Tuesday, November 30, 2010

US Supreme Court agrees to hear Microsoft appeal in Word patent case

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/03/12mar10ob42352.jpg
[/img]It's been quite a few months since we've seen any major
developments in Microsoft's patent battle with Toronto-based i4i Inc
over Microsoft Word, but it looks like things are now about to change
in a big way. As The Wall Street Journal reports, the US Supreme Court
has today agreed to hear Mircosoft's appeal in the case that dealt it
$290 million in damages and prevented it from selling versions of Word
that contained the allegedly infringing technology. That could not
only have some pretty big ramifications for Microsoft in this
particular case, but for patent law in general, as it gets to the very
heart of the legal standard for determining the validity of a patent.
Needless to say, we'll be watching this one very closely -- the court
is expected to hear the case sometime next year.

Two Kinects join forces to create better 3D video, blow our minds (video)

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/kinect-2010-11-29.jpg
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Remember when Oliver Kreylos impressed and shocked us by showing that
a single Microsoft Kinect could create some remarkably stout 3D video?
He's back at it again, this time blowing minds and demonstrating that
two Kinects can be paired and their output meshed -- one basically
filling in the gaps of the other. He found that the two do create some
interference, the dotted IR pattern of one causing some holes and
blotches in the other, but when the two are combined they basically
help each other out and the results are quite impressive. As you can
see in the video after the break, Oliver is able to rotate the camera
perspective and basically film himself from a new camera angle that
exists somewhere in between the position of the two Kinects, and do-so
in real-time. Sure, the quality leaves a lot to be desired, but still.
Wow.

[Thanks, Mohammad]

Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Gaming

Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well
aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping
experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up
with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated
picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of
the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season.
[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/eng-gift-guide-2010-11-19.jpg
[/img]
Sit back, relax, grab a controller, and enjoy some obsessive-
compulsive button mashing while you work in that body-sized groove
into the couch... that's not the M.O. for the console makers this
year. You don't have to embrace the jumping, hand-waving, and other
methods of physical exertion, but it's definitely the "it" gaming
hardware of this holiday season. Be sure to triple-check just what box
your loved ones play on, and click on through for our gaming gift
suggestions.

Meka, UT Austin researchers show off 'sociable' Dreamer robot head

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/dreamer-robot-11-29-2010.jpg
[/img]
The folks at UT Austin's HCR Laboratory have been working on a Meka
humanoid robot for some time now, but they've only just recently added
one pretty significant component to it: a head. This so-called
"Dreamer" isn't just your ordinary robot head, though -- described by
the researchers as a "sociable humanoid head," the head is modeled on
anime and comic characters, and promises to establish an "organic link
to its biological counterpart, creating feelings of quasi-affinity
in response to gestures and synthetic emotions." In other words,
it's impressive enough to hold your attention while you interact with
it, and it may very well creep you out a little. Head on past the
break to check it out in action.

Sectra virtual autopsy table available now, Stan Brakhage nonplussed

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/101129-table-02.jpg
[/img]
Though not offering the sort of stark, terrible beauty (or the gore)
of The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes, Sectra's Visual Imaging
Table will let you perform a "virtual autopsy," by using CT and MRI
scans to place 3D recreations of a patient's body on a large,
multitouch table. What's more, the body can then be examined -- and
even cut with a "virtual knife." And it's finally available "to the
masses," as one company rep put it in an email this morning (although
we sort of figure that if you have an MRI machine you probably aren't
one of "the masses"). Check out the PR after the break, or hit up the
source link to get one for yourself.

Softbank makes 16GB iPad WiFi + 3G free with two-year contract

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/ipad3g-rear.jpg
[/img]An iPad for zilch on contract? Yessir... but only if you pack up
and move to the Land of the Rising Sun. Softbank Mobile has just
announced a new pricing plan that makes Apple's 16GB iPad WiFi + 3G
model totally free with a two-year data agreement in Japan, and for
those who recall it being "free" before, this situation is a bit
different. You see, there's no built-in monthly surcharge for this
one; rather than paying off your iPad over 24 months, you're actually
getting it for nothing as long as you're kosher with forking out ¥
4,725 ($56) per month for that 3G goodness. The deal starts on
December 3rd, and we've got a strange, strange feeling that it'll do
quite well if marketed correctly. And by "correctly," we mean "at all."

[Thanks, Ken]

Motorola Olympus hitting AT&T in 'December or January,' says now-deleted Facebook post

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/motorola-olympus-itw-sm.jpg
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Excited for Tegra 2 to finally take the Android smartphone world by
storm? Recent leaks out of LG and Motorola certainly suggest that
NVIDIA's finally going to make some inroads with its silicon somewhere
around the Gingerbread or Honeycomb time frame -- and that might
happen sooner rather than later if a posting on Facebook is to be
believed. Remember that shiny black Olympus (pictured above) that
leaked last week? Someone in the captain's chair of one of AT&T's
official Facebook accounts responded to a question about availability
of the phone earlier today, matter-of-factly reporting that "the
Motorola Olympus should be available in December or January." We
would've been willing to chalk it up to confusion on an employee's
part, but the post was later removed without a trace, and a follow-up
with AT&T elicited a standard "we don't have any information to
share about upcoming devices" response. The company claims the posting
was made "erroneously," and we'll agree with them on at least one
level: neither AT&T nor Motorola intended for that information to
slip out today.

Fonera SIMPL router now on sale for $49, moving quickly to telcos

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/fon-simpl-router.jpg
[/img]Still holding tight to the "Sharing is Caring!" mantra? Not
afraid in the least of handing out a few kilobytes to lost tourists
down below? If so, you're a prime candidate to own a Fon router; for
those unaware, Fon's goal is to equip the world with its 802.11n
routers, and then distribute WiFi through them for all to enjoy. The
device creates two WiFi signals (SSIDs), one private and one public,
and for anyone who knows the pain of being desperate for just a single
open hotspot, it's a product (and mission) worth supporting. The
Fonera SIMPL was introduced way back at Mobile World Congress, and
while the company said it had an order for 400,000 then, that figure
has risen rather significantly since. Today, it's revealing that two
million of these guys have been sold to telecommunication companies
around the globe, with British Telecom, MTS-Comstar Russia, SFR
France, SoftBank Japan and ZON Cable Portugal named in particular. The
general idea is to provide these to customers in order to lighten the
overall load for everyone else, but those looking to buy in sans help
can finally do so -- the SIMPL's going for $49 / €39 right now
directly through the outfit's website and we're confident that you'll
do the right thing.

Dockstar FreeAgent hacked into inexpensive emulation masterpiece (video)

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/dockstar-emulator.jpg
[/img]Hello, multipurpose! Seagate's Pogoplug-based FreeAgent DockStar
-- at least at a glance -- isn't much good to those who aren't buying
up DockStar HDDs. But if you dig a little deeper, you'll realize that
this minuscule adapter packs a 1.2GHz Marvell processor, 128MB of RAM
and 256MB of ROM. There's also a smattering of USB ports and an
Ethernet socket; add that all up, and you've got a hacker's
playground. One Hunter Davis decided to see just how much he could
squeeze out of this here peripheral, which can be widely found for as
little as $25 nowadays. Thanks to a copy of Debian Linux, a good bit
of programming know-how, a DisplayLink USB-to-VGA adapter and a USB
sound adapter, he was able to concoct a homegrown emulation console
that could handle nearly everything he threw at it. 'Course, you'll
have to spring for those other parts if you don't have a house full of
random doodads, but once he figures out how to install a battery and
make the entire setup portable... look out! Head on past the break for
an in-action video.

BlackBerry Empathy design concept feels bad that you're stuck using a BlackBerry

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/bb-empathy-concept.jpg
[/img]
Rest easy, folks: we know it's pointy at the bottom, but we've been
assured this isn't the BlackBerry 7100's true successor. Instead, the
so-called Empathy is the bizarre outcome of of a RIM-sponsored design
project at the Art Center College of Design that touts its ability to
detect the emotions of its user and his or her contacts. It's not
exactly clear how it'd do that, but one crucial element is the
biometric feedback ring that communicates your frustration at the
phone's inability to properly sync IMAP accounts in real time. All of
this anger and joy is displayed on a social map -- colored rings
indicate your contacts' previous and current emotional states -- which
is presented on a full touchscreen that can become transparent when
the phone's not in use. Prefer the Bold to the Storm, do you? Turn the
phone around, and boom, you've got one of the scariest looking
portrait QWERTY keyboards the world has ever seen. We don't really
anticipate seeing this chiseled slab of bleeding-heart technology in
RIM's lineup any time soon... but we can definitely see the benefit to
knowing when your BBM contacts are ready to put a fist through a wall.
Follow the break for video.

HTC Merge accessories in the wild -- nope, still not official yet

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/merge-accessory-rm-eng.jpg
[/img]
Here's what we know about the HTC Merge: it's also been known as the
Lexicon, it's a dual-mode phone with GSM and CDMA heading to Verizon,
it's got a slide-out QWERTY, an 800MHz processor, Bing and Bing Maps
(a popular trend these days), and now we know, too, that it has a Body
Glove snap on cover available to protect its metallic exterior. Here's
what we don't know: why no one's yet to officially acknowledged this
phone.

Zalman's SandForce-based N Series SSD drive gets reviewed, patted on the back

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/zalman-n-series-ssd.jpg
[/img]Zalman's making an SSD? You betcha, and it's embedding a
SandForce SF-1222 controller in its N Series line. That controller has
proven to be the go-to one for loads of solid state drives, but
Zalman's joining the party a touch late. Unfortunately for it, the
MSRPs affixed to the 64GB ($169) and 128GB ($289) versions aren't
exactly class-leading, but the benchmarking gurus over at Legit
Reviews took it upon themselves to test a 128GB model anyway. After
running the gauntlet, the conclusions drawn were fairly predictable:
scores were right in line with every other SandForce drive they had
tested in recent months, with words like "speedy, resilient, and
reliable" detailing the drive. Reviewers did point out that the
pricing situation would likely hinder adoption rates, and it's still
unclear if a company more closely associated with cooling accessories
and cases can stake a claim in the storage realm. Hit the source link
for the full skinny if you're edging closer to pulling the trigger.

Neato XV-11 robot vacuum gets its very own open source LIDAR hack

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/101129-neato-01.jpg
[/img]
There's nothing like a little bounty to light a fire under a group of
open source fanatics, is there? We saw this principle applied recently
when Adafruit offered up cold, hard cash for an Open Source Kinect
driver, and now one enterprising reader over at robotbox.net has gone
and hacked the LIDAR unit on a Neato XV-11 robot vacuum -- and won
$401 for the effort. What's this mean to you? Well, the gentleman (who
goes by the nom de hack Hash79) can now read data sent from the
optical ranging hardware on the vacuum to a PC. There has been a
pretty enthusiastic group of hackers surrounding the device for a
while now and now with a little hard work (and a $399 autonomous robot
vacuum) you too can have a 360 degree scanning LIDAR with one degree
accuracy and a 10Hz refresh rate. Pretty sweet, right? Video after the
break.

Microsoft announces 2.5 million Kinects sold in first 25 days

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/11-14-10-kinectdollarsigns600.jpg
[/img]
Points for style, Microsoft, crossing the 2.5 million Kinect sensors
sold mark a convenient 25 days into your global sales of that ever-so-
hackable / sometimes-cool-for-gaming item. This number factors in
Black Friday sales from this past weekend, and has us really curious
as to how well Sony has been doing of late -- Sony's been mum on Move
numbers since it announced 1 million units shipped about a month ago.
Microsoft says it's on pace to sell 5 million Kinect units through
this holiday, which leads us to wonder: what sort of 3D video
extravaganza could we pull off with 5 million Kinects in tandem?

Comcast, Level 3 Communications square off over video streaming, network neutrality principles

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/7-12-07-fastinternet.jpg
[/img]
According to networking company Level 3 Communications, Comcast just
couldn't wait for its NBC deal to go through before getting all jerky
with the access to online video, telling Level 3 on November 19th that
it would need to pay a fee to deliver video to Comcast customers.
Level 3 delivers videos from many companies over its networks, but the
timing is particularly notable since on November 11th it signed up
bandwidth-chewing Netflix as a major customer. While this sounds like
exactly the kind of anti-net neutrality nonsense that makes us want to
crank some OK Go, Comcast has responded saying it's doing no such
thing, and it's actually Level 3 seeking a competitive advantage by
suddenly sending far more information onto Comcast's network than it
accepts. The cable company goes on to claim this situation is no
different than its existing deals with Level 3's competitors, and that
as long as traffic remains in balance it is willing to allow access
settlement free, but if they want to push their growth (read: Netflix)
onto Comcast's pipes, they'll have to pay up. We'll wait and see if
this is all just a simple negotiating ploy or a true strike in the
battle over net neutrality, but you may still want to get a refresher
course on exactly what net neutrality is all about from our friend Tim
Wu just in case.

Richard Branson's 'Project' iPad magazine now hitting European iTunes stores

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/project-mag-rm-eng.jpg
[/img]
He just had to beat Rupert Murdoch, didn't he? Project, Richard
Branson's iPad magazine, is now available in the iTunes store -- at
least in Italy and the United Kingdom, since it's past midnight there.
App is free, cost per issue is $2.99 for "a full month's worth of
updating content." We suspect it'll hit US, too, the next few hours,
but for now, those across the pond can read up on Jeff Bridges (audio
and video interview), Earth 2.0, and a "well-informed Godzilla." Take
that, yet-to-be-released The Daily.

Nook Color finds its roots? Angry Birds say yes

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/nook-color-rooted-rm-eng.jpg
[/img]
We already knew the Nook Color was capable of something a bit more
than its initial offering, having seen Angry Birds run fairly smoothly
on a dev unit. In fact, it's exactly what we want in between chapters
of Animal Farm, and the xda-developers community, right on schedule,
are providing pictorial evidence of its rooting conquests. So far
we've seen the aforementioned game / addiction, a few other additions
to the extras menu, and even Launcher Pro (image after the break).
NookDevs has a page going with instructions, but even it admits to
being a work in progress, so we're gonna emphasis a little stronger
than usual: don't try this at home unless you're absolutely sure what
you're doing -- or don't mind a broken tablet or two.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Dell Vostro V130 updated with more ports, fancy 'Hyperbaric' cooling

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/lead.jpg[/
img]
Back when we reviewed the Dell Vostro V13 we had a few complaints,
including the fact that it lasted less than three hours on a charge
and lacked an HDMI port. Well, Dell's gone and taken care of at least
one of those issues with its new Vostro V130. The original thin and
light chassis has been kept intact, which means there's still the same
old battery issues, but Dell's freshened up the 13.3-inch magnesium
alloy laptop with an HDMI port, extra USB socket, a SIM card slot, new
Core i3 / i5 ULV processor options, and some new Intel "Hyperbaric
Cooling" technology. We don't know much about that new cooling stuff,
but apparently it will help the .65-inch thick system stay cool and
quiet. Oh, and did we mention it now comes in that bright red hue?!
The small business machine still starts an impressive $429 and is
available today. If you're looking for more details hit the break for
the full press release and the gallery below for some glossy shots.

HTC job listing hints at an E Ink / 3D-filled future, new North Carolina facility

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/htc-expandinglogo.jpg
[/img]Months back, word on the street had it that HTC was looking to
grab up emptied space in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park post-
recession; huge outfits like Nortel bit the bullet in 2009, while Sony
Ericsson shuttered its operations there and relocated to Atlanta.
Naturally, the consolidation paved the way for other technology firms
to slide in without overpaying for real estate. HTC has remained mum
on the prospect of expansion, but it's fairly obvious what's in mind
given the multiple job listings that have just emerged for a
heretofore unannounced facility in RTP. Of particular importance is a
plea for a Display and Camera Design Engineer -- HTC is asking that
whoever applies for the role have some level of "familiarity with 3D
display and imaging technologies," not to mention "familiarity with
multiple display technologies (TFT-LCD, PMOLED, AMOLED, E-ink, etc.)."
Of course, we've seen quite a few bullet points in our years that end
up meaning nothing at all, but it definitely gets our gears turning.
Could HTC be working on a reader / tablet that would at least
partially rely on e-paper? Are we destined to see a 3D Android device
from the outfit at Mobile World Congress 2011? Imaginations, here's
the part where you run wild.

Sandisk, Sony, and Nikon propose 500MBps memory card with more than 2TB capacity

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/cfa-
logo.jpg[/img]While the CompactFlash Association scoots along at a
maximum transfer rate of 167MB per second under its just released
CF6.0 specification, Sandisk, Sony, and Nikon are already looking to
the future. The trio have just officially proposed a new memory card
format that switches from PATA to the PCI Express serial interface to
achieve data transfer rates of up to 500 megabytes per second with a
potential to extend maximum storage capacities beyond 2 terabytes. The
proposed set of specifications hints at the high performance
requirements we'll soon face as DSLRs and camcorders are updated to
capture continuous burst shooting of massive RAW images and ever
higher definition video. Naturally, the spec also enables photogs to
transfer their troves of data more quickly to computers for post
processing and combines high-speed transfer with a scaling system to
extend battery life. The CompactFlash Association has already
announced a new workgroup to study the proposal. Canon's Shigeto
Kanda, CFA chairman of the board, had this to say about the proposal:
Future professional photography and video applications will require
memory cards with faster read/write speeds. The development of a new
high-performance card standard with a serial interface will meet the
needs of the professional imaging industry for years to come and open
the door for exciting new applications.
Sounds like tacit approval to us. And really, anything that brings
Sony and Sandisk together on a future storage format should be seen as
a positive step. Unless, of course, you're the SD Card Association or
anyone who recently purchased a CFast card.

LG Star shows up again, flexes its Tegra 2 muscle for the camera

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/lg-star-itw-2-phandroid.jpg
[/img]
That high-end Android smartphone from LG seemingly destined for
release early next year has made another appearance -- and this time,
the UI's in full view and showing us a few tricks. Looks like the so-
called Star will be running a variant of LG's usual Android skin, for
better or worse, and the particular device shown off in Phandroid's
forums here is loaded with Froyo -- a strange choice for a 4-inch
beast launching in 2011 with Gingerbread around the corner, perhaps,
but we certainly wouldn't put it past 'em. The owner (who actually
claims to have two in his possession) was kind enough to run it
through Quadrant, producing a score of 1759 -- fantastic for a stock
device, and a score that'll undoubtedly go through the roof once
hackers get their hands on these things and start trimming the fat.
Between this, the LU3000, and that unnamed LTE device for Verizon,
these guys could be a serious Android force in '11, couldn't they?

Cowon 3D is the 1080p-playing, 4.8-inch PMP that just jumps out at you

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x113098hb42cowon.jpg
[/img]
As far as 3D goes, we can still take it or leave it, but what's really
got us intrigued about Cowon's latest effort is the promise of full
1080p video playback. Ally that to a HDMI output and up to 64GB of
flash storage and you've got yourself a pretty potent portable media
station. The Cowon 3D PMP offers an 800 x 480 resolution on its own
4.8-inch display -- which is touted as the world's first 3D visualizer
on a PMP that doesn't require glasses -- plus a battery rated to last
for 10 hours of video, 45 hours of audio and up to 300 hours on
standby. And, in an upgrade from the recent X7, this new device also
has WiFi connectivity! Launch is scheduled for December 10th in
Cowon's backyard of South Korea, with prices coming in at KRW499,000
($431) for the 32GB-equipped 3D PMP and KRW589,000 ($509) for the 64GB
version.

[Thanks, Kunal]

Apple forces PhotoFast to abandon 256GB upgrade kit for MacBook Airs

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/10/10-26-10-macbookairssdreplace600.jpg
[/img]
Remember that peppy aftermarket 256GB SSD upgrade from PhotoFast that
easily smoked (on paper anyway) the SSD found in Apple's latest
MacBook Air? It's been halted upon Apple's request before it ever went
on sale, similarly to those HyperMac batteries before it. 9to5Mac
first reported the news based on a source close to the company and we
just confirmed it directly with the PhotoFast GM2_SFV1_Air product
manager. The risk of losing access to Apple's product licensing
program was just too grave a threat to ignore. So, enjoy your 160MBps
max SSD transfer rate and 128GB top-end capacity MBA 11 owners, you'll
get that storage and 250MBps sequential read/write speed bump only
when Apple's good and ready to provide it themselves -- possibly
sooner, we're told, if PhotoFast is given the green light to start
sales after Toshiba's SSD modules (Apple's MBA partner) are available
for purchase.

Talay Robot will document your tweet, give it a soundtrack, Twitvid the results (video)

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x1130u9b345qorld.jpg
[/img]
Tweet a message @talayrobot and something magical happens. An ST
Robotics arm whirs to life inside Sony Music's London HQ and starts
transcribing your words of wisdom unto a glamorously lit whiteboard --
in the finest handwriting font its designers could find! Best part is
that the whole thing gets filmed and the video is sent back to you
within a matter of minutes, equipped with an audio clip from Sony's
Talay Riley. Yes, it's a promotional stunt, but it's also undeniably
one of the coolest intersections of robotics and social networking
we've yet seen. Skip past the break for some video examples or get
tweeting and create your own.

Foki vacuum footwear concept lets you walk in Roomba's shoes

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/vacuum-shoes-11-29-2010.jpg
[/img]
They may not be the first vacuum shoes to emerge in concept form, but
these so-called Foki shoes from designer Adika Titut Triyugo are
certainly the most stylish -- at least in an ASIMO chic sort of way.
They also boast a few new tricks not seen before, including an LED
display on top that indicates how much dirt you've picked up, and a
unique deign that allows them to be completely folded up when not in
use. Of course, "concept" is the key word here, but we've got to guess
there's an untapped market out there for wearable appliances. Dust
Buster gloves, anyone?

Google to face formal EU antitrust investigation over unfair downranking of search competitors

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x1130foogne4r.jpg
[/img]
Way back in February, the European Union announced its intention to
look into allegations made against Google that the search leader
wasn't ranking its competitors fairly in the results it delivered.
Well, that fact-finding mission seems to have unearthed at least some
hint of impropriety on Google's part, as it's now shed the
"preliminary" label and has become a full-on antitrust probe. The
original complaints came from EJustice.fr, Foundem.co.uk, and
Microsoft's price comparison service Ciao, and they're still the basis
of the investigation, though secondary issues, such as Google's
conditions for advertisers and the way it tracks ad campaign data,
will also be looked at. Let's not forget, however, that we're still
dealing with allegations here, and it's going to be quite tricky to
show any misdoing without delving into Google's famed algorithms and
internal practices -- then again, maybe that's exactly what Mountain
View's competitors are after.

Update: Google has responded to the news on its Public Policy Blog.

Verizon sucks at Photoshop: confuses the Droid X for an iPhone

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x1130verizon800.jpg
[/img]
Man, Motorola's not going to be pleased about this! The Droid X is
justifiably one of Verizon's marquee devices for this holiday season
and takes pride of place on the carrier's Cyber Monday offers page,
but wait... why does its screen display the iPhone version of Google
Maps? Oops!

[Thanks, Chris]

Cabasse's high-fashion L'Ocean speakers rock the catwalk, your wallet

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/cabasse-l-ocean-speakers.jpg
[/img]Those operating sans a keen sense of style would probably take
half a glance at Cabasse's L'Océan speakers (shown here on the
right) and assume that they're one in the same with the company's La
Sphére. Sure enough, the former also falls into the outfit's
Artis line of speakers, but there's a slightly different combination
of angles going on beneath the orb. The boutique audio firm has just
revealed these three-way coaxial drive units, and they're purportedly
capable of hitting 117dB without a hint of distortion. Of course, they
weigh 176 pounds and stand just under four feet high, and considering
the 2,250 total watts of digital amplification, we'd say they're
probably built for a TMZ-certified house party. The company's gearing
up to launch these in Q2 2011, but with a €80,000 ($105,900) list
price, we're assuming it'll take a little more than seven month to
save up for a set.

Verizon hosting 4G LTE news conference tomorrow to discuss launch plans

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/verizon-lte-december-2010-1291125397.jpg
[/img]
Guess what people, Verizon's LTE network launch is really for real and
the carrier has now scheduled a news conference for tomorrow where
it'll discuss its December plans in more detail. Tony Melone, VZW's
chief tech officer, will be on hand to answer any questions beyond the
already known plans for 38 metropolitan areas to get the 4G LTE
treatment -- accounting for a cool 110 million Americans who'll be
able to ride the lightning of faster internet speeds on the move. The
event kicks off at 12PM and we'll make sure to tune in, if only to
find out what Tony's answer is to the inevitable "what is 4G" question.

[Thanks, Henry]

Virgin officially announces Project magazine for iPad (and iPhone soon)

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/2010-11-30projectlaunch-1291133510.jpg
[/img]
We're here at Virgin's press event for Project magazine, which Sir
Richard Branson just called the "first all-digital magazine." It's
launching on iPad first, then on the iPhone, but we also snuck a peek
at the app last night and noticed a line about Android tablet support
coming soon. Branson says the content will change constantly --
there'll even be comments, and sharing features are said to be "coming
soon." Mapping features will be introduced in the iPhone version,
which the Project editor-in-chief describes only as "all the coolest
places in the world mapped by our users." Pricing for the iPad version
is set at $2.99 per month, with the app updating throughout the period
with new content and features. When asked about Rupert Murdoch's The
Daily, Branson responded that "this is not a battle, not a war, but
the future of publishing," while his chief editor had this to say:
"We're not similar ... they're a daily newspaper, we're a monthly
style magazine ... we wish them nothing but luck."

Sony ships 4.1 million PlayStation Move controllers to retailers

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/ps-move-title-shot-rm-eng.jpg
[/img]
A little press release from none other than Sony informed us this
morning that the company has shipped 4.1 million PlayStation Move
controllers worldwide. Alas, that number has been widely misreported
as the tally of direct end-user sales, which it most definitely is
not. What Sony's letting us know is total wands that have left its
warehouses on their way to retailers, a number that's one step removed
from actual sales results. Still, if you simply must have something to
compare against Microsoft's 2.5 million Kinect sales, there you have it.

Infinity I-Kitchen sports Linux-based touch screen computer, kitchen sink still not included

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/electroluxlinuxfridgeengadget.jpg
[/img]
We've seen ridiculous fridge concepts from Electrolux before and
covered Linux running on all types of gadgets, so it's only natural
that the OS has found its way into an icebox developed by Electrolux's
Brazilian subsidiary in partnership with ProFusion Embedded Systems.
Dubbed the Infinity I-Kitchen, it sports a Linux-based 800 x 480
touchscreen computer built around a 400Mhz Freescale i.MX25 SoC --
which itself is based on 400MHz ARM926EJ-S core and already used in
some automotive systems. The touch UI was developed by the open source
organization Enlightenment Foundation Libraries and allows users to
control a variety of fridge functions like internal temperature in
addition to running apps for notes, calendars, contacts, photos, and
recipes. All of the particular open source code modifications
developed for the fridge have also been shared back with the community
in Tux-approved fashion and will soon be posted to Electrolux's site
too. Unfortunately, there's no mention however of features like
internet connectivity (WiFi or otherwise), USB ports, or SD Card slots
being on the appliance. Likewise, details on pricing or availability
are also unknown, so your iPhone can hold off on making those the
jealousy-fueled fat jokes for now.

Office Depot welcomes 10-inch ViewSonic G Tablet into the fold, slaps $399 sticker on it

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x1130ub235views.jpg
[/img]
If your tablet wishlist includes things like Tegra 2, Android 2.2, and
1080p video playback, you might want to drop by your nearest Office
Depot some time soonish. ViewSonic's G Tablet has just been made
available for purchase at the store's many outlets across the US and
is also supposed to be up for grabs at its online portal. We say
"supposed" because we can't find it anywhere on officedepot.com, but
that's probably just a temporary issue. The main point is that $399
will buy you a seat on the Froyo tablet bandwagon, a very glossy 10-
inch seat with 1024 x 600 resolution. Skip past the break for the full
PR.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Kinect used to control Super Mario on a PC, redefine convergence (video)

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x1128kinect9.jpg
[/img]
If, like us, you've been waiting to see Kinect in control of a truly
marquee game, your wait has now come to an end. The same fella that
brought us the Kinect lightsaber has returned with a hack enabling
eager nostalgics to enjoy a bout of Super Mario controlled only by
their body contortions. OpenKinect was used to get the motion-sensing
peripheral -- originally intended exclusively for use with an Xbox 360
-- to communicate with his PC, while a simple NES emulator took care
of bringing the 25-year old plumber to life. The video awaits after
the break.

AMOLED shortage to become a surplus in 2011

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/samsung-captivate-2010-11-27.jpg
[/img]
Samsung's beautiful Super AMOLED panels are becoming more and more
common in mobile devices, but they're not as common as they could be
if there were more of the things flying out of Samsung Mobile Display
factories. Predictably that's set to change in 2011, with SMD planning
to fulfill its promise and bring another production facility online,
while other competitors in Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore will ramp up
their own AMOLED facilities in the coming year. Meanwhile, China is
said to be working on its OLED supply chain as well, meaning those
displays of the passive matrix variety will also be flying off of
assembly lines soon. So, 2011 may still not be the year of a chicken
in every pot, but it could be the year of glowy organic goo in every
smartphone.

iPhone 3G, 3GS get iOS 4.2.1 unlock, using risky ultrasn0w workaround

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/08/unlocked-iphone.jpg
[/img]Can't wait another minute for your iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS to be
carrier-unlocked once more? If and only if you're already running the
latest firmware, you can actually pilfer a bit of iPad code to pick
the requisite locks -- though there are some serious risks in doing
so. The iPhone Dev Team has a new version of PwnageTool that uses the
6.15.00 baseband from iPad firmware 3.2.2, which just so happens to
run perfectly on the iPhone 3G and 3GS since both phones and tablets
of that era use the same Infineon radio chip. If you know your way
around an IPSW and regularly bench-press SHSH blobs, you can download
all the software you need right now -- but if you don't, you might
want to steer clear of the proceedings for the time being. We spoke
about risks a moment ago, and in this case there are quite a few --
like the inability to downgrade from baseband 6.15 or ever do a full
restore unless Apple relations improve, and it's fairly likely that
Cupertino won't look kindly on your warranty if they find you running
iPad software. Them's the breaks, kid.

Samsung Nexus S reappears at the FCC with a pair of new antennas

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/11-28-10-samsungnexussantennachange.jpg
[/img]
Thinking that the not-yet-announced Samsung GT-i9020T (a.k.a. Nexus S)
might be delayed due to a last minute addition of a dual-core
processor, as recently seen in the seemingly similar i9100? Well, it's
looking like that possibility just got a lot less likely -- the GT-
i9020T has now turned up yet again at the FCC, with the only changes
being a pair of new Bluetooth / WiFi and GPS antennas. Of course, that
doesn't necessarily mean there won't be any more changes, but it does
give us a bit more confidence that a GT-i9020T model will actually be
released... sometime.

[Thanks, John M.]

Inhabitat's Week in Green: modernizing the US national grid, not to mention deserts and pyramids

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.

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/11-28-10-masdarinhabitat.jpg
[/img]
This week at Inhabitat, we were thankful to be able to witness the
long-awaited unveiling of the futuristic solar-powered Masdar
Institute in Abu Dhabi, and we also heard the exciting news that
scientists are developing a project that could have us using the
Sahara desert to supply 50% of the world's energy by 2050.

We were also dazzled by the dynamic "dancing" facade of the Kiefer
Technic showroom and this towering greenery-lined pyramid caught our
eye with its modern take on ancient Mayan architecture. The world of
green tech had a lot to be grateful for too as the U.S. Department of
Energy announced that it would award $19 million to modernize the
national grid and green transportation saw the first flight powered by
jatropha-based biofuel. On a lighter note, this solar-powered
wheelchair and its designer prepared to embark on a 200 mile journey
to showcase its capabilities.

For those of you on the hunt for Cyber Monday deals, don't forget to
check out our Green Gadget Gift Guide with our picks for the hottest
eco-friendly tech out there. We also spotted this ingenious wood
speaker system that amplifies music using the properties of the
material it's made of and needs no electricity at all.

Switched On: Acer's Iconic Keyboard

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer
technology.

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/11-28-10-acericonia.jpg
[/img]
When Acer announced a slate of new devices at a New York press
conference last week, the overarching message was simple -- keyboards
are as done as a Thanksgiving turkey. The company introduced an array
of tablets, most of which were running Android, with sizes ranging
from five- to ten-inches each. That's almost as broad a lineup as
Archos, which has dipped down to what most would consider digital
audio player turf with a three-inch tablet (tablette?) and a precursor
to what is sure to be a merciless barrage of tablets on the slate for
CES. The single manifestation of a physical QWERTY text entry device
was a keyboard dock designed for a 10-inch tablet running Windows.

But as much as Acer's tablet lineup seems poised to flounder in the
coming sea of similarity, its Iconia laptop stood out, eschewing a
keyboard for a second 14-inch touchscreen to match the main display.
Unlike the dual 14-inch hinged Kno device discussed in columns prior,
this one is clearly designed to be used in a landscape orientation,
and unlike the 7-inch Toshiba Libretto, the Iconia is not being
positioned as some kind of limited-edition experiment. If anything,
Acer signaled that it would be the first in a series of products that
would unfold over the next several years.

Sony fires barrage of touchscreen patent applications, only one points at new PSP

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/11-28-10-sonytouchscreenpatentbundle-1290977325.jpg
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Lawyers for Sony Computer Entertainment America must have been mighty
busy last October, hatching the wild scheme that came to light this
week -- a series of eight intertwining patent applications all
describing a single device with an intriguing touchscreen interface.
Though it's hard to tell what form the final device might take -- the
apps suggest sliders, clamshells and slates -- a few distinct ideas
bubble to the surface, and we'll knock them out one by one. First, the
inventors seem to be rather particular about having a touchpad that's
separate from the main screen -- perhaps even on its back like the
rumored PSP2 -- and Sony's trying to patent a way to manipulate
objects through the screen as well. Second, there's a lot of mumbo-
jumbo about being able to "enhance" or "transform" the user interface
in response to different forms of input, which seems to boil down to
this: Sony's trying to get some multitouch up in there, especially
pinch-to-zoom.

Last but not least, the company's looking to cordon off a section of
touchscreen buttons, including a 'paste' command, and patent a
"prediction engine" that would dynamically change the onscreen layout
based on your past behavior. If most of these ideas sound more at home
in a new tablet computer rather than a gaming handheld, then great
minds think alike. Still, SCEA is Sony's gaming division -- forlorn
Linux computing aside -- so consider us stumped for now.

MIT developing smart adaptive LED lighting system to reduce energy use by up to 90 percent

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/mitlighting11282010.jpg
[/img]
It's very well that manufacturers are constantly pushing for more
efficient LEDs, but we can do better than that: what if we could have
an LED lighting system that pumps out just the right amount of juice
to suit our changing environment? That's exactly what the tree huggers
at MIT are working on right now. Said adaptive system relies on a
small box that not only acts as a position tracker, calibrator and
sensor for the dimmable overhead LED fixtures, but also lets the user
set the desired tone and light intensity for the room. In other words:
no matter how sunny or cloudy it is outside, you'll still be
comfortably basking in the same steady shine in your room, while also
saving up to 90 percent of energy. Our guess is that Philips -- the
project's sponsor -- will eventually release a product based on this
technology, but for now, you can see the system in action after the
break (from 1:07).

Comcast internet down across parts of the eastern seaboard, fix on the way

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/11-28-10-comcastlogo600.jpg
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Twitter's abuzz with angry Comcast customers tonight, as internet
service is down in Boston and parts of the eastern United States, a
situation the company's since confirmed at its official Twitter
account. Comcast's calling it an unexpected outage and says that
"engineers are finalizing the correction" as we speak, though it's
admittedly been a couple of hours since that tweet. Meanwhile, Twitter
at large seems to have figured out it's a Comcast DNS issue, and have
had some luck switching to alternate servers like Google's at 8.8.4.4.
and 8.8.8.8. Let us know if those work in comments after the break...
assuming you manage to find this post in the first place given the
present state of your connection.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Sprint and Clearwire deliver WiMAX to Los Angeles, Ohio, Miami and Washington DC, promise SF on December 28th

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/evo-nyc-4g.jpg
[/img]
Seems like Sprint wants to get every last lick of 4G coverage in
before Verizon flips the switch on LTE -- today, its joint venture
with Clearwire is launching WiMAX in the City of Angels a day ahead of
schedule. Lest you think Los Angeles is getting special treatment,
five other cellular markets can now also get a taste of 5Mbps to 7Mbps
download speeds, including Miami, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and
our nation's capitol, Washington D.C. That brings the total number of
regions where you'll get some mileage out of that $10 surcharge up to
68, in case you're keeping track. What's next? If the press release
after the break is correct, San Francisco will finally satisfy its
need for speed on December 28th. Not that any of these locales haven't
been secretly enjoying 4G already, of course.

Kingston HyperX Max 3.0 USB 3.0 SSD reviewed, hits ludicrous speeds

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/kingston-ssd-2010-11-27.jpg
[/img]
We've all seen the scene in some movie or another: secret agent
infiltrates the enemy stronghold, sneaks into the server room, then
fights off bad guy after bad guy while an agonizingly slow progress
bar ticks across the screen, super-secret egg salad recipe files
taking ages to copy. If only they had a Kingston HyperX Max USB 3.0
external drive they could have escaped without needing that big final
fight scene. The drive was recently tested by PC Perspective and found
to feature solid construction and performance, offering the highest
sequential write speeds the site had ever seen thanks to a Toshiba HG2
controller coupled with 128GB of Toshiba flash and 128MB of DDR cache
memory. And, at $280 for a 128GB model, it's even somewhat reasonably
priced -- well, for an external USB 3.0 SSD, anyway.

Sharp's Galapagos media tablets landing December 10, costing quite a few Yen

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x0927897oubh3ruogf.jpg
[/img]
Sharp's evolutionary tablets are coming, people. It's just that
they're coming to Japan and they're not going to be terribly
affordable when they do arrive. The Kin maker has just revealed a
December 10 launch date for its Mobile and Home Galapagos models -- a
5.5-inch slate with 1024 x 600 resolution and a 10.8-incher with 1366
x 800 resolution, respectively -- pricing them at ¥39,800 ($474)
and ¥54,800 ($653) for the Japanese market. As usual, direct
currency translations are inadvisable, but if you must have a price
comparison of some sort, the larger Galapagos model (equipped with an
8GB microSDHC storage card) costs ¥4,000 less than Apple's 32GB
WiFi-only iPad. Of course, the big differentiator in Sharp's mind will
be the e-bookstore and content ecosystem it's working so hard to
create for these Galapagos terminals -- the value of which has yet to
be determined.

KDDI develops a zoom-enhance system for HD movie streaming on smartphones (video)

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x11298nkddi.jpg
[/img]
Because not every smartphone has a full 1080p resolution (yet), KDDI's
R&D Labs have come up with a new method for massaging the most out
of HD movie streams while on the move. You'll still be able to pummel
your poor mobile device and connection with the full-res stream,
should you wish it, but KDDI's innovation is in developing a system
whereby you can zoom in on particular parts of the feed, have the
stream cropped to your requirements on far-off servers somewhere, and
then receive only the stuff you want to see onto your device. And
because of your phone's aforementioned pixel deficiency, the
employment of this technique will most often result in negligible
picture fidelity loss, if any. The biggest benefit, however, might be
to carriers like KDDI who end up having to carry less data back and
forth, even if it does come at a slight server-side cost. Video after
the break.

Toshiba's 32-inch Power TV runs for 2 hours on integrated battery

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/deserttvpowertvtoshiba-600-shadow.jpg
[/img]
You read that headline correctly, Toshiba just announced its new Power
TV family of battery-powered LED TVs. Mind you, these aren't tiny
portables. Toshiba's PC 1 sets are pushing 32- or 24-inches and are
the world's first (according to Toshiba) to integrate a rechargeable
battery good for about two hours of power. Why? Because even people
lacking clean, consistent power desire the mind-numbing escape
afforded by a large televised soccer football match. The sets feature
"auto signal booster" tech to enhance viewing in areas with weak
signal coverage and "auto view" to optimize the picture based on
ambient lighting conditions. Tosh is also announcing its new 55-inch
55ZL800 3D LED flagship TV with new multiprocessor CEVO Engine as well
as its 29-mm deep WL700 series of slim LED TVs available in 46- and 55-
inch models. See the full press release after the break.

Adafruit Propeller Platform USB entices DIY electronics builders, 'Gadget Gangsters' at large

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/gadget-gangster.jpg
[/img]It's days like today where you realize just how badly you need
to scratch that DIY itch, and Adafruit's newest two circuit boards
couldn't be landing at a more opportune time. Both of these bad boys
are classified as Gadget Gangsters, which makes 'em viable for
purchase without any additional investigation. Should you choose to,
however, we'll have you know that the Propeller Platform USB is an
open-source platform for building your own electronics projects with a
new eight-core Parallax Propeller chip; the ProtoPlus model adds
video / audio support as well as a "prototyping area." Tutorials are
available in the source links for those inexperienced with Spin, and
at just $50 / $15 (respectively), we'd say they're well worth the
purchase if you're looking to simply get your toes wet. Better known
as "become hopelessly addicted to modding" 'round these parts.

WikiLeaks: Chinese Politburo responsible for Google hacking

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x1129978g53china.jpg
[/img]You had to know something interesting would come out of the
quarter million diplomatic cables that WikiLeaks just, well, leaked
late on Sunday, and the New York Times has picked out a doozie for us.
As it turns out, that big brouhaha in China surrounding the hacking of
Gmail accounts was actually a state-authorized attack. Such was the
report from a Chinese informant working for the US embassy, and the
disclosure goes on to say that it was part of a "coordinated campaign
of computer sabotage," reaching a wide net of targets, including
American government machines, American private businesses, and... the
Dalai Lama. Hey, China's hardly the first country to ever engage in
state-sponsored cyber espionage (ahem, Stuxnet), but we can't say
we're not disappointed. Let's keep it classy from here on out, alright
guys?

Harvard scientists reverse aging in mice, laugh maniacally at human possibilities

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x11299b23fevb.jpg
[/img]
The reversal of aging has been one of the great dreams of humanity,
but it seems like our rodent overlords have beat us to it. The Harvard
Medical School has demonstrated "a dramatic reversal" in the aging
process when reintroducing the enzyme telomerase into old and feeble
mice. What happened was that their naturally worn out organs started
to regenerate, instead of degenerating further, bringing them back to
a youthful state of health. Sadly, while the results of this study are
hugely important, there are a couple of caveats to make: firstly, the
mice in question were genetically modified to suffer from a lack of
telomerase, which might have inflated the results of the tests
relative to regular mice, but more importantly, an increase in
telomerase in humans is "a hallmark of most human cancers." So, if you
want a shot of Benjamin Button brew, you'll have to be very patient
indeed. For now, let's just be happy that Algernon and his buddies
have found their fountain of youth.

[Thanks, Vygantas]

Taiwan subsidizes development for Delta's glasses-free 3D projector and AUO's flexible AMOLED

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/deltaauo11292010-1290990390-600.jpg
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You know the Taiwanese are pretty serious about technology when you
see them liberally throwing cash at factories. According to DigiTimes,
Delta Electronics and AUO are two recent winners for a shared NT$600
million (US$19.6 million) government grant, which will cover 45% of
each of their research expenditure -- so probably not a fifty-fifty
split. If all goes well, Delta will bring out glasses-free, wide-angle
3D projection that's enabled by using multiple high-res LED beamers;
whereas AUO will take advantage of the recent AMOLED shortage and
develop high-res flexible panels. Nice going, folks, just don't let us
catch you all partying on the factory floor with that money.

LaCie's Hub4 quadruples your USB 3.0 pleasure

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x11298g73lacie.jpg
[/img]
Even in their prime, USB hubs were never the sexiest part of a tech
geek's shopping trip -- people would typically grab the most
functional (or crazy) looking option and move on to picking out their
next set of "future-proof" RAM sticks. We're not convinced LaCie's
really going to change all that with its Hub4, but it sure is trying
hard by giving it a curvaceous exterior and those oh-so-desirable blue
USB jacks. Yes, the USB 3.0 color coding is large and in charge here,
highlighting a full quartet of ports for all that SuperSpeed gear
you've been stashing. Of course, you'll still need at least one 3.0
connector on your computer to make the most of this USB peripheral
(otherwise you'll have a very curvy and very standard USB 2.0 hub),
but if that's already accounted for, you'll just need $59.99 and the
source link to get yourself connected to the future.

ASUS Eee Note EA-800 priced at $230, launching in Taiwan this week

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x112989asus.jpg
[/img]
Woah, it was only last week that we finalized the naming scheme for
ASUS's LCD-equipped note taker, yet today the company's announcing
that it'll be available to buy this week in its native Taiwan. Even
better news is the $230 price tag (NT$6,999), which makes the Eee Note
quite the affordable little device. It's versatile too, thanks to a
built-in camera and microphone for recording of notes and a 3.5mm
headphone jack for playback. Running on Linux, the 8-inch tablet (1024
x 768 res) is said to be capable of 13.5 hours of uninterrupted use,
which doesn't match the similarly monochromatic e-readers out there
but is a decent compromise for the functionality on offer. Hong Kong
should be the next market on its global tour, to be followed by
Germany, Italy and Russia around the turn of the year and China and
the US in Q1 of 2011.

Safretti's back with Double Vision hanging HDTV / fireplace combo

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/101127-safretti-01.jpg
[/img]
Nothing quite says "the holidays" like warming up to an artificial
fire in a spacious, well-appointed apartment while watching a DVD of
generic snow-filled landscapes. Unless you're in our family, in which
case "the holidays" is more about drunken egg nog brawls and
recrimination. Either way, it looks like the kids at Safretti have
improved their hanging, portable fireplaces the only way, really, that
it could be improved upon: by adding an HD LCD TV to the mix. We're
not sure what the Netherlands-based company is charging for this, but
seeing as how this purveyor of ultra-expensive home furnishings
doesn't even have an office in the states (the closest is in Mexico,
and the one in Liechtenstein refuses to answer our emails) we're
pretty sure you can't afford it anyways. It comes in two sizes,
featuring either a 37-inch or 47-inch TV. Get a closer look after the
break.

Lenovo teases S800 phone with translucent color display, won't let anyone touch it

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x11298bh235lenovo.jpg
[/img]
Step aside, Sony Ericsson, your Xperia Pureness has been beaten at its
own game by an enigmatic new handset that Lenovo has been showing off
over in China. The above images come from a Beijing fashion event,
where Lenovo chose to debut its S800 featurephone with a color
translucent display. It looks to still be at the concept stage, one
that not many of these luxury items seem to ever exit, but lest you
think it's not for real, the models showing it off at the show were
photographed backstage using the lustworthy piece of glass to do
whatever it is that models do with their phones. Check out the links
below for more.

Steve Ballmer looking into removal of Drive Extender from Windows Home Server

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/ballmer-2010-11-29.jpg
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Windows Home Server hasn't exactly taken the consumer market by storm,
showing yet again that people are more interested in shiny new toys
than protecting their precious data. Still, there's been a huge amount
of negative backlash from Microsoft's recent decision to drop Drive
Extender from the next release of WHS, currently codenamed Vail. Drive
Extender is the tech that enables multiple physical disks to act as a
single logical volume, making it easy for even non-techy folks to add
more and enable data replication. Terry Walsh over at We Got Served
was similarly taken aback by the decision and took the opportunity to
drop a note to Big Poppa Steve Ballmer. He got a response:

From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: 26 November 2010 05:30
To: Terry Walsh
Subject: RE: MVP Feedback - Windows Home Server "Vail" Crisis
Let's look into it
Yes, it's a short response, and it course could mean anything or,
indeed, nothing, but it is at least a response and a positive sign
that the huge outcry among fans of Windows Home Server can indeed make
its way to the top of the executive chain. Now we just wait to see
what comes rolling back down...

Mouse Computer's Lm-mini30X nettop gets D525 processor and SSD, costs a lot of cheese

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/mouse-mini-2010-11-29-800-02-600.jpg
[/img]
What would you pay for a netbook without a screen? How about one
that's rocking a dual-core, 1.8GHz Intel Atom D525 processor, NVIDIA
ION graphics, and an 80GB SSD? Mouse Computer is hoping your answer is
somewhere around $600, because that's roughly what its new, 49,980 yen
Lm-mini30X will cost along with 4GB of RAM, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, HDMI
output, and a 64-bit copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. If that's a bit
too rich for you, there's the slightly lower-spec Lm-mini30S, which
drops you to 2GB of RAM, 320GB on platters, and lowly 32-bit Windows.
That'll set you back 37,800 yen, or about $450 -- still a good amount
for a little PC, but given neither are likely to see a release on
these shores there's no point in getting too worked up about it.

Microsoft in talks to start new TV service using the 360?

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/08/7mcvtp07107md.jpg
[/img]
Microsoft's been strangely quiet during the recent smart TV explosion
even though it has arguably the most mature set of products in Windows
Media Center and Mediaroom, and now we know why: Reuters says MS has
been meeting with media companies in an effort to create an entirely
new TV service possibly delivered through the Xbox 360. Apparently
there are multiple options on the table, ranging from a full-on
"virtual cable operator" with monthly fees to using the 360 as an
extension of existing cableco online TV initiatives to simply
delivering certain channels like ESPN and HBO a la carte, and Reuters'
sources say the plan might take another 12 months to develop. That
sounds like a bit too long, if you ask us: Apple and Google are waging
a major living room assault, and we can't imagine Microsoft is willing
to miss another technology cycle -- especially not one where it holds
the significant advantage of the 360's installed base and proven
history as an IPTV device on multiple operators worldwide, including
Uverse. We'll see what happens -- it sounds like the battle might
finally be joined.

Lady Gaga trapped in an Android smartphone, we wish she'd stay there (video)

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x11298h32tgaga.jpg
[/img]
NTT DoCoMo has Darth Vader selling its Android wares, so what could
KDDI au possibly counter with? Why, a force even darker and more
heinous than the Sith Daddy himself: Lady Gaga. Yes, the music fiend
we love to hate has remixed Poker Face just to make sure we take
notice of Sharp's IS03, and the kindly Japanese carrier has taken care
of inserting her into the phone for maximum promotional value. Yes,
au, now that we've seen Lady Gaga strutting around inside it, we
totally want to own one of these handsets! See the video promos after
the break.

[Thanks, machine]

Nooka Zub Zayu watch has no hands, a name only Trevor Horn could love

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/101129-nooka-01.jpg
[/img]
Call us suckers for odd watches if you must, but there is something
about Nooka's timepieces that make you take a second look. Keeping
with the tradition of goofy "z" names (remember Nooka's Zot and Zoo
from a couple years back?), the Zub Zayu is ambidextrous and eschews
hands for something called the "time capsule" display. And if that
isn't enough, it also goes into sleep mode to conserve juice. We just
hope it comes back to life quicker than the iPod nano! Available now
for $175.

MS applies for patent on 'light-induced shape-memory,' a touchscreen that could touch back

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/ms-patent-2010-11-29-600.jpg
[/img]
Touchscreens are selfish lovers, taking your gentle caresses and
impatient taps without offering a hint of feedback to you. We've seen
attempts to change that, like prototypes from Toshiba and Senseg that
add a bit of texture to a touchable surface, but now Microsoft might
be looking to bring such dynamic tactility to the one of the biggest
touchable surfaces: Surface. A recent patent application entitled
"Light-induced Shape-memory Polymer Display Screen" describes a
technique for a display that uses infra-red light to detect touch, but
also to "selectively change a topography of the topography-changing
layer." In other words: to make it bumpy or smooth. Certain
wavelengths of light projected on the screen can cause areas of that
topography layer expand or contract, which could finally mean all our
cries for attention might finally be responded to in kind.

Sony PSP to gain unlimited music via cloud-based Qriocity service

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/qriocity-music-coming-soon.jpg
[/img]
Just days after Sony's Qriocity video-on-demand service went live
across Europe, in flies this -- news that the aforesaid service will
be spreading its wings and touching the PSP in short order. Word on
the street has it that the next PlayStation Portable update (v6.35)
will bring along Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity, described as a
"new, cloud-based, digital music service from Sony that will give
music lovers access to millions of songs stored and synchronized
through the cloud." Post-update, users will notice a new icon in the
PSP's XrossMediaBar under the 'Music' category, and moreover, the
Media Go application for managing PSP downloadable content on your PC
will be updated "with enhancements to the user interface and advanced
photo editing tools." Sony's remaining mum on a launch date, but the
internet is already abuzz about what this may mean for the impending
PlayStation Phone. Will Sony finally have a leg-up over iOS with an
ingrained unlimited music client? A boy can dream, can't he?

Bicycle lock climbs poles, encourages would-be thieves to look elsewhere (video)

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/conrad-bike-pole-lock.jpg
[/img]
Had your morning cup of Haterade? Get ready to have it flushed out. A
team of bicyclists / engineers have assembled what might be the best
thing to happen to the bicycle since Lance Armstrong, with the
(currently unnamed) pole-climbing bike lock created for Germany's own
Conrad. There's no word on if (or when) this fancy contraption will go
on sale, but we know at least one Dutch inhabitant that'll be parting
ways with as many Euros as necessary in order to take one home. In
short, this device straps around a nearby light pole and then carries
your bike high into the air (and thus, faraway from the hands of
thieves) via a remote control. The only problems? For one, it's huge,
and should prove worrisome to carry around. Secondly, you'll be in a
whole heap of trouble should some other prankster decide to hike his /
her bike up the same pole beneath yours. Anywho, the video after the
break is definitely worth a watch.

Playboy releases not-so-discrete 250GB 'cover to cover' hard drive

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/playboyharddrive-1.jpg
[/img]
Well, you can finally throw out that trunk in your grandfather's
garage. Hugh Heffner's legacy has taken a cue from National Geographic
-- in an arguably non-horrifying way -- and partnered with publisher
Bondi Digital to release a (presumably Seagate-branded) 250GB external
hard drive packed with every issue of Playboy released since 1953. Its
$300 asking price is roughly four times what you'd pay for a fresh G-
rated 250GB drive today, but compared to a 57-year subscription, the
digital vault is certainly a bargain. In contrast to their trail
blazin' efforts with the iBod though, thanks to the prominent
placement of the brand's iconic bow tie-wearing bunny and name,
there's no chance of using this device for practical tasks such as
backing up TPS reports at the office. Like the decision to phase out
DVDs in favor of VOD however, the move does prove the magazine isn't
afraid of staying abreast of today's content consumption trends. Next
stop, Nook Color?

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Android 2.1 rolling out to Sony Ericcson Xperia X8, depending on product code

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/mobile.engadget.com/media/2010/11/x8-
sm.jpg[/img]
Here's an extra bonus for those of you who snapped up an unlocked
Xperia X8 on a frosty Friday morn -- Sony Ericsson is starting to push
Android 2.1 to the handset right now. Thirty-two tasty batches of
Eclair are already in the oven, and you can easily check to see if
you're a likely candidate for upgrade by scanning the back of your
phone. If your eight-digit "SI-number" (e.g. 1242-4859) matches any of
those on the list at our source link, your 720p video recording mode,
enhanced social networking integration and five homescreens are on the
way. Just don't necessarily expect to see them anytime soon on AT&T.

Symbian Foundation axing websites on December 17th, source repositories available 'upon request'

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/symb-foundation-cares-rm-eng.jpg
[/img]
We'd heard that the Symbian Foundation would undergo some drastic
changes as it transitions to a licensing body, and here's number one
-- every official Symbian website will be shuttered on the 17th of
next month. That goes for every page from symbian.org down to the
Symbian Twitter and Facebook feeds, and the source code itself will be
shelved. If you want access to any of it, even the databases of user-
generated bug reports, you'll have to ask the Foundation for a hard
copy and pay a nominal media and shipping fee after January 31st.
We're trying to reach Symbian right now to figure out the full
repercussions of this move, but assuming Nokia's promise to keep
Symbian open-source still rings true, you might want to start stashing
away the repositories and setting up mirrors before the Foundation
drops off the face of the web -- and perhaps the Symbian crowdsource
community, too.

BendDesk: the curved multitouch workspace of the future (video)

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/benddesk-multitouch-curved-display.jpg
[/img]
The Media Computing Group -- otherwise known as the dudes and dudettes
responsible for making multitouch hip again -- is back, and some might
say better than ever. The BendDesk is an outlandish new concept
workspace for the future, relying heavily on a curved multitouch
display to bring the wow. The desk is the Group's vision of merging
multitouch with a common physical area, and it's probably the best
implementation we've seen yet. A full ten touch points are supported,
but the lower portion is also designed to be used as a standard desk,
holding your laptop, paperwork and ink pen collection if you so
choose. Shockingly enough, the whole thing looks exceptionally
ergonomic, too. Head on past the break for a glimpse of it being used,
but don't hold your breath waiting for a ship date and price --
something tells us it'll be awhile before either of those are published.

Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs start to seep out, 2GHz quad-core i7-2630QM coming to HP dv7

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/10x112789n235intel.jpg
[/img]
Intel's Core i7-2630QM chip has made the leap from the company's
roadmap onto its first spec sheet, courtesy of HP's dv7. We've come
across a provisional component list for an update to HP's gaming
laptop, which includes the 2GHz quad-core CPU as the star of its show.
Now, of course, neither HP nor Intel has said anything official on the
matter, but Laptoping has also been snooping around and found listings
at online retailers for laptops from Gateway and Lenovo also offering
the still unannounced part. It's not exactly a secret that Intel
intends to blow the bloody doors off CES 2011 with its Sandy Bridge
processor line, but it's reassuring to see vendors looking eager and
ready so far in advance of the launch date -- it should mean no
shortage of choice when Paul Otellini finally steps to the stage and
makes things officially official.

Boeing's Spectrolab subsidiary set to mass produce 39.2 percent efficient solar cells

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/spectrolab-solar-cells-11-26-2010.jpg
[/img]
Boeing's Spectrolab subsidiary has been working on making solar cells
more and more efficient for years now, and it looks like it's now set
to put its latest record-breaking cells into mass production. Those
come in the form of the company's new C3MJ+ solar cells, which boast
an average conversion efficiency of 39.2 percent, making them the most
efficient mass produced cells to date. What's more, Spectrolab says
that since the new cells are so similar to its current C3MJ production
cells, it should be relatively easy for customers already using those
to upgrade to the new cells. Still no word on a price, it seems, but
the new cells should be available in January. And, yes, Spectrolab is
also hard at work on breaking its own record -- it hopes to crack the
40 percent mark later in 2011.

Manufacture Royale debuts $1.2 million Opera accordion watch, Sir Steampunk scoffs

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/accordion-opera-watch.jpg
[/img]
Well, pardon us. We balked at the $208 price tag affixed to
Tokyoflash's RPM LED wristwatch, but the value proposition there now
looks an awful lot brighter when compared to this. Manufacture
Royale's looking to catch at least one or two elitists off guard with
its new Opera Time-Piece, a $1.2 million device that's composed of 319
parts in the wilds of Switzerland. Purportedly, it was designed by
Fabrique du Temps, and the minute repeater plays the hours in the key
of A as the minutes chime in C sharp. It's also encased in 18k gold,
sapphire crystal and a healthy dose of self-worth. Word on the street
has it that only a dozen of these will be made available for sale,
with the accordion casing being the standout feature in our eyes. In a
manner of speaking, of course.

Tokyoflash brings RPM LED wristwatch concept to reality (video)

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/tokyoflash-rpm-watch.jpg
[/img]Tokyoflash, purveyor of all things awesome when it comes to
watches, has just unveiled its latest addition. If you're of the eagle-
eyed variety, you've probably spotted it just to the right (or after
the break in video form). The difference between this fellow and most
of the timepieces found here is pretty simple: the RPM LED watch
started as a fan render. Over the months, the company took this grand
idea and made it a reality, now offering it to anyone with with more
money than sense. The operation is semi-simple -- the inner ring shows
the hour, while the outer ring shows the minutes. There's a group of
five LEDs at the top that further explains the latter, and we're
hearing that the band itself pushes the IQ of the wearer higher by 12
to 15 points. Even if confirmed by a respected panel of mad
scientists, we still say it's not worth the $208.42 asking price, but
you're obviously free to disagree vehemently.

Keepin' it real fake: 'MacBook Pro' runs 'OS X,' dodges questions on 'legitimacy'

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/kirf-
mbp.jpg[/img]Oh, sure -- we've seen a litany of knockoff MacBook Pro
units, but how's about one that actually ships with OS X? As the level
of nerve skyrockets towards infinity, an unnamed manufacturer in an
unnamed section of China seems to be hawking a lookalike MBP with Snow
Leopard onboard -- a feat that even Psystar couldn't achieve for long.
As the story goes, around $466 buys you a 14-inch machine with a
paltry 1.66GHz Atom D510 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive and
NVIDIA's Ion 2 graphics platform. Oh, and a glowing Apple logo on the
lid. Unfortunately, the dodgy specifications list seems somewhat
reluctant to "admit" that "OS X" is actually loaded on, but it's
there. Trust us. We think.

Gateway stuffs Core i5-470UM, Bluetooth 3.0 into 11.6-inch EC19C-A52C/S laptop

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/gateway-ec19c-a52c.jpg
[/img]Don't call it a netbook, capiche? Gateway has just outed a new
11.6-incher over in Japan, with the EC19C-A52C/S boasting some of the
most impressive specifications we've seen in a unit this compact. A
1.33GHz dual-core Core i5-470UM processor sits at the heart of this
here lappie, and it's accompanied by a 320GB hard drive, 1366 x 768
resolution display, 2GB of RAM, HDMI / VGA outputs, an inbuilt
Ethernet port and a six-cell battery that should last half a dozen
hours (on a good day). As expected, you'll also find a 1.3 megapixel
webcam, 4-in-1 card reader, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Windows 7 Home Premium
(64-bit) and Bluetooth 3.0 (a nice touch, we'll confess), with sales
expected to start right about now in the Land of the Rising Sun. As
for pricing? Try ¥65,000, or right around $775. Told you it didn't
quite fit the netbook category.

Australian Senate passes bill to split Telstra in two, pushes National Broadband Network closer to reality

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/04/australia-broadband-attack-rm-eng.jpg
[/img]
The future of Australian's Labor Party-backed National Broadband
Network is looking much brighter today. The Senate voted in favor of
an A$11 billion bill for Telstra's copper network that also has the
Telecom company (and former government-owned entity) splitting into
both a retail group and a wholesale network group. The House of
Representatives will weigh in on Monday, with all signs pointing to
passage there as well. The opposition party and its A$6.3 billion
proposal? A lost packet.

Nokia toys with context-aware smartphone settings switch, Jigsaw provides better context for apps like this

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/11-27-10-nokiasituations600.jpg
[/img]
If Intel prognosticated correctly, context is the future of apps --
your device's array of sensors will determine where you are and what
you're doing, and clever programs will guess from there. Problems
arise, however, when one tries to run those accelerometers,
microphones, radio antennas and GPS tracking devices constantly on the
battery life of an average smartphone and determine what the raw data
means, and that's where a group of Dartmouth researchers (and one
Nokia scholar) are trying to stake their claim. They've got a bundle
of algorithms called Jigsaw for iPhone and Symbian that claims to be
able to continually report what you're up to (whether walking,
running, cycling or driving) no matter where you place your device,
and only pings the sensors as needed based on how active you are. (For
better or for worse, Jigsaw also dodges the privacy concerns Intel's
cloud-based API might raise by storing all personal data on the phone.)

Of course, we've had a very basic version of context-aware
functionality for years in apps like Locale for Android -- which
modifies your smartphone settings under very specific conditions you
specify (GPS coordinates, WiFi locations, battery life and more) and
it just so happens that Espoo's doing much the same with an app called
Nokia Situations. Presently in the experimental stage, Situations is a
long ways away from the potential of frameworks like Jigsaw, but here
you won't have to wait -- you can download a beta for Symbian^3, S60
5th Edition and S60 3.2 at our source links without further delay.

Sony aims for half of Japan's e-reader market by 2012

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/sony-readers-1.jpg
[/img]Given the dominance of Sony's Walkman over in the Land of the
Rising Sun, it's a little surprising to think that Sony has been all
but silent regarding the Japanese e-reader market. We heard back in
May that the mega-corp was planning an e-reader launch in Japan by the
year's end, aiming to build out an elaborate e-book distribution
platform with local telecom operator KDDI. Fast forward a few months,
and it seems as if thing's are finally falling into place. New reports
are suggesting that the 5- and 6-inch Sony Reader devices will be on
sale in Japan on December 10th, with pricing set for ¥20,000
($237) / ¥25,000 ($297), respectively. Additionally, it's planning
to crack the seal on an online e-bookstore with around 20,000 titles,
and that one should be ready to roll prior to the "year-end shopping
rush." Perhaps more stunning, however, is Sony's intentions to "sell
300,000 Readers in the first year and win half the domestic market by
2012" -- that's according to Sony Marketing Japan president Nobuki
Kurita. Bold words, Sony, but we love the ambition.

Nao developer program kicks off: $4,800, robot included

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/nao-developer-11-26-2010.jpg
[/img]
We've been following Aldebaran Robotics' Nao humanoid robot literally
since it took its first steps, and it looks like interested developers
will finally be able to get their hands on a bot of their own quite
soon. To do so, they'll have to sign up and quality for the just-
launched Nao developer program, which costs €3,600 (or roughly
$4,800) and will initially be limited to just 200 participants. That
hefty price does naturally include the robot itself, along with a
complete software suite, and "privileged access" to Aldebaran
Robotics' source code. Interested? Hit up the link below for the
complete details.

DARwIn-OP humanoid revealed, ready to open source your robotics program

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/darwin-op-1.jpg
[/img]
The next version of the RoboCup-famous DARwIn bot is about ready to
give the Nao a run for its money. The new DARwIn-OP from Robotis and
Virginia Tech's RoMeLa (led by Dr. Dennis Hong, who joined us on the
Engadget Show earlier this year) is just about to land, and the first
pictures of the finished thing have started to circulate. While the
bot is designed to perform, with sensors and servos suitable for
higher-end robotics, the main thrust of the design is the open source
and modular nature of the hardware and software. The bot can be
purchased as a product from Robotis, but the CAD files are publicly
available, and its plastic parts can be fabricated by the end user to
save money (you do have a 3D printer, right?). Rumor has it the robot
will retail for around $8,000, around half the cost of its closed
source Nao competition. The full unveil of the robot is due at the
IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots a couple weeks
from now.

Peter Jackson nabs thirty RED EPIC cameras to film The Hobbit, tempt you to blow your savings

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/11-28-10-peterjacksonredepic.jpg
[/img]
We're still slightly bummed that Peter Jackson never made Halo, but
this should patch things up a tad -- the Lord of the Rings director
will film The Hobbit in 3D entirely on thirty hand-machined RED EPIC
cameras, starting early next year. That's the news straight from RED
founder Jim Jannard, but that's not all, as a limited number of pre-
production EPIC packages will be available to early adopters as well.
$58,000 buys your deep-pocketed budding director a machined EPIC-M
body, titanium PL mount, Bomb EVF and 5-inch touchscreen LCD, a
REDmote, a four-pack of batteries, a charger and a solid state storage
module with a four-pack of 128GB SSDs. Jannard expects to hand-
assemble that first batch of 5K imagers in December or January, start
the real assembly lines a month after that, and hopefully have
widespread availability by NAB in April, though he's not making any
promises there. That's how RED rolls. PR after the break.

[Thanks, Patrick]

Osram's new LED package 50 percent brighter, promises cameraphone flashes that suck 50 percent less

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/osram-150lux-led.jpg
[/img]
See those smiling twentysomethings up there? That, folks, is the kind
of happiness that can only be achieved with 150 glorious lux of LED
intensity. Fortunately, Siemens subsidiary Osram Opto Semiconductors
has packaged a new LED chip that capable of putting up such impressive
figures, a claimed 50 percent brighter than its predecessor -- and
that makes it capable of evenly illuminating a 90-centimeter area from
a distance of one meter away. Cameraphone flashes are an obvious
application, but pocket projectors are another obvious benefactor --
it's nearly impossible to eke enough light out of 'em, and this should
help. It's not clear whether a brighter pocket projector would have
the same positive effect on the demeanor of a bunch of stylish youths,
though -- more on that situation as we get it.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

AAXA debuts L1 v2: world's smallest 20 lumen pico projector

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/aaxa-l1-v2-projector.jpg
[/img]The pico projector may have peaked a year or so ago, but AAXA
Technologies is hoping to ride the coattails of success with the laser-
based (read: focus-free) L1 v2. Predictably, this is the second
generation L1, and it's being hailed as the world's smallest 20 lumen
pico projector at 4.2- x 2.1- x 1.2-inches. Other specs include a
native 800 x 600 resolution, on-board gamma correction, an inbuilt
media player capable of decoding a slew of file formats, an LCoS
imager, a USB socket and an internal battery good for 1.5 hours of
use. We're told that it can blast images up to 50-inches in size, and
while the $449 MSRP still stings, those who pre-order now can get in
for $399. Not exactly a Black Friday special, but hey...

OpenVizsla hopes to bring USB sniffing to the everyhacker

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/openvizsla-1.jpg
[/img]
Remember that Kinect hack how-to? A key figure in the story was the
use of a USB analyzer that was plugged in-between the Kinect and the
Xbox to pick up on USB traffic and pull out a log that could be used
for hacking. Well, there's a new 'OpenVizsla' project on KickStarter
that's aiming to build open source hardware that can put this
typically expensive tech ($1,400+) in the hands of more hackers, who
use the hardware for anything from jailbreaking locked-down devices to
building Linux drivers for hardware. The project was actually started
by hackers "bushing" and "pytey," who have worked on hacking the Wii
and the iPhone, respectively. They've already raised a good chunk of
change for the project in pledges, with backing from folks like
Stephen Fry and DVD Jon helping out the momentum, and hopefully we'll
be seeing the next generation of hacks enabled by OpenVizsla and its
brood before too long.

Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: E-readers

Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well
aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping
experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up
with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated
picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of
the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season.
[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/eng-gift-guide-2010-11-19.jpg
[/img]
E-readers have really started to come into their own in the past few
years, and there are now a bevy of options ranging from the
utilitarian to the multi-tasking. If you're thinking about getting a
reader for a friend or loved one, look no further: we've got our best
picks below.

AirVideoEnabler hack brings AirPlay video to the rest of your apps

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/airplay-hack-1.jpg
[/img]
Apple's new AirPlay video streaming functionality is great... unless
you want to use it in a non-Apple app. For whatever reason, Apple is
restricting AirPlay video to just its first party apps right now, and
not even all of those (Safari is left out, for instance).
Interestingly, Apple actually built the functionality in, it's just
not enabled. Thanks to some "spelunking" work by TUAW's Erica Sadun,
it was discovered that a single line of code is all that's necessary
to spread the feature to any app that relies on Apple's MediaPlayer
framework, including VLC, AirVideo, and even Safari. Now Zone-MR has
built a hack called AirVideoEnabler and put it on Cydia, allowing you
to bring this functionality to your own jailbroken iPad. For the hack-
averse, let's hope Apple catches up in functionality soon. Check out a
video of AirVideoEnabler and Erica's original hack in action after the
break.

Jolicloud Jolibook review

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/jolicloudjolibook30.jpg
[/img]
The Jolicloud Jolibook. Oh yes, it's sounded like a made-up device
ever since the pictures of it started to leak out, but the netbook
centered around the Jolicloud Linux operating system is indeed a real
product. So real that we've been using the Atom N550-powered system
over the past few days. Sure, we've gotten looks in public because its
cartoon-covered lid, but the £279 ($443) machine isn't meant for
"grown-ups" -- it's intended for a younger set, or those between the
ages of 15 and 25. You know, those that tend to live in the Cloud. So,
does the netbook have appeal beyond the young'uns? And is the social,
app-based Jolicloud 1.1 OS, which is built on Ubuntu and HTML 5,
robust enough to take you away from Windows or another flavor of
Linux? We've got the answers to those questions and so much more in
our full review.

Microsoft: we figured people would hack Windows Phone 7, would suggest that they don't

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Hot on the heels of the release of a utility for bypassing the Windows
Marketplace and sideloading your own apps, Microsoft has released a
brief statement on the state of the Windows Phone 7 hacking
community... and we wouldn't exactly say they're too worked up about it:
"We anticipated that people would attempt to unlock the phones and
explore the underlying operating system. We encourage people to use
their Windows Phone as supplied by the manufacturer to ensure the best
possible user experience. Attempting to unlock a device could void the
warranty, disable phone functionality, interrupt access to Windows
Phone 7 services or render the phone permanently unusable."So yeah,
we'd say this is more or less a boilerplate quote: "we figured you'd
hack this thing, we'd prefer it if you didn't, and here's a laundry
list of things that could (but probably won't) happen if you fail to
heed our meek warning." Over the long term, we wouldn't be surprised
if Redmond ended up playing an Apple-style cat-and-mouse game with
these folks, breaking hacks with firmware updates only to have them re-
hacked within a few days' time. Considering the lack of spitfire in
the statement here, we don't see them coming down too hard unless
legitimate, card-carrying, fee-paying developers throw a fit -- and
granted, ChevronWP7 could be a step on the road to piracy, so that
could very well happen.

Editorial: My next iPad won't be a 7-incher, but I wish it could be

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It took me a while, but I'm starting to fall in love with my iPad in a
way I haven't loved a gadget for a long while. There's something about
the form factor, the apps, the OS that feels just right and makes me
want to do as much of my daily computing on it as possible. Of course,
that's still a pretty small sliver of my overall day, and the iPad
isn't even close to replacing my laptop for the large majority of my
work, but I'm finding myself increasingly doing casual browsing,
casual gaming, serious writing, and, yes, even some reading on Apple's
10-inch tablet.

But I have one "big" problem with the tablet that doesn't look like
it'll be solved anytime soon: it's not 7 inches. Will Apple ever eat
its words and build a smaller iPad, or will the 7-inch form factor be
left to the rest of the emerging tablet market to fight over?