Tuesday, December 14, 2010

IT News HeadLines (Engadget) 13/12/2010

Creative ZiiO 10 follows little brother into the halls of FCC
Two haikus:
FCC archives,
The Creative ZiiO 10.
Seven was there first.

Manual reminds
A lack of Android market.
Gallery's below.
Gallery: Creative ZiiO 10 in FCC
Creative ZiiO 10 follows little brother into the halls of FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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MSI to reintroduce WindPad tablets at CES, claims Oak Trail improves performance and battery life
You'll remember that back at Computex MSI introduced two tablets or so-called WinPads -- there was the Windows 7 / Atom slate and another one of the Android / ARM variety. Well, MSI is planning to resurrect those with some slight improvements for CES, and this time it's gearing up to actually release them both. First up is the 10.1-inch Windows 7 Home Premium version, which will be one of the first Intel Atom Oak Trail-powered devices out there, says the company. According to MSI's Director of North American Sales Andy Tung, Intel's tablet solution does show both battery life and performance improvements over the current Atom chips, but it's "not extremely significant." Based on our discussion with Tung, we got the feeling that it's a step in the right direction for Atom but still not as long-lasting as it needs to be to compete with ARM-based tablets. Beyond that, the tablet measures less than an inch thick and will have a 1024 x 600-resolution, multitouch display, mini-HDMI and mini-USB ports, an SD card slot, and an accelerometer. Tung wasn't ready to reveal pricing, but he said it should be available in early 2011.

On the Android side of things, MSI's got a dual-core Tegra 2-powered 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800-resolution slate prepped with the same selection of ports and features -- although, this one is slightly thinner and also has a drop-proof design. So, what version of Android will it run? Well, that depends on Google's timing, says Tung. If Android 3.0 or Honeycomb is available by the February / March timeframe MSI will go with that option -- however, if it's not, it will go with Gingerbread, so it can hit the market earlier in 2011. We have to say both tablets sound rather intriguing, but will they be able to go up against the hundreds of others coming at CES: The Tablet Year? We'll know more in Vegas, that's for sure!
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Cobra's PhoneLynx BT 215 Bluetooth adapter keeps your RCA landline handset ringing (in a sense)
So, your RCA 25055RE1 cordless landline phone is a lot more comfortable to hold upside your cranium for hours on end compared to that [insert smartphone here], but you aren't about to reinstate the phone service that you axed half a decade ago. What's a boy (or girl) to do? Enter Cobra's PhoneLynx BT 215, a Bluetooth-to-home phone adapter that funnels any call you receive on your cellphone to any handset that you connect to the peripheral. Better still, it's capable of distributing calls to multiple landline handsets at once, enabling the whole family to talk to Uncle Rickie when he phones in this holiday season. Oh, and did we mention that it creates a dial tone when you pick up the aforesaid RCA handset while also pushing calls out via your cellphone? You can get your retro on now for around $35.
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Eizo announces more detail on glasses-free 3D DuraVision LCD, releases more pics of this BBW
Eizo announces more detail on glasses-free 3D DuraVision LCD, releases more pics of this BBW
You admired its bezels two weeks ago when Eizo released the first details to the world, now wonder at its full specs and more details. The company has released a spec sheet confirming the 1920 x 1080 resolution and 23-inch size, also detailing how it works. The monitor uses a directional backlight and a time lag to effectively hit each eye individually through the same pixel, enabling that high resolution in a small panel but still delivering glasses-free performance. Eizo pledges no moiré, color distortion, or other issues typically seen in glasses-free displays, but this tech will surely not come cheap when it ships in the second quarter of 2011. How do we know? Anticipated applications for the FDF2301-3D include scanning electron microscopes and semiconductor inspections -- playing Killzone 3 is sadly not listed.
Gallery: Eizo Duravision FDF2301-3D
Permalink   |  sourceEizo  | Email this | Comments
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Senate approves Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, ensures a future for noise pollution
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/24/prius-gets-optional-underhood-zombie-deterring-noisemaker-soun/
If you've been lucky enough to occupy the driver's seat of a hybrid or electric vehicle you've surely enjoyed the bliss that comes from smoothly and silently pulling away from a stoplight. You've also, surely, run over at least a couple of pedestrians while doing it. (We hit at least eight of the poor souls during our latest Volt test drive.) Sadly, here comes John Kerry and the rest of the US Senate to ruin our Carmageddon-esque fun. The Senate has unanimously approved the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, which requires:
...minimum level of sound emitted from a motor vehicle that is necessary to provide blind and other pedestrians with the information needed to reasonably detect a nearby electric or hybrid vehicle operating at or below the cross-over speed
How much sound? Well, they haven't figured that out yet, nor have they figured out up to what speed it must be required, nor what sort of noise is required, but by golly there will be noise. Those answers will in theory be found through the course of a study that will take no more than 48 months to complete, leaving us wonder if current noisemaker options on the Volt, Leaf, and Prius will meet the need. Regardless, if you want a quiet car you'd better start your financing.
Permalink Autoblog Green  |  sourceGreen Car Advisor  | Email this | Comments
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Sony announces suite of SD cards for cameras that don't work with Sticks
Sony has announced three (count 'em) new series of SD cards, giving amateurs, pros, and prosumers alike even more choices on where to stick their pics. First up is the budget Essential Series in 2, 4, and 8GB capacities, offering Class 4 (4MB/s) speeds and little else. Next up is the similarly Class 4 Experience Series, which adds 16 and 32GB models to the list. Finally is the full-bore, Class 10 Expert Series in 8, 16, and 32GB capacities. This is obviously your choice for high bitrate HD recording (hello PMW-F3), but any should do just fine for taking pictures. All come with a handy "memo space" for those with petite handwriting and ultra-fine point pens, and all ship in January, but, alas, none have been assigned MSRPs just yet. Now, who said Sony doesn't like industry-standard formats?Continue reading Sony announces suite of SD cards for cameras that don't work with Sticks
Sony announces suite of SD cards for cameras that don't work with Sticks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 09:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Roku drops new firmware in time for the holidays, XR gets 1080p, Hulu optimization for all
Roku drops new firmware in time for the holidays, XR gets 1080p, Hulu optimization for all
If you're an owner of one of the early Roku XR units and have been left on the 720p bench while the newer models step up to full HD, it's time to get in the game. Roku has released a firmware update (2.9-b1509) that unleashes the necessary pixels on the XR, also including some niceties for those models that can already do 1080p. The full list is at the source link, but look for improved performance for viewing Hulu along with a suite of bug fixes. Leave your box running and it'll update itself, or if you want it now you can grab it manually under "Settings," "Player Info," "Check for Updates." Yeah, you know you want to.
Permalink Zatz Not Funny!  |  sourceRoku Forums  | Email this | Comments
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Aigo's iPhone 4 battery case internalizes your charge cable, InCase Snap Battery lightens the load
Our quest for the perfect iPhone 4 battery case continues apace with the Exolife Exogear presently holding the lead, slightly ahead of the Mophie Juice Pack Air and the Mili PowerSpring. Just like these fine selections, the Aigo aiPower i616 claims to "virtually double" battery life, but it's got another trick up its sleeve: a hidden USB ribbon cable for both charging and data built right into the case. Should you want for a longer sync cable than it provides on its own, there's also a second microUSB port built into the left side, as well as a switch for the external 1500mAh battery and a handy button to display its current level of charge. Not bad for a pleasantly comparable 125.8 x 62.6 x 17.25mm, nor the $80 asking price.

If you're looking for something a little more svelte, however, the $60 InCase Snap Battery might be more to your liking -- it adds a 900mAh battery in a soft-touch frame that InCase claims is the slimmest around. We can't say it looks like it offers much protection, only covering the corners and rear of the phone, but fashion has long been a harsh mistress to those who obey her siren call.
Permalink iLounge  |  sourceAigoMade, InCase  | Email this | Comments
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Google hides mathematical puzzle in Cr-48 video, rewards its solver with a laptop
Watching Google destroy Cr-48 laptops for fun can't have been easy for any of you, but it turns out that the wily geeks of Mountain View had a clandestine purpose to their malevolence after all. An equation, scribbled out in old school chalk in the background of one scene, attracted the attention of a Sylvain Zimmer, who, together with a group of like-minded geeks, set about trying to solve it and discover its meaning. A full day's worth of cryptographic work later, Sylvain was left with a set of numbers he was able to convert into letters, which in turned spelled out "speed and destroy." Appending goo.gl, Google's URL shortener, to the front of those words got him to a screen congratulating him for being "first to figure out our MENSA-certified puzzle" and promising to send him a Cr-48 laptop as his prize. Kudos to Sylvain... and to Google for being such irrepressible geeks.Continue reading Google hides mathematical puzzle in Cr-48 video, rewards its solver with a laptop
Google hides mathematical puzzle in Cr-48 video, rewards its solver with a laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 07:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Geek.com  |  sourceSylvain Zimmer  | Email this | Comments
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Google Latitude lands in iTunes App Store, for good this time
After making a false start last week, the official Latitude app from Google seems to have stuck its landing in the iTunes App Store. Surprisingly for an initial release, Latitude is already showing a 2.0.0.346 version number demonstrating, perhaps, just how long this one's been waiting for Phil Schiller's sanction. Whatever the case, there's never been a better opportunity for iOS 4 users to track down their very own Ana Leftin.
Google Latitude lands in iTunes App Store, for good this time originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 06:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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World's first Nissan Leaf delivered -- it's black, like the future of gas-powered cars
Somebody at Nissan knows how to keep to a calendar, it seems, as the promised December US deliveries of the Leaf began over this weekend. A big deal was made out of the first one's arrival, a shiny black number purchased by Olivier Chalouhi from the San Francisco Bay Area, which will be accompanied by Leafs landing across the other launch markets of Arizona, Southern California, Oregon, Seattle, and Tennessee. A second batch of Nissan's all-electric hatchbacks is coming on December 20th, with the company promising a nationwide US launch for 2012. In the meantime, Hawaii and Texas will be the next locales to join the fun early in 2011 and reservations will be reopened soon thereafter. Sadly, some "additional markets" are expected to be pushed into the latter half of the year -- guess Nissan knows how to use a calendar to mark off its delays too.Continue reading World's first Nissan Leaf delivered -- it's black, like the future of gas-powered cars
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CE Oh no he didn't!: Time Warner chief likens Netflix threat to Albanian army
Think the relationship between Netflix and cable and content executives is amicable? Not. Even. Close. Certainly not after Netflix CEO Reed Hastings blazed a trail into the living room on the strength of the company's streaming television and movie content originally made possible by a shrewd 2008 deal with Starz. A move that netted streaming access rights to Sony and Disney content for an estimated $25 million -- next to nothing compared to the traditional licensing fees charged to cable operators. That deal is set to expire in 2011 and could cost Netflix as much as $250 million a year to renew. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes thinks that Netflix's days at the top are numbered having been made possible by an era of experimentation that's now ending. "It's a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world?" said Bewkes, "I don't think so." According to the New York Times, the comments were made last week as UBS sponsored a media conference in New York that it says turned into a "platform for executives to express their grievances and emphasize that they will now aggressively try to tilt the economic balance between Netflix and content creators back toward the media conglomerates." Wow. Don't worry though Netflix subscribers, we're sure that the implied collusion is the good kind.
CE Oh no he didn't!: Time Warner chief likens Netflix threat to Albanian army originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink   |  sourceNew York Times  | Email this | Comments
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LG's E90 monitor slims down to 7.3mm thickness by stuffing everything into its excessively glossy base
LG's just announced a new desktop visualizer for us all and it looks a promising proposition with its stupendously thin 7.3mm profile and minimal bezels surrounding the screen. But wait, it can't be all good news and it's not, as LG's also decided to apply an ultra-glossy finish to the E90, which should easily neutralize any understated appeal it might otherwise have had. As usual with these ultraslim displays, most of the electronics are encased in the E90's base, though the specs themselves don't seem to be showing any sacrifices. You're looking at an LED-backlit panel with a 2-millisecond response time, a 1920 x 1080 resolution (on the 21.5-inch E2290V), 250 nits of brightness, analog, digital and HDMI inputs, a 10,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and a €329 ($435) MSRP. It should be available at some point later this month, see video of its appearance at IFA this year after the break.Continue reading LG's E90 monitor slims down to 7.3mm thickness by stuffing everything into its excessively glossy base
Permalink   |  sourceakseroma (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments
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PS3 to start streaming ITV and Channel 4 content in the UK this week
Our British mates aboard the VOD ship may look a little cheerier today as The Guardian reports both ITV and Channel 4 -- two of the nation's foremost commercial channels -- are bringing their video catchup services to the PlayStation 3. The ITV Player and 4OD have been available as web-based services for a while, but they've both now agreed deals with Sony, who projects their overall traffic will improve by around 10 percent as a result. ITV's leaving the door wide open for adding its content to "other consoles," web-connected TVs, and tablets like the iPad, whereas Channel 4 has found Microsoft unforthcoming about Xbox 360 deals and the Wii inhospitable because it doesn't support advertising. For its part, Sony's clearly making a big content push, having recently welcomed Lovefilm into the fold and completed the rollout of its Qriocity on-demand facility across Europe. Does anyone even play games on these things anymore?
PS3 to start streaming ITV and Channel 4 content in the UK this week originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 03:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink   |  sourceThe Guardian  | Email this | Comments
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Google's Teach Parents Tech site to help mom and dad find the 'any' key this Christmas?

It happens every December. You head home for the holidays only to be accosted by parents who need help fixing their computers. This year, it looks like Google will be lending a hand with its unannounced Teach Parents Tech series of public service videos. The Google-registered website teachparentstech.org still shows a "coming soon..." graphic and the videos remain unlisted on YouTube, but that shouldn't stop you from sending the source link below to your parents right now. At the moment, we're counting 54 cross-platform how-to videos hosted by real live Google employees. The videos are brief (less than a minute) covering topics as simple as "how to copy and paste" and "how to attach a file to an email" to more advanced sessions covering "how to setup an email autoresponder" and even "how to find cheap flights." Unfortunately, even Google can't explain to parents how to create a FAT32 hard drive partition. See what we mean after the break.

[Thanks, Nathan G.]Continue reading Google's Teach Parents Tech site to help mom and dad find the 'any' key this Christmas?
Permalink   |  sourceTeach Parents Tech (YouTube), teachparentstech  | Email this | Comments
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Swap Rebel watch phone laughs at your wrist-mounted iPod nano
Apple's iPod nano and the Sony Ericsson LiveView may have disappointed as wrist computers, but our Dick Tracy dream soldiers on, to the point where we found ourselves taking another look at that most dubious of converged devices: the watch phone. There, we discovered the Rebel, the latest creation from UK manufacturer Swap, a quad-band GSM wrist unit with a 1.46-inch color touchscreen and a built-in camera for both video and stills. It may look like a sterile medical wristband, but that silicone strap actually hides a USB port on one end, the better to let you transfer your MP3s and MP4 video to its paltry 2GB of expandable microSD storage. The watch also does FM radio, beams audio to your Bluetooth headset and comes with the typical smattering of basic apps. Still, there's not a lot for the asking price of £189 (about $300) so you'd best be head over heels in love with the design. PR after the break, more images at our source link.Continue reading Swap Rebel watch phone laughs at your wrist-mounted iPod nano
Swap Rebel watch phone laughs at your wrist-mounted iPod nano originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 02:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink DVICE  |  sourcesWaP  | Email this | Comments
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US Military bans removable media again, this time probably for good
The US military has officially solidified its reputation as a flake, by banning the use of all removable media including thumb drives, CDs and DVDs again on its Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRnet) after relaxing the same policy in February. To prove they meant business this time, senior officers in each branch relayed the orders and reaffirmed personnel would risk of court-martial if they failed to comply. This seems silly to us considering Uncle Sam feels comfortable giving some cell phones access to secure data, and we all know how much damage losing one can cause. But then again, if history and Transformers are any indication, sometimes it's these little things that cause bigger breaches than anything Cyber Command focuses on stopping.
US Military bans removable media again, this time probably for good originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 01:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink SlashGear  |  sourceWired  | Email this | Comments
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Apple mysteriously kills jailbreak detection API while hacker boosts iOS security, irony restored
It's no secret that Apple's been keen to monitor the lot of naughty jailbreakers, but it turns out the company has recently shelved iOS 4.0's jailbreak detection API with no explanation given. While this has little effect on the average user, Network World explains that this is bad news for enterprise IT and MDM (mobile device management) vendors, who will now have one fewer channel for checking whether a user's iOS device has been jailbroken and thus become vulnerable to attacks. That said, apparently this isn't a huge loss for the MDM vendors, anyway; but the real question is why drop the API now? Could its presence alone be a threat? We'll probably never know.

Fear not, though, as some folks have put jailbreaking to good use. The Register reports that come Tuesday, Stefan Esser of Sektion Eins will demonstrate a tool called antid0te, which reportedly adds ASLR (address space layout randomization) onto jailbroken iOS devices. In a nutshell, ASLR randomizes key memory locations to make it more difficult for certain attacks to locate their target data. According to the famed white hat hacker Charlie Miller, this technique is already present on Windows Phone 7 and desktop Windows since Vista, but Apple's only dabbled with it on OS X and not on iOS. Now, this doesn't mean that jailbroken devices will be fully safeguarded, but some protection is better than no protection, right?

[Thanks, wooba]
Permalink   |  sourceNetwork World, The Register  | Email this | Comments
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CE-Oh no he didn't!: GM's Dan Akerson says he 'wouldn't be caught dead in a Prius'
Think GM's CEO sees the Toyota Prius as a worthy competitor that, in many ways, paved the way for the Chevy Volt? Think again. Speaking to the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. this week, GM CEO Dan Akerson described Toyota's hybrid as a "geek-mobile," and flatly declared that he "wouldn't be caught dead in a Prius." Not surprisingly, it didn't long for Toyota to respond to that slam, with a company spokesman telling The New York Times that "Toyota has sold more than two million Prius hybrids worldwide, and counting. Those buyers can't all be geeks." What's most troubling to us about all of this, however, is the implication that a "geek-mobile" is somehow a bad thing -- it sounds pretty awesome to us... geeks.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: GM's Dan Akerson says he 'wouldn't be caught dead in a Prius' originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 23:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink   |  sourceBoston.com, New York Times  | Email this | Comments
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IDEO constructs RFID turntable, hearkens back to mixtapes of yore (video)
Once upon a time, you could touch your music -- or at least caress a 7- or 12-inch vinyl disc -- but these days the cool kids stream MP3s (and OGGs, and APEs) off the internet. However, design studio IDEO recently decided to see if they could get back in touch with their audio roots, and -- taking a page right out of the industrial design treatise I Miss My Pencil -- they built the above machine. To put it simply, what you're looking at is a box filled with specially-angled Arduino Pro Mini boards constantly searching for RFID tags on top, and a set of cards each with two RFID tags, with each tag representing one song. When you drop one on the turntable, it begins playing within a second, thanks to the clever array of Arduinos underneath, and you and your High Fidelity soulmate can leave multiple cards on the table to create an impromptu mixtape, or, presumably, flip one of the "cassettes" to play Side B. It's a good thing IDEO isn't selling the device and packs of cards, because we're afraid we'd be compelled to collect them all, and our poor wallet doesn't need any more heartbreak. Don't miss the video below!Continue reading IDEO constructs RFID turntable, hearkens back to mixtapes of yore (video)
IDEO constructs RFID turntable, hearkens back to mixtapes of yore (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink   |  sourceCore77  | Email this | Comments
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Inhabitat's Week in Green: electric vehicles gear up to race, Apple's new HQ, and living architecture
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.
This week we revved up Chevrolet's Volt and hit the streets for an elusive test drive of the hotly-anticipated electric vehicle. We also saw electric aviation soar to new heights as the pint-sized Cri-Cri airplane broke the electric aircraft speed record. The world of EV racing is also picking up the pace as GreenGT unveiled an all-electric supercar for the Le Mans race and Honda's CR-Z Hybrid beat out scores of gas-guzzling autos in a 25 hour vehicular marathon.

High-tech architecture broke new ground as Apple announced that world-renowned architect Norman Foster is designing its new headquarters, and researchers revealed work on a living skin that could one day reinforce buildings and infrastructure with a hard, coral-like armored coating. We also watched as a crop of gorgeous bubble gardens popped up in the streets of Paris, and an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn was updated with a high-tech transforming facade.

In other news, this week the energy world was buzzing about a new type of organic solar cell inspired by wasp exoskeletons, and the largest photovoltaic plant in the United States officially opened in Nevada. We also saw several eco technologies take hold on the home front: researchers developed a hot solar-piezoelectric hybrid fiber that could be used to create energy-generating clothes, and Lavish & Lime rolled out a cute set of digital shower timers that are perfect for kids.
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Motorola's 10-inch Honeycomb tablet meets Mr. Blurrycam, shows off Verizon logo
By now you're probably familiar with this slate, seeing as how Google's Andy Rubin recently unveiled it on stage, but we're willing to bet you've never seen the top edge -- you know, the part now bearing a front-facing webcam and a conspicuous Verizon tattoo. Yes, this is Motorola's 10-inch Honeycomb tablet, and it's playing for Team Red just as foretold, though the tipster who obtained these images isn't sure whether it will bear the name Stingray, Everest or even potentially "Trygon." Spec-wise, we're told our previous tipster was right on the money, and it'll have a 1GHz Tegra 2 T20, a gyroscope and 32GB of storage underneath that 1280 x 800 multitouch screen, as well as 512MB of RAM and a slot for an up-to-32GB microSD card. It also sure looks like there's a micro-USB jack, a mini-HDMI port and a 3.5mm headphone socket, as well as some contacts for a likely dock, though as always Mr. Blurrycam's handiwork is such that we can't quite tell. No matter -- see for yourself in the gallery below.

Update: What's that button on the back of the unit, right next to the speaker and dual LED flash? Why, it's the power toggle, of course.
Gallery: Motorola and Verizon's 10-inch Honeycomb tablet


[Thanks, wnrussell]
Motorola's 10-inch Honeycomb tablet meets Mr. Blurrycam, shows off Verizon logo originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 19:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sphero toy ball rolls itself, you control it with your smartphone
Don't have the airspace required for an AR.Drone? Gearing up for its CES 2011 debut, Sphero is a small, robotic toy ball made by Orbotix, and controlled remotely via Bluetooth and your smartphone's tilt sensor. A ball that moves by itself? Call us lazy (too lazy to roll a ball even), but we think this is a toy whose time has come. Sure, the whole thing is pretty straightforward, although we hope that once iPhone and Android developers get ahold of that open API we'll see plenty in the way of augmented reality gameplay: a maze or a racing game of some sort would make this thing quite coveted, in our opinion. Catch a video of the prototype in action after the break.
Continue reading Sphero toy ball rolls itself, you control it with your smartphone
Sphero toy ball rolls itself, you control it with your smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 18:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Gizmodo  |  sourceOrbotix  | Email this | Comments
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Toshiba's new glasses-free 3D display tilts images and viewing angles your way (video)
Autostereoscopic (read: glasses-free) 3D screens sound like all the rage, but the narrow zones from which you can comfortably view their images have made them a dubious proposition. That's not stopping Toshiba Mobile Display, however, which recently came up with a novel idea for a self-adjusting display. By sticking a six-axis accelerometer in this 12.1-inch slate, the company can tilt the tablet's viewing angle as the tablet itself is tilted, letting viewers effectively look around 3D objects on screen, using software algorithms rather than the fancy lens-and-camera assembly that Microsoft's been prototyping. Toshiba figures it'll make a splash with e-tailers -- because who doesn't want to play with a prospective purchase in 3D space? -- but is mostly talking up the tech as a way to extend the limited 3D viewing angles of these sorts of displays. But enough jabber: see it for yourself after the break.Continue reading Toshiba's new glasses-free 3D display tilts images and viewing angles your way (video)
Permalink   |  sourceDigInfo TV  | Email this | Comments
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SpaceX Dragon's secret payload revealed: Le Brouere cheese (video)
It looks like the Air Force isn't the only organization with its secrets. While we still don't know the exact nature of the testing the X-37B space plane underwent during its seven months in orbit, we have learned what, exactly, the SpaceX Dragon was carrying during its time spent in low-earth orbit. That's right: a wheel of Le Brouere, a French variant of the Swiss Gruyere, a hard yellow cheese made from cow's milk. It's also a reference to a Monty Python sketch -- but you probably knew that already. You've seen the launch, so how about checking out the sketch that so amused Elon Musk? Well, you're in luck -- it's after the break.
Continue reading SpaceX Dragon's secret payload revealed: Le Brouere cheese (video)
SpaceX Dragon's secret payload revealed: Le Brouere cheese (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink   |  sourceThe Register  | Email this | Comments
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Speakal's Cool iPig blasts iPod tunes with extra badassitude
You have to go to great lengths these days to distinguish your iPod dock from the teeming horde, but that's exactly what Speakal did here. To state the obvious, it's a pig, wearing sunglasses, and filled with stereo components. The beast has four-watt stereo drivers for eyes, a down-firing 15 watt subwoofer in the belly, controls in the snout, and ports in the tail region. There's also an internal lithium ion battery good for up to eight untethered hours on a charge. We're not sure what would possess you to buy the hog, especially for its $150 asking price, but it could be just the item you've been looking for to bolster your eccentric reputation... or ward off particularly annoyed fowl.
Speakal's Cool iPig blasts iPod tunes with extra badassitude originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 12:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink DVICE  |  sourceSpeakal  | Email this | Comments
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Northrop Grumman's 100 kilowatt laser fired for six hours (update)
100 kilowatts of piercing light isn't something to sneeze at, even fired for just a few seconds, but Northrup Grumman's long-awaited weapons-grade laser recently ran for a full six hours. That milestone is the feather in the company's cap as it prepares to ship the hulking machine to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, where it will presumably begin doing what it does best -- turning things into crispier, more exploded versions of themselves in no time flat. PR after the break.

Update: Though we originally read this to mean that the potent ray fired for six hours straight, Northrup Grumman has since informed us that's not quite the case. "The correct info is that the 100kw solid-state laser has operated for a total of 60 minutes over a period of months as we continued refining it and preparing it for relocation to White Sands Missile Range," said a company rep, who promised to explain the nuances of military-grade lasing on Monday. We'll let you know what we hear.Continue reading Northrop Grumman's 100 kilowatt laser fired for six hours (update)
Northrop Grumman's 100 kilowatt laser fired for six hours (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 03:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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