How would you change HP's Envy Sleekbook 6z?
Intel's Kirk Skaugen was relaxed about "me too" thin-and-light devices trailing behind Ultrabooks like Remoras. Perhaps it's because of our lukewarm reception of devices like HP's Envy Sleekbook 6z, which we found to be a little lumpen. While we liked its understated design, the sluggish AMD internals and flaky trackpad meant we weren't feeling particularly fondly on this piece of hardware. This is where you come in. Why not dream up a budget laptop that could hit the same price point but without the flaws -- the more imaginative, the better.
Filed under: Laptops, HP
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Refresh Roundup: week of May 20th, 2013
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
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The Weekly Roundup for 05.20.2013
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
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Samsung Galaxy S 4 mini peeks out of official app catalog in UK
Not convinced by leaks, pictures or user agent profiles? Maybe Samsung can convince you: the Galaxy S 4 mini is on the way. The phone still hasn't been officially announced, but UK users browsing the company's Content & Services app page can find the device among the catalog's sorting options. For now, the option is only appearing in the UK, matching rumors that the phone is bound for the same European markets as its predecessor. Check it out for yourself by following the source link below and clicking on the "display apps by device" tool.
Filed under: Mobile, Samsung
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Via: RedmondPie
Source: Samsung
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Switched On: One box to rule them all
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
When Microsoft introduced the original Xbox, the company had a lot to prove. The console newcomer promised that it was laser-focused on building a great system for games. There wasn't much to distract it. In a time of DVDs and dial-up, "convergence" in the space was focused on the ability for consoles to play back movies rented at Blockbuster.
But everyone knew that the new kid on the box had an agenda beyond taking its share of industry profits away from Nintendo and Sony. Particularly versus the latter, Microsoft knew it would be engaged in a war for the living room and the future of digital entertainment distribution including, but beyond, games. Nothing came close to matching the processing power that consoles had brought to the living room, but no one had really cracked the broader application beyond disc-based games. It surely wasn't web browsing, as Nintendo and Sony had tried. Still, as streaming services from Netflix, Hulu, Pandora and others began to proliferate across lots of different add-on boxes, it made sense to add them onto Xbox Live (even if the programming wasn't) as well as the PlayStation Network.
Filed under: Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo
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Inhabitat's Week in Green: biospheres, X-wings and energy-creating shoes
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.
News that Amazon will add three large biospheres to its downtown Seattle headquarters had the tech world buzzing this week. The domed structures will feature a mix of workspaces and gardens, and they'll be flanked by a public park. Amazon's big announcement wasn't the week's only surprise, though. A multinational consortium announced plans to develop a Dubai-style artificial island with a space hotel and a zero-gravity spa off the coast of Barcelona. And new research finds that "pinkhouses" -- vertical farms that use only pink light -- are much more efficient than those that use the full light spectrum.
Filed under: Misc, Science
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Steve Wozniak discusses his dependency on a MacBook Pro and his affinity for transistor radios
Every week, a new and interesting human being tackles our decidedly geeky take on the Proustian Q&A. This is the Engadget Questionnaire.
Steve Wozniak pioneered the personal computing industry with the Apple I and II. In a throwback to our 31st issue of Distro, we'll take a very thorough look at the mind and habits of the Woz. Spoiler alert: he has a thing for the bitten fruit.
Filed under: Misc, Apple
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Source: Distro Issue 31
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Samsung ATIV Book 7 review: a high-end Ultrabook arriving just before Haswell
If you've been waiting for Samsung to refresh last year's Series 9 Ultrabook, don't hold your breath; apart from a recent upgrade to 1080p resolution, it's basically stayed the same. That doesn't mean Samsung is taking a break from ultraportables, though: the company recently started shipping the Series 7 Ultra (now called the ATIV Book 7), which debuted at CES. Regardless of the name, the idea was always for it to be part of Samsung's performance line, ranking right below the flagship Series 9 family. To that end, it ships for $1,060 with all the specs you'd expect to find in a mid- to high-end Ultrabook: a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, a 13.3-inch, 1080p display and a stronger set of speakers than on the Series 9. Obviously, the fact that it's launching with Ivy Bridge is one knock against it, but how does it stack up otherwise? Might it be a good deal if it ever gets a CPU refresh?
Filed under: Laptops, Samsung
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Peter Molyneux's Curiosity cube is now open, contents still a mystery (update: prize revealed!)
After seven months of cooperative tapping, Peter Molyneux's Curiosity experiment is finally over: the cube is open. As Molyneux's studio, 22Cans, teased the game's last layer over Twitter, players descended upon it, chipping away the last million cubelets in a matter of minutes. "We have a winner," the game's creator wrote on the social network. "They should get a message now." 22Cans is currently trying to validate the player who tapped away the final block. After the final block disappeared, so did the cube, presumably to be opened privately by the winner. So, what was inside the box? We may never know -- but if you just happened to win, fill us in, would you?
Update: The winner asked Molyneux to share the winner video with the community. Their prize? Godhood, according to 22Cans. The winner will be featured as a deity in the company's next game, Goddess, and will able to "decide on the rules that the game is played by." The winner will get a share of the revenue generated by the title. Check out the full video for yourself after the break.
Filed under: Gaming, Mobile
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Source: 22Cans
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Microsoft gives students 3GB additional Skydrive storage for one year
There are plenty of cloud storage options out there which offer some initial amount of free space -- including Dropbox (2GB), Google Drive (5GB), Box (5GB) and Microsoft Skydrive (7GB). While these services usually provide additional free storage via referrals and special deals (bundled with device purchases for example), Microsoft is doing something different with Skydrive by gifting students an extra 3GB of free space for one year. If you have a valid .edu email address you can visit the URL below to receive a free storage code. The offer is limited to one per person and the code must be redeemed before December 31st 2013. It's unclear what happens to your data after the year's over but it presumably remains available in read-only form. Considering the price of tuition, this deal isn't quite as juicy as getting 100GB of free space for two years on Google Drive with the purchase of a Chromebook -- still it's a no brainer.
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Internet, Mobile, Microsoft
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Via: Via
Source: Microsoft
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Watch the Curiosity rover explore Mars in one minute (video)
It hasn't even been a year from the time NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars, yet it already boasts a number of accomplishments. All the while, Opportunity's successor has been sending images back to Earth documenting its numerous great deeds, and a fan of the rover's work has compiled many of the them into the video you see above. So, now you can get a glimpse of Curiosity capturing awe-inspiring shots of Mount Sharp, unearthing evidence of liquid water, determining the alien soil's chemical composition, and discovering conditions that could've allowed microbes to thrive on the red planet all in the span of a minute. Hit play to check out what Curiosity's been up to from its first through its 281st Sol -- or Martian day -- as well as to see the extraterrestrial lands our grandchildren might occupy in the future.
Filed under: Misc, Science
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Source: YouTube
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Fujitsu revamps E-series Lifebooks, gives Ivy Bridge one last hurrah
Intel's Haswell-based processors may be just around the corner, but the suit-and-tie crowd can't always wait to buy new PCs, can it? Fujitsu has those impatient corporate buyers covered with a refresh to its E-series Lifebooks. The 13.3-inch E733, 14-inch E743 and 15.6-inch E753 all keep on trucking with Ivy Bridge, but come in silver and red designs that are more elegant than what we saw last year. Not that they're just skin-deep upgrades, mind you. The more common configurations tout more recent 2.6GHz Core i5 processors and 500GB hybrid hard drives, while each system can scale up to 16GB of RAM and a Core i7 for extra-demanding work. When prices start at $999, the new Lifebooks may be inexpensive enough to make shoppers feel better about their timing -- at least, for a few weeks.
Filed under: Laptops
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Source: Fujitsu (1), (2), (3)
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Evernote Windows Phone app now lets you pin tool tiles, gets other UI tweaks
It wasn't too long ago that we saw the Evernote app get a pretty major refresh on Windows Phone, but today the note-taking service is back with some underlying improvements and a couple of new features. The main highlight in version 3.1 is that the WP application now allows various tools to be pinned to your handset's Live Tiles -- you know, things like notes, recordings and snapshots. To close things out, Evernote added the option for users to be able to display Snippet View notes in a horizontal list, a minor tweak that's bound to be appreciated by those who have a thing for landscape mode. All in all, we'd say this isn't too bad for being in the category of a "dot-one" update.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Microsoft
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Via: AAWP
Source: Windows Phone
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Arrested Development season four is ready for viewing on Netflix
Arrested Development is finally back. After Fox cancelled the show in 2006 its popularity has unexpectedly grown, and now a new season commissioned by Netflix for its streaming service is ready for viewing. As is its custom, the service is making all of the episodes available for viewing at once, so fans (in all areas where Netflix is available) can start the Bluth Party binge immediately just by clicking the link below.
Filed under: HD
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Source: Netflix
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Scientists find that graphene can be used to build lasers
You already know that graphene can be used to make transistors, solar cells and even Sennheiser-quality cans. But if you think that's about as cool as the carbon material can get, listen to this: It can also be used to make ultrashort-pulse lasers. According to scientists from a smattering of institutions, the atomic-scale chickenwire material has the ability to absorb light effectively -- much like a sponge -- over a broad range of wavelengths. It can then release the light it absorbs in quick bursts that last a few femtoseconds each (with one femtosecond lasting one millionth of one billionth of a second), which is what ultrashort-pulse lasers do. With graphene as a component instead of traditional materials, scientists could develop a laser as small as a pencil that's immune to thermal damage typically caused by intense beams. The finished product, if ever someone actually concocts one, could be applied across a variety of fields -- everything from pollution monitoring to medicine. For those unafraid of technobabble, there's plenty more in the source link.
[Image credit: Michaelpkk, Wikimedia]
Filed under: Misc, Science
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Source: Nature
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NASA creates the first topographic map of Titan, Saturn's largest moon
Scientists observing Saturn's moon Titan with NASA's Cassini spacecraft have boldly gone where no man has gone before -- visually, anyway. Using radar imagery collected from nine years of Cassini flybys, researchers were able to patch together the first global topographic map of Titan, published in the July 2013 issue of Icarus. Ralph Lorenz, a member of the Cassini radar team at Johns Hopkins, said, "Titan has so much interesting activity -- like flowing liquids and moving sand dunes -- but to understand these processes it's useful to know how the terrain slopes." In particular, understanding the moon's terrain can reveal a lot about its dynamic climate system. Like Earth, Titan's atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen, but the liquids and vapors on the moon's surface are made of methane and other organic chemicals integral to the creation of complex life. By studying the relationship between atmosphere and terrain, researchers hope to learn more about the evolution of life in its earliest stages, and inspire curious minds to turn their eyes toward Titan.
Filed under: Science, Alt
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Via: Space
Source: Icarus
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Functional Apple 1 auctioned off for $671.4K, sets new record (updated)
With $671,400, you could buy roughly 2,040.7 base-model iPad minis before taxes. One unnamed buyer, however, just laid that amount out for a single Apple 1 from 1976. Auctioned through Cologne, Germany-based Auction Team Breker
Update: We initially reported that the auction was held through Sotheby's, when it was actually done by Auction Team Breker. We've corrected this in this post.
Filed under: Desktops, Misc, Apple
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Via: MacRumors
Source: NYT Bits
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