Ion-based Acer Hornet nettop specs leak out: 1080p HDMI playback, Wii-like gaming, $299

Well, well, what’s this? We just received a ton of information on that hot little Acer Hornet nettop we’d heard about a while back, and if this pile of documentation is as real as it looks, this thing could be the holy grail of cheap HTPCs — not only does it support 1080p video playback over HDMI, the “Media Center” version will indeed come with a Wii-like remote that can be used for gaming as well as media control. Specs look more than decent for the targeted $149-$299 price range: the low end model pairs what sounds like an Atom N230 with 1GB of RAM and an 80GB drive preloaded with Vista Home Basic, while higher end models get 2GB of RAM, a 160GB drive, and a “Boxshell” quickboot OS in addition to Vista Home Premium. All this plus super-quiet <26dB operation and a slick diamond-shaped chassis designed to hang off the back of your flatscreen? We’re potentially in love — when you gonna make our dreams come true, Acer? Full spec chart after the break.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Continue reading Ion-based Acer Hornet nettop specs leak out: 1080p HDMI playback, Wii-like gaming, $299

Filed under: Desktops, Home Entertainment

Ion-based Acer Hornet nettop specs leak out: 1080p HDMI playback, Wii-like gaming, $299 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dreamcast tablet is a handsome, portable solution for your discontinued gaming needs

This isn’t the first Dreamcast mod we’ve seen around here, not by a long shot — but it’s surely one of the most elegant. Built around a 15-inch LCD, this guy is a scant 2 1/4-inches thick, but it gets up to 3.5 hours of playtime on a full charge, sports an A/V out, one watt stereo sound, and a custom-built tray loading GD-ROM — just the thing for playing House of the Dead 2 on the go. We won’t belabor the point — just make sure you check out the mod-licious video after the break.

[Via Nowhere Else]

Continue reading Dreamcast tablet is a handsome, portable solution for your discontinued gaming needs

Filed under: Gaming

Dreamcast tablet is a handsome, portable solution for your discontinued gaming needs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Emulator runs Wii games in 720p while we wonder what might have been

Using PCs to do what Nintendon’t, YouTube user renebarahona is running Wii games in HD resolutions through the Dolphin emulator. One peek at Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 720p is enough to make any of us wonder what a world where Nintendo didn’t hate HD (even yanking 480p capability from the Gamecube, we’re still not over that) would be like. These games aren’t merely upscaled like DVDs, they’re being rendered in a high resolution natively with extra anti-aliasing Xbox 360 BC-style, producing surprisingly crisp visuals. Check out the embedded videos after the break (remember to hit the HD button) for an example, including how to set this up on your own computer.

[Via Joystiq & 1Up]

Continue reading Emulator runs Wii games in 720p while we wonder what might have been

Filed under: Gaming, HDTV

Emulator runs Wii games in 720p while we wonder what might have been originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mechanical heart built from Sony gear still pines for AIBO

As much as we’d like this to be a still from a new, secretly-in-development Cronenberg movie, it’s actually an image of the nightmare-inducing mechanical heart that stars in a new series of Sony ads set to air during England’s World Cup qualifying campaign on ITV. The hook, of course, is that the heart is apparently built (by special effects house Artem) almost entirely from Sony gear, including parts from BRAVIA TVs, Blu-ray players, VAIO laptops, Cybershot cameras, PS3s, and even the odd Walkman. No word of any public showings of the heart just yet, but you can check out one of the commercials after the break, and another by hitting up the read link below.

Continue reading Mechanical heart built from Sony gear still pines for AIBO

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Robots

Mechanical heart built from Sony gear still pines for AIBO originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo’s Android-powered OPhone shows itself again. Launch imminent?

Lenovo’s KIRF-tastic OPhone hasn’t exactly been all that camera shy since it first dipped its toes into the Android waters in December, but it’s now proudly showing itself yet again, and giving everyone their best glimpse yet at its China Mobile branding. What’s more, while we’ve already heard that the phone is on track for a launch this quarter, the talk now seems to be that a release could be just around the corner, with some speculating that it’ll roll out immediately after China Mobile’s other Android handset, the Dopod G2 (a.k.a. HTC Magic). Hit up the link below for a few more pics, including a closer look at the phone’s slightly familiar-looking UI in action.

[Via ModMyGphone, thanks Neerhaj]

Filed under: Cellphones

Lenovo’s Android-powered OPhone shows itself again. Launch imminent? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone 3.0 beta 2 released, push notifications are a go

The rest of the mobile industry might be gearing up for CTIA to start, but Apple’s phone elves are toiling away — iPhone OS 3.0 beta 2’s just been released to developers, along with the go-ahead to start developing for push notifications. Thankfully, beta 2 also apparently includes a number of stability and performance enhancements, which will hopefully make our tester phone tolerable again — we’ve been restarting beta 1 basically every day since we sacrificed it to the hands-on gods. Devs and beta testers know what to do to snag the upgrade, let us know how it goes!

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone 3.0 beta 2 released, push notifications are a go originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI officially launches the touchscreen Wind Top AE1900

We caught sight of MSI’s Wind Top AE1900 back at Cebit, and now it’s been officially launched. The nettop boasts a 19-inch 16:9 LCD, an Intel Atom 230 CPU, up to 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. It’s also got a DVD burner, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, WiFi, four USB ports, and a 4-in-1 card reader. MSI claims that the AE1900 uses only about “45 watts of power while in full operation,” which, if true, would indeed make it one of the more energy efficient PCs on the market. We’ll just have to wait and see on that though, as there’s no word yet on availability or pricing.

Filed under: Desktops

MSI officially launches the touchscreen Wind Top AE1900 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WiBrain M1 UMPC gets more real, but still not completely real

WiBrain’s M1 has seen a pretty rocky road to launch since it first arrived on the scene way back last summer, but it looks like the company is finally moving forward with it, and reportedly kicking the UMPC into production. Despite its extended stay in prototype form, however, there doesn’t appear to be too many changes to the device, with it still packing a 4.8-inch 1,024 x 600 touchscreen, along with an Atom Z520 processor, up to 1GB of RAM, a max 16GB SSD, and all the connectivity options you’d expect, plus some (presumably optional) HSDPA. The one big change from the early prototype is the slide-out QWERTY keypad, which now opts for some membrane-style keys that could make an already difficult typing situation even tougher. No word on a price or expected release date just yet, but it seems likely that it’ll remain a Korean exclusive, at least initially.

[Via jkkmobile]

Filed under: Handhelds

WiBrain M1 UMPC gets more real, but still not completely real originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic DMC-GH1 handled on video, coming to North America in May

Panasonic’s HD Micro Four Thirds shooter honestly can’t arrive soon enough, with its continual autofocus while shooting, on-the-fly aperture switching and all around loveliness. Thus, it’s with a heavy heart that we present to you the following tidbit: according to Doug Borbath, a senior project manager at Panasonic Canada, the DMC-GH1 won’t ship to North America until “late May,” though the pricing remains pretty much in line with what we’ve been hearing. It’ll sticker at $1,899CDN, which equates to just over $1,500 here in the United States. That price does include the pretty astounding 14-140mm (28-280mm in Four Thirds terminology) stock lens, though it doesn’t include the optional external microphone ($200; available “around the same time”) nor the super wide angle Lumix G Vario 7-14mm/f4.0 ASPH (price unknown; available at GH1 launch). Check the read link for some seriously enviable footage.

[Thanks, Jive]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Panasonic DMC-GH1 handled on video, coming to North America in May originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screen Grabs: Verizon Hub tells of Serena’s galavanting

We didn’t happen to spot Nelly’s shiny new BlackBerry Storm on last night’s Gossip Girl, but we did see that cast-wide Verizon contract rubbed in our faces again. Verizon’s newest non-cellphone (that’d be the Hub) made a brief appearance at the tail end of the episode to inform Lily van der Woodsen that her dearest Serena had reverted to her old carefree ways and hopped a private jet to Spain. Hope she took a worldphone over there, else making that “I’m here!” call is going to be just a wee bit difficult in GSM world.

Screen Grabs: Verizon Hub tells of Serena’s galavanting originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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