Seven months ago, Motorola unveiled a dual-sided, QWERTY-laden TV remote control: the NYXboard. It was never heard from again. Today, we’ve learned why — the open-source community will be selling a version specially redesigned to control your XBMC rig. The folks at Pulse-Eight — a startup with roots in the XBMC community dedicated to designing hardware — tell us they actually talked Motorola out of bundling the remote with set-top-boxes in favor of a nefarious plan. Simply put, they want you to be able to purchase an IR and RF remote that natively supports XBMC for a penny under $60 this June.

While we don’t have any real pictures of the unit quite yet — just the renders you see above and below — developers say it will work with installations on Mac, Windows, Linux and the original Apple TV on day one, and will actually turn off the side of the remote that’s face down to avoid accidental inputs. You’ll find the NYXboard up for pre-order now at our source link, with the first shipments slated for around June 27th. Then again, you might want to wait, as we’re told there are more surprises in store: a second version that can control the Apple TV 2, and a secret method which would allow the remotes to control your home entertainment center without pesky line-of-sight infrared. The best laid plans and all that… but it sounds like Logitech’s Harmony may finally get some competition.

Update: The situation’s a bit tricky, but the XBMC Foundation (a non-profit entity) wants you to know that hardware vendor Pulse-Eight (a for-profit venture) isn’t actually part of their group — Pulse-Eight was founded by an XBMC team member and produces hardware targeted at the XBMC community, but apparently isn’t funded by (nor directs funding towards) the XBMC foundation itself.

Motorola NYXboard surfaces from the dead, XBMC reclaims it (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As souvenirs go, a miniature replica of yourself — striking a pose of your choosing on Barcelona’s La Rambla street — is a far sight more original than a bullfights-and-senoritas snow globe. This past January, the hilariously titled BlablabLAB enlisted three Kinects and a RepRap machine to snap passersby and render them into personalized tchotchkes, in a project called Be Your Own Souvenir. Subjects stood atop a small platform, mimicking the human statues on La Rambla, as the Kinects captured their likeness in full 360-degree glory. The resulting images were then processed as a mesh reconstruction, saved as a G-code file, and then fed through a 3D printer — and voila, out popped the tiny statuettes. If you’re a fan of flashy editing and Kinect-based street experiments, check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Kinect hack turns tourists into 3D souvenirs (video)

Kinect hack turns tourists into 3D souvenirs (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seven months ago, Motorola unveiled a dual-sided, QWERTY-laden TV remote control: the NYXboard. It was never heard from again. Today, we’ve learned why — the open-source community will be selling a version specially redesigned to control your XBMC rig. The folks at Pulse-Eight — a spinoff of the XBMC Foundation dedicated to designing hardware — tell us they actually talked Motorola out of bundling the remote with set-top-boxes in favor of a nefarious plan. Simply put, they want you to be able to purchase an IR and RF remote that natively supports XBMC for a penny under $60 this June.

While we don’t have any real pictures of the unit quite yet — just the renders you see above and below — developers say it will work with installations on Mac, Windows, Linux and the original Apple TV on day one, and will actually turn off the side of the remote that’s face down to avoid accidental inputs. You’ll find the NYXboard up for pre-order now at our source link, with the first shipments slated for around June 27th. Then again, you might want to wait, as we’re told there are more surprises in store: a second version that can control the Apple TV 2, and a secret method which would allow the remotes to control your home entertainment center without pesky line-of-sight infrared. The best laid plans and all that… but it sounds like Logitech’s Harmony may finally get some competition.

Motorola NYXboard surfaces from the dead, XBMC reclaims it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For those of you wondering how Apple is planning on supporting next-generation high-speed data port technology for future (and current) iPads, Pods and Phones, you might have your answer. Patently Apple has unearthed a 2009 Apple patent for a Hybrid DisplayPort/USB 3.0 Adapter. And since Thunderbolt, the zippy new transfer technology developed by Intel and Apple, is based on DisplayPort technology, it will likely fall under the umbrella of this patent. More

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In two weeks the U.S. Treasury will auction 11 supercars valued at nearly $3 million, including a Ferrari Enzo. If you ever bought a piece of electronics at Best Buy that didn’t work, here’s where your cash may have gone. More

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…Make it an SSD. I am not making spurious claims or waving my silly little e-willy around here. It’s the single most immediately noticeable system upgrade I think I’ve ever done, and as such I’m keen it isn’t stranded in a techhead and rich-gonk ghetto. This is an upgrade for any PC gamer, not purely for the well-monied ‘performance enthusiasts’ who get a bit worryingly sweaty when looking at bar charts. More

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< >Wondering what Google’s answer to Amazon’s cloud music player for Android will look like? Then it would seem you now have your answer –the Tech From 10 website somehow managed to receive a developer version of the Android Market, which allowed it to download Android Music 3.0 and try it out for themselves. That site’s unfortunately down at the moment (along with the download of the app itself that it was providing), but it doesn’t look like there’s too many surprises to be found. Things are almost identical to the existing Android Music player in terms of appearance, while the settings menu has expectedly been augmented with various streaming-related options. Android Market itself has also apparently been tweaked slightly, and the developer version included a few other surprises as well, including new camera and desk clock apps. Unfortunately, we haven’t yet been able to try it out ourselves, but you can keep an eye on the source link below for the downloads to return.

Update: Looks like Droid Life is also hosting some downloads of its own. You can find them here.

Thanks, Joe

Google’s new cloud-based Android Music app leaks out originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Get ready for a nuclear-powered spacecraft—maybe! The Russian Federal Space Agency says that it will hold talks with Nasa and a number of countries on April 15 to see if they can’t get started on creating a “nuclear engine” by 2012. Such an engine, it’s believed, would only cost around $600m to develop.

There’s a few issues here, and the first is the expectation that people will freak out upon hearing “nuclear-powered spacecraft,” particularly after what’s happened in Japan these past few weeks. Odds are we won’t be able to travel to far-off world using currently available engines, so if we’re serious about getting off this planet—let’s not forget Stephen Hawking’s warning—we’re going to have to seriously think about bigger, more powerful engines.

Whether or not the engine being proposed by Russia will be used for propulsion or merely to generate electricity is unclear.

What is clear, however, is that Nasa isn’t exactly hurting for nuclear engine designs. It’s just a matter of sorting out the funding, and possibly trying to calm the nerves of the public.

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Read More:
Working With Nasa, Russia To Propose Nuclear Spacecraft

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All systems: The next version of Ubuntu’s Linux desktop, due out April 28, will feature some really big changes, including a very new desktop shell running Unity, a “Test Drive” for apps, and a default LibreOffice installation. Try it all out and see how it runs with the public beta. More

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Yes, the times are changing. Yes, we’ve cut back on purchasing CDs, DVDs, and BDs lately. Yes, we still have plenty of discs lying around in jewel cases on dusty shelves or in enormous three-ring binders. And yes-most definitely yes-we want to be able to access all these movies and songs from our PC, television, and our shiny new smartphone. More