The litany of exciting Maker Faire products continues with MaKey MaKey, a device that turns anything capable of conducting electricity into a controller. Developed by MIT Media Lab students Jay Silver and Eric Rosenbaum, you simply run a bulldog clip from the board to an object and hold a connecting wire in your hand. Connecting over USB, it's entirely programming-free, but if you find your interest piqued, you can flip the board over to use the Arduino module baked into the hardware. It's already surpassed its original ,000 Kickstarter goal and when the run begins, you'll be able to pick up everything you need for just -- but if you can't wait that long, head on down to the Bay Area this weekend.

[Thanks, Ryan]

Continue reading MaKey, MaKey turns the whole world into a keyboard

MaKey, MaKey turns the whole world into a keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 01:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Chris Coyier highlights some of the reasons I default to Sass (and Compass) as my CSS preprocessors of choice.

Wondering how the launch of Samsung's Galaxy S III is going? According to the Korea Economic Daily, an unnamed Samsung executive revealed that the followup to its previous fastest selling phone has already racked up nine million pre-orders around the world. That would put it nearly halfway to the 20 million Galaxy S II's Samsung reported shipped back in February, and all without even officially moving a unit in the US yet. It's not that we're jealous of the rest of the world's abilities to lay their cash down for some quad-core Exynos action while we wait to hear about the likely (still awesome) dual-core LTE-equipped US carrier variants due this summer, but yes -- we're jealous the rest of the world already has the option of choosing Samsung's latest flagship phone. Once they do start shipping (assuming there's no delays in customs) there should be plenty to go around however, as Reuters' translation also indicates the company's factory is already cranking out five million units every month.

Samsung's Galaxy S III reportedly notches nine million pre-orders worldwide originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 23:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Workstations aren't normally our focus, but when Dell shows off a new Precision system that lets four media pros share its graphics hardware at once, you can be sure the company has our attention. If your IT chief springs for a Precision R5500 with four Quadro 2000 cards, each of those cards can take advantage of a graphics pass-through in Citrix's virtualization to render 3D models at speeds much more like what you'd get if the Quadro were sitting in your own PC. Before you have visions of four-player Modern Warfare parties after-hours at work, the inherent barriers of distance and the virtual machine itself will likely rule out any game sessions. We'd add that the Quadro, Xeon processor and the ,742 minimum price make it an expensive proposition. That engineering simulation will finish a lot faster, though, giving you a bit more time to play back home.

Continue reading Dell Precision R5500 lets four graphics pros work on one PC, we wish it did gaming

Dell Precision R5500 lets four graphics pros work on one PC, we wish it did gaming originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 22:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The University of Michigan has found that if you want someone to tell you the truth, you should text them. Dispensing with the lie detector for job interviewees, academics found that people gave more honest and detailed answers via SMS than over the phone. The team believes it's due to the lack of time pressure and not having to produce a pleasing answer for your interrogator. If the findings continue to provide similar results, it looks like Steve Wilkos could be replaced with a smartphone.

Texting: the truth serum of the 21st century originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sure, we'd seen a handful of other carriers in the UK have Sammy's GS3 up for pre-order, but that circle wouldn't be complete without a certain Magenta network. Worry not, though, as T-Mobile's joined the pre-order race and is now ready to swap your cash for a spanking-new Galaxy slab. Per usual -- at least across the pond -- you're likely to find a deal that's perfectly suited for you, with T-Mobile UK pricing the device as low £10.50 per month (£300 up front) and as high as £41 with the Full Monty on a 24-month deal -- of course, there's a plethora of different bundles to choose from. The carrier's site does note that if you order the goods now, unlike those lucky folks getting it on the 29th, delivery here is set for sometime after May 30th.

Samsung Galaxy S III now available for pre-order on T-Mobile UK originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sure, we'd seen a handful of other carriers in the UK have Sammy's GS3 up for pre-order, but that circle wouldn't be complete without a certain Magenta network. Worry not, though, as T-Mobile's joined the pre-order race and is now ready to swap your cash for a spanking-new Galaxy slab. Per usual -- at least across the pond -- you're likely to find a deal that's perfectly suited for you, with T-Mobile UK pricing the device as low £10.50 per month (£300 up front) and as high as £41 with the Full Monty on a 24-month deal -- of course, there's a plethora of different bundles to choose from. The carrier's site does note that if you order the goods now, unlike those lucky folks getting it on the 29th, delivery here is set for sometime after May 30th.

Samsung Galaxy S III now available for pre-order on T-Mobile UK originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you live in the UK and a 4G wireless tower is going up right next to your house, you might want to hold off on the excitement. LTE networks occupying the 800MHz spectrum could cause some serious interference (sound familiar?), capable of knocking out around two million households' free terrestrial TV channels. An independent company has been set up to lessen the effects of the wayward waves and is installing government-subsidized filters in residences across the country. But even its valiant efforts could leave up to 8,500 homes without Freeview, as non-traditional antenna setups aren't covered by the public fund. Meanwhile, eager Brits continue to patiently line up for some kind of semblance of a 4G network.

Forthcoming 4G networks could interfere with TV in 10 percent of UK homes originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.