Features1 A taste of adventure with Veho's new Muvi K2 action camera

by James Trew | @itstrew | September 14th 2014 at 1:00 pm

Who doesn't love adventure? Or, at the very least, the idea of it. I won't lie -- that's what appeals to me most about action cameras: It's the potential

adventures they promise. The scuba diving trip you haven't taken yet, or the white water rafting you've yet to enjoy. With a dedicated action camera, you're one step closer to making it happen. Like getting some fancy new trainers to spark off that exercise kick.

Inhabitat's Week in Green: Tesla Gigafactory, Blue Lagoon and an electric unicycle

by Inhabitat | @   | September 14th 2014 at 10:00 am

Tesla has emerged as one of the world's most exciting and successful electric vehiclemanufacturers -- and now the Silicon Valley company is getting into the battery business in a big way. Tesla CEO Elon Musk just unveiled new images of the company's $5 billion battery "gigafactory" -- and he also broke the news that it will be powered entirely by renewable energy! Most vehicles fall into a specific category: sedan, pickup truck, station wagon, etc. -- but Toyota's new U Squared concept is the Swiss Army knife of cars. The insanely flexible vehicle folds out to seat up to four passengers, or you can fold down three seats

and roll out an array of racks, movable rails and storage trays to accommodate everything from surfboards and bikes to bulky equipment.

IRL: Living with Withings' Pulse O2 fitness tracker

by Daniel Cooper | @danielwcooper   | September 13th 2014 at 1:00 pm

Last year, Withings released the Pulse, a Fitbit-esque activity tracker that clipped to your waistband. Its party trick was an optical heart rate monitor built into the back that helped it stand a little taller than its rivals. I reviewed it and liked it, but my feeling then, as now, is that the mainstream will never think a belt-worn pedometer is the best wearable technology can offer. My point was that it's far too easy to leave the unit on another pair of trousers pants, losing days' worth of data at a time.

Which gaming PCs are worth buying?

by Kris Naudus | @lampbane   | September 12th 2014 at 2:37 pm

If you're serious about your computer gaming, you're going to want a desktop made for it. Many gamers choose to build their own, selecting the parts that best suit their needs. But to do that, you need the time and money, and it also generally helps to know what you're doing. For those of you lacking in one of these essential qualities, there are plenty of companies that will sell you a great pre-configured gaming PC or even a custom-built one. But which to choose? While we don't really review gaming desktops ourselves here at Engadget, we've gathered opinions from across the web on some recent gaming PCs to help you figure out which one will best suit your individual needs.

Sony, the catch-up king

by Mat Smith | @thatmatsmith   | September 12th 2014 at 1:31 pm

Sony's  not making PCs  any more. It recently announced it wouldn't be making new e-readers, either. The company's also taking a long hard look at the TV business that it dominated for decades. In the '90s, its TVs stood up alongside the Discman, Walkman and even that new games console that could play CDs. Sony was cool; it had cachet. But a narrow focus on proprietary technology and its slowness to adapt to the dizzying speed of consumer tech in the last two decades have taken their toll. While it's created a new department   solely

dedicated to making the next big thing, it remains to be seen if the company can bounce back from decades of failures.

Why T-Mobile wants to give you a wireless router for free

by Brad Molen | @phonewisdom   | September 11th 2014 at 2:31 pm

If you're a T-Mobile customer, your company just gave you a very unexpected gift at yesterday's UnCarrier event: a wireless router. Yes, a fully functioning, magenta-branded, ASUS-built router, which can do essentially everything your current router can do -- and if yours is old, this will likely do even more. The device, which would cost roughly $200 if you purchased it on Amazon without T-Mobile's tweaks, only requires a $25 deposit, which gets returned to you once you're done using it. The company is going all-in on its commitment to providing every subscriber and every carrier-branded smartphone with free WiFi calling, and the router -- called the T-Mobile Personal CellSpot -- is the icing on the cake. But, you may ask, why is this a thing that's happening in the year 2014,

especially when most of us already have access to a router (and thus, WiFi calling) nearly everywhere we go?

Six models in a year: Samsung's struggle to perfect the smartwatch

by Mat Smith | @thatmatsmith   | September 11th 2014 at 2:00 pm

Can you name them all? It's been merely a year since Samsung revealed its first smartwatch to the tech press crowds in IFA, Berlin. Then, roughly six months later, the company switched software -- and, ugh, gear -- with three new wearable models, the Gear 2, the (possibly most forgotten) Gear Neo and the fitness-oriented Gear Fit wearable. Now Apple's shown off its (already divisive) offering, the race towards the definitive wearable is on. To its credit, Samsung continues to tweak, bend and experiment on each subsequent smartwatch, and appears to be taking on customer (and reviewer) feedback along the way. However, you're likely still pissed if you were one of the few to plunk down cash for the company's first attempt. Let's start there.

IBM's 'Ninja Particles' could stop the rise of superbugs

by Joseph Volpe | @jrvolpe   | September 11th 2014 at 11:30 am

IBM Research's Jim Hedrick has a great job. His work on polymers -- those repeating chains of macromolecules that make up most things in our world, like the computer or phone you're reading this on -- has led to the creation of substances with Marvel Comics-worthy descriptors. There's the self-healing, Wolverine-like substance that arose from a recycled water bottle and something called "ninja particles" that'll advance the reality of nanomedicine. Both

discoveries will inevitably make their way into consumer products in the near future, but it's his team's progress on nanomedicine that Hedrick discussed during my visit to IBM Research's sprawling Almaden lab in San Jose, California.

Apple aesthetics: a look at the iPhone's design history

by Billy Steele | @wmsteele | September 9th 2014 at 4:20 pm

In order to properly appreciate the brand-spanking-new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, you first have to examine its lineage. 2007's OG iPhone introduced iOS to the masses, and 2013 saw the release of two separate models for the first time. Today, the long-rumored successors to those 5s and 5c handsets was unveiled, and with them comes new aesthetic tools that continue Apple's lineage of design prowess. Let's take a gander back at the full line, and examine the finer points that made each one unique.

Bungie's leap forward with 'Destiny' isn't gameplay: it's social

by Timothy J. Seppala | @timseppala   | September 9th 2014 at 10:00 am

"Waffles. Waffles with Swedish fish in them!" Destiny   developer Bungie's   community manager Eric Osborne is telling me about his crew's Halo   LAN-party  ritual. Lugging bulky CRT TVs everywhere ("You didn't have a 36-inch [Sony] Trinitron Wega?" he asks), snaking Ethernet cables around a possible stranger's house, sipping Mountain Dew in the kitchen between games of capture the flag, eating lots of cheap pizza. Or, in Osborne's

case, breakfast food sprinkled with candy. "That was my experience!" It's easy for him to chuckle at how ridiculous his go-to game fuel sounds in retrospect.

Back then, host advantage wasn't having non-lagging bullets -- it was knowing where the bathroom was and not having parents home. Times were a lot simpler.