It’s getting to be that time of the year again — time for Sony to expand / refresh its Cyber-shot lineup. Say hello to the 14.1 megapixel T99 and the 12.2 megapixel WX5 and TX9. All three feature BIONZ processors and 32MB internal memory (no word on external options). The T99′s your underwater-capable option, capable of shooting sweep panorama shots submerged as well as 720p 30fps HD video — or if you want something of an upgrade, the TX9 is also snorkeling-friendly, but itself can tout Full HD 1080i video recording, a Sweep Multi Angle for “3D-style” imagine, and the 3D sweep panorama with which the NEX series was just graced . Another neat trick of the Tx9 is its “background defocus” that gives you the DSLR-like effect of sharp foreground images with a blurry background (c.f. most of our headlining phone review images ). If you’re willing to sacrifice water resistance for a 5x optical zoom and Sony G lens (the previous two feature 4x and Carl Zeiss) while still retaining TX9′s cool 3D tricks, you’re gonna want the WX5. At this point, they carry no price tag, but you’ve got a bit to wait anyway: the trio will all debut in mid-September. Gallery: Sony Cyber-shot TX9, T99, and WX5 Sony’s latest Cyber-shots boast 3D sweep panorama, background defocusing originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Intel’s latest Research Day has sprung up a new vision for ” smart ” vehicles; a vision that frankly chills us to our very geeky core. Cameras and sensors attached to an Intel Connected Car will record data about your speed, steering and braking, and upon the event of an accident, forward those bits and bytes along to the police and your insurance company. Just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn’t it? Don’t get us wrong, the tech foundation here is good — having cars permanently hooked up to the ether can generally be considered a good thing — but what’s being envisioned is as obtrusive as it is irritating. Oh, didn’t we mention that the cars can become self-aware and overrule you if you try to bend the rules of the road? Because they can. Intel Connected Cars will record your bad driving for posterity, take over if you’re really screwing up originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

See the bullet for HP’s new D110a Photosmart e-All-in-One that says, “HP ePrint for printing anywhere.” Well, you can ignore that for now. While HP proudly lists ePrint — the ability to print PDF, JPEG, and MS Office documents received as attachments from any email-capable device — as a flagship feature on its newest line of web-connected printers, it’s not a working feature and it won’t be until a software update is pushed out at the end of the month, according to support forums. Unfortunately, there’s no notice of this on HP’s own retail listing for the D110a (HP’s first ePrint-capable printer), Amazon, or in brick-and-mortar shops like Best Buy. And curiously, that trio of 5-star “customer reviews” on HP’s own site fail to mention the missing feature at all. Instead, owners will only discover this after calling the HP help desk or checking the growing list of disgruntled rants in HP or Amazon support threads. Not cool HP, not cool. [Thanks, Cliff W.] HP Photosmart D110a ePrint printer earns 5-star reviews despite lacking ePrint… wait, what? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 06:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Robonaut2 may have fantastic biceps , but raw muscle won’t put a man humanoid on the moon — that takes rockets. Rockets like the one in this RR-1 prototype lander, recently outfitted with a Guidance Embedded Navigator Integration Environment (GENIE) system to let the craft safely descend to the lunar surface. On June 23rd, NASA and partner Armadillo Aerospace put the system to the test, hoping its could figure out the complex algorithms necessary to process volumes of data from the laser altimeter, GPS and inertial sensors, and quickly enough to steer the rocket engine accordingly… but the machine performed like a charm. See its first solo flight in an inspiring, flame-filled video after the break, and skip to 4:12 for the good stuff. Continue reading NASA successfully tests autonomous lunar lander navigation system, codename GENIE (video) NASA successfully tests autonomous lunar lander navigation system, codename GENIE (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Jul 2010 21:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink