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- Samsung Focus Flash review
- HP gives webOS developers a chance to get a $150 TouchPad
- AT&T SVP: LTE 'coming soon' to NYC
- Best Buy whacks $50 from Nook Color's price tag
- Dell Inspiron 14z review
- Mobile Miscellany: week of October 31, 2011
- NASA-sponsored study finds lengthy spaceflight can impair astronauts' vision
- Peter Jackson reveals the Red Epic secrets behind The Hobbit (video)
- Sony's 0.7-inch OLED microdisplay packs 720p resolution, has head-mounted displays in mind (update)
- Verizon to offer APIs to give your data rate an on-demand boost, for a price
- Engadget Podcast 263 - 11.04.2011
- German court grants injunction against Apple for infringement of Motorola patents (update: Apple responds)
- iSpy software can read texts and steal passwords with its little eye (video)
- Sony Ericsson uses six Xperia Neos to capture a 360-degree bike ride (video)
- IBM's Watson takes Harvard, MIT business students to school, drops the mic
- Creative Zen X-Fi3 gets covered in FCC fingerprints
- HBO Go now available on Roku boxes, HBO subscription still required to take advantage
- Moscow Mars flight simulation comes to close after 520 days
- The Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 5PM ET!
- In-flight WiFi coming to 300 United and Continental aircraft beginning in mid-2012, entire fleet covered by 2015
- US Cellular: we don't need no stinkin' iPhone
| Posted: 05 Nov 2011 11:00 AM PDT  HardwareThe Focus Flash feels surprisingly nice in the hand. Though most of the body is plastic, it has a pleasant heft and there's a large swath of brushed, dark gray metal across the rear that actually makes it feel like more of a premium device than its more expensive sibling. While it's not the thinnest phone on the block, it's certainly not a heffer at 0.41 inches thick. The rounded trapezoid profile also feels quite natural to grip, providing just enough slope to cradle effortlessly in your palm. Just above that pleasant expanse of actual metal is the five megapixel camera and LED flash (more on that later) and the speaker phone which is serviceable, but hardly impressive.  All four sides of the device are interrupted with some form of port or button. Along the top edge is the 3.5mm headphone jack, while the bottom is home to the all-important microUSB plug -- you know for charging and syncing and stuff. On the left is the volume rocker, which doesn't have much travel, but is surprisingly clicky and sturdy. The same can be said about the power button on the right, which depresses with a satisfying tick. Sadly, the camera button, while it does provide some resistance feels significantly less robust (again, more on that later). There's also the trio of buttons up front. The physical Windows key is a nice touch and is flanked by the search and back buttons, both of which are capacitive. The two touch-sensitive keys seemed a tad too responsive in use. Simply brushing our fingers in the general vicinity of the search key was more than enough to launch Bing. This turned out to be particularly frustrating when trying to take a photo since our thumb naturally wanted rest right on top of it.  Obviously, the part of the phone you'll be interacting with the most is the screen. At 3.7 inches and only 800 x 480 the display isn't exactly lust worthy in the specs department. Thanks to Windows Phone 7's blocks of solid color and stark, straight lines you'll barely miss the extra pixels found on handsets running other OSes. In fact, the Super AMOLED panel does a great job of highlighting the beauty of Metro's minimal design, even if it does lend everything a slightly bluish tint, likely thanks to its pentile matrix. The only spec that had us scratching our heads was the paltry 8GB of storage. Sure, this is a budget device, but without the ability to expand via microSD, any media mavens will chew through the available space in no time at all. Performance and battery life Powering this petite Mango phone is a single-core, second-gen Snapdragon clocked at 1.4GHz. The Adreno 205 GPU that accompanies it is getting a little long in the tooth at this point and certainly can't keep pace with the likes of the iPhone 4S. It's not a huge deal, however, Metro doesn't require a ton of power to run smooth as silk and there aren't many games in the Marketplace that call for serious polygon pushing. In fact, Microsoft has spent so much time optimizing its mobile OS for this particular chip that while Android might balk at such a puny processor, Mango runs with nary a hiccup. In WP Bench the Flash scored a respectable 92.15 -- not quite as high as the Titan (96), but definitely an improvement on the Lumia 800 (86). And it should run circles around the similarly budget-minded HTC Radar which sports only a 1GHz CPU. SunSpider scores also fell right in between the Lumia and Titan, clocking in at 6,842ms -- only 300ms behind the 4.7-inch beast, but almost twice as slow as the iPhone 4 (not the 4S). The relatively tiny 1,500mAh battery is a bit of a let-down. It managed to make it through a day of relatively heavy usage, including a decent amount of web browsing, photo taking and app installing, and will probably cruise into the following morning under more moderate usage. But that's it -- expect to charge the Focus Flash everyday. And knowing how quickly some of you (OK, us) can wear down one of these lithium ion packs, don't be surprised if you have to keep the charger in your bag six months down the road. Then again, it did last just shy of four hours (three hours and 55 minutes, to be exact) in the WP Bench battery test, where as the Lumia 800 only managed two hours and forty minutes and the Titan dropped dead at three hours. Camera The five megapixel shooter on the back isn't going to win any awards. It's passable for the occasional snapshot, but we'd keep a hold of our dedicated digicam if we were you. It took decent pics in daylight and cranking up the contrast and saturation in the settings produced surprisingly vivid, if somewhat unnatural looking images. Low light performance, however, left something to be desired. Photos were practically pitch black outdoors at night, even with the aid of some artificial light, and the flash completely washed out anything closer than six feet away. The cam didn't fare much better indoors, under fluorescent lighting. The camera had a tough time focusing and colors appeared oddly muted. The 1.3mp cam up front should be fine for some informal video chatting, but the noisy, flat images it captured wouldn't even pass muster on a MySpace page. Video is also nothing to write home about. Though the camera technically captures 720p clips, the results are noisy (both in terms of image quality and audio) and heavily compressed. A 30-second video we took outside one the Engadget satellite compounds came in at 52.3MB. Every tiny shift in position resulted in some serious wobbling in the image, and forget about moving around -- every step we took while recording had the frame bouncing around like a kid in an inflatable castle. Though you can clearly hear yourself talking in clips, background noise is a serious issue. Even a mild gust of wind is enough to produce overpowering blasts of noise. Perhaps the biggest let-down, though, was the dedicated camera button. Honestly, we were really excited to see a button whose sole purpose is to focus and take snapshots, but then we actually used it. It doesn't have the same satisfying click as the other hardware buttons. It does put up plenty of resistance, but it may be a tad too much. The button is slightly more recessed than others and required more force to press than anticipated, resulting in just enough motion to knock many images out of focus. On the plus side though, shutter lag is almost nonexistent. It wasn't quite as fast as the Galaxy Nexus, but certainly put the rest of the Android flock and the iPhone family to shame. Software There's not much new on the software front. If you've seen Mango, well, you've seen Mango. All the things we love (notifications!) and loathe (lackluster sync support for third-party services) about Microsoft's second iteration of its mobile OS are present and accounted for. Of course, both AT&T and Samsung had to stick some of their own wares on the device. Chances are you'll never have to see them outside of their icons in app menu. The Samsung Now app isn't actually terrible. It's a simple news and weather aggregator, with a live tile that puts current temperature and conditions on your home screen. Of more interest, at least to some, will be the Samsung Photo Studio -- a Hipstamatic like app that lets you add retro effects to images and capture panoramic shots. The Ma Bell apps, on the other hand, are a bit less compelling. AT&T Navigator is, more or less, the same subscription-based GPS app you've probably never even considered a real option, the U-verse app is a great way to watch some TV content (most of it quite terrible) while you're on the go and AT&T Radio is yet another pay-to-stream "radio" app. On the plus side, every piece of bloatware that ships with the device is easily uninstalled. Wrap-up The Focus Flash isn't going around begging for attention. Simply put, its specs aren't going to draw in the hardcore gadget crowd and no one is going be camping out overnight to get their hands on one. That said, we could easily see this being a sleeper hit. At only $50 with a two-year contract it should snag a few second glances from those who might otherwise be eyeing a budget Android handset or perhaps even an iPhone 3G S. The screen, though not the highest-res panel out there, is bright and beautiful, and Mango hums along without a hitch on the 1.4GHz CPU inside (and smooth operation is something many of those other bargain handsets can't boast about). The Focus isn't meant for the mobile warriors out there who don't bat an eye at dropping $200 on a phone. It's a smartphone for a less demanding crowd that simply wants to check their email, do some web browsing and keep tabs on their social networks. The Focus excels in these areas, and does so while feeling nicer in your hand than many of its more expensive competitors. You'll make some sacrifices on the camera, storage and battery fronts, but if you can live with that the Focus is a veritable steal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HP gives webOS developers a chance to get a $150 TouchPad Posted: 05 Nov 2011 10:08 AM PDT  The future of webOS may still be up in the air, but it looks like HP is at least still making a small effort to woo developers and keep its current ones in the fold. It's now giving registered devs in the US, Canada and Europe a chance to get a 32GB HP TouchPad for the blowout price of $150 (or €150 in Europe), for a limited time and while supplies last. Unfortunately, it's not clear how many TouchPads will be available, but HP is allowing applicants to request up to two TouchPads each at the discounted price, so we'd assume it's more than just a handful. Those interested will have to file their request before November 18th, and if they're accepted they'll receive a coupon that must be redeemed before November 27th. All the pertinent details are at the source link below.  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AT&T SVP: LTE 'coming soon' to NYC Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:52 AM PDT  There's no telling when the big city will get it's taste of the AT&T LTE pie, but it will be in good company when it does. The carrier announced just this week that it would add Boston, Washington DC, Baltimore and Athens, GA to its 4G lineup. Video of Mr. Solomon's speech awaits you after the break. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best Buy whacks $50 from Nook Color's price tag Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:03 AM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 05 Nov 2011 08:02 AM PDT  That's precisely what seems to be going on with the Inspiron 14z, a 14-incher with a slimmed-down aluminum body, available in a surprisingly staid color palette (sorry, guys, bubblegum pink isn't an option this time around). With a low starting price of $600, it's ideal for college kids and pretty much anyone looking for a good-enough laptop for the home. Then again, so are lots of reasonably priced 14- and 15-inch laptops. Is this one extraordinary enough to make your short list? Let's see. Look and feel For a redesigned laptop, the 14z initially looks an awful lot like some other Dell notebooks we've seen in seasons past. 'Round back, it has the kind of recessed hinge that's made Dell's notebooks unmistakable over the past several years. That is to say, there's about a half inch of deck space behind the hinge, which means the display sits lower than perhaps you're used to. It's mostly a bold design choice (one we approve of mightily), though that sunken hinge also makes for some balanced weight distribution when you set the computer in your lap. With the lid closed, the 14z looks refreshingly simple. Call us suckers for finely brushed aluminum, but the company also chose a fairly foolproof pair of color options: in addition to the lush "fire red" found on our unit, you can get it in black for $30 less. Yes, Dell may have whittled its color options, but it hasn't ceased its practice of charging extra for colored lids. Old habits die hard, we suppose.  Still, it's obvious Dell had to cut some corners to hit that $600 price point. Even with a pared-down metal lid, the 14z still manages to feel cheap. Although the lid has a matte finish and isn't made of glossy plastic, it still picks up fingerprints -- stubborn little smudges than can be a beast to remove. Under the lid, that aluminum material extends across the palm rest and above the keyboard, but for whatever reason the area in between the keys is black. That color-blocking makes for a mismatched effect, with the keyboard looking chintzy against the smooth metal deck. To boot, the bottom side of the laptop is made of plastic and has an awkward bulge where the six-cell battery is. We'd be exaggerating if we said this was our least favorite design in the history of laptops, but we're not sure Dell's exactly turned over a new leaf either. The good news is that the 14z comes well stocked with ports. The bad news: many of them are hidden beneath flimsy doors. Starting with the left side, you'll find door number one, housing DisplayPort, HDMI and USB 2.0 sockets, with a vent and an SD / MMC / MS card reader nearby. The front edge doesn't contain anything, though lift the laptop slightly and you'll see stereo speakers, along with four LED lights that glow white to match the backlit keyboard and power button. Tucked into the bezel is a 1.0 megapixel webcam. Moving along to the right side, there's a tray-loading optical drive and door number two, behind which you'll find two USB 3.0 ports and a combined headphone / mic port. Lastly, the back edge is home to the AC port and an Ethernet jack, the latter of which is also covered. Keyboard and trackpad To its credit, we typed most of this 3,000-word review on the 14z's chiclet keyboard, and got by with relatively few spelling mistakes. As with its higher-end sibling, the XPS 14z, the keys are cushy with plenty of travel. But these -- these are a good deal noisier. We grew irritated with the high-pitched clack, and we got the sense it was a distraction for some people unfortunate enough to be working a few feet away. That said, they're at least backed by a sturdy panel; we didn't notice a hint of flex as we banged out emails and web searches. Also, the Inspiron 14z's keyboard wins points for being backlit, even though you'll have to pay an extra $25 for that luxury.  And the trackpad? Not our favorite, but hardly the most maddening either. As a pared-down navigation device, it's perfectly adequate: it offers a low-friction surface that makes dragging the cursor across the screen painless. Once you start attempting multitouch gestures, though, its cramped quarters become a con. It's a shame, because if not for the fact that your fingers bump against the edges, the trackpad actually pulls off pinch to zoom quite well. Two-fingered scrolling is frustrating in a different way: you have to hold two fingers on the pad and wait for a scroll symbol to appear onscreen before you start. Even then, we the often felt like we had no control of where we ended up on the page. The thing about the touchpad is that as well-behaved as it is for everyday scrolling, it's coupled with two tiny, rather stiff buttons. Pressing the button required quite a bit more thumb pressure than we would have liked, and throughout our testing we had moments where we found ourselves keenly aware of the effort we were putting in. Using touch buttons should be an unconscious experience. Fortunately, that's one thing you'll get if you have the cash (and aesthetic sensibility) to step up to the XPS 14z. Display and sound Like almost every system offered at this price, the Inspiron 14z's resolution is fixed at 1366 x 768. The screen's adequate enough for looking at documents and movies head-on, and it's also bright enough that you should be able to work comfortably in a well-lit, fluorescent room. Yours truly also streamed a good half dozen episodes of Breaking Bad, and the image quality was suitably crisp even at full screen. The problem is, there's not much flexibility in the viewing angles. We had to adjust the screen angle very carefully before leaning back on the couch to watch Walter White lie and growl his way through season two. If the lid happened to be dipped too far back or if we watched from the side while a friend took the prime seat, the picture invariably looked darker. As for sound, the 14z isn't notably terrible, but the audio is predictably tinny. We'd say any of HP's Beats-enabled laptops has the advantage here. Performance and graphicsOur $730 unit came loaded with a 2.3GHz Core i5-2410M CPU, Intel integrated graphics, 6GB of RAM and a 640GB 5,400RPM hard drive. Armed with those components, it landed a PCMark Vantage score of 6,177, which is higher than what we've seen from other systems with similar specs. For example, it bested the pricier Sony VAIO SB, which has the same processor, along with 4GB of RAM and a 5,400 RPM hard drive. The SB has two graphics cards -- one of which is the same Intel HD 3000 -- but even when we enabled its discrete AMD Radeon HD 6470M with 512MB of video memory, its PCMark score still didn't come close to what we got on the Inspiron 14z. As for graphics, its 3DMark06 score is in line with -- it not slightly higher than -- what we've seen from other systems with the same Intel HD 3000 card.
As for real-world usage, the 14z had no problem keeping up as we juggled a bunch of browser tabs, downloaded and installed apps and spent hours watching movies off Netflix at full screen. Throughout, it didn't exactly stay cool, but it didn't get leg-scorching either, not even during those marathon streaming sessions. But as with its XPS brethren, the downside to such an effective heat management system is one noisy fan. Even when we opened a new tab in Chrome to check Twitter, the whirring kicked up a notch. As we said with the XPS 14z, it's not something you'll hear if you're on the couch, working with the TV in the background, but it might just grab your attention if you're toiling away in a quiet room. Battery lifeAs unsightly as that bulging battery is on the underside of the laptop, it gets the job done. The 14z's six-cell lasted an impressive six hours and 37 minutes in our standard battery rundown test, which involves looping the same movie off the hard drive, with WiFi enabled and the display brightness fixed at 65 percent. Had we just been checking email and web surfing, we bet we could have squeezed out even in more runtime. Even in our taxing video playback test, though, it lasted markedly longer than other laptops with the same processor and graphics card. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1, for instance, managed just three hours and thirty-one minutes. (At its best, the X1 can last seven hours, but with the help of a $170 slice battery.) Meanwhile, a Sony VAIO SB series laptop with the same processor and integrated Intel graphics lasted a shorter five hours and 11 minutes, even with the graphics fixed in a so-called stamina mode that disables the discrete card. Software Dell already had a bad rap for saddling its PCs with bloatware, and if it wanted to look at the brand in a different light, it definitely didn't do itself any favors with the 14z. To be clear, the problem isn't what Dell pre-loaded; it's how invasive these apps become the second you boot into Windows. Immediately upon startup, you'll see pop-ups reminding you to back up your data using Dell DataSafe, activate McAfee, update your security settings and accept Nero's end user license agreement. Well good morning to you too, Dell! The company also preloads its Stage software for easy access to photos, music and other media, which means you've got a large dock slapped across the bottom of the desktop (until you choose to remove it, anyway). In terms of the worst bloatware offenders, we pretty much just spoiled the list for you. The most pernicious culprits include Roxio Creator Starter, the 30-day trial of McAfee Security Center and Dell DataSafe, which comes with 2GB of complimentary online storage. In addition, Blio, Cozi, Microsoft Office 2010, Skype 4.2, Nero SyncUp and Zinio Reader 4 come pre-installed, though these won't get in your way. Configuration optionsThe 14z starts at $600. All told, there are four core configurations, and all come with Bluetooth 3.0, a DVD burner and a six-cell battery. The entry-level model, in particular, sports a 2.2GHz Core i3-2330M CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB 5,400RPM hard drive, DVD burner, six-cell battery and Bluetooth 3.0. Moving up the ranks, the second-lowest config ($789, or $650 after instant savings) has a Core i3 CPU, 6GB of RAM and a 640GB 5,400 RPM hard drive, while the second-to-best config ($889, or $700 after instant savings) has a 2.4GHz Core i5 CPU, 6GB of RAM and a 640GB 5,400RPM hard drive. Finally, at the high-end you'll also get a 2.4GHz Core i5-2430M CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 750GB 7,200RPM hard drive. That configuration costs $989, or $750 after instant savings. In all cases, the CPU, RAM, hard drive, battery and optical drive are fixed, leaving you to customize details like the warranty, lid cover and length of your security software subscription. A little more control beyond this miscellany would have been nice. The competition If anything about this laptop -- the stiff touch buttons, the sunken hinge -- rubs you the wrong way, the upshot is that every major PC maker is ready to sell you a 14-inch laptop in the $600 range. HP's best match is the 14-inch Pavilion dm4, available for $580 and up with the same 2.2GHz Core i3 CPU, a 1366 x 768 display, a promotional 6GB of RAM and a promotional 640GB hard drive. The options here aren't as expansive as with some other companies, like Sony: there's one other hard drive option (500GB 5,400RPM), one CPU, one screen resolution, one optical drive and one graphics choice. You want something with more oomph? Get ye an Envy. Nonethless, though, these are some of the best specs you'll get for six hundred bucks. In Sony's camp, you could configure the 14-inch VAIO E series ($500 and up) to match the 14z's specs, but really, the C series ($700) and up is a closer match -- albeit, a pricier one. For the money, it starts with the same 2.2GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, Intel integrated graphics, a 320GB 5,400 RPM hard drive and a 1366 x 768 display. What we appreciate about both of these VAIO lines, though, is that although they start with modest specs, they can be tricked-out if you're willing to invest the money. Both, for instance, have optional Blu-ray drives, discrete graphics and beefier 7,950mAh batteries (up from the standard 5,300mAh). The E and C series go up to Core i5 and Core i7, respectively, while the higher-end C series can be built with a 1600 x 900 display for an extra $50.  Though Gateway's been branded as the lower-end second banana to Acer ever since Acer acquired it back in 2007, its all-metal ID laptops are actually more striking than what most other companies are offering at this price. It's available in four configurations in the US, with the entry-level $630 offering a 2.2GHz Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, Intel HD 3000 graphics and a 14-inch (1366 x 768) display. Perhaps the most important spec here is that the screen is an LG Shuriken panel, which allowed Gateway to cram a 14-inch panel into a chassis normally reserved for 13-inch systems (translation: you'll enjoy some seriously narrow bezels). At the high end, the $700 model steps up to a 2.3GHz Core i5 processor, though the memory load, graphics and storage capacity remain the same. What's funny is that although Acer's long been pitched as the higher-end brand, its 14-inch Timeline X laptop, the AS4830, starts with similar specs. The entry-level $580 model also has a 2.2GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, Intel HD 3000 graphics and a 14-inch (1366 x 768) display. Then again, the Timeline series' claim to fame is its long battery life, which in this case is rated at up to eight hours. We only tested the 15-inch AS5830, but we'd be willing to bet that the 14-inch TimelineX bests most of the laptops on this list when it comes to runtime. If you're curious, the highest-end AS4830 sold in the US rings in at $730 and steps up to a 2.4GHz Core i5 CPU, a 640GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce GT540M graphics. In the case of both Acer and Gateway, the biggest caveat we always feel compelled to make, regardless of specs, is that there aren't any opportunities to customize your configuration. It's true that the company is careful to offer multiple configurations and different price points, but you still need to have a take-it-or-leave it attitude when it comes to specs. Moving on to Toshiba, its most comparable laptop is the Satellite P740, which starts at $584 with a quad-core AMD Fusion A6 APU, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB 5,400RPM hard drive. It, too, has a 1366 x 768 display. Wrap-up In some ways, the 14z feels rough around the edges: while Dell was whittling the chassis, it forgot to fine-tune the multitouch trackpad and make sure the touch buttons were easy to press. And unfortunately, the intrusive bloatware load didn't even get a makeover. Still, the 14z redeems itself with fast performance, long battery life and an improved (though hardly perfect) design. Dell's clearly on the right track with this mostly metal design, beefy port selection and backlit keyboard, even if certain details like the bulging battery and color blocked keyboard underscore how inexpensive it actually is. All of our quibbles aside, the 14z remains a strong choice for what it is -- a cheap, everyday laptop that's good enough for students, kids and families. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mobile Miscellany: week of October 31, 2011 Posted: 05 Nov 2011 07:00 AM PDT  This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of October 31, 2011:
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| NASA-sponsored study finds lengthy spaceflight can impair astronauts' vision Posted: 05 Nov 2011 04:14 AM PDT  NASA has of course long been monitoring the affects of spaceflight on astronauts' health, but a recent study sponsored by the space agency is now shedding some new light on one potentially significant problem: their eyesight. While the study only involved seven astronauts, all reported that they suffered some degree of blurry vision while on the space station for more than six months, and some reported that the effects persisted for months after they returned to Earth. The study also found specific abnormalities in all of the astronauts affected, including changes in tissue, fluids, nerves and other structures in the back of the eye. Those problems are all relatively minor and correctable, but researchers are now also taking the findings and working on ways to determine who might be most resistant to any such changes, which could be critical on something as long as a three-year mission to Mars. Additional details of the study are in the press release after the break, and the full report is published in the latest issue of Ophthalmology. [Image: NASA] NASA-Sponsored Study Describes How Space Flight Impacts Astronauts' Eyes and Vision Report Featured in October's Ophthalmology, the Journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Nov 03, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- A new study sponsored by NASA finds that space flights lasting six months or more can cause a spectrum of changes in astronauts' visual systems. Some problems, including blurry vision, appear to persist long after astronauts' return to Earth. The results are affecting plans for long-duration manned space voyages, such as a trip to Mars. The study team included ophthalmologists Thomas H. Mader, MD, of Alaska Native Medical Center and Andrew G. Lee, MD, of The Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas. Their report is published in October's Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The researchers studied seven astronauts, all of whom were about age 50 and had spent at least six continuous months in space. All reported that their vision became blurry, to varying degrees, while on the space station. Vision changes usually began around six weeks into the mission and persisted in some astronauts for months after their return to Earth. Drs. Mader and Lee agree that the eye abnormalities appear to be unrelated to launch or re-entry, since they occurred only in astronauts who spent extended time in microgravity. In-depth examination of the seven astronauts revealed several abnormalities. All of the subjects had one or more of the following changes in the tissues, fluids, nerves and other structures in the back of the eye: -- Flattening of the back of the eyeball (five subjects); -- Folds in the choroid, the vascular tissue behind the retina, which is the light sensitive area in the back of the eye (five subjects); and -- Excess fluid around and presumed swelling of the optic nerve (five subjects). Such abnormalities could potentially be caused by increased intracranial pressure -- that is, pressure inside the head. However, none of these astronauts experienced symptoms usually associated with intracranial pressure, such as chronic headache, double vision, or ringing in the ears. Researchers believe other factors may be involved, such as abnormal flow of spinal fluid around the optic nerve, changes in blood flow in the choroid, or changes related to chronic low pressure within the eye, which is known as intraocular pressure. They hypothesize that these changes may result from the fluid shifts toward the head that occur when astronauts spend extended time in microgravity. The visual system changes discovered by the researchers may represent a set of adaptations to microgravity. The degree and type of response appear to vary among astronauts. Researchers hope to discover whether some astronauts are less affected by microgravity and therefore better-suited for extended space flight, such as a three-year round trip to Mars. In their report, Drs. Mader and Lee also noted a recent NASA survey of 300 astronauts that found that correctible problems with both near and distance vision were reported by about 23 percent of astronauts on brief missions and by 48 percent of those on extended missions. The survey confirmed that for some astronauts, these vision changes continue for months or years after return to Earth. The possibility of near vision problems has been recognized for decades, and special "space anticipation glasses" to improve visual sharpness have been provided on all spacecraft dating back to John Glenn, who had a pair in his space capsule. "In astronauts over age 40, like non-astronauts of the same age, the eye's lens may have lost some of its ability to change focus," said Dr. Mader. "In the space program's early days most astronauts were younger, military test-pilots who had excellent vision. Today's astronauts tend to be in their 40s or older. This may be one reason we've seen an uptick in vision problems. Also, we suspect many of the younger astronauts were more likely to 'tough out' any problems they experienced, rather than reporting them." As part of ongoing research all astronauts now receive comprehensive eye exams and vision testing. Diagnostic tests include pre- and post-flight magnetic resonance imaging, optical coherence tomography, which magnifies cross-section views of parts of the eye, and fundus photography, which records images of the retina and back of the eye. Intraocular pressure measurement and ultrasound imaging take place in flight, as well as pre- and post-mission. Note to media: Contact Media Relations to request full text of the study and arrange interviews with experts About the American Academy of Ophthalmology The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons -- Eye M.D.s -- with more than 30,000 members worldwide. Eye health care is provided by the three "O's" -- ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians. It is the ophthalmologist, or Eye M.D., who can treat it all: eye diseases, infections and injuries, and perform eye surgery. For more information, visit www.aao.org . The Academy's EyeSmart(R) public education program works to educate the public about the importance of eye health and to empower them to preserve their healthy vision, by providing the most trusted and medically accurate information about eye diseases, conditions and injuries. Visit www.geteyesmart.org to learn more. SOURCE: American Academy of Ophthalmology | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Peter Jackson reveals the Red Epic secrets behind The Hobbit (video) Posted: 05 Nov 2011 01:08 AM PDT  Diet and filmmaking legend Peter Jackson's given us another insight into the making of the Hobbit movies, and this time he's talking about his envious collection of tech. Filming with no less than 48 Red Epic cameras at 48fps in full 5k resolution might sound fantastic, but it hasn't all been a bed of cotton candy. Two 3D cameras need to be mounted at the same "interocular" (the inch-or-so distance between your eyes) which is impossible given the size of the Epic and its lenses. The team had to hire specialist firm 3ality to build a rig where one camera shoots the action and the other is pointed vertically at a mirror. Those who would love to shoot with an Epic should also beware that the cameras naturally desaturate the action to such an extent that the makeup, costume and set design teams have to over-color everything to look natural in post production. For more interesting facts, head down past the break to catch the video in full, and try not to imagine how many years bad luck you'd get if you broke one of those mirrors during a key scene. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sony's 0.7-inch OLED microdisplay packs 720p resolution, has head-mounted displays in mind (update) Posted: 04 Nov 2011 10:12 PM PDT  Say howdy to Sony's ECX332A! Excited? We'll, if you're into Update: As it turns out, this isn't exactly a new EVF-purposed display -- it's apparently the microdisplay being used twice over inside of Sony's HMZ-T1 head-mounted 3D visor. You'll find further clarification at the "more coverage" links below. [Thanks, Aaron] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verizon to offer APIs to give your data rate an on-demand boost, for a price Posted: 04 Nov 2011 08:05 PM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Engadget Podcast 263 - 11.04.2011 Posted: 04 Nov 2011 06:15 PM PDT  Host: Brian Heater Guests: Darren Murph, Dana Wollman Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: Tom Sawyer 01:40 - Gmail app on iPad and iPhone hands-on (video) 04:38 - The official Gmail app for iPhone, iPad is officially official (update: pulled) 07:00 - Google rolls out new look for Gmail: streamlined conversation view, high-res themes, better search 12:27 - Samsung Galaxy Note review 39:55 - CNET details the death of Microsoft's Courier and Bill Gates' 'allergic reaction' 55:15 - AT&T to expand 4G coverage and launch first LTE smartphones November 6th: HTC Vivid, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket 56:55 - Motorola Xoom 2 officially priced at 400 Euros, coming this Christmas to Carphone Warehouse Hear the podcast Subscribe to the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace Download the podcast LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) Contact the podcast Send your questions to @tim_stevens. Leave us a voicemail: (423) 438-3005 (GADGET-3005) E-mail us: podcast at engadget dot com Twitter: @bheater, @darrenmurph, @danawollman This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 04 Nov 2011 04:54 PM PDT  The ruling comes as a role reversal of sorts for Apple, which most recently received a pair of injunctions in Germany, banning the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in that country, along with the rather embarrassing removal of the Tab 7.7 from the show floor at IFA. According to FOSS Patents this is a default judgment, meaning Apple did not respond to Moto's filing and as a result got hit with the injunction, which could result in its products being pulled or the company being required to pay damages. And so the saga continues... Dust off the pocket translator and hit up the source link for the full ruling in German. Update: We just got the following statement from Apple regarding the ruling: So, it appears our iDevice-loving German friends have nothing to worry about, at least for now. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| iSpy software can read texts and steal passwords with its little eye (video) Posted: 04 Nov 2011 04:47 PM PDT  We spy, with our bleary eye, a new piece of software that could make it dramatically easier to steal personal data. The program, known as iSpy, allows devious voyeurs to remotely identify and read text typed on touchscreen displays. That, in and of itself, isn't exactly new, but iSpy takes shoulder surfing to slightly terrifying new areas -- namely, those beyond the "shoulder." Developed by Jan-Michael Frahm and Fabian Monrose of the UNC-Chapel Hill, this program, like those before it, takes advantage of the magnified keys found on most touchscreens. All you'd have to do is point a camera at someone else's screen and iSpy will automatically record whatever he or she types by stabilizing the video footage and identifying the enlarged keys. If you're using a smartphone camera, you'll be able to eavesdrop from up to three meters away, but if you opt for a more heavy duty DSLR device, you could steal passwords from up to 60 meters away. The software can also recognize any words typed into a device, and, according to its architects, can identify letters with greater than 90 percent accuracy. When used with a DSLR camera, iSpy can even pick up on reflections of touchscreens in sunglasses or window panes from up to 12 meters away. To avoid this, Frahm and Monrose recommend disabling the magnified key function on your smartphone, or using some sort of screen shield. We recommend checking out a video of the program, after the break. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sony Ericsson uses six Xperia Neos to capture a 360-degree bike ride (video) Posted: 04 Nov 2011 03:36 PM PDT  The company currently known as Sony Ericsson's marketing arm (that'd be Xperia Studio) invites artists and scientists to demonstrate the prowess of its mobile phone stable in creative ways. This time, landscape photographer Joergen Geerds was asked to compose a unique 360-degree video. Using a 3D printer, he developed a custom mount to hold six Xperia Neo phones in a ring that was welded to a mountain bike. Cyclist Mark Sevenoff rode along the Slickrock trail in the Moab Desert, Utah as the phones recorded the action. As no software existed to stitch together different video streams, Geerds had to convert every one of the several hundred thousand frames into JPEGs, merge them as stills and then reconvert the whole thing back into video. You can watch the whole interactive film at our source link, and if you're interested in learning more about how Geerds developed the project, we've got behind the scenes video and a press release after the break. Sony Ericsson launches Xperia Studio for artists and creative collaborators 3 November 2011, London, United Kingdom – Sony Ericsson has launched Xperia™ Studio, an online entertainment platform for artists and collaborators to create and share their most innovative content. The initiative reflects Sony Ericsson's ongoing commitment to engage with consumers through high-quality entertaining content to inspire them to explore their Xperia™ phones in new ways. Remaking Reality: The Sony Ericsson's Xperia™ Studio invites creative thinkers, artists and intellectuals – from collaborative artists in Denmark to astrophysicists in New York – to take the range of Xperia™ handsets to their absolute limits and ultimately 'remake reality'. Content on the platform will be updated at regular intervals from the growing pool of contributors. Blurring the boundaries of entertainment, technology and communications: The first phase of the project has seen collaborators from around the world use Xperia™ handsets to create content in unconventional and interesting ways – a flame-thrower camera flash, a view of the universe through the naked eye, capturing the perfect wave, creating a song from the ambient sounds of Paris and most recently capturing the extreme tricks preformed by a BMX crew in Brooklyn. Each project has been video-documented and can be viewed on the Xperia™ Studio platform. Collaborators from around the world: The project underlines Sony Ericsson's heritage as an innovator that continually strives to blur the boundaries between entertainment, technology and communications. The first round of collaborators involved in the Xperia™ Studio project includes: Illutron, a collaborative interactive art studio in Copenhagen Dr. Joshua Peek, a Hubble Fellow and astrophysicist at Columbia University, NYC Ed Sloane, a lifelong surfer and innovative surf photographer from Victoria, Australia Annabel Linquist – an artist and musician from New York Torey Kish – an extreme sports enthusiast from Brooklyn For full details, please visit www.xperiastudio.com. Xperia™ Studio content is also available to Sony Ericsson communities on Facebook (www.facebook.com/sonyericsson) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/xperiastudio). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IBM's Watson takes Harvard, MIT business students to school, drops the mic Posted: 04 Nov 2011 02:48 PM PDT  Adding insult to injury is the fact that Watson wasn't even in the same building as his muggle competitors -- nor, for that matter, was he in the same state. IBM kept all of the machine's processors and memory chips at its Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. Watson had already come up with answers to the questions prior to this week's showdown, but placed wages, chose categories and buzzed in responses in real-time. According to IBM, Watson's presence wouldn't have changed the outcome of the game, which was followed by a discussion on the effects that similar technologies could have on the financial world. The most immediate impact? Bruised egos. Re-live the event at IBM's liveblog below, or find more information in the PR after the break. IBM Watson Heads to Harvard, MIT to Explore Future of Technology in Business BOSTON and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., - 31 Oct 2011: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today will conduct a Watson symposium with Harvard Business School (HBS) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management. The event brings together some of the brightest academic minds to collaborate on the use of advanced analytics, like those powering Watson, to transform the way the world does business. Follow the event and share your thoughts at #IBMWatson on Twitter and the live blog at www.asmarterplanet.com As part of the symposium, teams of students from Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management will test their skills in a demonstration of IBM Watson's question answer (QA) capabilities in an exhibition game of the television quiz show Jeopardy! The commercialization of Watson technology means that today's students will require new skills when they enter the job market. As future leaders in a wide range of industries and entrepreneurial ventures, students will need to combine business skills and knowledge with advanced analytical techniques to compete successfully in the world economy. For example, when applied to the banking and finance industry, Watson-like technologies can uncover hidden patterns in data that can rapidly identify market trends, and provide deep, integrated risk analysis. This provides financial services professionals a more accurate picture of their market positions, helping them find opportunities, better assess risk and hedge their financial exposures. According to Harvard Business School Professor of Management Practice Willy Shih, "the symposium and demonstration match will expose our students to cutting-edge technology in deep analytics, an area of increasing importance in business applications, healthcare and the life sciences, enterprise knowledge management, finance, and anywhere there are vast amounts of unstructured data." "Great technology companies like IBM are converting the seemingly impossible into reality these days, to the point that it's hard to keep up with all the digital innovations and their business implications," said Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist, MIT. "So we thought it would be a good idea to devote a day to discussing them, and also to see them in action. We're going to spend the morning talking computer science and economics with the world's leading experts in these fields, then cheer our students on against Watson in the afternoon. I predict at least a second place finish for the MIT team." By bringing this technology to the university community, IBM aims to inspire the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs to think about the possibilities of Watson technology and the skills they will need to take advantage of the opportunities Watson creates. Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management are the first two business schools where IBM will co-host a Watson symposium. A team of researchers from MIT led by Boris Katz, principal research scientist at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, contributed code to QuestionAnswer capabilities in Watson. Harvard Business School's Professor Shih recently wrote an in-depth case study of Watson that will be used by MBA students in the school's required first-year course Technology and Operations Management. "From business to health care, education and the government, the advanced analytics capabilities of IBM's Watson will transform how the world works," said Bernard Meyerson, vice president of innovation and academic programs, IBM. "Our goal in demonstrating Watson's capabilities and sharing our insights from its development is to challenge the leaders of tomorrow to leverage this new capability in ways we've yet to imagine." Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, is a computing system created by IBM scientists that understands the meaning and context of human language, can analyze data and learn correlations between data. The technology introduces the capability to sift through an equivalent of about 1 million books or roughly 200 million pages of data to provide instant answers to questions posed to it. With the amount of digital information being generated, stored, processed and analyzed each year growing at an exponential rate--and affecting every industry segment--there is a real need for businesses and governments to use business analytic technology like Watson to make sense of large amounts of data to achieve their goals. Higher education institutions like Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management benefit from the ability to work with companies to create curricula that incorporate real-world case studies and brings breakthrough technology like Watson into the classroom. IBM's Academic Initiative brings technological advances, IBM scientists and executives to universities around the world to talk about how these innovations are transforming the way human beings work and live. The goal of this initiative is to engage and inspire students while teaching the next generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs the skills they need to build a smarter planet. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Creative Zen X-Fi3 gets covered in FCC fingerprints Posted: 04 Nov 2011 02:16 PM PDT  Remember the Zen X-Fi3, that little, bitty portable media player that we spent a bit of hands-on time with, back in September? Well, the FCC has had its crack at the thing, and the agency wasn't quite as kind, ripping pint-sized music player apart and displaying its innards for all the world to see, which might be for the best, really. While the outsides of the device aren't particularly exciting, the player's got some stuff going on under the hood, like built-in Bluetooth, which the company claims can stream high-quality audio courtesy of the apt-X codec. See the X-Fi3 exposed to the world in the gallery below. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HBO Go now available on Roku boxes, HBO subscription still required to take advantage Posted: 04 Nov 2011 01:49 PM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moscow Mars flight simulation comes to close after 520 days Posted: 04 Nov 2011 01:24 PM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 5PM ET! Posted: 04 Nov 2011 01:00 PM PDT  The action. Never. Stops. And you know what? We like it that way. Engadget Mobile Podcast hosts Myriam Joire and Brad Molen invite special guest Joseph Volpe to join in the ranting fun as we talk a heckuva lot of crazy stuff going down in the world of mobile devices. Actually, we invite you too. Be here at 5PM ET (2PM PT)! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 04 Nov 2011 12:34 PM PDT  Planning to fly on United or Continental at any point over the next few years? Then it looks like your odds of having in-flight WiFi will be getting increasingly better. United Continental Holdings announced today that it's signed an agreement with Panasonic Avionics Corporation to bring satellite-based WiFi connectivity to more than 300 of its aircraft beginning in mid-2012. Those aircraft will include Airbus 319 and 320 and Boeing 747, 757, 767, 777 and 787, and the company says it expects its entire mainline fleet to be covered by 2015. No specific word on any additional content or services that will come with it (or a cost, for that matter), but the company promises that the system will "enable wireless streaming of video content." United Continental Holdings Selects Panasonic to Install Wi-Fi COMPANY DETAILS PLANS FOR SYSTEMWIDE WI-FI CHICAGO, Nov. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL) today announced that it has selected Panasonic Avionics Corporation to provide Wi-Fi connectivity on more than 300 United Airlines and Continental Airlines mainline aircraft beginning in mid-2012. Panasonic's Ku-band satellite technology offers faster speed than air-to-ground technology (ATG) and will provide connectivity on flights worldwide. The system will also enable wireless streaming of video content. "Our customers tell us they value Wi-Fi," said Jim Compton, United's executive vice president and chief revenue officer. "As a global carrier, we selected satellite-based Ku-band technology to enable customers to stay connected on long-haul overseas flights, something no other U.S.-based international carrier currently offers." Paul Margis, chief executive officer for Panasonic Avionics Corporation said, "Panasonic is honored that United Continental Holdings selected our Global Communications Suite for more than 300 aircraft in its domestic and international fleets. United Continental Holdings has an exciting vision about how to leverage Ku technology within its fleets, and we are thrilled to be working with them on a connectivity experience that sets a new standard in in-flight entertainment and communications." United Continental Holdings expects to install the Panasonic system on Airbus 319 and 320 and Boeing 747, 757, 767, 777 and 787 aircraft. Customers will be able to use their wireless devices such as laptops, smart phones and tablets onboard those aircraft to connect with internet service using the in-flight hotspot. United Continental Holdings expects the entire mainline fleet will be equipped with Wi-Fi by 2015. Continental Airlines previously announced plans to install satellite-based Wi-Fi on more than 200 DIRECTV®-equipped aircraft beginning in 2012. About United Continental Holdings, Inc. United Continental Holdings, Inc. is the holding company for both United Airlines and Continental Airlines. Together with United Express, Continental Express and Continental Connection, these airlines operate an average of 5,717 flights a day to 376 airports on six continents from their hubs in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Guam, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark Liberty, San Francisco, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. United and Continental are members of Star Alliance, which offers more than 21,200 daily flights to 1,185 airports in 185 countries. United and Continental's more than 80,000 employees reside in every U.S. state and in many countries around the world. For more information about United Continental Holdings, Inc., go to UnitedContinentalHoldings.com. For more information about the airlines, see united.com and continental.com or follow United on Twitter and Facebook. SOURCE United Continental Holdings, Inc. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US Cellular: we don't need no stinkin' iPhone Posted: 04 Nov 2011 12:11 PM PDT  Dost a company actually dare turn down the seductive wiles of the iPhone? As a matter of fact, there is at least one US carrier that has the audacity to say no to Tim Cook's face: US Cellular. During her company's quarterly earnings call, CEO Mary Dillon mentioned that the mobile provider was given the opportunity to sell the iPhone, but Apple's "terms were unacceptable" when considering the risk and profitability involved. It's bad news for anyone on US Cellular that was remotely interested in grabbing one; the good news, however, is that the fact the opportunity was even available -- paired with C-Spire's intentions of selling the devices next week -- will at least give hope to customers of the little guys. Cricket? Cincinnati Bell? Who's up next? [Thanks, Cliff] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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