IT News HeadLines (Engadget) 19/07/2010

Zune Pass for UK gets briefly teased, priced?

If the above picture is to be believed, it looks like Microsoft's Zune Pass is gearing up to make its UK debut. An across-the-pond tipster via LiveSide apparently stumbled upon (and was able to successfully score the 14-day trial) a Subscription page with pricing tiers. In addition to the tryout period, there were also options for a £8.99 (about $13.74) one-month pass and £26.97 / $41.23 for three. Further details are just barely hinted at in the sidebar, but if it's anything like the US progenitor, we're looking at an all-you-can download music service and ten DRM-free MP3s each month, playable on Windows, Xbox 360 (soon), Zune devices (still not available outside US), and Windows Phone 7. We know Microsoft is planning to move its "challenging" music service into every country its phones will venture, but that little tidbit doesn't absolve this image of scrutiny. Try as we might, our UK editors are unable to find this screen anywhere. According to the original tipster, even though he has access to the trial, he still can't use it. We'll keep digging and will let you know what we find.

[Thanks, Ian]

Zune Pass for UK gets briefly teased, priced? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DARPA-funded prosthetic arm reaches phase three, would-be cyborgs celebrate

Last we heard from Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, it wanted a neurally-controlled bionic arm by 2009. Needless to say, the school overshot that goal by a tiny bit, and have now been beaten (twice) to the punch. But DARPA sees $34.5 million worth of promise in their third and final prototype, which will enable the nine pound kit (with 22 degrees of freedom and sensory feedback) to begin clinical trials. Rechristened the Modular Prosthetic Limb, it will be grafted onto as many as five real, live persons, the first within the year. Using the targeted muscle reinnervation technique pioneered at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, patients will control these arms directly with their thoughts, and for their sakes and the fate of humanity, hopefully not the other way around. Press release after the break.Continue reading DARPA-funded prosthetic arm reaches phase three, would-be cyborgs celebrate

DARPA-funded prosthetic arm reaches phase three, would-be cyborgs celebrate originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raytheon's pain gun finally gets deployed in Afghanistan

It's been six long years since we first got wind of the Pentagon's Active Denial System, and four since it was slated to control riots in Iraq, but though we've seen reporters zapped by the device once or twice, it seems the Air Force-approved pain gun is only now entering service in Afghanistan. The BBC reports the device -- which generates a targeted burning sensation in humans -- is now deployed with US troops, though a military spokesman is assuring publications that it "has not been used operationally," and that the armed forces have yet to decide whether to actually use it. Wired reports the unit was plagued by technical and safety issues for years, not to mention political concerns, but as to that last we have to imagine even a semi-damaging heat ray beats the pants off lead-based alternatives.

Raytheon's pain gun finally gets deployed in Afghanistan originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vibrating auto seat alerts driver when cars get too close

Every time we turn around, auto manufacturers are developing loads of new displays and sensors. At what point does the driver hit sensory overload? That's the question that prompted John Morrell, an Associate Professor at Yale School of Engineering, to position twenty vibrating cellphone motors in a rectangular array inside the driver's seat. Several different warnings were devised, including positional warnings (someone approaching closely behind will set off the center of the array, while a car approaching from the left or right will set off the motors on your left or right, respectively). Preliminary tests were done on a simulator based on The Open Racing Car Simulator (TORCS) platform, and so far things look promising. "[T]he vibrotactile feedback improved drivers' performance over that attained by using the rearview mirror alone," according to Gizmag, "and also helped warn of vehicles hidden by the mirror blind spot." Now, if this could do double duty as a massage chair? Then we'd be onto something.

Vibrating auto seat alerts driver when cars get too close originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Captivate now shipping from AT&T, right on cue

Sure, the Samsung Vibrant came out three days earlier, but you don't care if T-Mobile customers beat you to the Galaxy S punch -- you're on AT&T, and it's about time you had (another) high-end Android smartphone to call your own. Our recent hands-on showed it was a bit sluggish, so you might want to wait for our full review, but if your heart's set on that 4-inch Super AMOLED screen and 1GHz Hummingbird core, you're only two clicks away from adding the Android 2.1 handset to your virtual shopping cart. Click one is our source link, immediately below.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Samsung Captivate now shipping from AT&T, right on cue originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Swype spotted swiftly slinging fingers across Windows 7 screens?

That's not your grandpappy's touchscreen panel, nor his standard Windows 7 input method of choice, oh no -- unless our eyes deceive us, we're looking at a 3M M2256PW ten-finger multitouch display, and on it, a genuine Swype keyboard. Though we've heard nothing about a partnership between Microsoft and Swype and we see nary a mention on the internet at large, there's no denying the idea -- spotted during last week's Internet Explorer demo at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference -- is an attractive one. The question is when and how Redmond might deliver such functionality to the existing OS... and if we might possibly see the same on the company's upcoming phones as well. See it in action at the source link, and fast forward to 2:58:30 for the goods. Trust us and skip ahead -- we've got a feeling you won't want to hear Microsoft kick this party off.

[Thanks, Abed R.]

Swype spotted swiftly slinging fingers across Windows 7 screens? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Droid X sold out online and scarce at retail

Verizon told CNET the company had "done everything possible" to ensure adequate supply of the Droid X, but there's apparently no anticipating the demand for a top-tier smartphone -- like the Droid Incredible before it, the giant 1GHz Motorola handset is already out of stock, both online (today's orders suffer a ten-day delay) and in many brick and mortar stores. Verizon confirmed the shortages in a communique to Android Central, saying the company was pleased with initial sales, and that though they were "successful at keeping up with early demand" supplies are presently "low or out." Tomorrow's just not going to work out, our anti-gravitational friend -- can we take a July 27th raincheck?

[Thanks, Haitham]

Droid X sold out online and scarce at retail originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Jul 2010 22:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC fires back at Apple antenna demo with percentage pew-pew

Apple's Friday press conference may have left a bad taste in some rival handset manufacturer's mouths, but not all of them are taking Cupertino's derision of their devices seriously -- HTC's Droid Eris was arguably the most affected by the grip of doom, its bars dropping to zilch when held, but the Taiwanese company's keeping any controversial opinions to itself for now. Instead, it's sharing a simple percentage to help clear the air. Whereas Apple claimed over 0.55 percent of customers called AppleCare with reception-related complaints, HTC's Eric Lin told Pocket-lint the Droid Eris technical support rate was 0.016 percent, nearly thirty-four times lower -- though even with a seven-month head start, we have to wonder if the Eris sold close to three million by the time Verizon brought the axe down.

HTC fires back at Apple antenna demo with percentage pew-pew originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zephyr solar UAV sets yet another flight record: 7 days and counting!

This certainly is an interesting time for solar powered flight. Solar Impulse just returned from a 26-hour manned test flight, and now QinetiQ's Zephyr, a drone who we last saw clocking over 83 hours in-flight is in the air again: this time, it's more like seven days and counting! The craft, which took off from the Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona last Friday, is being billed as an "eternal aircraft," one that can stay aloft for extremely long periods of time for use as recon and communications platforms. The previous world endurance record for a UAV was set by NASA's Global Hawk, which stayed aloft for 30 hours and 24 minutes.

Continue reading Zephyr solar UAV sets yet another flight record: 7 days and counting!

Zephyr solar UAV sets yet another flight record: 7 days and counting! originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Brother shakes up expectations with vibration-charged low-power batteries

Lithium-ion battery technology keeps improving by (theoretical) leaps and bounds, but what good's that to you when you're faced with a dead TV remote? Brother Industries has a plan, and it doesn't involve ink for once -- the Japanese printer company's developed a set of prototype batteries you simply shake to charge. AA and AAA models are already in the works, though you shouldn't expect to slot them into cameras or R/C cars, as the miniature electromagnetic induction generators inside are designed for infrequently used gadgets and provide as little as 10mW (or as much as 180mW) when shook. Of course, when it comes to TV remotes there's an even lazier way for couch potatoes to squeeze the juice, but we have to imagine standard-sized cells have a slightly better chance at market.

Brother shakes up expectations with vibration-charged low-power batteries originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone DSLR: the next generation (video)

Everything you know about awkwardly attaching SLR lenses to iPhones is wrong. This is how you do it. What started out as a quick and less-than-perfect mod of OWLE's Bubo iPhone mount by one Jeremy Salvador (pictured above) has turned into a collaboration between production company Vid-Atlantic and OWLE itself on a more finely tuned, iPhone 4-friendly prototype that delivers some truly impressive results. Sadly, the actual iPhone 4 version of the rig won't be available for a while yet, but you can get an idea of what will be possible with it after the break.

Continue reading iPhone DSLR: the next generation (video)

iPhone DSLR: the next generation (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG VL600 hybrid LTE / CDMA modem for Verizon clears FCC hurdle

Verizon has yet to publish a list of the launch devices customers in its first commercial LTE markets will be enjoying later this year, but if we had to guess, this sucker is a strong possibility. What you're looking at here is LG's VL600, a USB modem that'll do both LTE and CDMA in the same package -- in other words, it'll have you covered on Verizon for laptop data pretty much anywhere you go within the carrier's entire footprint. Judging from the size of the USB connector relative to the rest of the device's body, this might not be ridiculously large, either; typically, first-gen products like this are bordering on hilariously huge, but LG and others have had a really long time to ramp up to commercialization of their LTE products, so we're cautiously optimistic for once.

LG VL600 hybrid LTE / CDMA modem for Verizon clears FCC hurdle originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic Lumix LX5 outed by tech support page, improvements are black and white

Panasonic may be pushing Micro Four Thirds tech these days, but that doesn't mean it's forgotten about the pocketable high-end -- in fact, full spec sheets and pictures have just leaked from the company's technical support website, detailing the unannounced latest in the Lumix LX lineup. The 10.1 megapixel DMC-LX5 doesn't have any revolutionary new features, sadly, but it certainly brings the 2008 LX3 predecessor up to spec in nearly every way, with a longer 3.8x optical zoom lens by Leica, 12,800 ISO mixed-pixel sensitivity and a familiar-sounding AVCHD Lite 720p video recording mode. Slightly heavier due to a larger 1250mAh battery, the camera supports SDXC memory cards this time round, has an anti-glare coating on the 3-inch LCD and thankfully replaces those bulky breakout component cables with a mini-HDMI out. There's also an optional electronic viewfinder and a jog dial on the back, but we don't want to ruin all your fun unearthing these gems; peruse the specs yourself at our source link.

Panasonic Lumix LX5 outed by tech support page, improvements are black and white originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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