Sifteo Cubes get FCC teardown, not so cute anymore
Sifteo's cute little gaming Cubes have grown up a lot over the past couple of months: they've undergone two name changes (from
Siftables to
Cubits to
Cubes), experienced the
gaming rites of passage at CES, and now these 1.5-inch full-color computers are making their FCC debut, including the ritual teardown. The not-so-cute internal photos show one of the Cubes, guts exposed, revealing a 32-bit ARM processor. Also buried in the FCC documents is evidence that the darling devices communicate with computers via a 2.4GHz USB dongle and sport a three-axis motion sensor. Sifteo's already sold out of its first round of pre-orders, but we're guessing we'll be seeing more of the adorable little guys sometime real soon.
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Yahoo: nonstandard IMAP implementation to blame for Windows Phone 7 data leak
Finally, what the world's been waiting for: an explanation from Yahoo regarding its role in
Windows Phone 7 Data Leakage-gate. (And we suppose that you have a better suggestion?) Here it is, in full:
Yahoo! Mail is widely available on tens of millions of mobile phones, including those running on Apple iOS, Android, Nokia Symbian, and RIM. The issue on the Windows Phones is specific to how Microsoft chose to implement IMAP for Yahoo! Mail and does not impact Yahoo! Mail on these other mobile devices. Yahoo! has offered to provide Microsoft a near-term solution for the implementation they chose, and is encouraging Microsoft to change to a standard way of integrating with Yahoo! Mail, which would result in a permanent fix.
Now, we know what you're thinking: why is everyone always picking on IMAP? But at least they're working hard on a fix, and in the end that's what really matters.
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The Daily iPad 'newspaper' launches, $.99 weekly or $39.99 per year
Rupert Murdoch's
iPad-only magazine
The Daily, once described as "
The New York Post Goes to College," is now a go. Launched at a
New York event this morning, it pledges to offer "the best of traditional journalism" with "the best of contemporary technology" like 360 degree photos and, naturally, lots of fancy multimedia content that is all pushed directly to the iPad every day. It's priced at $.99 per week or $39.99 annually and launches today, unsurprisingly with
Egypt taking the "cover" image. The team behind the new-age zine showed off plenty of that technology, including a magazine-like reading interface, letting you flip through pages or access a "carousel," that gives you a higher-level view of the pages for easy, virtual flipping.
The Daily also includes audio versions, with professional voiceover so you won't have to worry about GPS voice. It also features video overviews of all the content if you just don't have time for reading or listening. You can share stuff you like on Twitter or Facebook and others will be able to read those stories for free via the web, but not all the content, naturally. The site will offer app reviews and features with links right to the
App Store. Sports fans get full schedules and news updates for the teams they like. Again,
The Daily launches today, and we're told that the first two weeks will be courtesy of
Verizon. Good on ya, VZW.
Update: It's now available
in the App Store.
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Hyundai brings hydrogen vehicles to Europe, one free fleet at a time
Excited for the rise of
hydrogen economies, but can't wait
till 2015? If you work for the Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or Icelandic governments, you might get to see the future personally. Hyundai's signed a memorandum of understanding with the aforementioned four countries to deliver a test fleet of fuel cell electric vehicles, and the
Nikkei Shimbun is reporting that the company will personally foot the (possibly
quite reasonable) bill. Free hydrogen-powered SUV? Don't mind if we do!
Continue reading Hyundai brings hydrogen vehicles to Europe, one free fleet at a time
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Live from The Daily launch event, with Apple's Eddy Cue
Is the future of media an iPad-exclusive daily newspaper that's delivered automatically overnight using a new subscription service? We're here at the Guggenheim Museum in New York for the
launch of News Corp's The Daily to find out -- and Apple's VP of internet services Eddy Cue is scheduled to join Rupert Murdoch on stage, so things could get interesting. Join us, won't you?
Continue reading Live from The Daily launch event, with Apple's Eddy Cue
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Notion Ink apps ported over to Viewsonic G-Tablet, promise not to brick it too
A few lucky souls managed to get their
Notion Ink Adams early -- only to have them
brick themselves. The rest were
delayed and, well, it's all a bit of a mess. Now there's another way to get a taste of Ink but on some currently available hardware. User gojimi over at the inimitable xda-developers forums has ported seven applications from the Notion Ink suite to Viewsonic's
G-Tablet, including the Calendar, Keyboard, QuickOffice, and the Browser. Some don't run perfectly and we have to say that's something of an unfortunate target, but gojimi does indicate it should be easy to move them to any other ROM. So, you know, make it happen!
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NJ EV owner with 50,000 miles logged dispels myth of cold weather battery woes
We see you in comments, chiming in on every EV post about how worthless they are in the cold. Charles Lane from
The Washington Post recently did the same, saying things like "A change of ten degrees can sap 50% of a battery's output" and speculating that the EV industry is "just one well-publicized malfunction away from disaster." Not so, says Tom Moloughney, and he should know. He's spent the last 49,500 miles of his commuting life in an all-electric
Mini E, an average of 2,500 miles per month. Now, this car is a prototype and a fairly early example of the modern electric vehicle, meaning it has no preconditioning tech to let you warm up the battery packs before you go. Despite that, Tom has logged every trip he's made in the car and indicates he rarely sees more than a loss of about five percent from the vehicle's usual range. More importantly, he's made his way through many a cold commute without getting stranded -- or freezing to death.
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Keepon robot soon available to the masses in toy form as the $40 My Keepon
We've been having a torrid affair with the
Keepon robot since 2007, his simple yellow shape and unflappable adherence to the beat capturing our hearts. But, sadly, this has been an unrequited love, as the little guy has only been available to research institutions (and, apparently,
rock bands) at the tear-inducing price of $30,000. Now there's a version we can finally bring home to mother, the $40 My Keepon. It's being dubbed a "toy," so we have our doubts that it can bust the same sort of moves its Pro predecessor puts down (embedded after the break), but we're certainly going to be first in line to find out when they hit stores. No, we don't know when that is just yet, but we're told all will be revealed on February 14th. Yes, Valentine's Day.
Continue reading Keepon robot soon available to the masses in toy form as the $40 My Keepon
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Verizon iPhone will go on general sale at 7AM on February 10th, you can reserve one on February 9th
Apple has just announced that tomorrow morning's
early Verizon iPhone pre-orders will be available through its online Store as well -- starting at 3AM, available to current VZW subscribers only, and sold on a first-come, first-served basis. More pertinent news, however, can be found deeper in the company's press release, which states that pre-orders will be opened up to the general public on February 9th, when you'll be able to reserve or have one delivered on launch day, February 10th. Shops will open their doors early, 7AM -- matching AT&T's
early opening for the iPhone 4's original launch way back in June -- and availability will be broad, encompassing Apple's brick and mortar Stores, Verizon's 2,000+ retail locations, select partners, and even a zany 1-800-2 JOIN IN phone number you can call. So, really, the only people left without a
Verizon iPhone on February 11th should be those that don't actually want one.
Continue reading Verizon iPhone will go on general sale at 7AM on February 10th, you can reserve one on February 9th
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LG teases Optimus 3D, only without the 3D (video)
We're not sure what's going on with the new teaser video released by LG. It looks like the handset that
Phandroid pegged as the
Optimus 3D a few days ago and has since become the poster-boy for the device that will
officially include a glasses-free 3D LCD and "dual-lens camera for 3D recording." While we can see the front-facing cam, try as we might we just can't see that pair of lenses on the back of the handset teased in the video. In fact, we don't see any camera
at all leading us to believe that LG might be manipulating the image for a big reveal in a few weeks. The video does drop some spec hints with phrases like "something bigger" and "dual core -- multi channel" which would seem to indicate a 4.x-inch display (presumably the
4.3-inch 3D display we spotted at CES), dual-core SoC (like LG's
Optimus 2x), and multi-channel RAM as originally rumored by
Phandroid. Guess we'll have to wait for Mobile World Congress to know for sure. Get your monster truck on with the teaser video embedded after the break.
Update: We've
been told that the phone is definitely a manipulated Optimus 3D.
Continue reading LG teases Optimus 3D, only without the 3D (video)
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Egypt comes back online, has a ton of unread feeds to catch up on
Good news for the people of Egypt: internet connectivity has been almost universally
restored. Bad news for the people of Egypt: they'll need at least a few weeks to catch up on all the
Twitter mentions they've accumulated while being away.
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408 Chevrolet Volts and Nissan Leafs sold in US during January, limited supply probably to blame
The
Chevy Volt and
Nissan Leaf are alike in a lot of ways: both rely on electric motors for their locomotion, both have earned Car of the Year awards (Volt in
North America, Leaf in
Europe), and both have had stunningly low sales in their first couple of months on sale. January's numbers have just come out and the Volt leads the way with 321 vehicles sold or leased, while Nissan scores an even weaker 87 purchases. That compares to figures of 326 and
19, respectively, for the month of December. Before we all start writing off the EV as DOA (again), let's remember that both companies have massive back-orders for their electrified people carriers, leading us to believe that the most likely cause for this slow trickle of deliveries is a limited supply rather than dwindling demand. Production volumes of the Volt and Leaf are expected to ramp up as we go forward, so panic's inadvisable -- unless we come around to January 2012 and are still looking at fewer sales than the
Joojoo managed.
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HP unleashes Digital Sketch and Pocket Whiteboard, becomes the new teacher's pet
Nope, that's not the rumored
HP / Palm WebOS educational tablet we've heard about, but it's a wireless tablet alright. That up there is HP's new Digital Sketch, and it's actually meant solely for the classroom -- it wirelessly connects to a laptop or desktop allowing teachers to control lesson plans or draw diagrams while they're walking around the room making sure no one's passing notes. The pad itself, which will be available in March, works with HP's Sketchbook Windows software and is said to last for over 25 hours on a charge. But that's not all HP wants to put in schools. It's also got a new Pocket Whiteboard up its educational sleeve. It's a lot like other
digital whiteboards in that it can turn almost any surface into a canvas, but it's apparently much more portable than the others out there, so teachers can easily move it from class to class. It will come with a three-button stylus and connect to any laptop or desktop via USB.
So, what's the deal with all the education-friendly tools? They're all part of HP's new Digital Learning Suite and push to start providing really comprehensive tech tools for K through 12 classrooms. The company's nothing but serious about providing an array of products, and beyond the two previously mentioned, HP's also releasing new laptop carts, a Thin Client, and presentation stand for laptops. Hey, we get it, the children are our future, and we've got to teach them well -- but don't blame us HP, for just wanting to see the
tablets of our future next week. Full press release and a low-resolution picture of the whiteboard after the break.
Continue reading HP unleashes Digital Sketch and Pocket Whiteboard, becomes the new teacher's pet
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Nokia's €15 bicycle cellphone charger, now €30 in Europe
Last we heard,
Nokia's bike-powered cellphone charger was set to roll out worldwide by the end of 2010 for about €15 -- now the company's peddling it for €30 to European velocipede enthusiasts. (Sure, it's twice as expensive as we anticipated, but it's a huge step up from
this thing.) The kit, intended primarily for developing markets, comes with a Nokia charger, phone holder, and bottle dynamo: the thing that spins your pedal pushing into cellphone juice. Aside from price and availability, Nokia seems to have followed through on the rest of its promises -- it sports a 2-mm charger interface and provides 28 minutes of talk time for every 10 minutes spent riding between 6kph (4mph) and 50kph (31mph). European riders can pick up the charger kit from Nokia's online store, while the rest of us just keep spinning our wheels.
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Ricoh GXR will swap out lenses with Leica M mount, make Micro Four Thirds mildly jealous
Ricoh's
sensor-swapping GXR camera is getting more interchangeable than ever before -- this fall, the company plans to introduce a APS-C sized 12.3 megapixel CMOS module that lets you pop out lenses too. Rather than building a new set of macros and zooms, though, the new unit will serve as an adapter for the vast hoard of
Leica M glass you've been stockpiling for a rainy day, and sport a new focal plane shutter too. No word on price, but considering Leica M adapters for Micro Four Thirds can be had for a reasonable $200 and an APS-C GXR package runs about $700 on the street, you can probably do the math.
Continue reading Ricoh GXR will swap out lenses with Leica M mount, make Micro Four Thirds mildly jealous
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BMW's NFC Key is your ticket to ride, and you should care (video)
Near Field Communication (
NFC) is shaping up to be one of the hottest tech trends for 2011 now that
payment systems and
new handsets (driven by
the Gingerbread build of Android and presumably, a near-term
iOS release) are making their way into the US and Europe. Add BMW to the growing list of supporters with its NFC key of the future. Bimmer researchers envision linking the key to the car's navigation and entertainment system allowing you to make hotel reservations or purchase train tickets, for example. You could then download the ticket directly from your car
to the key which could then be used to board the train. Later, a key linked to your banking information could even be used to settle the hotel bill. BMW believes its approach is more secure than that of an NFC-enabled cellphone because its system is both closed and encrypted. Possibly. But we're still more likely to have our cellphone in a pocket while traveling than the key to a car parked a few hundred miles away. Of course, there's nothing preventing us from tapping the key to our cellphone and transferring the data -- it is still in the R&D phase for the next generation of
ConnectedDrive after all. Click through for the video.
Continue reading BMW's NFC Key is your ticket to ride, and you should care (video)
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Kinect used to shoot a gorgeous, ghostly music video
You might think you've seen
all that can be done with
Kinect, but you would of course be wrong. Here's another example of how Microsoft's bundle of sensors and cameras can be utilized to freshen up an old concept -- in this case a music video -- with some arresting new visuals. Just sit back, relax, and hit play.
[Thanks, Joe]
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iOS now accounts for 2% of global web browsing traffic, Chrome rounds the 10% mark
After the desktop stalwarts of Windows 7 and Mac OS, the world's third most popular platform for web browsing turns out to be Apple's iOS. The software that makes iPhones, iPod touches and iPads tick has been identified by Net Applications as responsible for over two percent of the global traffic data analyzed in the web statistician's latest report -- the first time iOS has crossed that threshold. The UK and Australia had more than five percent each, while the USA clocked in at 3.4 percent. Leaving operating systems aside, Chrome has continued its steady growth on the browser front and now stands at a 10.7 percent share, more than doubling its slice from
this time last year. Internet Explorer overall has dipped to its lowest level yet, at 56 percent, however Net Applications indicates IE8 is showing nice growth. So at least it's looking like we're finally ready to bury the zombies known as IE6 and IE7, whatever other browser we choose to migrate to.
Continue reading iOS now accounts for 2% of global web browsing traffic, Chrome rounds the 10% mark
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Dell, Gigabyte and MSI pull products in wake of Sandy Bridge chipset flaw, HP faces delays (update)
Every time we write about Intel's
flawed Sandy Bridge chipset and the need for it to be
physically replaced, the financial costs go up. First Intel projected a $300 million hit to its bottom line, then it set aside $700 million to cover repairs and replacements, and now it's estimating a round $1 billion loss in "missed sales and higher costs." Those missed sales will be coming directly from guys like MSI and Gigabyte, two of the major motherboard makers, who have stopped selling their Sandy Bridge-compatible models until Intel delivers untainted stock, and also Dell, who has nixed availability of its Alienware M17x R3 gaming laptop.
CNET did spot that HP and Dell were still selling laptops with the offending chipset in them yesterday, but we imagine both will get their online stores straightened out in due course. For its part, HP says it's pushing back a business notebook announcement due to this news, much like NEC
has had to do. Moral of the story? Don't let faulty chips out of the oven.
Update: Dell says the M17x R3 is just the tip of the iceberg here: "This affects four currently-available Dell products, the XPS 8300, the Vostro 460, the Alienware M17x R.3 and the Alienware Aurora R.3, as well as several other planned products including XPS 17 with 3D. We're committed to addressing this with customers who have already purchased one of the four products and will provide further details on this as it becomes available."
[Thanks, geller]
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LG working on an NFC payment system for Europe, planning launch in 2012
All these upcoming
NFC-equipped smartphones wouldn't be worth much without
places to use them, so it's good to hear LG's announcement this week that it's working on providing the infrastructure for contactless payments. The Korean company has set its sights on Europe, where it's conducting beta testing of point-of-sale technology that will facilitate paying for goods and services by swiping your phone near an NFC sensor. We're not told whether that phone would necessarily have to be built by LG, though we imagine the company would be well served by including as many devices as possible and just taking its slice of the profits. Whatever LG does, it's looking increasingly safe to assume that having NFC on your phone will be a legitimate asset in the coming months (and not just if you live in
Japan).
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Daimler says fuel cell vehicles will cost the same as diesel hybrids by 2015
It may currently you cost you
$849 a month to lease a Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell (one of the few
hyrodgen-fueled vehicles currently available to consumers), but Daimler says that cost will come down considerably in the next few years. Speaking with
Automotive News, Daimler's Herbert Kohler said that by 2015 he expects a "fuel cell car will not cost more than a four-cylinder diesel hybrid that meets the Euro 6 emissions standard," which would seemingly place it in a race with Toyota and its promise of a
$50,000 hydrogen-powered sedan. What's more, Kohler also said that he expects fuel cell vehicles to actually be cheaper than comparable electric vehicles within the next few years, and he said that Daimler is hoping to bring a "four-digit-number" of fuel cell vehicles to market by 2013 or 2014.
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Lego bot built to test Kno's tablet textbook, human overlords watch gleefully (video)
Just because the
first few tablet textbooks have shipped doesn't mean that members of Kno's development team are resting on their laurels. Product testing on the
Kno tablet continues -- and it looks like
Lego is doing the heavy lifting. They've put our favorite plastic building blocks to work by constructing a Kno stress tester out of Lego Technic parts. The robot checks both the Kno's ambient light sensor and the ability of its touchscreen to accurately track the system's pen swipes and flicks. Though not as intricate as a
Lego replica of a 2000+ year old mechanical computer, the robot -- with its hypnotic pendulum-like motion -- is still a sight to behold. Check the video after the break.
Continue reading Lego bot built to test Kno's tablet textbook, human overlords watch gleefully (video)
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iPad 2 display leaked?
Do you believe what you're seeing?
9to5Mac along with iFixYouri repair say they've got the new iPad 2 display. Better yet, they've got the purported part number: LP097X02-SLN1, compared to the original iPad's LP097X02-SLA3 display. It's said to be lighter and more than 1-mm thinner than the original while featuring a thinner bezel as well -- right, just as the
rumors and our
own sources have said. Such a display would also enable some tapering of the edges in line with those
milled aluminum dummies we've seen. The big mystery is still the resolution. A
9to5Mac commenter claims to have deciphered the part number to reveal its LG Phillips 9.7-inch XGA 1024 x 768 H-IPS display origins (
same resolution as the current iPad, if true). Unfortunately, we have no way to confirm this. One more pic of the part number details after the break.
Continue reading iPad 2 display leaked?
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Sony, Fujifilm patents are half-camera, half-origami
Point and shoot cameras are tricky to hold still, but the powers that be thought up a crazy fix -- build bending, sliding, transforming grips right into the body of the camera. Sony's patented the idea you see immediately above, which turns the sliding lens cover into a handle using tiny hinges (or perhaps
electrorheological fluid, we're not sure). Amazingly enough, the basic concept actually isn't new: Sony itself references a Fujifilm patent whose cover-turned-grip protects the rear LCD instead. Neither look terribly comfortable, but which would you rather choose: a pocketable camera that snaps stable single-handed shots, or one that monopolizes your fingertips? Take a gander at one of Fujifilm's proposed designs after the break.
Continue reading Sony, Fujifilm patents are half-camera, half-origami
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T-Mobile promises Samsung Galaxy S 4G for launch this month
Look, let us just sum up the
Galaxy S 4G for you: it's a
Vibrant with Froyo, a front-facing camera, and
Inception. After reading through the new details T-Mobile's outed on its latest HSPA+-equipped Android smartphone today, that's really the best way to describe it... and let's face it,
Avatar (which, you might recall, came bundled with the Vibrant) was getting kind of old and played out anyway. Naturally, like T-Mobile's other video call-capable devices, the front-facing camera will make use of
Qik; other preinstalled third-party apps will include
Kindle,
doubleTwist with AirSync, and T-Mobile TV for streaming content from ABC, Fox, PBS, and others. You'll also get a slight battery capacity bump from the Vibrant to 1650mAh, undoubtedly to counteract the effects of the beefier radio. Revolutionary, no; evolutionary, quite! We don't have a date or a price yet, but the carrier says we can expect it this month. Follow the break for the full press release.
Continue reading T-Mobile promises Samsung Galaxy S 4G for launch this month
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LG G-Slate fully detailed by T-Mobile: 3D viewing and recording, available March (updated)
Though it was technically announced
back at CES, T-Mobile just barely talked about the
LG G-Slate there, spending more time chatting up Dell's
Streak 7 and letting Motorola's
Xoom get virtually all of the
Honeycomb attention. Well, that's changed today with a handful of official new details: turns out the G-Slate features a 1GHz dual-core
Tegra 2 processor, 32GB of internal storage, both a gyroscope and accelerometer, and -- this is key -- stereoscopic rear-facing video cameras capable of 1080p 3D capture, one of which doubles as a 5 megapixel still camera with LED flash. There's also a third 2 megapixel camera up front for video chat over T-Mobile's HSPA+ network or WiFi. Going back to that 3D business for a moment, you'll need glasses (it's unclear if they're active or passive) to enjoy recorded or downloaded 3D content on the G-Slate's 8.9-inch display -- but you'll also be able to output 1080p video over HDMI to the external display of your choice. Pricing is still an open question, but the companies are now comfortable enough to say that we can expect it "this spring," so go ahead and start thinking about all the blooming springtime plant life you'll be filming in three glorious dimensions. Follow the break for the full press release.
Update: While T-Mobile hedges its bets with a "spring" launch, LG says that it'll be hitting
US soil in March as one of the first Honeycomb tablets. The honor of being first will almost certainly go to the Motorola Xoom -- Google's
in-house "dogfooding" tablet.
Continue reading LG G-Slate fully detailed by T-Mobile: 3D viewing and recording, available March (updated)
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Android Market acting weird -- is it a precursor to tomorrow's event?
We've gotten a bunch of tips in the past hour or so that the
Android Market is doing weird things, and we can corroborate this on our
Nexus S here -- we're just not able to download stuff. Apps look like they're starting to download, then they suddenly vanish into thin air without a trace and without an error message. Our
Droid 2 is still fully functional, though, so this definitely isn't consistent; really, we're just wondering if this outage might have something to do with
tomorrow's Android-themed festivities at the Google campus, which -- naturally -- we'll be attending. So how is everyone faring out there tonight?
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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Samsung prepping portrait QWERTY Android phone for Sprint?
If you were to prepare a list of most under-served smartphone form factors, portrait QWERTY ranks high on the list; few manufacturers have dared to dabble in it so far, despite the fact that there would
seem to be a treasure trove of potential users in the BlackBerry realm who live and die by the
Bold /
Curve layout. Motorola has given it the most high-publicity shot so far with entries like the
Droid Pro,
Charm, and
Flipout, and it looks like Samsung might be prepping a head-on Droid Pro competitor for Sprint thanks to some shots that have emerged on
PocketNow today. We have precisely zero details on the hardware specs, the possible launch time frame, or really anything else at this point, but we'll keep an eye out.
[Thanks, Theodore L.]
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Google responds: Bing recycles search results, and we'd like it to stop
Google accused Microsoft of
copying search results this morning, and the company's sticking to its guns: in response to Microsoft's firm denial -- "We do not copy Google's results" -- it's released another tiny batch of evidence to the contrary and a call for Microsoft to discontinue the practice for good. Mind you, Google search engineer Amit Singhal doesn't explicitly call out its competitor for "copying" results -- rather, "recycling" them through a clever combination of Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Bing Toolbar -- but the message is clear. Google wants you to view its search results as the originals, and doesn't really care how sincere Microsoft's flattery might be.
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Xfinity TV for iPad now streaming VOD for 'select networks' including HBO and Showtime (update: hands-on)
"A few weeks"? "Later this year"? Don't worry about Comcast's recent meddling with
the fine print,
Xfinity TV's latest update for the iPad allows you to "play movies and TV shows anywhere and anytime on your iPad using a Wi-Fi Internet connection." The deal is for select networks (aka not everyone's on board to start) including HBO, Starz, Showtime, and Cinemax. Version 1.1.1 is now available; we're downloading now and will let ya know exactly what we find.
Update: We've taken it for a brief spin, and it looks like only ten networks are currently available, but there's still a hefty selection of content to choose from: BBC America, Cartoon Network, Cinemax, Starz Encore, HBO, MoviePlex, Showtime, Starz, TBS, and TNT. All are VOD only at the moment, but we hope that live streaming could theoretically be around the corner. Video starts streaming pretty quickly, and while quality probably won't be as good as your 1080p TV, it more than suffices for the iPad's 10-inch screen -- especially the HD stuff. Check it out in the gallery below!
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Cree shows off 'no-compromise' LED replacement for 60-watt incandescent bulbs
Compact fluorescent (or
CFL) bulbs may currently be the dominant alternative to traditional incandescent light bulbs, but there's still a strong contingent betting on
LEDs as the true long term replacement. One of the major players in that camp is Cree, which recently
teamed up with TESS and Dean Kamen's FIRST organization to have kids distribute LED light bulbs like Girl Scout cookies (seriously), and is now showing off what is says is the "first no-compromise replacement for a 60-watt incandescent bulb." That bulb is dimmable, and emits a "beautiful, warm, incandescent-like color of 2700 K," while delivering more than 800 lumens and consuming less than 10 watts (meeting the Energy Star requirements for a 60-watt standard LED replacement bulb). Unfortunately, there's one big catch -- the bulb is still just a prototype, and Cree says it hasn't yet decided how it will bring it to market, or how much it might cost. Head on past the break for a quick video demonstration.
Continue reading Cree shows off 'no-compromise' LED replacement for 60-watt incandescent bulbs
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T-Mobile teases 3D capability (on LG G-Slate, probably) in the vaguest possible way
The rumors about 3D support on LG's
G-Slate tablet (both recording and viewing) have reached a dull roar in recent days, and a little teaser just posted on T-Mobile's official Facebook account certainly isn't going to do anything to quell the trend. The simple clipart image of some old-school red / blue anaglyphic glasses pretty much says everything you need to know -- that there's something 3D in store from these guys -- and the
Honeycomb-powered G-Slate is the only thing in T-Mobile's immediate future that we know has had 3D rumors attached to it. Any other solid theories out there?
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Sony Ericsson Xperia X10's multitouch update rolling out now; X8, X10 Mini, and X10 Mini Pro getting ANT+ support soon
That pinch-to-zoom update for the
Xperia X10 that Japanese customers
got an early lead on is now rolling out around the globe according to a new blog post from the boys and girls at Sony Ericsson. That may not be the most interesting part, though: they're also chatting up a future firmware update that'll enable
ANT+ support on the
Xperia X8,
X10 Mini, and
X10 Mini Pro, a capability baked into the chipsets on those devices that Sony Ericsson hadn't previously exploited. Theoretically, that means that heart rate monitors and other wearable fitness gear -- a market where ANT+ has really blossomed -- could connect directly to your phone rather than passing through a computer with an ANT+ dongle first, perfect for analyzing jogs on the go. Of course, workout technology is always more appealing than the workout itself... but if you can solve
that problem, Sony Ericsson, let us know. You can find us on the couch over there.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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Super Bowl XLV Media Day: Packers split on iOS / Android, Cowboys CIO talks mobility
We woke up this morning in Dallas to 20 degree temperatures and a parking lot covered in ice. Not exactly the kind of weather the NFL was hoping for when it selected the new Cowboys Stadium to host
Super Bowl XLV, but it didn't stop both teams and media from making their way -- however slowly -- to Arlington for Super Bowl Media Day. Naturally, the likes of
ESPN were there in full force, but rather than picking apart defensive schemes and seeing who could outgun Troy Polamalu for the longest mane in North Texas, we spent our time asking about mobile OS preferences and soaking up knowledge from Cowboys CIO Pete Walsh. With a price tag well north of $1 billion on the new Cowboys Stadium, the home to the
world's largest HD display is certainly one of the most technologically advanced in the world. It's packing 884 wireless access points throughout (not to mention an internal network operations center that constantly monitors activity on each one), 260 miles of fiber optic cabling, capacity to handle over 100,000 simultaneous wireless connections, over 3,100 IPTVs and micro cell towers for each major carrier within -- you know, so that kickoff video that
just can't wait actually sees its way onto YouTube prior to the start of the second half.
Head on past the break to catch of a video of us talking smartphone platforms with Green Bay Packers center Scott Wells, as well as a lengthy (and insightful) interview with the Chief Information Officer of the Dallas Cowboys. Everything from the Cowboys' rejection of
FanVision to their hopes to blanket the stadium with gratis WiFi is covered, and we're even given a hint that contactless payments and mobile food ordering systems could be just a season or so away.
Continue reading Super Bowl XLV Media Day: Packers split on iOS / Android, Cowboys CIO talks mobility
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Rumors of Kin Studio's continued existence confirmed by death of Kin Studio
What can we say,
Kin Studio? Of all the ideas introduced by Microsoft's ill-fated
Kin, you certainly weren't the worst. In fact, we kind of hope to
see you again some day.
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Dish Network offers $1 billion to buy a bankrupt satellite/antenna company for reasons only it knows
Dish Network has agreed to buy DBSD, a company currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that's reportedly working on a system to tie together satellite and ground-based antenna communication for wireless phone and internet service, pending approval by the FCC. Dish pegs the purchase price at approximately $1,000,000,000 (subject to certain adjustments) including the interest on DBSD's debts. Exactly what its plans for the company are remain a mystery, as
The Hollywood Reporter quotes mystified analysts like Craig Moffett suggesting theories including wireless internet service, mobile TV, or an integrated satellite/phone/TV bundle to compete with cable operators.
SpaceNews.com has the most extensive breakdown, from Dish's initial $45 million investment back in 2009, to the
recent FCC decision on a similar hybrid service from LightSquared that may have caused DBSD's spectrum & technology to suddenly become much more valuable. Whatever it is, they considered it worth writing an awful large check for, although we can't help but wonder if they couldn't have broken some of that money off to deal with this whole
TiVo issue.
Continue reading Dish Network offers $1 billion to buy a bankrupt satellite/antenna company for reasons only it knows
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ASUS Lamborghini external HDD sports beautiful curves, bloated price tag
Hot on the heels of
ASUS' underwhelming
Lamborghini VX6 netbook comes the equally over-hyped Lamborghini external HDD. Underneath that logo you've got either 500GB or 700GB of storage spinning at 5400RPM in the USB 2.0 model and 7200RPM in the USB 3.0 edition. The only sign of luxury in sight, however, is the price tag -- at $120 for the 500GB and $140 for the 700GB, the USB 2.0 versions are nearly twice as pricey as the non-Lambo competition. We've still no idea when the drives will land Stateside or how much the USB 3.0 iteration will cost, but then again, if you have to ask ...
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OnLive's all-you-can-eat PlayPack now available for $9.99 per month
OnLive, meet subscription services. It's not the
January 15th date we had initially marked, but that's no matter now, the time has come. The company has introduced PlayPack, which for $9.99 each month gets you unlimited access to a selection of titles. There's no long-term commitment required and your saved games will stay on servers for at least a year after cancellation, should you change your mind and decide to come back. There's 38 games to choose from at first, including
BioShock, Prince of Persia, and
Alien Shooter, with more titles promised "on a regular basis." The previous plans -- free demos, multi-day rentals, and purchases à la carte -- are also still around. It's not inaccurate to think of this as early-day Netflix Instant Watch, but drawing from the same analogy, it's gonna take an ever-expanding library of strong titles (both big and small) to keep the momentum going. And make no mistake, we're
really rooting for ya. Press release and list of titles after the break.
Continue reading OnLive's all-you-can-eat PlayPack now available for $9.99 per month
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GMC's SATIMO ATS system spins a Denali right round to ensure proper antenna placement (video)
As a
certain company knows quite well, finding the right place to put an antenna can be harder than it looks. Rather than just slap one on the roof and call it a day,
General Motors has created the SATIMO ATS, a near-field antenna testing system of the sort we're used to spying in
all those FCC photos. This one, however, is SUV-sized, as you can see in the video below. Workers for the General can drive a GMC Yukon Denali onto a turntable and spin it all around while 103 sensors test antenna placement, creating a 3D rendering of the resulting performance. It was the first such system in the world and will be the perfect place for our next Faraday rave.
Continue reading GMC's SATIMO ATS system spins a Denali right round to ensure proper antenna placement (video)
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GoPro starts shipping $80 LCD BacPac for HD Hero, has no room for your lunch box (video)
Aiming your helmet camera and replaying footage is a problem on most models. The
HD170 makes it easy, but then hits you with a lot of bulk.
Contour is working on a
viewfinder app for iOS and Android devices that will wirelessly stream video, but that's not out yet. GoPro's LCD BacPac, on the other hand, is shipping today. We spent a little
quality time with one at CES, a tiny screen that clips on the back of a 1080p
HD Hero and lets you see what's being filmed and also play back what you've captured earlier. As you can see it adds about a quarter-inch of depth onto the camera but comes with a replacement back door to retain compatibility with all mounts. It's shipping now for $80, making it a somewhat expensive accessory for a $300 camera.
Continue reading GoPro starts shipping $80 LCD BacPac for HD Hero, has no room for your lunch box (video)
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