DrumPants 2.0 is open source, still turns your pants into drums

That crazy DrumPants wearable tech we first saw in '07 -- the same one that raised 75 grand on KickStarter and was featured on Shark Tank in 2014 -- is back. Its creators have now turned to Indiegogo to fund the mass production of DrumPants version 2.0, which they claim is faster and stronger than its predecessor. Plus, it's now open source. The wearable, for those who've only just heard of it, isn't actually a pair of pants with drums (sorry to...

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Rockstar owner sues the BBC over upcoming GTA drama

When the BBC announced its plans to make a docudrama about Rockstar Games and the Grand Theft Auto franchise, we assumed it had the blessing of the games' creators. Not so. As IGN reports, Rockstar Games, via its parent company Take-Two Interactive, has filed a lawsuit against the broadcaster over trademark infringement. In a statement, the company says Rockstar Games "has had no involvement" with the project and that it's attempted "multiple times"...

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'Vidity' 4K movies you can download are coming later this year

At CES the long-brewing alliance to push Hollywood movies you can legally download, store and play across different devices finally surfaced, and now its system has a brand name: Vidity. As we learned in January, this is the doing of the Secure Content Storage Association -- a team up behind movie studios (Fox, Warner Bros.) and storage manufacturers (Western Digital, Sandisk) to create a system where users can download movies in the highest possible...

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Google Maps gets even more detailed traffic features

Google has updated Maps with more specific traffic alerts just in time to help you dodge Memorial Day traffic nightmares. The app can already route you around closures and other problems using crowdsourced traffic data, but now it'll give you an explanation for why a detour is recommended with a dismiss-able card. For instance, it'll let you know whether it's recommending a route because it's the fastest option, or because it helps you avoid an...

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Lenovo sold 60 million PCs in a year, but probably won't again

Lenovo's basement full of accountants has released the company's financial report for the last 12 months, and it's all smiles and dollar signs. After all, it increased the cash coming in through the front door, spent big to buy buy Motorola and IBM's server business and still made a $100 million quarterly profit. Even better, the outfit has now been the world's largest PC maker for two straight years, selling 60 million computers in the last 12...

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YouTube now supports 60 fps live streaming

YouTube blew more than a few minds last October when it rolled out 60 frame-per-second video playback on the site. Gamers especially flocked to the frame rate as it allowed for jutter-free playback of fast-paced titles like Call of Duty or Titanfall. Today, YouTube announced a new feature that is sure to make gamers even happier: 60 fps live streaming which will allow people to broadcast their online exploits in real-time. The new frame rate is...

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77mph is the speed record for poo-powered buses, apparently

Britain has several players in the fledgeling poop-bus industry, including one that literally shows people pooing, but a gauntlet has just been thrown by the town of Reading. Its very own cow manure-powered model, dubbed "Bus Hound," ran the track at nearly 77mph -- shattering the previous world mark of zero mph, because poo-bus records are not actually a thing. The UK Timing Association confirmed the attempt, such as it is, describing the bus'...

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Sky's new Kids section is a direct shot at Netflix

When the little ones are having a temper tantrum, kids TV is often your best line of defence. In the UK, that used to mean switching on CBBC or CITV, but in the internet age Netflix and YouTube rule supreme. After all, it means you can find the exact show or movie that's likely to put a smile back on the little tikes' faces. That could spell trouble for Sky, so the broadcaster is revamping its child-centric on-demand offerings. A software update...

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Google launches Hispanic coding initiative in eight US cities

The Hispanic Heritage Foundation's (HHF) president, Jose Antonio Tijerino, thinks that "seeing a latino programmer shouldn't be akin to seeing a unicorn," so his group is trying to do something about it. Together with Google, it launched Code as a Second Language (CSL) courses in eight cities, including New York, Las Angeles and Miami. The idea is to introduce students to coding through 1-2 hour sessions, then steer them to the LOFT (Latinos on...

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Britain now prefers cashless payments to notes and coins

It's taken a while, but the UK is now primarily cashless. No, it's not all-digital, but for the first time, consumers and businesses are making more payments with cards, smartphones and online banking than standard notes and coins. That's according to the Payments Council, which found that 52 percent were completed without physical currency, with debit cards accounting for almost a quarter (24 percent) of all payments. Despite the change in overall...

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Nintendo kills off the basic Wii U in Japan

Nintendo is about to halt production of its 8GB Wii U Basic in Japan, according to a notice on its product site. The white-clad product has been around since 2012, but was never super popular since the 32GB version is typically only $50 more. In fact, the rumor mill had it being killed off two years ago after it went out of stock at GameStop and Best Buy, though Nintendo later called that a "misperception." Somehow the model has hung on until now,...

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Amazon's one-hour delivery service now features local stores

When it's not busy sending its delivery personnel on the New York subway, Amazon has quietly been working to expand its one-hour delivery service. From today, customers in Manhattan, the company's first Prime Now location, can shop at a number of local businesses and have fresh food delivered within 60 minutes. D'Agostino, Gourmet Garage and Billy's Bakery are the first companies on board, offering groceries, cooked meals and freshly baked cupcakes...

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Oculus VR figures out how avatars can mimic your facial expressions

Imagine a VR game where your avatar can laugh, smile or frown as you do while interacting with other players -- sounds fun, right? Well apparently, that kind of face-tracking tech already exists. Facebook's Oculus division has teamed up with University of Southern California researchers to develop a way to track your facial expressions while wearing a chunky VR headset. What they did was insert strain gauges within the the Rift's foam padding to...

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Americans are using more energy, but green tech is softening the blow

It may be tough to satisfy the US' seemingly never-ending thirst for energy, but clean power sources are at least helping to soften the impact. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have determined that Americans' energy use climbed 1 percent year-over-year in 2014, but its carbon emissions hardly budged at all. In fact, they were down significantly for coal and petroleum-based power. While some of that decline is due to industry...

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Hey ladies, this German billboard wants to sell you a beer

Here in America, women are far more likely to be featured in a beer commercial than actually targeted by one. However in Germany, Astra brand beer is focusing specifically on female drinkers with an unusual and automated billboard that speaks only to them. Developed by the Philipp und Keuntje ad agency and starring German comic star Uke Bosse, these billboards will only activate when women pass by. Each electronic sign is outfitted with a small...

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Windows 10 beta on Xbox One coming 'post-summer'

Want a taste of Windows 10 on your Xbox One? It's coming sooner than you might've thought. Xbox boss Phil Spencer tweeted today that a beta of the program that ties your console in with your desktop computer is coming "post-summer." Exactly what features it'll entail or a concrete timeframe (game streaming from Xbox to desktop, the Xbox Game DVR and Xbox Live) are anyone's guess at this point. That'll almost positively change come next month's Electronics...

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The US Navy wants to protect its drones against hacks

Cyberwarfare is bad enough by itself, but it's especially dangerous when military drones are involved. The last thing you want is a hijacked UAV that can give away your position or, worse, fire on your own troops. To that end, the US Navy is asking private companies for help with developing technology that protects drones, missiles and other airborne weapons against hacks. Whoever has the best proposal will (hopefully) craft systems that not only...

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90s web portal Lycos returns to sell its patents

Long before Google and eons ahead of Bing, Lycos was the Internet's search engine. In fact, the company was one of the first to implement spidered web indexing. And while Lycos hasn't made many headlines lately, the company still maintains an impressive portfolio of technology patents. Its patents are wide ranging enough that Google already got into trouble over old Lycos tech back in 2012 before winning its case on an appeal last year. On Wednesday,...

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Prosthetic foot only needs 'mind control' for movement

During a press conference in Copenhagen on Wednesday, prosthetics manufacturer Ossur announced the release of an implantable sensor that allows users to mentally control a mechanical limb. The technology, known as an Implanted MyoElectric Sensor (IMES) will allow users to move the company's motorized Proprio Foot just like they do the real thing. With an existing analog (or even powered) prosthesis, there's often an infuriating lag between intention...

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Your photos are more popular when you use filters, according to Yahoo

Whether or not you think photo filters represent creative assets or the death of photography as we know it, one thing's becoming increasingly clear: they're your ticket to popularity. Yahoo and Georgia Tech researchers have learned that filtered photos (at least, on Flickr) are 21 percent more likely to get views, and 45 percent more likely to receive comments. This doesn't mean that you can throw on any effect you like, mind you. Warmer-looking...

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Google Editions cases come with live wallpapers and a shortcut button

Before you dismiss this as a slow-day news post, hear us out: these aren't your run-of-the-mill phone cases. These are the first products Google has released under its new Editions project, a series of collaborations with artists to develop limited edition "live cases" for select Android phones. For this batch, Mountain View worked with electronic dance music producer/DJ Skrillex, who designed an outer space-inspired set. Now, here's the cool part:...

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Viber's calling and messaging app launches on Chromebooks

In order for Chrome OS to succeed, Google needs all the support it can get from developers. Hardware companies are certainly doing their part, namely by offering Chromebooks to people at affordable prices. That's why it's important when a popular service such as Viber launches on the platform, like today. Now users can start using the app to communicate with friends or family directly from their Chromebook, just as they would on iOS, Android or...

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White 'Halo' Xbox One bundle coming to the US

It's no secret that people love white gadgets. And in case you missed out on the Xbox One Sunset Overdrive bundle from last year, now's your chance to get one. Microsoft just revealed a kit that's loaded with a white version of the console, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, 500GB of storage and a 14-day Xbox Live Gold trial. The special edition is only available in the US and costs $350, which would save you about $50. But you better hurry if you...

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Trolls are using Twitter ads to push hate speech

As much as Twitter is doing to fight harassment lately, it's clear that ill-willed users are still slipping past the social network's defenses -- and sometimes, in very conspicuous ways. Users have spotted trolls using Twitter's promoted tweet ads to spread racist and anti-transgender messages, guaranteeing a wide audience for their hate. The company tells The Guardian that it's pulling these ads and suspending the offending accounts, but it's not...

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Gaming cooperatively makes you more sociable, say scientists

Gaming has well known dark sides, but it can also improve spatial skills, reduce stress and even bring families together. Two new studies may further confuse you about the benefits, with one concluding that gaming makes you friendlier in the real world, and another implying it could ruin your brain. First the plus side: Texas Tech researchers think that cooperative gameplay, whether in violent or non-violent games, makes people nicer. "We found...

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Robotic news writers are faster, but not necessarily better

Robotic news editors promise to save the trouble of picking and writing news stories (and might put people like me out of work), but are they really ready to replace human writers? Yes and no, if you ask NPR. The outlet held a showdown between Automated Insights' WordSmith news generator and a seasoned reporter to see which of the two could not only finish an earnings story quickly, but produce something you'd want to read. The results? WordSmith...

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A video for Konami fans who need a laugh, courtesy of Mega64

Konami has made some major, mysterious changes this year. It canceled Silent Hills, a horror game from Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, even after the exceptionally warm reception to its PlayStation 4 teaser, PT. Kojima himself is, in all likelihood, going to leave Konami after production wraps on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Plus, Konami delisted itself from the New York Stock Exchange and wants to...

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Teen arrested for breaking an entire school district's internet

A teenager from Idaho has landed themselves in hot water after arranging a takedown of their school district's internet access. KTVB News reports that the 17-year-old student paid a third party to conduct a distributed denial of service attack that forced the entire West Ada school district offline. The act disrupted more than 50 schools, bringing everything from payroll to standardized tests grinding to a halt. Unfortunate students undertaking...

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Verizon's old phone network will stick around for connected devices

It's no secret that Verizon wants to drop its legacy phone service like so much dead weight. But is the underlying CDMA network going to go away, too? Not for a long while, the carrier's Fran Shammo says. He explains that CDMA will hang around for "internet of things" devices (think appliances, cars and machinery), which need only "small bursts" of data to communicate. The newer LTE network is still top priority -- eventually, all of Verizon's cellphones...

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Xbox One Digital TV Tuner hits the US and Canada today

The Xbox One is already an entertainment powerhouse. But, starting today, those of you in the US and Canada will have the chance to get even more out of it. Microsoft has announced that the official TV tuner for its Xbox One, which lets people watch over-the-air channels directly from the console, is now available in these two countries. As a refresher, this feature first hit Europe last year, so it's taken a decent amount for it to arrive in North...

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Epic Games challenges VR devs to make sense of big data

We've seen a handful of neat ways to visualize big data and make it useful, and the folks behind Unreal Engine, Epic Games, think virtual reality is the next step for that. Currently a half-dozen international teams are taking part in the Big Data VR Challenge, and hope their expertise with games and VR will help 'em "find new ways to manipulate and interrogate" the massive amounts of info generated by science studies. As of now, projects include...

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Netflix's slicker web interface launches worldwide in June

Netflix on the web is about to get the sleeker, more polished design you're used to in its native apps. In the wake of a report that some viewers were already seeing a redesigned interface, the streaming service has confirmed to Engadget that it's officially launching its new front end worldwide in June. Teased as far back as January, the design scraps the old, store-like concept in favor of a more visual layout that helps you learn more about videos...

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Twitch brings on-demand video streaming to its mobile apps

Missed out on a live game tournament stream when you were at home, but want to catch up when you're on the road? As of now, you can. Twitch is pushing out updated Android and iOS apps that include video on demand, giving you highlights and past broadcasts when you're stuck on the bus. Both releases are available today, although it's important to note that you can't simply update the Android version -- a security fix requires that you install a brand...

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3D printing your own clothes just became (kinda) a reality

Unless the technology, somehow, proves to be drastically limited, 3D printing is likely to the genesis of a manufacturing revolution. Now, a team in San Francisco believes that it has taken another leap towards our utopian future by building a "3D printer" for our clothes. The team behind Electroloom hope that, a few years down the line, instead of trips to H&M, you'll be ducking into your basement with a set of drawings the next time you need...

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Hydrogen-powered drone will fly for hours at a time

Even the nicer drones you can buy typically last for just minutes in the air, which isn't much help if you're delivering packages or shooting movies. Horizon Unmanned Systems (HUS) thinks it has a solution, however: hydrogen power. Its recently unveiled Hycopter drone runs on a lightweight hydrogen fuel cell that should deliver up to 4 hours of flight time unloaded, and 2.5 hours when it's carrying 2.2 pounds of cargo. That still may not sound like...

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Comcast unlocks HBO and Showtime streaming to Amazon Fire TV

Streaming services that use a cable TV subscription have an annoying wrinkle, where sometimes the provider can block them from working in places for apparently no reason at all. For Comcast customers that was the case for HBO Go and Showtime on Amazon's Fire TV and Fire TV stick, but starting today that changes. Like the agreement it reached a few months ago with Roku, Comcast is suddenly playing nice with Amazon's streaming hardware. Unfortunately,...

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The top 12 tablets you can buy right now

It's true, we don't review quite as many tablets around here as we used to, but that doesn't mean slates have gone the way of the dodo. Microsoft's new Surface 3 is as much a budget PC as it is an iPad competitor, while Dell's sleek Venue 8 7000 reminds us that there's still a place for high-end tablets. Whether you're looking to update your own slate or pass one on to someone behind the curve, you'll find a summary of our top picks in the gallery...

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Hulu will have every episode of 'Seinfeld' on June 24th

After paying big bucks to lock up the show about nothing, Hulu has announced when we can expect to see Seinfeld: June 24th. Since it's a heavily syndicated show (and previously available in smaller portions on services like Crackle) you probably weren't lacking in ways to see Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, George and the rest but now you can skip your way through its 180-episode run at your leisure. Also, Hulu is figuring that if you're willing to subscribe...

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Microsoft is reportedly making a 'light-weight' mobile email app

Hey, Google: you might not be the only tech giant that can rethink email apps. Twitter user WalkingCat claims to have discovered a download page for Microsoft's "Flow by Outlook," an iPhone email app that's all about "rapid" and "light-weight" conversations. Reportedly, the software tosses out the usual trappings, such as subject lines and signatures -- you're supposed to use Flow almost like a chat client, and it only includes threads that started...

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Nintendo hired a guy named Bowser as its new VP of sales

You could say he's been a company man all his life. Filed under: Gaming, Nintendo Comments Source: Nintendo (Business Wire) from Engadget Full RSS Feed http://ift.tt/1efEY...

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Spotify automatically selects tunes to match the pace of your run

The addition of video and podcasts is great, but Spotify is looking to enhance workouts, too. Selecting the perfect tracks to match your run will be quite easy, now that the app now measures your pace and picks tunes in a matter of seconds. What's more, the Spotify Running feature will play nice with fitness apps like Nike+ and RunKeeper later this year, so you can keep tabs on progress while easily soundtracking that 5K. If you prefer to peruse...

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Spotify adds video and podcasts to keep listening habits in one place

At an event in New York City this morning, Spotify revealed more tools to enhance that daily listening experience. To keep all of the things you enjoy hearing in one place, the streaming service added podcasts to its feature set. If you'll recall, the addition was hinted at back in November, thanks to a bit of code in a test version of Spotify's app. That's not all, though, the company is tacking on video as well. This means that content providers...

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Spotify will play music, podcasts and video based on your mood

Spotify has been chipping away at the problem of choice for years now. When you have instant access to so many millions of albums at some point you cross over from being a perk, to being a hindrance. Its latest effort to expose people to new music and find the things they want is based around building automatic playlists based on the time of day and mood, not unlike Google and Rdio. But, unlike those services, Spotify isn't limiting itself to music....

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ZeroLemon channels the sun for 20000mAh charging versatility

Device portability is key for adventure tech, and chargers need to deliver serious punch per inch with versatility, to boot. The ZeroLemon SolarJuice 20000mAh Battery will charge your iOS, Android and USB-compatible devices with full rainproof/shockproof security confidence in all adventure conditions. The high-quality Lithium Polymer SolarJuice is powered by the sun (or standard outlet), storing an enormous amount of extra battery fuel for life...

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Uber poached Carnegie Mellon's robotics lab to make self-driving cars

Remember how Uber forged a partnership with Carnegie Mellon University to get its ambitions for self-driving cars off the ground? It turns out this deal wasn't exactly balanced. The Verge understands that Uber poached much of the autonomous vehicle team from Carnegie Mellon's robotics lab, including top staff who'd been there for more than a decade. There's a transition period that keeps these researchers around to finish existing work, but the...

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NASA wants to explore other planets with breadbox-sized satellites

Most CubeSats sent out to space by scientists and students end up orbiting the Earth -- that's pretty much their final destination. NASA, however, wants to use the diminutive satellites for missions that'll take them way beyond low-Earth orbit and right into another planet's atmosphere. Goddard technologist Jaime Esper is developing a concept called CubeSat Application for Planetary Entry Missions (CAPE) that's comprised of two modules and weighs...

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Sweden's 'dream home' crowdsourced from 200 million web searches

If you adore box-like, red houses with an open kitchen and around 1,200 square feet of space, guess what! You're an average Swede, apparently. Swedish real estate site Hemnet and architects Tham & Videgård came up with the design by crowdsourcing user preferences for size, number of rooms and floors, using 200 million clicks on 86,000 properties. "The result is partly a mathematical translation of the statistical 1.5 floors within a cubic volume,"...

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'Logjam' browser vulnerability fix will block thousands of websites

Researchers have discovered a new browser and website encryption vulnerability called Logjam, and there's good news and bad news. On the plus side, the vulnerability has largely been patched thanks to consultation with tech companies like Google, and updates are available now or coming soon for Chrome, Firefox and other browsers. The bad news is that the fix rendered many sites unreachable, including the main website at the University of Michigan,...

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Amazon's Fire TV Stick drops to £25 in the UK

If you're looking to buy a cheap streaming dongle, now might be a good time to reconsider Amazon's Fire TV Stick. Today, the company dropped the price of its Chromecast and Roku Streaming Stick competitor to £25 in the UK, which is £10 less than before. As we noted in our original review, there's a lot to like about Amazon's HDMI dongle. Unlike Google's Chromecast, it comes with a dedicated remote and a fleshed-out TV interface, which should appeal...

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