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- Symbian Foundation axing websites on December 17th, source repositories available 'upon request'
- Android 2.1 rolling out to Sony Ericcson Xperia X8, depending on product code
- Caltech research could lead to quantum hard drives, networks, parallel universes
- Acer seduces with slim, trim AZ3750-A34D all-in-one PC
- Orange UK prices 3G iPad at £199 on two-year contract, taking pre-orders today
- Modified radar gun identifies suicide bombers up to ten meters away
- Advent Vega nabs Android Market access courtesy of MoDaCo custom ROM
- Toshiba TG01 slowly, surely gets hacked to run Android
- Pockito wearable camcorder: endorsed by a knockoff Miley Cyrus and Joe McCreep
- PhotoFast's AP1000 takes AirPlay support to your car
- How would you change Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 Beta?
- Hasselblad H4D-40 Stainless Steel medium format camera: limited to 100 units, priced at €13,990
- Pirate Bay founders lose appeal: jail time reduced, fines raised
- Netfllix executive reveals the method behind its multiple PS3 UI madness
- Intel research projects bring Legos to life, make groceries interactive
- Editorial: My next iPad won't be a 7-incher, but I wish it could be
- Microsoft: we figured people would hack Windows Phone 7, would suggest that they don't
- Jolicloud Jolibook review
- AirVideoEnabler hack brings AirPlay video to the rest of your apps
| Symbian Foundation axing websites on December 17th, source repositories available 'upon request' Posted: 27 Nov 2010 09:47 AM PST  | |
| Android 2.1 rolling out to Sony Ericcson Xperia X8, depending on product code Posted: 27 Nov 2010 09:33 AM PST  | |
| Caltech research could lead to quantum hard drives, networks, parallel universes Posted: 27 Nov 2010 07:43 AM PST  Quantum anything has typically fallen into our oft-used category of 'awesome things that'll never happen,' but if a crew of researchers at the California Institute of Technology have anything to say about it, they'll soon be changing the fortunes of that segment. The team has recently demonstrated quantum entanglement for a quantum state stored in four spatially distinct atomic memories, and while that probably just blew your mind a little bit, the breakdown is fairly interesting. Essentially, they've uncovered a quantum interface between the atomic memories, which is said to "represent something akin to a computer hard drive for entanglement." If extended, it could pave the way toward quantum networks, and in turn, massive webs of quantum computers. We're obviously decades out from understanding what this all means for the common computer user, but just remember this: "for an entangled quantum system, there exists no objective physical reality for the system's properties." And you thought The Matrix was deep. | |
| Acer seduces with slim, trim AZ3750-A34D all-in-one PC Posted: 27 Nov 2010 06:35 AM PST  Go 'head Acer! Get down with your bad self! After introducing a bevy of tablets at a press event earlier this week, it seems as if the company has at least one more trick up its sleeve: this. The AZ3750-A34D all-in-one PC is easily one of the sexiest AIO units we've seen in quite some time, boasting a 21.5-inch LCD, a 3.2GHz Core i3-550 processor, up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, a 500GB (7200RPM) SATA hard drive, multi-format card reader, DVD burner and 802.11b/g/n WiFi. You'll also get a gigabit Ethernet port, a 1920 x 1080 screen resolution, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), eight USB 2.0 ports and a bundled mouse / keyboard. The hardware alone will go for ¥69,800 ($832) -- thankfully, the titillation factor is thrown in gratis. | |
| Orange UK prices 3G iPad at £199 on two-year contract, taking pre-orders today Posted: 27 Nov 2010 04:52 AM PST  [Thanks, Jon] P.S. - We've just spotted that Three, the UK's 3G-only network, is also planning to sell the iPad "in the coming months." Pricing and data allowances, however, have yet to be revealed. | |
| Modified radar gun identifies suicide bombers up to ten meters away Posted: 27 Nov 2010 03:12 AM PST  William Fox of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey and John Vesecky, his colleague at UC Santa Cruz, are working on a modified radar gun that can identify suicide bombs worn under the clothing. To do this, they cataloged the most common arrangements of looped wires used to construct "suicide vests," and developed software that can identify the radar cross-section of each. So far, results have been pretty good: according to New Scientist, "telltale factors in the polarisation of the reflected signals" allowed them to correctly identify volunteers dressed as bombers up to ten meters away, roughly eighty-five percent of the time. Of course, even with a success rate this high, such a system would be prone to kicking up false positives. In order to minimize this, the devices would have to combined with other technologies, such as smart surveillance camera systems and infrared imaging. | |
| Advent Vega nabs Android Market access courtesy of MoDaCo custom ROM Posted: 27 Nov 2010 01:11 AM PST  The Advent Vega seems to be gaining some serious traction overseas, but despite the low price, not having access to Google's bona fide Android Market is a huge Debbie Downer. Well, it was. The fine folks over at MoDaCo have cooked up a custom ROM for the 10-inch tablet, and if you've nothing better to do on a Black Friday than tinker with software, the v1.04 build hosted in the source link promises a "full Google experience" including Gmail, Maps with Street View, Talk, Voice Search and even Android Market access. All the steps you'll need to follow are just a click away, so allow us to ask you this: what's the holdup? | |
| Toshiba TG01 slowly, surely gets hacked to run Android Posted: 26 Nov 2010 11:45 PM PST  | |
| Pockito wearable camcorder: endorsed by a knockoff Miley Cyrus and Joe McCreep Posted: 26 Nov 2010 09:27 PM PST  | |
| PhotoFast's AP1000 takes AirPlay support to your car Posted: 26 Nov 2010 07:59 PM PST  3.5mm auxiliary inputs and stereo Bluetooth used to be good enough -- but that was before Apple announced AirPlay a few months ago. Now, everything else sounds like someone is stabbing you in the ears; the world looks black and white, and food no longer has any taste. AirPlay, save us! Taiwanese firm PhotoFast is playing the superhero role here today with the AP1000, a little black module with WiFi that accepts incoming AirPlay streams and routes them through to your car's stereo. From the demo video, it's obvious that you're probably going to want to get a professional car audio installer involved to make this happen -- and before you ask, no, it won't do video -- but if you've got an Apple logo sticker on your rear window, we bet this is exactly how you want to roll. Follow the break to see the AP1000 get surgically implanted in a Mercedes. | |
| How would you change Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 Beta? Posted: 26 Nov 2010 06:52 PM PST  | |
| Hasselblad H4D-40 Stainless Steel medium format camera: limited to 100 units, priced at €13,990 Posted: 26 Nov 2010 04:42 PM PST 
| |
| Pirate Bay founders lose appeal: jail time reduced, fines raised Posted: 26 Nov 2010 03:39 PM PST  | |
| Netfllix executive reveals the method behind its multiple PS3 UI madness Posted: 26 Nov 2010 02:50 PM PST  | |
| Intel research projects bring Legos to life, make groceries interactive Posted: 26 Nov 2010 02:11 PM PST  | |
| Editorial: My next iPad won't be a 7-incher, but I wish it could be Posted: 26 Nov 2010 01:30 PM PST  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? The iPad was built by Apple, which means in a few months' time we're probably going to see a brand new version of the device that will somehow cast the current version in a very unfavorable light. We'll wonder what all the fuss was about. "You mean the first iPad couldn't even do video calls?" could be the iPad's version of "You mean the iPhone didn't even have third party apps when it came out?" And of course, the current iPad is far from perfect. With impending competition from smaller, well-connected, camera-packing, Flash-compliant, and / or cheaper tablets (the Galaxy Tab, Nook Color, and BlackBerry PlayBook, to name a few), what's Apple planning for its second-generation iPad to keep a hold on its sizable market lead? First off, I don't really have any idea. It's probably a pretty safe bet that Apple will be adding the iPad to its stable of FaceTime-compatible devices, courtesy of a camera or two, and apparently the screen is getting some sort of tweak, but that's about all anyone can safely guess. One thing I am pretty certain on, however, is that the new iPad won't come in a 7-inch flavor. Steve Jobs pretty soundly trashed all the swirling rumors of a 7-inch iPad on Apple's earnings call a couple months ago ("This size is useless unless you include sandpaper so users can sand their fingers down to a quarter of their size."), and I'm not too happy about that.
I mean, his argument is simply absurd. If the only way to make the iOS UI work was a 10-inch screen, however have we managed with these 3.5-inch iPhone screens all this time? Apple could of course make a usable 7-inch interface out of the iOS elements, but they're either afraid of further development fragmentation, or consumer confusion (is this a phone or a tablet?), or both. Prior to the iPad's success I might be a little worried about the first problem: can you really expect developers to build all-new apps, or all-new-formatted apps, for an unproven new device? But the iPad showed the flexibility of the OS and the eagerness of its developers. Also, no offense intended, but Samsung has also done a pretty good job of showing what some of the iPad's UI ideas might look on a 7-inch form factor. At the end of the day, the iPad is a computer, and computers have always come in different sizes -- even from Apple. See, I love the Nook Color and the Galaxy Tab -- for the form factor. Like it or not, Apple has the most mature software for a tablet, and a great complement of apps. I don't see that changing very soon, but I can't help but yearn for an iPad that's as small and light and comfortable as this new Nook. My biggest problem with the iPad is its shortcomings as an e-reader. First off, it's heavy. Josh noticed it in his review, and it hasn't gotten any lighter over time, no matter how many iPad-curl reps I do. Next up, it's just a little large for curling up with like you do with a book. Combining the curl-up-incompatibility and the weight and I've actually managed to hit myself in the face numerous times with the iPad while attempting to recline with it. Third, the screen's resolution is inferior to many e-ink displays, along with the high-res LCDs being used on the 7-inch Tab and Nook Color and PlayBook. Finally, the glass front might look classy, but it's terrible for glare, particularly when it's outside. Barnes & Noble attempted to fend off this glare a bit with the Nook Color, and while they didn't succeed entirely, I appreciate the effort: its results are certainly better than the glossy glass norm. What's really amazing is that despite all these shortcomings, all signs point to the iPad being a runaway success as a reading device, both for books and for documents. It could be the software, which includes iBooks, Amazon Kindle, and excellent document viewers like GoodReader, or the fact that once people invest in an iPad they don't really feel like buying or carrying a Kindle alongside. No matter what, you don't see many regular users complaining about their inability to read on the thing, no matter how much I struggle. Perhaps this means Apple has nothing to worry about, but it's a nice in for the competition -- one which will be stressed endlessly, I have no doubt.  So, let's assume (as is reasonable) that Apple won't be going to 7 inches this time around. Should it "spend" its annual update on blowing out the feature set, or stay conservative on functionality and go aggressive on price? Can it do both? Let's say Apple scrounges up a 4x resolution "Retina Display" for the iPad to improve the device's reading chops, scrounges up some sort of carbon fiber manufacturing technique to improve weight (although that aluminum back is hardly the worst of the iPad's weight problems), bumps the RAM to help out with multitasking, and bolts on a couple of cameras. That's not even considering some sort of new processor, which might be necessary to keep the iPad's graphics looking better than stretched-out iPhone 4 games, and any other features Apple might be dreaming up. It all sounds pretty pricey to me. On the other hand, Apple could pull an "iPhone 3G," make a few minor tweaks, keep most of the same internals, and lower the price. Unfortunately, most of the 3G's wild price drop ($399 down to $199) came from a new subsidy model with AT&T, not a sacrifice of Apple's margins, so that makes this move pretty unlikely. Also, the speeds-and-feeds nerd within balks at the prospect of a whole iPad generation that hardly moves the needle on specs. Of course, all this hand wringing might be a bit silly: Apple could easily sell a new feature-packed version for $499 alongside a cheaper last-gen model for, say, $399, as it's done with the iPhone 3G / 3GS and 3GS / 4. Still, that assumes the iPad is getting dramatically cheaper to produce over time, which isn't necessarily a sure thing -- and, again, there's no carrier here for Apple to lean on and make up the cost. No matter where we end up landing on price and features next year, and no matter which tablet brand ends up reigning supreme in the coming decade, it's going to be pretty obvious that competition is a wonderful thing. I just wish that competition had showed up early enough to force Apple into selling me a 7-inch iPad next year. Oh, and if you're feeling like a little bit of compromise, Apple: I'd settle for eight. Paul Miller is Engadget's resident Pixel Density Enthusiast. His opinions are his own. | |
| Microsoft: we figured people would hack Windows Phone 7, would suggest that they don't Posted: 26 Nov 2010 12:49 PM PST  "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. | |
| Posted: 26 Nov 2010 12:08 PM PST  Look and feel If you can look past the trippy lid, you'll find the Jolibook to be your average 10.1-inch netbook. Built by Vye, an ODM in the UK, the inch-thick chassis is made of black plastic and is surrounded by three USB jacks, VGA and Ethernet ports, and headphone and microphone sockets. There's also an eight-in-one card slot on the right edge. It's actually not a bad feeling little laptop, though obviously there are more svelte looking systems out there -- we're looking at you, ASUS Eee PC 1018P. And let's be honest, you can't stop starring at that big bulging six-cell battery up there. We have to say it gives the netbook a very dated look, and also adds quite a bit to the three-pound weight of the device. Also, the battery itself is a bit wobbly -- even when locked in, it jiggles a bit. Keyboard, touchpad, and screen The touchpad also seems to steal its look and feel from ASUS' playbook (no, not RIM's tablet) -- the pad is flush with the palm rest and is only differentiated by small braille-like dots. The small bumps aren't as pronounced as the ones on ASUS' pads or even Lenovo's ThinkPads, but it is still mighty comfortable on the index finger. That said, we did run into some navigating issues -- for the most part it allowed us to point and click just fine, but other times it just didn't want to cooperate and the cursor just kept jumping all over the screen. We're inclined to blame the close proximity of the pad to the keyboard, but we didn't have the patience to deal with it so we whipped out our Logitech Anywhere MX mouse. The Jolibook also packs Bluetooth, so a regular Bluetooth mouse will fit the bill as well. The 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600-resolution display is bright enough for watching videos on YouTube or Hulu, but the quality of the panel leaves more to be desired. The screen is just fine for watching the latest SNL clip with a friend, however vertical viewing angles aren't stellar and setting it back a bit requires you to adjust the screen forward quite a bit. We grabbed the Cheese webcam program from the app store, and had a ball snapping pictures of our mug using the 1.3-megapixel webcam. The speakers are standard for a netbook -- they're not loud and relatively tinny. The OS: Jolicloud 1.1 In essence, the OS is the antithesis of Windows or a "desktop" based OS -- all the applications you need live on the first tab of the main menu, what the company calls its Dashboard or "App Launcher." As you can see above, it looks a lot like iOS in the sense that its a grid of applications and you can add as many pages of apps as your heart desires. (The netbook comes with most of the apps you'll want right off the bat pre-installed, including Gmail, Chromium, Twitter, OpenOffice, Skype, etc. You can install more from the app store, but we will get to that soon.) When you launch a web app or program, it lives on the top of the screen and you can toggle between them up there or by hitting Alt + Tab. Pressing the Jolicloud button on the keyboard always lets you return to the main menu. The second tab on the main menu is what the company calls its "Social Stream," and it's really the feature that differentiates the OS from any of the other custom netbook Linux builds (i.e. Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Meego, Easy Peasy, etc.) out there. When you first get the netbook or use Jolicloud on any other computer, you're required to sign up for an account using your e-mail address. You are also able to log in using your Facebook username, but that's only after you've had a Jolicloud account setup. The reasoning behind all this is two-fold. Firstly, it lets Jolicloud store information about "your Jolicloud" -- what apps you have, your settings, etc. -- on its servers so you can log into the OS on any computer. They don't call it the "Anywhere OS" for nothing! Secondly, it lets you connect with friends that also may be Joliclouders. Once you "follow" or friend those individuals, the Social Stream pulls in information about them -- what apps they like or they've downloaded, etc. You can follow them and they can follow you back. You see, it's a social OS -- not just an OS built around social networks. The third tab is where you can view your files and folders as well as access Cloud storage services like Box.net and Dropbox. The fourth contains information about your Jolibook as well as you account. In reality, you will spend a majority of your time on the netbook in the various web apps, which are for the most part just websites that launch as separate apps rather than just as another tab in the Chromium browser. There isn't a way to create your own web app or shortcut based on a website (no Engadget app for you!), but there are over 700 free apps in the store, which include popular sites like YouTube, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, etc. and loads of others. The entire experience is familiar since it's really just a browser based OS, but there are also non-web based apps like VLC Player, 280 Slides, OpenOffice, GIMP, and Boxee. Luckily, that means that if you aren't near a WiFi hotspot, the netbook isn't just a brick -- you can still write documents, take pictures or watch some local video. (Sadly, we've been hearing Chrome OS won't have that same sort of offline functionality.) Overall, it's a very user friendly operating system and extremely simple to master. Those that have been scared of the big, bad scary Linux, have nothing to worry about here, however, those that wish to experiment with Sudo command this and that can always get behind the scenes by hitting Alt + F1 to access the terminal. Performance and battery life So, does that bulging 48Wh six-cell battery provide some serious cord-free runtime? Uh, not really. On our video rundown test, which loops the same standard definition video at 65 percent brightness, the Jolibook ran for four hours and 46 minutes. That's not terrible, but not as long as other dual-core notebooks out there like the HP Mini 5103 which runs for over six hours or even the ASUS 1015PN with NVIDIA's Ion. We expected better especially with that large cell strapped to its back. We should also note that the right side of the system did get noticeably warm after a few minutes of use. Wrap-up And ultimately, that's what it comes down to -- if you're looking for a netbook that's all about Jolicloud, the Jolibook and its crazy lid will fit the bill, but if you're not all about one Linux OS, giving up Windows, or having a cartoon all over your netbook you're best just scooping up one of our preferred netbooks like the Toshiba Mini NB305 or HP Mini 5103, downloading Jolicloud 1.1, and making a Jolibook of your own. | |
| AirVideoEnabler hack brings AirPlay video to the rest of your apps Posted: 26 Nov 2010 11:40 AM PST  |
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