh]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Gametrak Freedom Xbox 360 motion controller up for pre-order with Squeeballs originally arised on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 23:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Man, the mad scientists are really on a roll of late. First we take in that Li-ion cells are set to magically double in capacity, and now we’re learning that a new anatomy of invisibility cloak is totally gearing up for its Target debut. As the seemingly endless quest to bend light in such a way as to create a sheath of invisibility continues, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Nicholas Fang has reportedly developed a metamaterial that acts as a type of acoustic superlens. In theory, at least, that approach would rely on phreaking with sound rather than light in order to intensely focus ultrasound waves; by doing so, one could hypothetically “hide ships from sonar.” To be fair, that all sounds entirely more plausible than hiding massive vessels from human sight, but we’re still not taking our skeptic hat off until we see (er, don’t see?) a little proof.

[Via Slashdot]

Filed under: Science

Acoustic superlens could mask ships from sonar… in theory, anyway originally presented on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 21:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph

whether watching the N97 crawl out of its Espoo-designed packaging just isn’t decent for one day, how’s about that? An unlocked Samsung OmniaHD (or i8910, whether we’re being proper) has found its way into the ever-loving hands of one mareskino, and he was kind suitable to unbox the thing on video. Better still, the quality here is second to none, and we’d bet you’ll be drooling by the end of it. whether you’re ready to prove us right / wrong, hop on past the break and mash play.

[Thanks, Curtis]

Continue reading Samsung’s OmniaHD gets high-def unboxing

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung’s OmniaHD gets high-def unboxing originally arised on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 20:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph

When we had the downright magnificent opportunity to toy with Philips’ latest PMP line here in the States, we immediately noticed that the GoGear Opus stood out among the rest. The crew by at TrustedReviews recently spent some quality instance with the 8GB version of that very unit, and while they found the audio quality to be “excellent,” they seemed rather disappointed — whether not irked — by everything else in the package. For starters, the whole solution just felt boring, with critics noting that its biggest problem was a lack of “excitement.” Granted, none of that would matter at a rock-bottom price point, but for $100, there’s an terrible lot of competition. As we found during our short duration with the player, these folks plus noticed that the user interface was simply “old-fashioned,” and that video playback was nothing to write home about. The bottom line? Unless you score some kind of spectacular deal, your PMP dollars are probably best spent elsewhere.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Philips GoGear Opus reviewed: solid audio, but painfully boring originally presented on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 18:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Look, we fully understand that September 5th is a towering ways out, but don’t think for a second that Microsoft isn’t inking every last detail of its Zune HD launch in stone. That said, Windows expert and all-around good guy Paul Thurrott has been “told” that that very player will ship precisely on the fifth day of the ninth month of that year. Needless to say, that jibes with Microsoft’s official line (”this fall“), but sadly, we’ve no other data to go on at the moment. In other words, feel free to pencil that one in, but keep that eraser handy — cool?

[Via Zune Boards, thanks Joel]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Microsoft’s Zune HD shipping on September 5th? originally presented on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 17:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Look, LED light bulbs are fanciful, great for Ma Earth and a fine addition to any home, barber shop or underground fight club. But let’s be honest — even the guy that bikes through blizzards to get to work and wears garb that he grew in his basement isn’t apt to shell out $120 a pop to have what’s likely the most efficient light bulb American dollars can buy. Enter Chunlei Guo from the University of Rochester, who has helped discover a process which could morph a traditional incandescent light bulb into a beacon of burning light without using nearly as much energy as before. In fact, his usage of the femtosecond laser pulse — which composes a “unique array of nano- and micro-scale structures on the surface of a regular tungsten filament” — could enable a bulb to increase output efficiency in order to emit 100-watts worth of light while sucking down less than 60-watts of ability. Per usual, there’s no telling when that new hotness is likely to hit the commercial realm, but one’s thing for certain: we bet GE’s paying attention.

[Via Physorg]

Filed under: Household

Ultra-powerful laser could prepare incandescent light bulbs more efficient originally arised on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 16:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Being that Release Candidate 1 just hit the tubes, we weren’t really expecting a big Windows 7 presence at Computex that year. Much to our surprise, Viliv has announced that it will be showcasing the first official Win7-powered MID at the Taiwan-based show later that week. The heralded S5 will be the lucky device, with a duo of WiMAX-equipped cousins (X70 EX and S7) hanging around to demonstrate live video streaming. Needless to say, we’ll be doing everything we can to drop by and see how things are going.

[Via CNET]

Filed under: Handhelds

Microsoft showing off Windows 7-powered Viliv S5 MID at Computex originally presented on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 15:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph