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nuvi 1200 review

Looking a for a decent review for the nuvi 1200 ? People at gpstracklog took the time to do a hands on review of the entry level nuvi 1200 GPS navigation system . Things to note with the nuvi 1200 is that it lets you rate POIs, can work with CityXplorer maps (each map costs $10 or more), and has the ecoRoute feature.

Looking a for a decent review for the nuvi 1200? People at gpstracklog took the time to do a hands on review of the entry level nuvi 1200 GPS navigation system.

Things to note with the nuvi 1200 is that it lets you rate POIs, can work with CityXplorer maps (each map costs $10 or more), and has the ecoRoute feature.

You can pick up a nuvi 1200 on Amazon for $170. But do read the whole review before you do that.

nuvi 1200 review

Verbatim’s SureFire FireWire 800 external HDD does all it can to cater to new MacBook Pro owners

There's no question in our minds that Verbatim had brand new Macbook Pro owners in mind when it developed this addition to the SureFire external hard drive lineup. Let's run through the features: it comes HFS+ formatted for OS X, it's got touted support for Time Machine, and it features a FireWire 800 port, which is once again useful for Apple consumers, along with USB 2.0. It's even got a fingerprint resistant matte finish, which might just make you a bit envious given your own lack of matte options at present. Just a little bit larger and heavier than your iPhone, it comes with a leather case, all the necessary cables, and 250GB / 320GB / 500GB capacities, all 5400RPM, with prices ranging from $110 to $180.

[Via Yahoo! Tech]

Filed under: Storage

Verbatim's SureFire FireWire 800 external HDD does all it can to cater to new MacBook Pro owners originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s plan for "snackable" PSP game and application downloads revealed

Sony already announced its intentions to bring more developers to the PSP platform at the big E3 gaming show last month. And the move to simplify its development tools was seen as a hint of new PSP applications beyond games. Now Develop has laid bare Sony's PSP development strategy as explained by Zeno Colaço, Sony's head of developer relations. According to Zeno, over 50 studios are working on "new kinds of games and applications" that will be sold via a "specially-branded separate area" of the PlayStation Store accessible by PSP and PSPgo owners. In effect, Sony is going after the kind of "snackable content" made popular by Apple's App Store -- inexpensive games and apps that can be downloaded in less than a minute for immediate gratification -- according to Subatomic Studio's Ash Monif. In fact, Subatomic, best known for its massive App Store hit, Fieldrunners, is developing a PSP-exclusive version of its tower defense game. Unlike Apple, however, Sony is charging for its PSP SDK in a bid to keep things, uh hem, "professional," as Zeno calls it.

[Thanks, Calvin H.]

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Sony's plan for "snackable" PSP game and application downloads revealed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Guitar Hero 5 drum kit is faux real

Aaand it's out, the first official shot of Guitar Hero 5's redesigned drum kit thus confirming the pic and presumably, the specs we received last week. While no additional details are listed, this rig stands in stark, simplistic contrast to the overbearing GH kit launched by Logitech yesterday and will certainly cost less (much less) than $229. One more shot after the break while we wait for official pricing and specs in the run-up to the September launch.

[Thanks, Juan]

Continue reading Guitar Hero 5 drum kit is faux real

Filed under: Gaming

Guitar Hero 5 drum kit is faux real originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hybrid2 public bike concept promises to help power city buses

Hybrid bikes are one thing, but designer Chiyi Chen looks to have something far grander in mind for his Hybrid2 bike concept, which he says could one day help power fleets of city buses. To do that, the hybrid part of the bike (a regenerative braking system) wouldn't be used to help power the bike itself at all, but would instead store the energy in an ultracapacitor that'd then feed the energy back into the grid when its parked at a special bike stand, which would in turn be used to help charge the hybrid electric buses. Not one to overlook an ingenious little detail, Chen has also devised a special card RFID card that would not only be used to unlock the bike, but keep track of the energy that each rider generates -- build up enough credits and you can ride the bus for free. Intrigued? Head on past the break for a video overview from the man himself.

[Via Inhabitat]

Continue reading Hybrid2 public bike concept promises to help power city buses

Filed under: Transportation

Hybrid2 public bike concept promises to help power city buses originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG’s BL40 Black Label phone captured in the wild — alongside a kid sibling

The more we see of LG's latest Black Label handset -- the mysterious BL40 -- the more we want to touch it, play with it, talk on it, and put it (or, at least try to put it) in our pockets. Shots of the bizarre-yet-beautiful phone have appeared over on a German forum where we're told the interface is S-Class-based, the screen is 800 x 345, and the camera is 5 megapixels strong with Schneider Kreuznach optics -- all specs that fall in line with what we've heard so far -- and there's also apparently WiFi, an FM transmitter, and about 335MB of free onboard storage (easily rectified with a huge microSD card, of course). What has us even more intrigued, though, is a single picture in the bunch that shows the BL40 next to a smaller, stouter device with virtually identical industrial design. We have no idea what it is, but it looks like LG might be poised to roll out a whole series of phones in this new Black Label line -- and which ones are Chocolate-branded is anyone's guess at this point.

[Thanks, Anthony]

Filed under: Cellphones

LG's BL40 Black Label phone captured in the wild -- alongside a kid sibling originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bill Gates calls Chrome OS more of the same, "surprised people are acting like there’s something new"

We've already heard from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Chrome OS, and it looks like Bill Gates has now had his say on the upstart operating system as well. Speaking with CNET News, Gates more or less described Chrome OS as just another Linux distribution, saying that "there's many, many forms of Linux operating systems out there and packaged in different ways and booted in different ways," adding that, "in some ways I am surprised people are acting like there's something new. I mean, you've got Android running on Netbooks. It's got a browser in it." Gates further went on to get another dig in at Google by saying that "the more vague they are, the more interesting it is," before getting a little philosophical by asking: "What's a browser? What's not a browser?" His answer? "In large part, it's more an abuse of terminology than a real change."

[Via Digital Daily]

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software

Bill Gates calls Chrome OS more of the same, "surprised people are acting like there's something new" originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WiFi-less iPhones roll off assembly line — and into Chinese pockets?

Word from the land of Yao is that Foxconn has begun mass production of a 3G-enabled iPhone 3GS-looking device that lacks WiFi functionality, though it's being suggested that these may actually lack a WiFi module altogether as opposed to the software lock we'd heard about earlier. The phone (read: iPhone) in question is said to be the same as the one Apple recently sent to the China Telecommunication Technology Labs for testing, which points to the handset making its long-awaited Chinese debut in the near future. Of course, rumors of this happening have been surging and receding for years now, and even these "undisclosed sources" provide no insight as to which carrier will scoop the prized contract. The great will they or won't they discussions continue, though if these things are actually being produced, it means one of two things: the world's most populated nation is about to get its iPhone fix, or the world at large is about to receive another stash of iPhone KIRFs.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

Filed under: Cellphones

WiFi-less iPhones roll off assembly line -- and into Chinese pockets? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft confirms retail stores coming this fall

Well, this is going to be fun! Microsoft, which hired former Wal-Mart exec David Porter to be its corporate vice president of retail stores back in February, has just confirmed that stores are, indeed, on the way -- and soon. COO Kevin Turner confirmed the plans at the Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans yesterday, saying the stores are due to open this fall (maybe to coincide with the launch of Windows 7?) -- and what's more, Redmond's bringing the fight directly to Apple's doorstep. "Stay tuned, because we're going to have some retail stores opened up that are opened up right next door to Apple stores." Things are about to get saucy, people.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software

Microsoft confirms retail stores coming this fall originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alpine’s NVE-M300 black box brings navigation to top head units

If you've been putting off that GPS purchase in hopes that Alpine would deliver a sleek, fully compatible solution for the head unit that you already splurged on, your lucky day has finally arrived. The altogether simplistic NVE-M300 GPS Navigation Drive is a simple black box that measures just barely more than 4- x 4- x 1-inches and is designed to interface with the company's top two selling in-dash AV head units: the iXA-W404 (4.3-inch display) and the IVA-W505 (7-inch touchscreen). The device features the outfit's own OnPoint Advanced GPS Positioning, turn-by-turn guidance, a solid-state gyro sensor and accelerometer, text-to-speech and pre-loaded NAVTEQ maps of the US and Canada. Unfortunately, all this beautiful harmony will cost you, and by "cost you," we mean "450 bones."

Filed under: GPS

Alpine's NVE-M300 black box brings navigation to top head units originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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