Excited for Nintendo's new tablet-esque controller? So are the kids in TT Games' QA department. An over-excited tester tweeted out an image of a slightly different Wii U slab than the one we laid hands on at E3 2011, teasing "look we what we have at work!" Answering the call does indeed reveal something worth looking at -- a somewhat wider looking Wii U slate featuring two full-sized analog sticks (as opposed to 3DS-like circle pads), a pair of unmarked button-like squares, and a new starboard home for the controller's plus and minus buttons.

The tweet was summarily pulled, of course, but not before our friends at Joystiq nabbed a screenshot. Naturally, the rumor mill started right up, churning out speculation of developer specific slabs, early prototypes and late redesigns.

Read more...

Think the Wii has the market cornered on gaming rehab? Think again -- neuroscientists at New Castle University are developing a series of motion controlled video games to make stroke rehab more fun and accessible. The team's first title, dubbed Circus Challenge, lets patients digitally throw pies, tame lions and juggle to help them build strength and regain motor skills. As players progress, the game ratchets up its difficulty, presumably to match pace with their recovery.

Although Limbs Alive, the game's publisher, has only described their motion controller as "next-generation," it affirms that the game will be playable on PCs, laptops and tablets later this year. In an effort to lower costs and provide at-home therapy, the team hopes to leverage a £1.

Read more...

We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from is from Warren, who wants to find an electrical moped within his budget. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

"What's the cheapest two-wheeled electric vehicle that goes over 45mph available in the US? I looked at the Gas-powered $2,500 Sym Symba, but as far as I can tell, I'd have to spend four times that much for an electric equivalent. Am I missing something?

Read more...

As much as we're familiar with mobile device torture tests, they're normally inflicted by us or otherwise not-so-voluntary. Nokia, however, has stepped up to the plate and doled out the abuse to the Lumia 900 itself with a hammer and nail, all based on a wager that the Windows Phone's use of Gorilla Glass would hold up to Sonim-level punishment. The company's Chris Ruble and Mike Meyers (not that Mike Myers) used a Lumia 710 as a dry run before an on-camera demo that not only saw the 900 assaulted with the hammer, but used as a blunt instrument itself -- all without a crack or scratch. We imagine that other toughened-glass phones would survive the hit, and there's every possibility that smacking the polycarbonate plastic would leave more than a scuff mark. Nokia's test still proves that its pride and joy can withstand more than just a casual roughing up, and you can see the slightly cringe-inducing test in the video below.

Continue reading Nokia uses Lumia 900 as a hammer in a torture test, makes us wince (video)

Nokia uses Lumia 900 as a hammer in a torture test, makes us wince (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 May 2012 04:48:00 EDT.

Read more...

Our hopes of taking the Fisker Atlantic for a spin next year just got dampened considerably: a big document leak has revealed that the more reasonably-priced alternative to the Karma won't be rolling off the production lines en masse until mid-2014, a year later than we'd expected. Thanks in part to a factory overhaul, the only Atlantics rolling on their hybrid-powered wheels in mid-2013 will be prototypes. On the upside, we've learned more about the car itself, including a fairly brisk 0-60 time of 6.5 seconds courtesy of a 300HP-equivalent motor. Green drivers who thought that the promised lower price would put it into entry-level luxury will nonetheless get a reality check with that $50,000 to $60,000 target, even if it's still a big savings over the six-digit Karma. There's still a huge amount of leeway for things to change, but with our compatriots at Autoblog having confirmed that the documents were real and "highly confidential," they may be a sign that the Tesla Model S will have free rein in the green luxury sedan world for a good year or more.

Read more...

Does the word ReRAM ring a bell? No? Well, the key point is that it's much faster than NAND memory, and it's making its way into chips from Elpida, Sharp and Panasonic. Further proof that ReRAM is on the up and up? Researchers at University College London have used this technology to make a chip that operates at 100 times the speed of standard Flash memory. The device is composed completely of silicon oxide, which improves the chip's resistance, and it doesn't require a vacuum to work (which makes it cheaper to produce).

Read more...

The at times very heated legal battle between Apple and Samsung might be softening just a bit ahead of truce talks on May 21st. Samsung's mobile head JK Shin just left Seoul for the mediated discussions saying there were still "several negotiation options" on tap, including the possibility of cross-licensing patents. He warned that there was still a "big gap" between the two sides, and we'd tend to agree -- neither Apple nor Samsung is exactly backing off just yet. However, it's a definite shift in language from March, when Shin was vowing "no compromise," and it parallels Apple CEO Tim Cook's own disdain for lawsuits. We just wouldn't bet money on the two singing "Kumbaya" this week.

In same breath, Shin added that an ongoing 4G chipset shortage wasn't letting up: he didn't see things getting better until the start of the fourth quarter, or October for us common folk.

Read more...

Last summer, try as we might, we couldn't get too much out of Microsoft's creative director for Kinect Games, Kudo Tsunoda, about what's next from the interactive peripheral. More recently, in an interview with Venture Beat, Tsunoda was a little more verbose about what he thinks the next big thing in Kinect is -- and it isn't a Kinect 2. The good news is, he believes that no new hardware will be required, and the innovations will likely come from developers, as they better understand and utilize the capabilities. A combination of voice, tone and facial recognition along with motion detection will likely be the tools that push the experience into the next era -- such as allowing users to participate in a game's story like an actor. Hit the source if you want to read the full interview, but you can be sure we'll be at E3 again this year to beat him, and others, with the question stick once more.

Kudo Tsunoda: 'Waiting for the next big thing isn't about waiting for the Kinect 2' originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 May 2012 10:54:00 EDT.

Read more...

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Fans of the Lincoln-Kennedy coincidences can appreciate similarly contrived dynamics in comparing Nokia and RIM (neither of which, contrary to the occasionally expressed opinion, has been murdered despite "Apple and Android" consisting of three words and 15 letters). Both companies are former smartphone market share leaders -- RIM in North America, Nokia globally. Both have had success in developing economies with efficient operating systems that they plan to support indefinitely. Both developed reputations for high build quality and good antenna design, and both were initially dismissive of the iPhone as they continue to see Android as the path to commoditization. And after precipitous market share declines, both hired new CEOs.

Read more...

Not long after Samsung's SGH-i667 "Mandel" looked like it would never see the light of day, the Windows Phone 7.5 device made its official debut at CTIA, dubbed as the Focus 2. As expected, the phone is officially on sale today at AT&T retailers across the US, giving folks another option aside from the flagship Lumia 900 for a fix of LTE and Mango on the network. To refresh your memory, you'll find a 4-inch Super AMOLED display and VGA camera up front, and a 5MP shooter on back that's capable of 720p video. Internally, there's a 1.4GHz single-core CPU (exceedingly par for the course for Windows Phone at this point) and a 1,750mAh battery to hopefully ensure you'll have enough juice to get through the day.

Read more...

It's tough being the new kid in town -- ask Voyager Mobile, an up and coming MVNO that had its launch delayed by a "malicious network attack" last week. The tenacious firm may have missed its planned May 15th launch, but managed to pull things together in time for the weekend, piggybacking unlimited talk, text and data off of Sprint's CDMA and WiMAX network for $40 a month. A basic unlimited voice plan is also available to the tune of $20, without data allowances, of course. Phones are available too, albeit without subsidies -- Samsung's Epic 4G Touch or Galaxy S II will each set you back $550, though an assortment of more affordable devices can be had from $120 and up. Tempted to jump ship? Check out the source link below and let all your MVNO dreams come true.

Read more...

Still waiting for your HTC handset to make its way through customs? Ratchet your hopes just a smidge higher, because the company says it's making progress. "Some models have gone through inspection and been released to our carriers customers," the firm stated in an investor statement today. HTC explained that each of the contested models needs to be reviewed by officials before release, and assures customers that it is working with customs to speed along the process. Which devices are making it through? "We don't have the status of each specific device at this time," HTC says, "We remain confident that this issue will be resolved soon.

Read more...

Look out, savvy graphics card buyer: just because it's labelled 'GeForce' and starts with a '6' doesn't necessarily mean it benefits from NVIDIA's premium 28nm Kepler architecture. We've already seen rebadged mobile chips with last-gen 40nm silicon, and now entry-level desktop cards are arriving on shelves that will stretch Fermi's expiry date even further. There are no price tags as yet, but according to AnandTech the 'new' GeForce GT 610 is a repackaged GT 520 with 48 CUDA cores and an ever-so-polite 29-watt power draw. The GT 620 is a GT 530 with a 49-watt TDP and twice as many CUDA cores as the 610 -- although a meager 64-bit memory bus will put a cap on any performance gains. Finally, the GT 630 is a 65-watt GT 440 in all but name, with a 128-bit memory bus width allowing its 96 CUDA cores to be fully exploited. This latter card shouldn't be confused with the OEM version of the GT 630, which does actually pack Kepler.

Read more...