It’s hard to believe, but it’s been exactly ten years since the iPod was first unveiled, ultimately changing the music industry forever. The iPod wasn’t the first, it wasn’t the smallest, it didn’t have the largest hard drive, but it did have an iconic style and simple to use interface that led march away from CDs. When the history of Apple is written the iPod (perhaps more than the iMac, OS X or the iPhone) will be credited with helping spearhead the company’s second coming. Over the years the music player has seen countless iterations and redesigns, and an expansion of the product line to include smaller devices and touch screens — but for most it’s the scroll wheel and white earbuds that define the iPod. Sure, what is now called the iPod classic hasn’t seen a serious update since about 2007, but it still holds a special place in our hearts, especially for those of us who don’t measure their music collection in a few dozen iTunes downloads.
The iPod turns 10, celebrates a decade of destroying physical media originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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My, how time flies. Can it really be 30 years since the original Frogger was released into arcades in 1981? To celebrate the anniversary, Konami has unleashed a new version of the game into the App Store known as Frogger Decades. Along with the familiar highway scenes, you’ll be treated to new environments such as swamps and islands, along with opportunities to solve puzzles along the way. A classic D-pad controller is built-in for those seeking a slice of nostalgia, but you’re also free to hop about using touch input on the screen. The game retails for $2 with versions for the iPhone and iPad, and it supports competitive play via the Open Feint network. We know what we’ll be doing tonight. Care to join us?
Frogger Decades leaps into App Store, still going strong after 30 years of being hit by trucks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 02:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ah, yes. We all know that couple… the ones that don’t speak to each other at dinner because they’re too busy playing
Cut the Rope or tweeting. You know ‘em: the
texting while walking or
texting while driving sort of folks. What can we say? Sometimes you’re locked in an epic battle you can’t walk away from. Perhaps they’re anti-social, or maybe they’re addicted to
tech love — but what say you?
Billy: “Did you forget our anniversary?” “Our what? Oh, no… of course not.”
Zach Honig: “Hug me.” “LOL OK BRB.”
Darren: “Short-range communication protocols are the best.”
Terrence: “Little did he know that his sweetheart was texting her other boyfriend literally behind his back.”
Michael: “I thought sexting was only for long distance relationships…”
Sean: “Love is letting your boyfriend save another princess. And helping over WiFi, of course.”
Christopher: “Who wears flip flops with a denim jacket?”
Joe: “Ad-hoc lovin’.”
Richard Lai: “Can’t wait to try Dance Central tonight.”
Caption Contest: No doubt, these two are definitely made for each other originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Aug 2011 10:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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When you’ve got a good thing rolling, why stop? That’s the mantra applied to Razer’s latest, which is actually the third DeathAdder to be released. You may remember the original slinking out way back in 2006, with the southpaws in attendance finally getting one of their own in March of last year. Today, in order to celebrate the device’s Wood Anniversary, Razer’s loosing the USB-connected DeathAdder Black Edition. For all intents and purposes, this is the same DeathAdder that we came to love last decade, but with an ever-so-slightly tweaked design that adds non-slip rubber sides and an all-black finish. It’ll ship globally next month for $59.99 / €59.99, with orders being taken right… about.. now.
Continue reading Razer trots out mildly overhauled DeathAdder Black Edition USB gaming mouse
Razer trots out mildly overhauled DeathAdder Black Edition USB gaming mouse originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s not often we mark the anniversary of a single word around here, but this one’s particularly close to our cold, electronic hearts — it was ninety years ago today that the word “
robot” was introduced to the public in Karel Capek’s play “R.U.R.” (Rossum’s Universal Robots), which first premiered in Prague in its original Czech language in 1921, and came to New York a year later in English. As
Gearlog notes, however, Capek actually gives credit for the origin of the word to his brother Josef, who suggested the term “roboti” that he derived from the Czech word “robota,” which literally means “serf labor,” and can refer to drudgery or hard work. Of course, robots themselves have evolved quite a bit over those ninety years, and — given the pace of development as of late — we’re a bit hesitant to guess what things might be like when the 100th anniversary of the word comes around.
‘Robot’ marks its 90th anniversary as a word originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Did you know that Wikipedia is celebrating its 10th anniversary this week? It is, on January 15th! It’s hard to believe that the ‘edited by the everyman’ encyclopedia has been around that long… or maybe we’re just getting old. Either way, co-founder of the site (and man of many personal appeals) Jimmy Wales took the opportunity to answer some questions about the past, present and future of Wikipedia, and, when asked about the growing prevalence of mobile apps and app stores, well, Wales had plenty to say, including that models such as the iTunes app store can represent a dangerous “chokepoint” and that they could be “a threat to a diverse and open ecosystem.” He also added that mobile devices are owned by people, and those people should control their own devices. We can see where Jimmy’s coming from in some ways — apps are a wholly new, untested way of ingesting content, but we have a hard time swallowing wholesale that the app store model could threaten internet freedom more than an issue such as net neutrality. But you know, if you ask us nicely, Jimmy, we might just take your word for it. Hit up the ‘more coverage’ link to check out a video of Jimmy Wales waxing philosophical about the birthday celebration.
Wikipedia celebrates 10th anniversary, co-founder Jimmy Wales opines on app stores originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Show of hands: how many of you bought an Xbox 360 in its first month or so of release, five long years ago? Alright, now how many of you still use that same Xbox regularly, with zero RRoDs getting in your way? Yeah, we thought so. The Xbox 360 has been an astounding success for Microsoft and for gamers, a particularly strong feat when you consider that it was Sony’s race to lose going into this console generation. Still, when you talk Xbox history, it’s hard not to see that huge red smudge on an otherwise stellar record. In hindsight, perhaps it was wise for Microsoft to do such a stellar job of taking the console online, beyond all the obvious reasons: the overheating hunk of plastic and silicon in our entertainment center didn’t really mean much anymore, sentiments-wise. Instead it was our Gamertags and Gamerscores and cutesy Avatars that really mattered, the true “heart” of our console.
We can’t even count how many Xboxes we churned through in the past five years, with only Microsoft’s most recent attempt finally solving some of the machine’s egregious noise issues, but most of us stuck with the Xbox all the way through because that’s where our friends were. Cute trick, Microsoft, but let’s pick a slightly less expensive way to fail for the next generation, alright? Oh, and happy birthday Xbox; we’ll meet you at 8pm with the pizza and the wine and the Black Ops… you just bring the sexy.
Want to re-live a bit of the launch day insanity? Check out this little trip down Engadget memory lane:
Boy, didn’t we look young and naive back then? The world was our oyster. There were so many Halos yet to come.
The Xbox 360 turns five years old… in a purely theoretical sense originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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How do you celebrate half a decade as the world’s best loved and most efficient rechargeable battery? You throw a party, of course, which is exactly what Sanyo is doing with its Eneloop Tones Glitter limited edition set. Packs of eight technicolored AA and AAA Eneloops will go on sale in Japan on November 14, augmenting the brand’s signature longevity with a dash (hell, make it a heaping) of glamorous style. For the functionalists out there seeking an excuse to jump on board, each box contains one of each color, meaning you can claim you bought them to color-code your battery management operation. Yeah, we’ll believe you.
Sanyo glams up Eneloop batteries for fifth anniversary originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 03:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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