| The Engadget Show - 019: HP's Jon Rubinstein, Palm TouchPad demo, Nintendo 3DS, Samsung 9 Series Posted: 28 Mar 2011 11:05 AM PDT Get ready humans, because we have an all new episode of The Engadget Show that you absolutely don't want to miss. First, Josh sits down with HP's Jon Rubinstein for a long chat about the future of webOS, the latest Palm devices, and an exclusive demo of the TouchPad. Then, Josh and Joanna welcome Paul Miller and Nilay Patel to the roundtable for a raucous breakdown of the latest gadget news including demos of Samsung's new 9 Series laptop and the Nintendo 3DS. Rounding things out is some incredible music from Minusbaby with visuals from The C-Men. It's everything you love and more! What are you waiting for? Hit up the video stream after the break or download the full show in HD below! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Joanna Stern Special guests: Jon Rubinstein, Paul Miller, Nilay Patel Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger Edited by: Chad Mumm Music by: Minusbaby Visuals by: The C-Men Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec
Animation by: Nick Criscuolo
Taped live at The Times Center Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 019 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 019 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) / The Engadget Show - 019 (Small) Subscribe to the Show: [ iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (MP4). [ Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (MP4). [ RSS MP4] Add the Engadget Show feed (MP4) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. [ HD RSS] Get the Engadget Show delivered automatically in HD. [ iPad RSS] Get the Engadget Show in iPad-friendly adaptive format. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Intel rolls out third-generation SSD 320 Series drives Posted: 28 Mar 2011 10:46 AM PDT It's had quite a run, but Intel's venerable X-25M series of SSDs has now finally been replaced by the company's new, third-generation SSD 320 Series. Those rely on some brand new 25nm Intel NAND flash memory, and are available in capacities ranging from 40GB to 160GB for mere mortals, plus some higher capacity 300GB and 600GB models for particularly demanding users. What's more, Intel is quick to boast that the new drives are actually 30 percent cheaper than the previous generation, with prices running from just $89 for 40GB to $1,069 for that 600GB drive. Head on past the break for the official press release, and check out the more coverage links below for some early reviews. Show full PR text Intel Announces Third-Generation SSD: Intel® Solid-State Drive 320 Series
Features Enhanced Performance/Reliability, Larger Capacities and 25nm Intel® NAND Flash Memory
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
* Third-generation Intel® SSD 320 Series on 25-nm NAND flash memory offers 40-, 80-, 120-, 160-GB plus higher capacity 300- and 600GB options.
* Advanced architecture enables robust, reliable SSDs with enhanced security features for desktop/notebook PCs or server data center storage.
* Performance, reliability upgrades enhance solid line of high-performing SSDs with up to $100 price drop over current Intel® X25-M SSD model.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intel Corporation announced today its highly anticipated third-generation solid-state drive (SSD) the Intel® Solid-State Drive 320 Series (Intel® SSD 320 Series). Based on its industry-leading 25-nanometer (nm) NAND flash memory, the Intel SSD 320 replaces and builds on its high-performing Intel® X25-M SATA SSD. Delivering more performance and uniquely architected reliability features, the new Intel SSD 320 offers new higher capacity models, while taking advantage of cost benefits from its 25nm process with an up to 30 percent price reduction over its current generation.
"Intel designed new quality and reliability features into our SSDs to take advantage of the latest 25nm silicon, so we could deliver cost advantages to our customers," said Pete Hazen, director of marketing for the Intel Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) Solutions Group. "Intel's third generation of SSDs adds enhanced data security features, power-loss management and innovative data redundancy features to once again advance SSD technology. Whether it's a consumer or corporate IT looking to upgrade from a hard disk drive, or an enterprise seeking to deploy SSDs in their data centers, the new Intel SSD 320 Series will continue to build on our reputation of high quality and dependability over the life of the SSD."
The Intel SSD 320 is the next generation of Intel's client product line for use on desktop and notebook PCs. It is targeted for mainstream consumers, corporate IT or PC enthusiasts who would like a substantial performance boost over conventional mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs). An SSD is more rugged, uses less power and reduces the HDD bottleneck to speed PC processes such as boot up and the opening of files and favorite applications. In fact, an upgrade from an HDD to an Intel SSD can give users one of the single-best performance boosts, providing an up to 66 percent gain in overall system responsiveness.1
The Intel SSD 320 Series comes in 40 gigabyte (GB), 80GB, 120GB, 160GB and new higher capacity 300GB and 600GB versions. It uses the 3 gigabit-per-second (3gbps) SATA II interface to support an SSD upgrade for the more than 1 billion SATA II PCs installed throughout the world. Continuing to offer high-performing random read and write speeds, which most affect a user's daily computing experience, the Intel SSD 320 produces up to 39,500 input/output operations per second (IOPS) random reads and 23,000 IOPS random writes on its highest-capacity drives. In addition, the company has more than doubled sequential write speeds from its second generation to 220 megabytes-per-second (MB/s) sequential writes and still maintains one of the highest read throughputs at up to 270 MB/s sequential reads. This greatly improves a user's multitasking capabilities. For example, a user can easily play background music or download a video, while working on a document with no perceivable slow down.
Already one of the most solid-performing SSDs over time, Intel continues to raise the bar on SSD reliability in the way it has architected its third generation, using proprietary firmware and controller, to further demonstrate that not all solid-state drives are created equal. In this rendition, Intel creatively uses spare area to deploy added redundancies that will help keep user data protected, even in the event of a power loss. It also includes 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard capabilities on every drive, to help protect personal data in the event of theft or loss.
"Solid-state drives continue to be one of the hottest trends in computing," said Bernard Luthi, vice president of marketing, Web management and customer service at leading e-retailer Newegg.com. "Intel remains a top brand because of its consistent performance and extremely low return rate. We are sure customers will welcome the new higher capacity drives, and now is a great time for consumers to upgrade their PC to a fast new SSD."
Intel SSD 320 prices, based on 1,000-unit quantities, are as follows: 40GB at $89; 80GB at $159; 120GB at $209; 160GB at $289; 300GB at $529 and 600GB at $1,069. Check retailers/e-tailers for consumer pricing. All models include a limited 3-year warranty from Intel.
"With recent announcements, we have expanded our SSD product line and now offer both consumers and computer OEMs more SSD choices," said Tom Rampone, vice president and general manager, Intel NVM Solutions Group. "We see the Intel SSD 320 as a solid advancement to our SSD roadmap, and will continue to upgrade and refresh our SSD product line as we add more enterprise options for our business customers throughout the year."
Another benefit for Intel SSD purchasers is the Intel® SSD Toolbox with Intel® SSD Optimizer, a free utility which provides Microsoft Windows* users with a powerful set of management, information and diagnostic tools to help maintain the health and out-of-box performance of the drive. To help ease the installation process, all Intel SSD users can download the free Intel® Data Migration Software to help clone the entire content of a previous storage drive (SSD or HDD) to any Intel SSD.
Intel SSDs can be purchased in the United States from such retailers as Best Buy or Fry's Electronics, plus a variety of resellers, retailers or Internet e-tailers such as Newegg.com or Amazon.com worldwide. To download the multimedia press kit go to www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/ssd. A special enterprise addendum for data center customers and more information on Intel SSDs can be found at www.intel.com/go/ssd. Follow Intel SSDs on Twitter: @intelssd, Facebook: Intel Solid State Drive (Official) or communities.intel.com.
About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world's computing devices. Additional information about Intel is available at newsroom.intel.com and blogs.intel.com.
Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.
* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
1 Based on Intel research and benchmarking utilizing PCMark Vantage comparing 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor (3MB L3 Cache, 2.30 GHz) with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology, Intel® HM65 Express chipset on Lenovo* IdeaPad Z470, Graphics Intel® HD Graphics 3000 and driver 8.15.10.2246, BIOS Lenovo 4ACN16WW with default settings, Intel® INF 9.2.0.1016, Memory 4GB (2x2GB) Dual-channel Micron* MT16JSF25664HY-1G1D1 DDR3-1333, Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 10.1.0.1008, Microsoft* Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 6.1 Build 7600 with DirectX 11 on NTFS file system, Display size 14.1-inch, resolution 1366x768 (32-bit), comparing hard disk Hitachi* Travelstar HTS723232L9A360 320GB 7,200RPM SATA2 versus Intel® SSD320 SSDSA2BW300G3 300GB SATA2 FW 4PC10302.
Software and workloads used in performance tests may have been optimized for performance only on Intel microprocessors. Performance tests, such as PCMark Vantage, are measured using specific computer systems, components, software, operations and functions. Any change to any of those factors may cause the results to vary. You should consult other information and performance tests to assist you in fully evaluating your contemplated purchases, including the performance of that product when combined with other products. |
| Samsung Series 9 (NP900X3A) laptop review Posted: 28 Mar 2011 09:45 AM PDT Back at CES, Samsung pulled out quite a few surprises, and no, we're not referring to its Zoll-infused press conference -- although, that performance still gives us the willies. Of all the Korean company's announcements at the show, which we'll remind you included an impressive new LTE phone and range of SmartTVs, it was its Series 9 laptop that left us the most stunned. And well, a glance at that picture above should explain why we found ourselves counting down the days until its March launch date. The 2.8-pound system is a complete and total 180 from Samsung's typical bulky mainstream systems, yet its 0.64-inch thick chassis still crams in quite a bit of horsepower with a Core i5-2537M processor, a 128GB SSD, and 4GB of RAM. It's also built from some of the toughest stuff on earth, has a backlit keyboard, and an incredibly high quality 400 nit LCD. You see, the $1,699 machine teeters on having the absolute perfect balance of beauty and brawn, and certainty has the core ingredients to compete with that other extremely popular and super thin ultraportable -- but when you get it home and out of its fancy box, does it truly have the chops? Or is this just yet another rail thin and expensive Windows laptop that falls short? The time has come to find out – hit the break for our full review. Look and feel We're just going to come out and say it: the Series 9 is one of the most striking laptops we've ever seen. Unlike the Dell Adamo and the Sony VAIO X, which both seemed to try too hard to look like Apple's MacBook Air, the Series 9's deep black case and sharp angled edges give it a seriously distinct look. And it's one of sophistication and simplicity, if you ask us. The entire dark chassis may seem basic and highly minimalistic, but there are small intricacies like the chrome borders, hidden port covers, and wave-shaped hinges that just make this thing feel more like a computing piece of art than a basic bargain-basement PC. But beyond the aesthetics, the system just feels great in hand. The duralumin build, which is the same stuff used in airplane construction, feels insanely solid, and there's absolutely no bend to the top half of the chassis. Unfortunately, the bottom feels like it's made of plastic, though Samsung tells us it's made of a powder coated aluminum. Still, the metal lid and palmrest are very soft, and believe us, you won't be able to resist petting the surface. However, beware of fingerprint streaks -- specifically, the palmrest gets covered pretty quickly, though thankfully, Samsung includes a cloth in its high-end box. But, of course, the first thing everybody notices about the 9 is its insanely thin profile. Yes, it's one really thin and light machine, and in terms of numbers, it comes extremely close to rivaling the MacBook Air. Samsung claims the Series 9 weighs 2.88 pounds and measures 0.62 to 0.64-inches thick. In comparison, the Air tips the scales to 2.9 pounds and is 0.11-inches at its thinnest point and 0.68 at its thickest. Still, the differences are as minimal in person as they are on paper -- while the Series 9 does seem slightly thicker in hand, it's really not a difference you'd notice everyday, and just like the Air, picking it up off your lap or table requires little to no muscle. Samsung was able to find a home for quite a few ports on the svelte system as well. The left port cover pulls down to reveal one USB 3.0 port, a mini HDMI socket, and a jack for the included Ethernet adapter. The one on the right hides a USB port 2.0, a microSD card slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It's a decent lineup, we just wish Samsung had gone with a regular SD card slot. Oh, and those worried that the port covers would retract when the system is sitting on the table will be happy to know that it isn't an issue. Keyboard and touchpad The best news may come when you open up the Series 9's lid. In fact, we can confidently say the chiclet keyboard and touchpad duo is one of the best we've seen on a Windows laptop. The keyboard itself is extremely well laid out and the keys themselves feel nice and smooth. The panel doesn't bend, though we could have done without the glossy plastic surrounding the keys and the screen. Naturally, we're just elated to see the backlight and the fact that you can adjust the brightness manually with the F7 and F8 buttons. It really makes a world of difference when you get caught in dimly lit environments -- something we wish Apple had remembered when it cut out that feature on its new generation of Airs. The touchpad -- or what Samsung is calling a SuperButton ClickPad -- has integrated mouse buttons, and it's actually the best we've seen on a shipping Windows laptop. It's still not a perfect experience, but it does use Synaptics' ClickPad Series 3 design with image sensing technology, so using the traditional finger layout – a thumb on a mouse button and an index finger to navigate – is noticeably improved. Additionally, the 4.0 x 3.0-inch matte pad, which has a rubberish feel to it, is also quite spacious and lends itself nicely to multi-finger movements. However, two finger scrolling is still where things aren't exactly perfect – running two fingers down the pad while on this very site still made for a very jittery experience, though adding a bit more pressure helped move things along. However, some other gestures work as advertised – four fingers down brings you to the desktop and four up launches Aero. You can always customize the gestures, though for some reason, the menu for that is buried deep in the Control Panel's mouse settings tab. The touchpad and keyboard provide hassle-free experiences on their own, but we found in our typical use, that our palms would swipe up against the pad while typing and would subsequently cause the cursor to jump across the screen. Making some adjustments to our wrist positioning helped ease the situation as did turning off the touchpad, but it's something we wish either Samsung or Synaptics would address with some palm rejection tweaks. Screen The 13.3-inch display on the Series 9 is yet another place the it rises above the rest. The 1366x768-resolution, 400-nit screen boasts Samsung's SuperBright Plus technology, and its one heck of a viewing experience. The matte screen (yes, it's also matte!) is extremely crisp and colors just look dazzling. The ambient light sensor automatically adjusts brightness, but we opted to disable that function while plugged in and cranked it up to the max. There's also good news for those that plan to do a bit more outdoor computing: without any brightness adjustments, the screen looked extremely crisp when we took it on a field trip to Times Square. Our only ungranted wish comes with the resolution – we would have liked to see a higher-end option, like the 13-inch MacBook Air's 1440 x 900-resolution panel or the VAIO Z's overly dense 1600x900 screen. Samsung claims wide 160-degree viewing angles with the 9, and we can attest that both horizontal and vertical angles on this thing were top notch. Actually, vertical angles are almost perfect; sitting to the far right of the system, we were still able to make out everything on the panel. It's indeed impressive. The 1.3 megapixel HD webcam above the display served up decently crisp images of our mug while chatting over Skype, though it seemed to have a slight issue adjusting the brightness as we moved around. The two speakers, which are located on the right and left edge, were surprisingly loud for their size. Unsurprisingly, the sound was rather tinny when listening to Adele's latest on Rdio. Performance and graphics We've established that the Series 9 has what it takes to compete on an aesthetics and ergonomics to a large degree, but a large chunk of your green is going to its higher end performance parts. So, is it worth it? The experience is certainly snappy, there's no doubt about that. The 1.4GHz Core i5-2537M processor and 4GB of RAM consistently opened applications quickly and didn't show any signs of slowing down when we worked simultaneously on this review in Microsoft Word 2010, intermittently wrote posts in Firefox 4, edited pictures in GIMP, checked our Twitter feed in TweetDeck, and even video chatted with a friend on Skype. But don't underestimate the role of the 128GB SSD in launching apps and quickly resuming / booting Windows 7 Home Premium. Similar to what Apple's done with its MacBook Air, Samsung's worked on what it's calling Power Back, which promises to wake the system from sleep in three seconds. And our testing proved that claim to be exactly on the mark. The Air, on the other hand, resumes from sleep in a slightly faster 2.6 seconds, though the Series 9 has Apple's system beat on boot time -- it revved up Windows 7 Home Premium in 20 seconds flat, while our 13-inch Air took 25 seconds. Graphics-wise, the Series 9 packs Intel's integrated HD 3000 graphics, and as we saw with the Lenovo ThinkPad X220, the performance is markedly improved over the last Core integrated options. It had no problems handling the local and Flash HD clips we threw at it. How does it compare to the NVIDIA's GeForce 320M in the Air? Well, as the benchmarks show, NVIDIA's option is still a stronger choice, but like we said, Intel's solution was extremely nimble when it came to watching 1080p clips. | | PCMarkVantage | 3DMark06
| Battery Life | | Samsung Series 9 (Core i5-2537M) | 7582 | 2240 | 4:20 | | 13-inch MacBook Air (Core 2 Duo, GeForce 320M) | 5170 | 4643 | 4:45 | | ThinkPad X220 (Core i5-2520M) | 7635 | 3517 | 7:19 | | ASUS U36Jc (Core i5 / NVIDIA GeForce 310M) | 5981 | 2048 / 3524 | 5:30 | | Lenovo IdeaPad U260 (Core i5) | 3858 | 1153 | 2:56 | | Dell Vostro V13 (Core 2 Duo) | 2687 | 556 | 2:39 | | Toshiba Portege R705 (Core i3-350M) | 5024 | 1739 / 3686 | 4:25 | HP Pavilion dm1z (AMD Zacate E350)
| 2510 | 2213 | 5:02 | | Notes: the higher the score the better. For 3DMark06, the first number reflects score with GPU off, the second with it on. |
Battery life and software
Give its standard voltage processor, we never really had that high of hopes for the Series 9's battery life, and actually, we doubted Samsung's claim of seven hours. However, it fared much better than we anticipated. On our standard video rundown test, which loops the same video at 65 percent brightness and WiFi on, the six-cell 6300mAH battery lasted four hours and twenty minutes. That's quite a taxing test, and in typical use with brightness hovering around 75 percent, we got closer to five hours of juice. Yes, of course, that's not as long as the X220 we just tested, but that had a much larger battery and an additional slice cell. Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air lasts 25 minutes longer on a charge on our battery test, but in use we got closer to 6.5 hours of use with similar brightness adjustments. Either way, we're content with the Series 9's endurance considering its high performance parts and the fact that dragging around its small, one piece charger isn't a bother. We should also note that the rig stayed fairly cool during both corded and cordless use -- the keyboard got slightly warm, but only after quite a bit of use. Like most of Samsung's laptops, the Series 9 is preloaded with a bit of the company's own utilities. Listed under Samsung in the Start menu are Easy File Share, Easy Migration, Easy Network Management, and other "Easy" tools. Shockingly, the rest of the system is pretty bare on third-party software.
Wrap-up  Finally! The Series 9 gets right what so many other ultrathin PCs have repeatedly gotten wrong. It's got a brand spankin' new and speedy Sandy Bridge Core i5 processor, a fast 128GB SSD as well as a high quality screen and stunning exterior. And on top of all that, it doesn't require that you drag along the AC adapter everywhere you go. But just as we're about to say the Series 9 hits it out of the park, we're hit in the face with its $1,649 price tag. No matter how you slice it, this ultraportable is still meant for a niche user who's willing to shell out over $1,600 for a laptop (although, we are seeing it listed for $1,599 at Best Buy). And while it may have more processing power than Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air and a backlit keyboard, Apple's offering shaves off $350, has a higher resolution display, slightly longer battery life, stronger graphics performance, and a better multitouch touchpad experience, and ultimately, we assume that will be enough for those seeking an incredibly thin laptop. That said, the Series 9 has the horsepower to be one's main system and finally proves that PC manufacturers can build an incredibly thin, head-turning laptop without sacrificing the vitals. And well, despite the Samsung tax, that's quite a feat. |
| Sony Ericsson Xperia Play review Posted: 28 Mar 2011 09:00 AM PDT The PlayStation Phone. We've had quite the intimate history with this gamepad-equipped slider, learning of its secretive existence way back in August and then handling a prototype unit in January, so you'll forgive us for feeling sentimental and still entertaining our pet name for it. The Sony Ericsson marketing gurus renamed it the Xperia Play when it finally went official at MWC this year, but the PlayStation connection remains as strong as ever. Aside from the D-pad, iconic game keys, and two touchpads, this device comes with a little app named PlayStation Pocket, which will be serving up dollops of classic PlayStation One gaming to all those with a taste for it. Yes, the Sony influence is strong with this one, and the Android Market will be joining the fun with Xperia Play-optimized titles from third-party developers. So all we really need to know now is whether the Android smartphone underpinning this smash-bang fusion of old and new school entertainment happens to be any good. Shall we get Started? Hardware The gamepad
There's likely little point in us trying to discuss any of the Xperia Play's external hardware before addressing its literal and figurative centerpiece, the slide-out gamepad. A DualShock attached to your smartphone it is not, but you already knew that. The real question is how close it comes to replicating the console experience rather than how well it competes with it. Judged on such terms, the Play acquits itself very well. The digital directional keys are firm with a satisfying amount of travel and the same goes for the face buttons. Squeezed in between them, Sony Ericsson also throws in a pair of analog pads, which react to your input in much the same fashion as the capacitive touchscreen does -- with the big difference being that while you use the pads you're not obscuring any of the action on screen. Each pad has a handy indented dot at its center, helping to orient your thumb without the need to look down.  An Android Menu button on the bottom left is accompanied by Select and Start keys on the right (at least one of these three buttons feels perfunctory as they serve overlapping functions) and there are two shoulder buttons on the outside, where you would usually find the L1 and R1 controls on the proper console gamepad. Some among our staff have taken to calling them flippers, because they're closer to flaps or paddles in their operation than fully fledged buttons. In actual gameplay, we found them a little too sensitive, which caused us to activate them unintentionally a few times and fail almost completely when prompted by one game to press them simultaneously. We succeeded once out of every six or seven tries, such was the capriciousness of their design.  The sliding mechanism responsible for serving up the gaming controls is pretty much flawless. It's spring-loaded, meaning you only need to slide it halfway up or down to achieve the required opening or closing action and it does the rest by itself. Movement is smooth and consistent, and one-handed operation is no problem either. What impressed us most about it, though, was its sturdiness. There's no tilt to the handset, the screen just slides straight up, and that's the way it stays -- perfectly parallel, no matter the violence of our attempts to find any structural flaws. It's clear to see that Sony Ericsson spent a lot of time refining this slider and we're happy to say it lives up to a very high standard of durability -- an absolute necessity when making a button masher's device such as this.  Moving to the top half of the slider, we find a volume rocker, nestled craftily in between the aforementioned shoulder buttons, a power key, and the usual four Android buttons, arranged in yet another innovative formation. For whatever reason, Sony Ericsson opted to swap the Home and Menu buttons' positions up front, leaving our prototype unit looking desperately out of date and us wondering why it had to be done at all. While we've no complaints to proffer about the power and volume keys, we must express our deep discontentment with the Android set. They're quite spongy, meaning they can absorb a lot of pressure before registering a click, which tends to lead to an inconsistent and frustrating user experience. Even more troublesome is the difficulty to differentiate between them by touch alone, forcing you to look down, which is then amplified by the fact they're not backlit. So yeah, the Xperia Play will give you a whole new reason to be afraid of the dark. Construction Squeaks and creaks were sadly too readily apparent with the Play, mostly owing to the poor quality of plastics used in its construction. It's a rigid device and, as already pointed out, there's little questioning its internal structure, but there's no getting around the fact that SE didn't blow the budget on procuring the most high-end of shell materials. The rear cover feels brittle, in spite of its flexibility, and the overall glossy aesthetic lends itself to picking up scuffs and scratches easily. The metallic accents aren't to our tastes, either, mostly because they're not made out of actual metal. And if you're not going to at least insert a little bit of premium material or functional utility in your design, why complicate it? Build quality is, therefore, a mixed bag. We get the feeling that after a while the Xperia Play will end up looking rather like The Terminator -- losing its soft and and pathetic outer shell, but revealing some hardcore engineering within. Maybe that'll be a good look for it.
A final note is merited about the Play's dimensions. At 16mm (0.63 inches) in thickness and 175g (6.2 ounces) in weight, this may easily be the chubbiest flagship Android device you're going to see coming out this year. That said, provided you're not too bothered by its heft (and you shouldn't be), it's actually shaped to sit very neatly in the hand. Its curved rear is reminiscent of the Palm Pre, though to the Play's credit it also manages to lie perfectly flat when rested on horizontal surfaces. When opened up into action mode, the whole device again feels nicely thought out and we doubt there'll be a hand size that won't be suited by its shape. Internals Allow your curiosity to drag you past the Play's rear cover and you'll be rewarded with a happy surprise -- both the SIM and MicroSD card slots are accessible without removing the battery. Not many phones make it that convenient and another rarely seen asset the Play can tout is a set of stereo speakers. They're not just two mono outputs, there's actually a tiny little sound stage created by them working in tandem. The quality of the audio they pump out isn't going to threaten a set of dedicated speakers, but it's certainly a lot more tolerable than the general mediocrity we're used to from smartphones. Considering the device's entertainment-centric reason for existence, we believe this to be a big strong point in its favor. In terms of the hardware that makes the wheels go round, the Xperia Play relies on a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon chip, which comes with an Adreno 205 GPU. Neither is a slouch, but it's obvious that more could, and perhaps should, have been included in this bargain. Looking around at the spring / summertime smartphone landscape, a potential Play buyer will be confronted by Motorola's Atrix and Droid Bionic, LG's Optimus 2X and Optimus 3D, Samsung's Galaxy S II, and HTC's EVO 3D -- all of whom tout dual-core SOCs and generous apportionments of RAM. Oh yes, about the RAM. There's only 400MB of it on the Xperia Play, don't ask us why. It may seem overly demanding to expect every new smartphone to match up to those benchmark destroyers, but we must remember the Xperia Play is about gaming and games will make use of every last ounce of performance you can give them. As it stands, it's a healthy and sprightly device today, but do be aware of the gathering storm clouds above its future. It's simply not powerful enough for us to give you any assurances about its long-term viability.  We found battery life a little lacking. There's a robust 1500mAh cell inside this handset, but we could only stretch it to about 22 hours under our light use test. It was a day's worth of sporadic use, where checking up on things like Gmail, Twitter and Facebook updates was the phone's most regular exercise. For a comparison, the similarly outfitted -- MSM8255 with Adreno 205 -- Incredible S from HTC managed to squeak past the 50-hour mark in spite of having a battery with 50mAh less juice. Again, both were subjected to light workloads that are unlikely to be representative of everyone's daily routine, but the delta in endurance between the two phones was striking. Not to put too fine a point on it, but something tells us all those software bells and whistles on the Play (hello, Timescape!) are working against Sony Ericsson here. On the bright side, throwing some actual gaming action its way didn't obliterate the battery quite as badly as we feared it might. Our overall impression (from admittedly limited testing) is that this will clearly not be an endurance smartphone because of its software overhead, but Sony Ericsson's promises of five and a half hours of continuous gameplay seem well within reach. Display Another thing that's taxing the Play's battery unduly is its screen. The default brightness setting for it is at the very maximum and once you use it for a while, you realize why. It's very dim. We're not talking about it being mediocre or some way short of the best, it's so lacking in brightness that it's borderline dysfunctional. Taking the phone out for an afternoon outside, we couldn't play Crash Bandicoot even on the bus, never mind out in the direct glare of the sun. It's not an unqualified disaster, as viewing angles are pretty wide, the 854 x 480 resolution is decent, and under the right circumstances you can obtain some pleasantly vibrant images from it, but it's still one the worst screens we've seen on a review phone -- hell, review hardware of any kind. This was most apparent to us outdoors when we used it side by side with Sony Ericsson's own Xperia Arc, the latter handset giving us better contrast, saturation, and of course, brightness. Both phones lack an auto-brightness option in their settings, which is a weird omission on Sony Ericsson's part, even if in the case of the Play it'd just be kept at max anyway. Camera
Speaking of omissions, has anyone at SE HQ heard about the little trend of making 720p video recording a de facto standard feature in high-end Android smartphones? Because, well, the Xperia Play doesn't have it. We know full well that the hardware's capable of it -- a 5 megapixel imager sits round the back, so more than enough pixels can be pulled together to saturate a 1280 x 720 frame, and the 1GHz Snapdragon under the hood pretty much snorts with indignation at the routine task of processing such workloads at 30fps. What gives, we don't know, but the video you do get, recorded at a maximum of 800 x 480, isn't all that great anyhow. The recordings produced during our testing tended to be very soft, with noise suppression algorithms seemingly working overtime to ensure the smudgy appearance. That issue was compounded by poor microphone performance, which muffled and straight up distorted some of the sounds it picked up during recording. Things look much brighter on the still imaging front, however, where we churned out some highly satisfactory results without requiring an excess of effort. Options on Sony Ericsson's custom software are a little limited, but you can adjust exposure, white balance, and focusing mode, which should still be sufficient for most users. Especially praiseworthy among those controls is the Macro mode on the Play, which allowed us to get seriously up close and personal with some of our subjects. On the downside, the Play's camera struggles to focus in low light and noise is no less an issue here than on most other smartphone sensors. One fanciful idea we had, in the absence of a dedicated physical shutter button, was that Sony Ericsson could have used the right shoulder key to double up as one. It's in just about the perfect location for the task and we can't see anything preventing SE (or some enterprising hackers, perchance?) from hooking it up to the picture-taking software. Overall, it's a decent to good camera with some disappointing video recording tacked on. Software PlayStation Pocket As with the hardware section, we'll get straight to the PlayStation meat of the Xperia Play software matter. Two apps will be of foremost interest here: the not at all confusingly named Xperia Play, which serves as a showcase for Android Market games compatible with the Play's controls, and the PlayStation Pocket, which houses the hallowed PS One games that this new smartphone is so primed to enjoy. For the moment at least, we should probably narrow that down to the singular game, since the Play ships with just the one preloaded classic title, Crash Bandicoot, and the rest of the PS One library is still en route. That puts the Play's launch, coming up on April 1st across Europe, into a rather precarious position. It's supposed to be the bringer of great new entertainments to the thumb-equipped masses and yet we're staring at just one original piece of content upon its release. Bruce Lee, FIFA 10, Star Battalion HD, and The Sims 3 do come preloaded to soften the blow, but they're not exclusive to the Play, and in the particular case of The Sims, don't even benefit very much from the physical controls. Still, they're there and the means to accessing them is actually pretty swish. Opening up the slider kicks you straight into the Xperia Play app, where the games you already have on the device are split out from the list of purchasable compatible titles, meaning you're never more than a slide and a tap away from leaping into action. Loading times for the games aboard the Play were quite tolerable indeed -- nothing was instant, but only the most impatient of gamer would find them a nuisance. In-game performance also gave us no cause for complaint, with smooth frame rates throughout. The basics look to have been well taken care of. One drawback we should highlight, however, is the fact that most, if not all, PS One games were coded for displays with a 4:3 ratio. That means either zooming or stretching the game in order to fill the widescreen panel on the Xperia Play. Both options are available to you in the settings, but Crash was already looking pretty aliased without us zooming in for a closer inspection. Not an ideal situation, but that's where we find ourselves. At least until Sony decides it's a good idea to drop its vast catalog of PSP games atop this device, then we'll have no such worries. The gamepad is not abandoned completely once you stray outside the gaming arena, as you're able to navigate through lists with the D-pad and select and cancel things with the X and O keys. It's a somewhat inconsistent affair, as this integration doesn't permeate everything on the Play, but we found it useful in the browser and messaging apps. Android à la Sony Ericsson The OS underlying SE's new hero device is of course Android. Version 2.3.2 (aka Gingerbread) is shipping out on retail devices, marking this as one of the first non-Google handsets to come preloaded with Mountain View's latest and greatest. That means much-improved text manipulation thanks to the addition of new selection anchors, a general sprucing up of visuals, and a set of extra APIs with a gaming bent. Wonder why Sony Ericsson wanted to run its gaming device atop this platform, eh? Nonetheless, the company's UI designers haven't been sitting around exercising their thumbs and there's a vast amount of aesthetic tweaking done on top of Android. Almost all of it is for the better, in our opinion, as the whole UI benefits from a look of sophistication and maturity that Android has generally lacked. The phone interface is spacious and welcoming, while the contacts and messaging interfaces are extremely attractive, sensibly laid out, and utterly delicious to scroll through. Talk about optimization! The contacts section can also be navigated more rapidly just by initials and, if you have Twitter accounts associated with your buds' numbers, it shows you a snippet of their latest update, very handy. Moreover, entering individual contacts' pages shows their profile pictures nicely blended with the background, reinforcing the overarching theme of refined design. Thankfully, Sony Ericsson's alterations all look to be skin-deep, giving us some cause to believe the company's pledge that it'll be quick in responding to new Android rollouts from the Google mothership. Time will only tell.  There are some downsides to the skinning efforts on the Play, however, as might be expected. One is the aforementioned issue of the battery seemingly running down quicker than it ought to, which you can always offset by making your own adjustments, but obviously that's no great consolation for those hoping the device would just work like it should straight out of the box. Another thing we noticed was that Timescape, albeit a mere removable widget now instead of the overwhelming leviathan it was on the Xperia X10, was still susceptible to slow performance and even the occasional freeze-up. It remains an extremely graphically demanding tool, what with all its overlays and three-dimensional animations, so that's no surprise, but we still enjoy our user experience more without it than with it. It wasn't entirely alone in showing slowdowns, we experienced a few, very minor, hangups and delays while using the Play, but couldn't find any repeatable bugs to report. It feels a mostly solid build, though it's a little disappointing that the aforementioned smoothness of operation in the customized messaging and contacts apps doesn't carry over to the rest of the UX. Browser performance is mostly decent, but we've definitely seen faster, whether you're talking other Android devices, Windows Phone 7 or iOS. Pinch-to-zoom and scrolling commands are executed, but in a slightly labored fashion. Aliasing is also apparent when zooming out from pages, not unlike what we saw on the Incredible S recently. Finally, SE's onscreen portrait keyboard is a little too cramped for our liking, with the letters being tall but not altogether wide enough to make for comfortable typing. Sony Ericsson might have done well to just stick with the default Gingerbread provision here. Wrap-up We've reached out to Sony Ericsson asking for a roadmap of when we can expect the PlayStation Suite and more PlayStation One titles to roll up on the Xperia Play bandwagon and make it worth joining. As it stands today, on the day of review and the precipice of its launch, the Play is looking out on a pretty barren gaming landscape. The Android titles up for grabs are not exclusive to the device and don't necessarily benefit all that greatly from its unique control scheme, whereas the catalog of classic PlayStation content stops after just one entry. So with almost no differentiating software of its own, the Play is really relying on the strength of its gamepad to round up willing participants in its gaming revolution. We concur that that's indeed the phone's main strength, with good ergonomics and an extremely durable sliding mechanism. Nonetheless, the poor quality of the screen and good, but not great, hardware spec force us to be reluctant about recommending it as a sage purchase at present. Perhaps it picks up a loyal following, from both developers and fans alike, and within a few short weeks, we're all looking at a device with a rich ecosystem of compelling tailor-made content and a ton of reasons to own it. But as for today? We'd rather spend our cash elsewhere in the Android cosmos and hold out hope for the PlayStation Phone 2.0. |
| Microsoft's SpecNet promises to seek out unused wireless spectrum Posted: 28 Mar 2011 08:46 AM PDT Microsoft's been toying around with hardware for so-called white space spectrum for some time now, and it's now back with another fairly ambitious scheme. Dubbed "SpecNet," the hardware in this case in actually a network of spectrum analyzers that would seek out and map where spectrum is available and where it's not, and let unlicensed devices use it when it's available. Of course, that's still all a bit theoretical, and it does face a few significant hurdles. Those spectrum analyzers, for instance would cost between $10,000 and $40,000 apiece, and you'd obviously need a lot of them for a nationwide network, although Microsoft suggests that they could be set up on an ad hoc basis and assigned to different areas for a specific time period. Those interested in the finer technical details can dive into Microsoft's full paper on the subject at the source link below. |
| DARPA's Urban Photonic Sandtable Display enables 3D battlefield planning without goofy glasses Posted: 28 Mar 2011 08:24 AM PDT You probably point and laugh at your friends when they have big, bulky 3D glasses perched on their noses in theaters. That kind of tomfoolery just won't do amongst the military brass, who frown at the slightest hint of snickering in the operations room. This new 3D system, called the Urban Photonic Sandtable Display (UPSD), should help. It's a DARPA project, a fully holographic table (no glasses required) that can be scaled up to six feet diagonally and allows visual depth of up to 12-inches. The technology comes courtesy of Zebra Imaging, which earlier wowed us with some insane 3D printouts, and the data will come from LIDAR systems like this ROAMS bot. No word on when the system will be deployed to the field, but it should allow grizzled commanders and uppity businessmen to find unobtanium deposits, even if they happen to be located right under a big 'ol tree. Show full PR text DARPA SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES 3D HOLOGRAPHIC DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM
March 24, 2011
Many of today's conflicts occur in urban settings, making the ability to visualize conditions in urban areas increasingly important to commanders and mission planners. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently completed a five-year program called Urban Photonic Sandtable Display (UPSD) that creates a real-time, color, 360-degree 3D holographic display to assist battle planners. Without having to wear 3D goggles or glasses, a team of planners can view a large-format, interactive 3D display. Until now, two-dimensional, high-resolution flat panel color displays and 3D static monochrome images have been the most advanced visual planning tools available.
UPSD assists team-based mission planning, visualization and interpretation of complex 3D data such as intelligence and medical imagery. It permits simultaneous viewing for up to 20 participants and is interactive, allowing the image to be frozen, rotated and zoomed up to the resolution limit of the data. The holographic display enables full visual depth capability up to 12 inches. The technology also enables realistic two-dimensional printouts of the 3D imagery that front line troops can take with them on missions.
UPSD is based on full-parallax technology, which enables each 3D holographic object to project the correct amount of light that the original object possessed in each direction, for full 360- degree viewing. Current 3D displays lack full-parallax and only provide 3D viewing from certain angles with typically only three to four inches of visual depth.
Presently UPSD is a scalable display platform that can be expanded from a six-inch diagonal size up to a six-foot diagonal, in both monochrome and color formats.
UPSD is part of DARPA's broader efforts in 3D technology research. DARPA recently demonstrated a wide-area 3D LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) mapping capability under DARPA's High Altitude LIDAR Operations Experiment (HALOE). HALOE is providing forces in Afghanistan with unprecedented access to high-resolution 3D data, collected at rates orders of magnitude faster and from much longer ranges than conventional methods. UPSD's 3D display can support the rapid exploitation of this data for detailed mission planning in rugged, mountainous and complex urban terrain.
DARPA is initially transitioning the UPSD technology to an Air Force research center and two Army research centers to apply the technology to critical applications where the 3D holographic display will provide a unique benefit.
Zebra Imaging of Austin, Texas, was awarded the initial contract in 2005 and has researched and developed the technology. |
| 3DS owners reporting sporadic 'Black Screen of Death,' how is yours treating you? Posted: 28 Mar 2011 08:03 AM PDT You've read our Nintendo 3DS review, where we found it to be a generally fun but still somewhat flawed handheld gaming experience. Now it's been released to the world, and to the willing hands of Triforce Johnson, and we're left wondering what all of you think. We're also hearing scattered word of a supposed "Black Screen of Death," where the system indicates "An error has occurred" while playing a variety of games and has to be rebooted. We saw no such glitches in our testing, but what about you? |
| Netflix nabs exclusive subscription pay TV rights to Paramount movies -- in Canada Posted: 28 Mar 2011 07:32 AM PDT So far Canadian Netflix users have had to deal with a far more limited streaming library than their US cousins, exacerbated by the lack of a DVD / Blu-ray library to fall back on, but that's about to change. Netflix has struck a deal in Canada with Paramount for premium pay TV window access covering "exclusive subscription television rights to all first-run films." Currently in the US Netflix's deal with Epix gives it access to many of the same movies ( Iron Man 2 -- already available since the 25th in Canada, while not currently ready for streaming in the US -- Titanic, Zoolander, The Last Airbender) eventually, but that's clearly not exclusive. While it's previously cut deals with smaller distributors like Relativity Media and Nu Image/Millennium Films for pay TV window access, the combo of exclusive and a major studio like Paramount makes Netflix a pay TV channel competitor in a whole new way. This backs up its earlier move in that direction by signing up for a new original show to debut on the service in 2012 and potentially adds a new edge to rumored negotiations for the Miramax back catalog, press release follows after the break. Show full PR text Netflix and Paramount Reach Multi-Year Premium Pay TV Window Deal in Canada
The Last Airbender, Marvel's Iron Man 2 and Hundreds More Great Paramount Movies to be Offered Exclusively to Canadian Netflix Members to Watch Instantly
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., March 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) today announced a new multi-year licensing agreement with Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), adding hundreds of new movie titles, including the exclusive subscription television rights to all first-run films, for Canadian Netflix members to watch instantly on their computers and TVs.
Netflix members in Canada can enjoy theatrical hits from Paramount in the coming months starting with "The Last Airbender" and Marvel's "Iron Man 2." The five year agreement will add over 350 new movies available to watch instantly from Netflix in Canada, including epics like "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Titanic," and "Defiance," great comedies like "Zoolander" and "Wayne's World," and beloved classics like "The African Queen," "Sabrina" (1954) and "Terms of Endearment."
"We are committed to constantly expanding our selection of top new movies and TV shows for our Canadian members," said Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief content officer. "This agreement will allow them to watch some of the latest hit Paramount films as well as an incredible range of the studio's recent and classic favorites anytime they want. Netflix and Paramount enjoy a great relationship and are proud to bring such a terrific array of films to Netflix members in Canada."
Speaking on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Hal Richardson, President of Paramount Television & Digital Distribution, stated "We are extremely pleased to have concluded this deal with Netflix for the premium pay television window in Canada; offering some of Paramount's best films to their rapidly growing Canadian subscriber base, beginning with Iron Man 2 on March 25. We are especially delighted that this arrangement serves to broaden the growing relationship with our friends at Netflix."
About Netflix:
With more than 20 million members in the United States and Canada, Netflix, Inc. [Nasdaq: NFLX] is the world's leading Internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV shows. For $7.99 a month, Netflix members can instantly watch unlimited movies and TV episodes streamed over the Internet to PCs, Macs and TVs. Among the large and expanding base of devices streaming from Netflix are Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PS3 consoles; an array of Blu-ray disc players, Internet-connected TVs, home theater systems, digital video recorders and Internet video players; Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as Apple TV and Google TV. In all, more than 200 devices that stream from Netflix are available in the U.S. and a growing number are available in Canada.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation:
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.
CONTACT: Steve Swasey of Netflix, Inc., +1-408-540-3947, sswasey@netflix.com; or Dade Hayes of Rubenstein Communications, Inc., +1-212-843-8022, dhayes@rubenstein.com, for Netflix, Inc. |
| BrainGate hits 1,000 day mind-control milestone, nearly three years of pointing and clicking Posted: 28 Mar 2011 07:17 AM PDT  Aspiring Svengalis rejoice! For BrainGate has reached a significant landmark in computational thought-control -- the 4 x 4-mm implantable chip has given a woman with tetraplegia the ability to point and click with her brain for 1,000 days. An article recently published in the Journal of Neural Engineering said the woman, known simply as S3, performed two easy tasks every 24 hours, using her mind to manipulate a cursor with 90 percent accuracy. Each day she was monitored, S3 would post up in front of a computer and continuously command the thing with her thoughts for 10 minutes. Functionality reportedly deteriorated over time, but the paper points to the chip's durability, not sensor-brain incompatibility, as the culprit. Research is currently underway to incorporate BrainGate into advanced prosthetics that could get tetraplegics like S3 up and moving again. Now, how's that for the power of positive thinking? |
| Red One faces Arri Alexa in high-res, Choose Your Own Adventure-style face-off Posted: 28 Mar 2011 06:49 AM PDT Most of the time when one product takes on another in a no-holds-barred face-off somebody walks away with a championship belt. Not this time. Here it's Gunleik Groven, Norwegian filmmaker and photographer, comparing the RED One Mysterium X and the Arri Alexa, two pro-quality shooters that come in at a price semi-pro producers can afford -- the RED clocking in at $42,485 the way Gunleik configured it, the Arri at $70,000. There are some obvious differences, like the RED shooting at 4K and the Arri at 1080p, but the vast majority of the comparisons here are far, far more subtle than that, meaning you're just going to have to pore over the comparison on the other end of the source link yourself and download the gigabytes of sample footage that's been thoughtfully provided. If you do need something of a conclusion, though, it's this: "These are both excellent cameras we could only dream of 5 years back... you cannot really complain on the equipment if you don't get your shot with either of these." |
| Dell freshens up Inspiron M5030 with Spanish-language keyboard, claims it's first of its kind in US Posted: 28 Mar 2011 06:11 AM PDT The Athlon-powered M5030 from Dell hardly looked like a machine that would be bearing an "industry first" label when it launched in September of last year, but now it's doing exactly that thanks to an intriguing new mod from its maker. The 15.6-incher is being released with its keyboard and Windows 7 installation customized in Spanish, neither of which would be unusual were it not for the fact that it's going to be on sale in the US. It's not exactly a vast overhaul, as only a couple of physical keys are swapped out and switching Win 7 into and out of Spanish mode can be done in the time it takes to click a mouse, but still, it's significant in that it services the speakers of the States' second most commonly used language. Pricing for the M5030 en español is set at $499 and includes a 320GB HDD and 4GB of RAM. For an entirely free video of an excitable Dell employee telling you about it, jump past the break.
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| Apple's WWDC 2011 kicks off on June 6th Posted: 28 Mar 2011 05:45 AM PDT It's five days of developer love in sunny San Francisco, and this year it starts on June 6th. As ever, Moscone West will be hosting Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, and this year we'll be seeing "the future of iOS and Mac OS" along with "more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers." Last time Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone 4 to a very willing world at large. Could its successor make an appearance this year? We'll be there live to tell you if and when it happens. Show full PR text Apple Worldwide Developers Conference to Kick Off June 6 at Moscone West in San Francisco
CUPERTINO, California-March 28, 2011-Apple® today announced that it will hold its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) June 6 through June 10 at San Francisco's Moscone West. At this year's five-day conference Apple will unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS®, including exciting demonstrations of the new kinds of apps that developers can build using Apple's advanced frameworks and more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers.
"At this year's conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss."
Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to greatly enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. Mac® developers will see and learn how to develop world-class Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities. Developers can even bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers, applying development techniques and best-practices to enhance their apps.
Activities at Apple's WWDC 2011 include:
more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers on a wide range of technology-specific topics for developing, deploying and integrating the latest iOS and Mac OS technologies;
over 1,000 Apple engineers providing developers with code-level assistance, insight into optimal development techniques, and guidance on how they can make the most of iOS and Mac OS technologies in their apps;
the opportunity to connect with thousands of fellow iPad®, iPhone® and Mac developers from around the world; and
Apple Design Awards which recognize iPad, iPhone and Mac apps that demonstrate technical excellence, innovation and outstanding design.
Go to the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 website (developer.apple.com/wwdc) to purchase tickets, as well as for updates and more information.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices. |
| SWITL scoops oozy goop with amazing robotic precision (video) Posted: 28 Mar 2011 04:53 AM PDT Look, sometimes, not often, but sometimes we'll miss a truly spectacular and mind bending story that requires a double-back. The SWITL robotic hand is just such a case. The patent-pending technology looks to have been revealed on video back in late October showing the Furukawa Kikou robot deftly lifting a ketchup and mayonnaise mess from a table and then replacing it unchanged from its original shape. The tech was developed for bakeries with the intention of automating the handling of soft substances that were either too malleable or too icky for human hands. Unfortunately, Furukawa Kikou isn't providing any details about the science behind SWITL so we'll just assume that it's Satan's work until otherwise informed. See what we mean in the video after the break.
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| Twimal the Twitter reader reads your tweets, looks adorable while doing so (video) Posted: 28 Mar 2011 04:10 AM PDT If you fancy using Twitter as much as we do, you'll probably scream like a pre-teen when you lay your eyeballs on what toy maker Takara Tomy has conjured up in Japan. Dubbed Twimal, this loveable Pokemon-esque desk companion plugs into your Windows machine via USB and has one reason for its existence -- to read your tweets. Available in blue or white (male or female voice, respectively), these little bots are able to read all sorts of tweets (replies, lists, user-specific, etc.), in what appears to be Japanese only. If you're interested in getting your 140-character messages read in the cutest way possible, look for these toys on digital shelves in Japan on March 31 for ¥2,480 (around 30 bucks). And do yourself a favor; watch the video after the break. You'll thank us later. |
| Silicine might be the new graphene, now that it's been physically constructed Posted: 28 Mar 2011 03:29 AM PDT Surely you've heard of graphene, the one-atom-thick layer of pencil lead that has the potential to change the world of computers, batteries and screens? You might want to familiarize yourself with the term "silicine," too. It's basically a version of graphene constructed out of silicon, which doesn't naturally align itself into the same eminently useful honeycomb shape -- but, given a little prod here and a layer of silver or ceramic compound there, can do much the same thing, and with better computing compatibility. First proposed around 2007, it's reportedly been produced twice now by two different teams, which gives physicists hope that it could actually be useful some day. For now, researchers need to figure out a way to easily produce it so detailed experiments can be performed -- from what we understand, the good ol' scotch tape method just won't do the job. |
| Atrix 4G's 4.1.57 update spruces up a few things, patches known root methods Posted: 28 Mar 2011 02:48 AM PDT The HSUPA-enabling update? No, not yet. The voice call quality fix? In the pipeline. The mission-critical Bluetooth multimedia experience improvements? Oh yes, we've got those right here! Motorola is preparing to deliver an imminent OTA update to its Atrix 4G super phone, which will fix up battery performance, overall software stability, and car dock, headphone jack, and fingerprint reader performance, but will regrettably leave the two major drawbacks to the AT&T-riding phone untouched. Alas, if you've rooted your Atrix, you'll have to pay a dear price to benefit from these upgrades as users over at xda-developers, who've obtained the pre-release build, report the new 4.1.57 update disables their previous superuser privileges. C'est la vie. |
| Sony and LG price a swath of 3D HDTVs Posted: 28 Mar 2011 02:21 AM PDT We're still waiting on LG's ginormous 72-inch LZ7900 to make its debut on store shelves, but the rest of CES's primo 3DTV crop is rearing to ride out, with Sony's HX929, HX820 and HX720 series of LED-backlit LCD screens and LG's Infinia PZ750 plasmas now priced at Amazon. 3D-Display-info.com found Sony's locally-dimmed Bravia sets starting at $2,099 for a 46-inch HX720 with Gorilla Glass protection, all the way up to $3,799 for the premium 55-inch XBR-55HX929 with a full-array LED backlight. Meanwhile, the 50-inch LG PZ750 (with Smart TV, naturally) starts out at $1,599, while a 60-inch version of the same thing will run $2,199. Which one fits best in your den? That depends on a number of things, but we will add that the Sony sets are merely up for pre-order, while the LG units are listed as shipping within a matter of weeks. |
| ThinkPad Edge E420s now shipping for $699, E220s coming in April Posted: 28 Mar 2011 01:35 AM PDT Don't tell us you've forgotten about Lenovo's pair of new Edge machines! Sure, they've taken a while to get to market, perhaps having been inconvenienced by a little hiccup with Intel's Core 2011 chipsets, but the first of them is now well and truly on sale and the other is looking eager and ready to go too. The 14-inch E420s is up on Lenovo's web store, starting at $699 with a 2.1GHz Core i3-2310M CPU, while its 12.5-inch sibling, the E220s, is expected on the 8th of April, judging by the roadmap doc we've uncovered below. The E420s touts what Lenovo calls an Infinity Glass display, meaning simply edge-to-edge glass, alongside a fingerprint reader, a fetching new matte black lid, a HD webcam, 4GB of RAM and 250GB of HDD storage at a minimum, and a 48.8Wh battery. A 1366 x 768 resolution is your only option, unfortunately, though you can spruce up performance by quite a bit if you opt for the i5-2410M, which does 2.3GHz at default speeds or 2.9GHz when only one of its two cores is pushed to the limit ... or should that be to the Edge? [Thanks, Chris and Abdu]
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| LG's 3D-shooting Optimus Pad nabs March 31st retail date in Japan as T-Mobile fiddles Posted: 28 Mar 2011 12:52 AM PDT Japan's NTT DOCOMO just announced a March 31st retail offering of LG's Optimus Pad. The Honeycomb tablet listed as model L-06C is the same 8.9-inch 1280 x 768 pixel slab known as the G-Slate 'round T-Mobile subscribers. Besides its 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor and internationally compatible 3G data and GPS, the Optimus Pad's most noteworthy features are the stereoscopic rear-facing video cameras capable of 1080p 3D capture which can viewed directly on the L-06C with a pair of passive glasses. Unfortunately, NTT DOCOMO is mum on pricing. Remember, although T-Mobile originally hedged with a spring launch (recently rumored for April 20th), LG told us that it'd be arriving on US soil in March. So... T-Mobile, anything you'd like to add before Thursday? |
| Ainol Honeycomb tablet surfaces with Cortex A9 processor, buttons aplenty Posted: 27 Mar 2011 11:44 PM PDT It's been quite a while since Ainol last popped up on our radar, but it looks like the company is now busy preparing a Honeycomb tablet that might actually stand out from the pack -- for better or worse. According to a couple of teasers that have cropped up in recent days, the tablet will apparently pack an ARM Cortex A9 processor, a 1,280 x 800 IPS display of unspecified size, WiFi and 3G connectivity, a microSD card slot, HDMI out and, most noticeably, a full suite of buttons that adorn what appears to be a somewhat chunky design. Still no indication of a price, but the tablet is apparently due out sometime next month. |
| Triforce Johnson gets his Nintendo 3DS first, the legend continues Posted: 27 Mar 2011 10:34 PM PDT There are fans, and then there are fans, if you know what we mean, and Isaiah Triforce Johnson has secured his spot in column number two with a Power Gloved fist -- here he is accepting the very first Nintendo 3DS on the east coast from Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America. Johnson camped out all week in front of Best Buy's Union Square location to be first in line at the launch event, replicating his feat of five years prior when he was first to purchase the Wii. Of course, Japanese gamers have had the autostereocopic handheld for over a month now, but we have to give credit where it's due -- we're already imagining Greg Packer and Triforce Johnson duking it out in a little Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition duel. By the way, we snapped a few shots of the 3DS launch event this morning -- check them out below. |
| Warner Bros. expands movie rentals via Facebook with five more high profile titles Posted: 27 Mar 2011 09:30 PM PDT After dipping a toe in the waters with The Dark Knight, starting tonight Warner is offering five more movies for streaming on Facebook including Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Inception, Life as We Know It and Yogi Bear. The deal remains the same, with United States viewers able to pay for a 48-hour viewing window instantly in Facebook credits then enjoy the flick with full functionality on the page, and pause/resume tied to their login on the site. Even with an increasing number of movie titles including recent ones like Yogi Bear that just debuted last week, it's hard to see any VOD service seriously challenging the current video rental incumbents like iTunes and Netflix, especially one that offers only SD rentals viewable on the PC. What it does offer however is a quick way for Warner to monetize the significant Facebook communities around popular movies, which may be enough to keep this program growing for the foreseeable future. Either way, the pages should be live starting at 1 a.m., check the press release after the break if you need more details. Show full PR text WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT OFFERS FIVE ADDITIONAL MOVIES FOR RENT DIRECTLY ON FACEBOOK®
STUDIO EXPANDING TEST TO INCLUDE "HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE,"
"HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS," "INCEPTION," "LIFE AS WE KNOW IT" AND "YOGI BEAR"
MILLIONS OF WARNER BROS. FACEBOOK FANS CAN NOW RENT MOVIES USING FACEBOOK CREDITS AND STREAM WITHIN STUDIO'S MOVIE FAN PAGES
BURBANK, CALIF., March 27, 2011 – Warner Bros. Digital Distribution (WBDD), a market leader in video-on-demand and electronic sell-through, announced it will expand its test offering of movies for rental through Warner Bros. Entertainment's Facebook Movie Pages. Starting today at 10:00 pm Pacific Time / 1:00 am Eastern Time, consumers will be able to rent five additional titles directly through each film's official Facebook Page using Facebook Credits. The films include "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," "Inception," "Life as We Know It" and "Yogi Bear."
To rent a film, consumers simply click on the "watch now" icon to apply their Facebook Credits, and within seconds they will begin enjoying the film. This offering is presently available only to consumers in the United States.
"We're pleased to expand our test with a variety of titles that will appeal to a broad audience," said Thomas Gewecke, President of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. "These titles have substantial followings on Facebook. The Fan Pages for 'Harry Potter' and 'Inception' alone are two of the most popular and active communities on the site."
Fans will have full control over the film while watching it through their Facebook account for up to 48 hours from purchase. They can choose to watch it in full screen, pause the movie, and resume playing it when they log back into Facebook. Consumers will also have full Facebook functionality including the ability to post comments on the movie, interact with friends and update their status.
Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.
HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR.
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About Warner Bros. Digital Distribution
Warner Bros. Digital Distribution (WBDD) oversees the electronic distribution of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group's content through Video-On-Demand, Pay-Per-View, Electronic Sell-Through and Subscription Video-On-Demand via cable, satellite, online and mobile channels. WBDD also distributes content through third party digital retailers and licensees. A worldwide industry leader since its inception, WBDD also manages the Studio's E-commerce sites that include WBShop.com and WarnerArchive.com. Twitter: @WBDigitalDist |
| Android adapter concepts promise to accessorize any headset Posted: 27 Mar 2011 08:58 PM PDT Well, here's a bit of a twist -- a concept device designed to actually a fund a Kickstarter-like service for concept devices. While that may not exactly inspire the most confidence, these concepts from the folks behind upstart Makible are certainly unique enough to get us interested. They included the standard headphone adapter pictured above, which promises to turn any set of headphones into a proper (and eye-catching) headset, as well as an iPhone headset adapter that will let you use any iPhone headset with your Android phone (check it out after the break). Both will apparently be limited to 10,000 units apiece assuming they get the necessary funding, with the headphone adapter setting you back $20, while the iPhone version runs just $10. Want to see them become a reality? Then you can hit up the link below to get your order in. |
| WSJ: Google teams with MasterCard and Citigroup for NFC payments, also files patent app Posted: 27 Mar 2011 08:08 PM PDT  Ever since the Nexus S and its nifty little NFC chip hit the market, there's been speculation that El Goog was planning a foray into the mobile payment arena currently occupied by the likes of Charge Anywhere. Now, it looks like that plan may be in high gear, as the Wall Street Journal reports that Google's secretly partnered with MasterCard and Citigroup to test out just such a system. According to the publication, the early demo pairs "one current model and many coming models of Android phones" with existing Citigroup-sponsored credit and debit cards, and is using the phones' NFC chips with those VeriFone readers we recently heard about. What's more, a newly-published patent application from the crew in Mountain View may hint at the software behind such things. The application describes a service that sets up Google as a third-party broker who receives the shopping cart info of customers placing orders via a device (including those of the mobile variety), allows them to select shipping and other options, and provides the total order cost. It then collects payment, coordinates shipment, and forwards order information to the seller to complete the transaction. So companies can have Google handle all their payment-taking needs in return for getting a sneak peek at what folks are buying -- something that the WSJ's sources say might be a component of the setup Google's testing right now -- as opposed to other third-party services, like Paypal, that only obtain and exchange payment info with merchants. Looks like Alma Whitten (Google's Director of Privacy) has her work cut out assuaging the concerns such a system will inevitably create in an increasingly privacy-minded populace. Sean Hollister contributed to this report. |
| Hanwha unleashes HDMI / USB adapter for iPad, iPhone 4, and fourth-gen iPod touch Posted: 27 Mar 2011 07:16 PM PDT Feel the desire to watch your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch (fourth gen) videos on the big screen, but looking for something with a little more girth than Apple's HDMI solution? Hanwha's latest dongle might do the job. As you can see above, in place of the original adapter's dock connector port is a USB 2.0 socket -- compatible with cameras supporting mass storage connection -- alongside the 720p-friendly HDMI port, but you'll have to use the switch to toggle between the two modes. And that little mini-USB port on the far right? Well, it's there to provide some juice to "reduce battery drain," but probably not enough to charge up your iDevice. If you're still interested and have a friend in Japan, Hanwha's charging ¥5,980 (around $73), which is almost double that of Apple's $39 connector. Is USB support worth such a price jump? Your call. |
| Inhabitat's Week in Green: LAVA's geodesic home, solar skyscraper glass and fear of nuclear power Posted: 27 Mar 2011 06:09 PM PDT |
| Switched On: The PlayBook polyglot Posted: 27 Mar 2011 05:10 PM PDT Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
When Apple introduced the iPad, it had but a smattering of third-party applications, but the company stressed its own. As Apple iPhone software SVP Scott Forstall stated in the iPad introduction video, "We looked at the device and we decided: let's redesign it all. Let's redesign, reimagine and rebuild every single app from the ground up specifically for the iPad." Compare this to the strategy employed by RIM, makers of the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. One year after the iPad's debut, Apple's head start in apps has proven a formidable advantage against the onslaught of slates announced by its competitors in the smartphone world. Some have chosen to latch onto Android and attain backwards compatibility with over 200,000 existing smartphone apps. HP, with its TouchPad as flagship, will circle its wagons of PCs, printers and phones around the webOS platform. However, the announcement this week that RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook will support Android apps says much about how the company sees its position in the tablet wars. C and C++ are the native routes to app development on RIM's long-gestated tablet, but they certainly not the only ways. Flash / Adobe AIR and HTML5 will also be supported as will several popular game engines. Android and Java apps will be accommodated with add-on players and distributed via RIM's App World, RIM's app marketplace. The ability to run Android apps without the underlying Android operating system certainly helps bring a degree of cachet as well as functionality. At a discussion with an executive from a downmarket carrier at the CTIA Wireless show in Orlando last week, I asked what customers are asking for as they adopt smartphones. His response: "Android. Android is the brand. They want the apps." Android support could serve as a sideshow that gives developers less reason to natively support the platform. | But support for Android could also have some potential downsides. With the BlackBerry OS platform generally taking a backseat to other smartphone platforms and a major platform shift to QNX in the works, Android support could serve as a sideshow that gives Android developers even less reason to natively support the platform. Android apps are also unlikely to exploit the PlayBook hardware and user interface, both of which have generated consumer excitement on their own merits. Contrast this with Apple's attempt to optimize the iOS app experience to the point where it sought to block third-party development tools because of concern about cross-platform apps that might pander to the lowest common denominator. Controlling the software platform may not be as vital to RIM as it is to Apple or others, but it's still an important priority in which RIM is heavily investing. RIM's challenge will be weaving the PlayBook's hodgepodge of sources into a tapestry of engaging functionality. Apple may prioritize a consistently crafted experience but RIM is about delivering what works to encourage adoption and development. The key is ensuring that Android apps remain more or less an option of last resort, while the company can build the case for QNX apps that showcase and differentiate the PlayBook from competitors in the tablet space, and to help the company make a case for the same operating system to power future smartphones.
Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) is executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own. |
| HTC Flyer headed to T-Mobile, according to marketing scrapbook? Posted: 27 Mar 2011 04:03 PM PDT Sprint may not be the only US carrier spreading its wings with an HTC tablet this summer, oh no -- promotional materials obtained by PocketNow point to the HTC Flyer launching with T-Mobile as well. Though the marketing mockups don't prove that Madam Magenta will actually be offering the 7-inch Gingerbread tablet with Scribe stylus (or distinguish between T-Mobile USA and its European counterparts, for that matter), the carrier's clearly given it a lot of thought, and HTC's spec sheet for the Flyer has indeed listed the AWS bands necessary to carry T-Mobile USA's 3G data since day one. Sneak a peek at what T-Mobile's in-store tablet kiosks might look like at our source link below. |
| Amazon.com lets you play with an Android virtual machine, try apps before you buy them Posted: 27 Mar 2011 03:41 PM PDT When Amazon's Appstore rolled out last week, we glossed over one detail that merely seemed neat. Today, we're inclined to say that Test Drive may be the most significant part of Amazon's announcement that day. Basically, Test Drive allows US customers to take apps for a spin at Amazon.com, with all the comfort that their tried-and-true desktop web browser brings -- but rather than sit you down with a Flash-based mockup of the app, Amazon is giving you a taste of bona fide cloud computing with an Android virtual machine. In other words, what you're looking at in the screenshot above isn't just a single program, but an entire virtual Android smartphone with working mouse controls, where you can not only try out Paper Toss, but also delete it, browse through the device's photo gallery, listen to a few tunes, or even surf the web from the working Android browser -- as difficult as that may be without keyboard input. Amazon explains: Clicking the "Test drive now" button launches a copy of this app on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), a web service that provides on-demand compute capacity in the cloud for developers. When you click on the simulated phone using your mouse, we send those inputs over the Internet to the app running on Amazon EC2 - just like your mobile device would send a finger tap to the app. Our servers then send the video and audio output from the app back to your computer. All this happens in real time, allowing you to explore the features of the app as if it were running on your mobile device. Today, Amazon's Test Drive is basically just Gaikai for mobile phones -- its purpose is simply to sell apps, nothing more. But imagine this for a sec: what if you could access your own smartphone data, instead of the mostly blank slate that Amazon provides here? [Thanks, Ryan] |
| Sonos Controller for Android delayed until April, heartbreak available now Posted: 27 Mar 2011 02:31 PM PDT Is it really the end of March? That's debatable, but if you've been wondering where Sonos' Controller for Android app is, well... wonder no more. Rather than cutting it loose within the next week (as promised earlier in the year), the outfit's vice president of quality has informed the world that it won't be available until next month. The exact quote? "We know you're anxiously awaiting the Sonos Controller for Android. Unfortunately, testing the app is taking a bit longer than we anticipated. The latest addition to our free controller line-up won't arrive until April, but when it does, it is going to rock." But will it rock as much as the image above? Time will tell, friends. |
| Panasonic Lumix GH2 review roundup: impressive video recording, murky still images Posted: 27 Mar 2011 01:18 PM PDT In case you're still wondering if Panasonic's mirrorless Lumix GH2 is worth your $900, we've rounded up a handful of reviews to provide a pointer for your next big purchase. While most reviewers agree that this Micro Four Thirds camera appears to be very similar to its predecessor, they universally praise the subtly improved ergonomics, speedy liveview autofocusing, and refined image quality, especially with its 1080p AVCHD video recording (although Digital Camera Resource Page did notice some artifacting in its clips). Noise is also a non-issue up to about ISO 800 or 1600, though it's apparent that the 16 megapixel stills are comparatively dull and, like those from many other MFTs, aren't quite on par with DSLRs -- expect plenty of manual processing work here, as demoed by the good folks over at Digital Photography Review. All in all, the GH2 is a great kit for high quality video capturing, bundled with a pretty good still performance that requires some extra TLC afterwards -- kinda ironic in a way, but hey, this isn't a problem for lovers of video bokeh. Head over to the links below for some in-depth analysis and walk-through before you leave a small dent on your bank account. Read - Digital Photography Review Read - Photography Blog Read - Camera Labs Read - Digital Camera Resource Page Read - Let's Go Digital
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| Nokia continues reinvention, details new fonts and branding Posted: 27 Mar 2011 12:08 PM PDT Nokia's current typeface -- Nokia Sans -- feels like one of the great constants in the consumer electronics industry, a design that instantly screams "Nokia" the moment you see it (for better or worse). That kind of strong, tight brand recognition from something as basic and simple as a character on a screen really isn't something that you can buy -- it needs to be built and cultivated over many, many years -- so we're sure that Espoo's decision to chuck it and start fresh wasn't taken lightly. In fact, we're sure it wasn't taken lightly because the company has published an 800-plus word explanation and defense of its decision to kill off Nokia Sans and replace it with Nokia Pure, a font it describes as the embodiment of "beauty in supreme usability." Of course, it's no coincidence that the font change comes just as Nokia's trying to go back to the drawing board, both with its hiring of outsider Stephen Elop and its decision to phase out Symbian and add Windows Phone into the mix; sure enough, the company says that it plans to use Pure on its devices and that "it has been designed specially for mobile and digital environments." What do you think? [Thanks, Esko] |
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