Portable solar chargers aren't so out of the ordinary anymore, but minuscule windmills that can charge your phones? Now, those are something new. A couple of UT Arlington researchers, Smitha Rao and J.C. Chiao, have developed wind turbines so small (they measure 1.8mm at their widest), you can stick 10 of them on a grain of rice. One possible application is to embed a bunch of the Lilliputian devices onto a phone sleeve -- you can then simply hold your phone out the window or place it in front of a fan to recharge. Since the tiny windmills are made of durable nickel alloy, you won't have to worry...
The MetaPro glasses do some pretty amazing things with augmented reality
Yeah, I went through the whole "not another wearable" thing when the folks from the Meta team showed up sporting an early prototype of a device tethered to a small animal-style backpack. But one rep started namedropping some of the parties involved in the AR glasses -- names like Steve Mann. The wearables pioneer now sports a "chief scientist" designation on the company's site. And while we would have preferred to have been first on the demo list, it's hard to complain when the ones ahead of you are people like Paul Allen and Steve Wozniak. In fact, as they set up the demo in the green room behind...
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo poses for an unofficial photo
It looks like Samsung is not too far away from releasing a budget phablet, because they are convinced that is what the world needs right now.Without a doubt, Samsung is responsible for the current popularity of the increasingly huge Android phone market. The fact that there are significantly more 5-inch or larger Android phones out there from major manufacturers than there are handsets that actually can be used with one hand is not a mistake, and you can be sure that this coming year will see even more phones in that category.Samsung is now looking to contribute to the phablet market in their...
Razers modular Project Christine PCs may get upgrade subscriptions
Razers Project Christine was already set to shake up the gaming PC scene by making hardware upgrades easier than ever. Now it looks like Razer may let you pay a subscription fee for those upgrades so your system always runs top-of-the-line gear.CEO Min-Liang Tan told GameSpot that its a possibility, and really its not all that different than what Dell has been doing for years as far as the monthly fee goes. The big difference is that the $50 or $60 a month youd be paying Dell doesnt entitle you to any new parts while youre paying it. And when youve made your last payment, thats it. You can either...
How to shut off Googles new Google+ email messages
The unstoppable advance of Google+ continues, and this time its worming its way deeper into your inbox. Google has added the ability to send an email to any Google+ user in your circles through Gmail. All you have to do is start typing a name and Gmail will fill it in with matches, even if you dont have their address. This is neat if you have a valid reason to get in touch with someone, but you might also find that people you dont know can easily show up in your own inbox. Luckily, there is a way to turn it off.This isnt actually a completely new feature, but is rather an expansion of something...
Over 180 species of fish found to exhibit bioluminescence, could be huge for genetics research
When you think of bioluminescent organisms, jellyfish probably come immediately to mind. This is probably the most well-known example of a bioluminescent organism, but a team of scientists from the American Museum of Natural History have just published research that shows a huge number of fish species exhibit bioluminescence as well we just never noticed until now.Bioluminescence is the capacity of an organism to absorb and redirect light at a lower energy level. Since water is very good at absorbing light, the higher energy blue end of the spectrum penetrates more deeply into the sea. This blue...
Sonys 4K Ultra Short Throw Projector wants to eat your entertainment center
Sony doesnt just want to be the television in your living room, they want to be the physical representation of your digital entertainment experience. For right now, though, they will settle for just being your whole entertainment center.Theres been no shortage of new 4K and UHD televisions recently, and Sony is largely responsible for setting that particular train in motion. Their 4K projectors are a big part of your cinema experience in most places now, and while the other guys have been working on ways to drop the price of televisions, Sony has been hard at work trying to bring the cinema into...
CES 2014, Day 5: Five things 50 Cent missed while he was busy hawking headphones
It's been a fun week of awards, announcements and intentionally awful headlines, but all good things must come to an end. Before the doors to the show floor closed for the final time this year, we spent some moments with a pair of smart headbands, some augmented reality glasses and even a remote-controlled airplane, but we understand if you still want more. Don't worry -- that's why we're here. Join us one final time to look back at the interviews, innovations and intentional head injuries that defined CES 2014. StagedWhile most of Engadget's staff spent the week marching all over Las Vegas in...
Exclusive: PMD's CamBoard Pico XS is the tiniest gesture camera we've ever seen (video)
Just as we were wrapping up CES today, we caught up with our friends over at PMD Technologies who surprised us with a little exclusive. What you see above is the new CamBoard Pico XS gesture camera that's dwarfed by the Pico S -- the one we saw at Computex -- next to it. This tiny module is only 4mm thick, 39.5mm long and 15.5mm wide, making it 1.5mm thinner and almost half as long as its predecessor, while still packing the same Infineon IRS1010C 3D image sensor chip. Given the size plus the fact that it already uses MIPI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface) instead of USB, the Pico XS is truly...
Thorskan environmental scanning tech helps usher in true next-gen gaming
Now that we have all these mega-powerful next generation game consoles, what are we supposed to do with them? It wont do to just play the same old games at a higher resolution. There are a number of technologies on the way to make the next generation really feel like the next generation, but Thorskan might be the tech that takes us there first.Thorskan is an environmental scanning technology developed by Polish company Better Reality. Its designed to take high-resolution scans of real places and transform them into fully immersive 3D worlds with texture resolutions as high as 26,000 x 26,000...
Twitch claims Xbox One Direct Broadcasting delay is Microsofts fault
If youve been eager to install Twitch.tv on your Xbox One so you can stream your next gaming session, it looks like the wait is going to be a lot longer than originally anticipated.While neither Microsoft nor Sony were able to deliver everything they showed off during their next-gen launch events, one big thing that the PS4 has over the Xbox One right now is direct broadcasting. Microsofts internal recording and upload studio is a lot of fun, but what many users care more about is live video.Twitch.tv and YouTube live video broadcasting were teased at launch, and so far neither has been delivered...
Hands-on with the consumer-ready Muse headband and software
If you think the person above looks weathered, broken and a little bit ill, you'd be right. After all, it's the last day of CES, and although this editor wasn't sure he had any working neurons left, he nevertheless took a trip to InteraXon's booth to check out the consumer-ready version of Muse, the mind-probing headband. We first came across Muse this time last year, and in terms of hardware, only minor changes have been made. The EEG sensors in contact with your forehead -- seven in total, measuring four channels -- are now made of conductive ink instead of cold metal, the whole thing is more...
Target confirms 70 million people affected by breach, way more than card numbers taken
The damage done by Targets data breach extends well beyond just credit card numbers, according to an extended internal investigation.If youve shopped at a Target and paid with a credit card within the last six months, theres a good chance that you were affected by a recent data breach. It was suspected that roughly 40 million credit cards were accessed from Targets POS system between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, 2013 . A more in depth investigation has revealed that theres now 70 million affected users, and whoever was responsible for the breach took a whole lot more than card numbers.Theres still a lot...
Overstock made $126,000 in Bitcoin sales on day one
Around one month ago, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne said that the online retailer plans to begin accepting Bitcoins sometime in 2014. The date was estimated to be later than less than one month after the announcement was made, but we suppose nothing can stifle progress when making money is involved. It would seem Overstock was right to begin accepting the currency, as the first day of doing so already brought success.In just the first 22 hours of ushering in what history textbooks will surely one day refer to as the New Age of Economics, Overstock made $126,000 in sales solely in Bitcoin. Over...
CES 2014 in pictures
`We've written so many words about CES 2014 that our fingers have calloused over. We've seen enough 4K TVs, booth babes and wearable computers to last us another 365 days and our resident photographer, Will Lipman, was on hand to capture almost all of it. We'll spare you the bad catering, grease-smudged demo units and trips to the port-a-john for a glimpse at the more beautiful side of CES. Join us after the break for a closer look at CES 2014. CES 2014 in pictures
See all photos 25 PhotosPresented without comment.CES cosplay? This dude's not impressed.The new way...
