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- Find My Car Smart app uses Bluetooth 4.0 to help iPhone 4S owners do the obvious
- Verizon Galaxy Nexus car dock lacks three-pin connection of its HSPA twin, requires manual micro-USB connection
- Ubuntu's Precise Pangolin to pull less power than predecessors
- Bing almost catches up with Yahoo! in latest ComScore US figures
- Verizon confirms Galaxy Nexus 'signal strength issue,' says a fix is in the works
- Ekso Bionics' exoskeleton used to let paraplegics walk (video)
- PlayStation Vita gets the teardown treatment, offers a look inside before February release
- NFL renews TV deals with CBS, Fox, NBC for nine more years, money reportedly involved
- Two days in the desert with Apple's lost founder, Ron Wayne
- Tech mainstays finally come together on something: littering more HD content with more DRM
- Eric Schmidt: 'Google tablet coming within six months'
- Engadget's Holiday Blues-buster 2011: win a Roku 2 courtesy of Broadcom!
- Avatar special edition takes another dip on iTunes Tuesday, brings exclusive extras
- LightPad connects your smartphone to an 11-inch screen, expands up to a 60-inch projection
- PSA: Western Digital and Seagate commence bonfire of the warranties
- Dell's Streak Pro 101DL to become Baidu's first Yi phone, shows up in FCC's database
- Orbotix Sphero review
- Scientists claim equation can predict songs' hit potential; still doesn't help David Hasselhoff
- Kyobo eReader with Mirasol display gets video walkthrough, does things E Ink can't
- Huawei Mercury arrives on Cricket in full Glory, available now for $250
- After legal battle, MSG HD channels finally arrive on Verizon FiOS
- Sirius XM Lynx strips down for the FCC, flaunts new screws
- Scientists create first solar cell with over 100 percent quantum efficiency
- Tesla's sends Roadster off with 'Final Edition,' successor to arrive in 2014
- Google launches revamped doodle website, store, self-celebration ensues
- Explosion at Apple supplier injures 57 workers
- ASUS Transformer Prime pre-order shipments delayed at Best Buy, Amazon
- Arduino hack lights up the tree with every email, spammers get in spirit
- Apple reportedly discussing its 'vision for the future of TV' with media execs
- How would you change Amazon's Kindle (2011)?
- Inhabitat's Week in Green: Flaming turbines, seven eco-chic gifts and a winter wonderland of LED
- Circle Pad Pro cracked open, plenty of room to put your feet up
- Verizon Wireless kicks off trade-in program for southern US residents, offers up to $300 credit
- British Telecom is the latest to sue Google over Android, other services
- Sony demos paper-fueled battery; Paper Mario runs for life
| Find My Car Smart app uses Bluetooth 4.0 to help iPhone 4S owners do the obvious Posted: 19 Dec 2011 10:48 AM PST  Do you have an iPhone 4S? Do you drive a car? Do you have amnesia? If you answered yes to at least two-and-a-half of these questions, you'll probably be interested in Find My Car Smart -- a Kickstarter project that wants to help dudes find their cars, with the help of Bluetooth 4.0 technology. The system is relatively straightforward, consisting of nothing more than an iOS app (available now on iTunes for $0.99), and a USB-based Bluetooth proximity adapter. All you have to do is download the app, stick the dongle in your car, and let your iPhone 4S automatically mark your parking spot. Whereas similarly-designed apps typically require users to manually record their car's location before leaving the lot, Find My Car Smart allows you to forget even that, since the app will automatically record your GPS coordinates. FMC Smart says it won't start shipping adapters until it reaches its Kickstarter funding goal, though it's aiming to deliver its first 500 devices by January. For more details, hit up the links below. |
| Posted: 19 Dec 2011 10:27 AM PST While Verizon customers are happily lording it over their HSPA-bound counterparts with those LTE speeds, they may be less happy to hear about the lower-grade car dock they've been saddled with. Setting you back $40, the dock is a protective bracket for your phone that attaches to your windscreen with a suction cup. However, the GSM version includes the Galaxy Nexus' three-pin contacts, with micro-USB and mic ports built into the dock, meaning there's no need to constantly plug and unplug -- unlike the US model. Take a judicious look at the two images above; on the right is the predominantly hollow Verizon-branded car dock, while the similarly-shaped (but internally different) dock on the left is the UK's official Galaxy Nexus version. Why the difference? It's a transatlantic mystery to us. |
| Ubuntu's Precise Pangolin to pull less power than predecessors Posted: 19 Dec 2011 10:09 AM PST  We won't be seeing the finished version of Ubuntu's next release for a few months, but the folks at Canonical are hard at work making Precise Pangolin the very best it can be. Version 12.04 is an LTS release, meaning only refinements are in store for the OS, but apparently one of the areas targeted for improvement is power consumption.In a post on his blog, Ubuntu kernel engineer Colin King explained that the plan is to provide power savings in a variety of ways, including PCI Express Active State Power Management (ASPM). Furthermore, testing of Aggressive Link Power Management (ALPM) that puts the SATA link to your disk drive into a low power mode during periods of inactivity is in the works, as is placing USB and PCI controllers of peripherals and wireless connections into lower power states. The folks at Canonical are putting Precise Penguin through it's power-saving paces, but are also calling upon members of the Ubuntu community to help out with the QA to see which methods will work best. So, if you're into doing a good deed for the next Ubuntu distro, head on down to the source to learn how to lend a hand. |
| Bing almost catches up with Yahoo! in latest ComScore US figures Posted: 19 Dec 2011 09:50 AM PST   |
| Verizon confirms Galaxy Nexus 'signal strength issue,' says a fix is in the works Posted: 19 Dec 2011 09:45 AM PST  |
| Ekso Bionics' exoskeleton used to let paraplegics walk (video) Posted: 19 Dec 2011 09:31 AM PST  Researchers encouraged by observations of 6 patients with traumatic spinal cord injury Exoskeletal device tested in six patients with traumatic spinal cord injury Results of pilot testing encourage Kessler Foundation researchers West Orange, NJ. December 14, 2011. Monitored by scientists at Kessler Foundation, six people with traumatic spinal cord injuries tested Ekso, the robotic exoskeleton from Ekso Bionics that enables wheelchair users to stand and walk. The six participated in one week of preliminary testing in October 2011. Five patients have paraplegia and one has quadriplegia; they ranged in age from 27 to 45 and had durations of injury from 4 months to 2 years. In early 2012, the research team, headed by senior research scientist Gail Forrest, PhD, will commence a clinical study in collaboration with Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation. The week of preliminary testing provided key information that will guide protocol development, including selection criteria for individuals with spinal cord injury. "We will look at the effects of standing and walking for people with paralysis due to spinal cord injury," said Dr. Forrest. "Whether there are physiologic changes taking place, and what those changes mean in terms of functional improvement." While the study at Kessler will focus on the benefits of Ekso in rehabilitation settings, Ekso Bionics also plans to explore the potential for home and community use. Kessler is one of ten US partners of Ekso Bionics that are developing clinical protocols aimed at measuring gains in overall health among users of individuals using Ekso. About Kessler Foundation Kessler Foundation is the largest public charity in the field of disability. Kessler Foundation Research Center advances care through rehabilitation research in its six specialized laboratories under the leadership of noted research directors. Research focuses on improving function and quality of life for persons with injuries of the spinal cord and brain, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and other chronic neurological conditions. Kessler Foundation Program Center fosters new approaches to the persistently high rates of unemployment among people disabled by injury or disease. Targeted grant making funds promising programs across the nation. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, people recovering from catastrophic injuries and stroke, and young adults striving for independence are among the thousands of people finding jobs and training for careers as a result of the commitment of Kessler Foundation. |
| PlayStation Vita gets the teardown treatment, offers a look inside before February release Posted: 19 Dec 2011 09:09 AM PST  If you've been poring over the PlayStation Vita's US manual, here's a peek under the hood to fuel your mobile gaming fire. The folks over at PocketNews have popped open Sony's highly anticipated handheld thanks to the official Japanese release over the weekend. We're hoping to have our hands on one shortly for a full review, but until then, hit the gallery below for a look at the inner-workings of the Vita for yourself. |
| NFL renews TV deals with CBS, Fox, NBC for nine more years, money reportedly involved Posted: 19 Dec 2011 08:47 AM PST  Yeah, the NFL's really great and everything, but you know what would make it even greater? More. Money. Fortunately for Roger Goodell & Co., that's exactly what the league is due to receive, thanks to a slate of TV deals signed last week. The agreements, set to go into effect at the end of the 2013 season, effectively renew the NFL's current agreements with CBS, Fox and NBC, extending the league's TV contracts for a "record-setting" nine extra years. Not surprisingly, the deals will also funnel some extra pocket change through the NFL's coffers -- which will of course be coming from you, if you're subscribing to cable or satellite TV. Currently, the three networks pay a combined $1.94 billion in annual rights fees, but according to the LA Times, the league will now receive an average of $3.1 billion per year, as stipulated under its renewed agreements. In a statement, Commissioner Goodell said the deals underscore his league's "unique commitment to broadcast television," with CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves adding that his network will benefit from the NFL's "terrific, exciting programming," and from the consistently high ratings that "no other franchise delivers." The agreements, which come just a few months after the NFL inked a comparatively lucrative deal with ESPN, will also allow for the league to shift games between CBS and Fox, in order to bring "regional games to wider audiences." Each network, moreover, will air three Super Bowls over the course of the nine-year contract, continuing the rotation currently in place. Tebow past the break for the full PR. The tradition continues: NFL to remain on broadcast TV CBS, FOX & NBC Sunday packages extended through 2022 season – longest-ever NFL agreements with over-air broadcast partners The National Football League has agreed to nine-year extensions of its Sunday broadcast television packages with CBS, FOX and NBC that will keep NFL games on free, over-the-air television, Commissioner Roger Goodell announced today. The nine-year terms are the longest for NFL television agreements with over-the-air broadcast partners, surpassing the eight-year deals signed with CBS, FOX and ABC from 1998-2005. The new agreements run through the 2022 season. The NFL's current television agreements expire following the 2013 season. The agreements also enable the NFL to expand its Thursday night package of games on NFL Network beginning next year. The number of additional Thursday night games has not been determined. The NFL is the only sports league that delivers all of its games – regular-season and playoffs – on free, over-the-air television. (ESPN's Monday night and NFL Network's Thursday night cable games are required by contract to be carried on over-the-air, broadcast stations in the cities of the participating teams, subject to local blackout rules). CBS will televise the American Football Conference package of Sunday afternoon games that it acquired in 1998. CBS first began televising NFL games in 1956 and carried the NFC package from 1970 through 1993. FOX will continue with the National Football Conference package of Sunday afternoon games that it acquired in 1994. NBC will again carry the Sunday Night Football package of primetime games that it acquired in 2006. NBC will continue to televise the Thursday night NFL season Kickoff game to open each season and will add the annual Thanksgiving primetime game starting in 2012. Flexible scheduling – which ensures quality matchups in all NFL Sunday time slots and gives teams a chance to play their way onto primetime on NBC and into the late-afternoon 4:15 PM ET time slot on CBS and FOX – remains a viewer-friendly element of the network broadcast agreements. It will be expanded in 2014, including the ability to move games between CBS and FOX to bring regional games to wider audiences. Further details on enhanced flexible scheduling will be developed with the networks. CBS, FOX and NBC will each televise three Super Bowls during the term of the agreements, continuing the current rotation. NBC will carry Super Bowl XLIX (49) in Glendale, Arizona in 2015, Super Bowl LII (52) in 2018 and Super Bowl LV (55) in 2021. CBS will broadcast Super Bowl L (50) in 2016, Super Bowl LIII (53) in 2019 and Super Bowl LVI (56) in 2022. FOX will televise Super Bowl LI (51) in 2017, Super Bowl LIV (54) in 2020 and Super Bowl LVII (57) in 2023. "These agreements underscore the NFL's unique commitment to broadcast television that no other sport has," Commissioner Goodell said. "The agreements would not have been possible without our new 10-year labor agreement and the players deserve great credit. Long-term labor peace is allowing the NFL to continue to grow and the biggest beneficiaries are the players and fans." Commissioner Goodell said NFL fans should expect ongoing innovation from the NFL and its TV partners. "CBS, FOX and NBC have served NFL fans with the highest-quality television production," Commissioner Goodell said. "The networks will continue their outstanding coverage of the NFL while also helping to deliver more football to more fans using the best and most current technology." Earlier this season, the NFL and ESPN reached an eight-year extension to keep Monday Night Football on ESPN through the 2021 season. NFL games are 23 of the 25 most-watched programs among all television shows this fall and draw more than twice as many average viewers as broadcast primetime shows. CBS and NFL Reach New Nine-Year Broadcast Rights Agreement Through 2022 Season CBS Sports Remains Broadcast Home of NFL's American Football Conference NEW YORK, Dec. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Football League announced today that CBS has been awarded a new nine-year broadcast rights agreement that runs through the 2022 season. In the new deal, CBS Sports remains the broadcast home of the NFL's American Football Conference (AFC). In addition, as part of the NFL's expanded "flexible scheduling," CBS will also broadcast games from the National Football Conference (NFC). This will be the first time CBS will broadcast AFC and NFC matchups in the same season. CBS will broadcast Super Bowl L in 2016, Super Bowl LIII in 2019 and Super Bowl LVI in 2022, in addition to Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans in 2013. "The NFL provides terrific, exciting programming to our viewers week-in and week-out," said Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Corporation. "No other franchise delivers ratings the way an NFL game does. The League has proven time and again that it understands the importance of a healthy broadcast partner, and this historic new agreement strengthens that partnership. In addition, the deal continues CBS's ability to be profitable with the NFL throughout the coming decade and beyond." "CBS has been broadcasting the NFL for 52 years, and we are extremely pleased to extend our long-term partnership," said Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports. "This commitment is further proof of the valued relationship CBS shares with the NFL and of the overall strength of CBS Sports. The opportunity to add quality NFC games greatly enhances our television package. We look forward to continued growth as we broadcast the NFL for many more years to come." Twelve of CBS's 14 owned stations are in NFL markets, including New York, San Francisco/Oakland, Boston, Miami, Denver, Pittsburgh and Baltimore, which are all AFC markets. This new deal is the longest ever with the NFL and its broadcast partners, surpassing the eight-year deal from 1998-2005. CBS Sports, which first began televising NFL regular-season games in 1956 and this season marks its 52nd season, had broadcast rights to the National Football Conference package from 1970 through 1993. The Network began televising American Football Conference games in 1998. |
| Two days in the desert with Apple's lost founder, Ron Wayne Posted: 19 Dec 2011 08:00 AM PST  Thirty-five years ago, Ronald G. Wayne helped co-found the Apple Computer Company with two men 20 years his junior, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak -- names that have since become synonymous with the personal computer revolution of the early 80s. For Wayne, however, it was a gig that lasted all of a dozen days, abruptly ending when he marched down to the Santa Clara County Registry Office to have himself stricken from the contract he'd authored. His is a name that pops up every few years or so, shrouded in mystery, the "forgotten" or "unknown" founder of one of the world's most successful companies – and perhaps more infamously, the man who once owned 10 percent of its stock, only to walk away from it all a mere $2,300 richer. Wayne's name has popped up in the national news twice in recent months, first with the passing of Steve Jobs, and then with the well-timed appearance of an original Apple contract, dated April Fool's Day, 1976, signed by Jobs, Wozniak and Wayne, which fetched a staggering $1.6 million at auction - roughly 1,000 times the amount Wayne received to forfeit all claims to the company. The two Steves' signatures are downright childlike, compared to Wayne's barely legible scribbles – fitting, perhaps, given the then 41-year-old's role as the adult supervision for the company's other two fresh-faced founders. Three decades later, Wayne ended up here in Pahrump, NV, an unincorporated town roughly 60 miles outside of Las Vegas, a vacation destination for gamblers, when the vice-fueled human gridlock of the Strip or even Reno prove too much to handle. The folks who actually plant their roots here are, more often than not, the sorts who've made a conscious decision to go "beyond the beyond," in Wayne's words, to a wild west outpost, a desert hideaway relatively free from the intrusive arms of an overbearing government.  You'll find Pahrump down US Route 160, which shrinks down to two lanes before winding across a red-rocked snowy mountain pass. Beyond that admittedly scenic bit of landscape, the 90-minute drive offers little more than miles of brush and yucca plants, sharp and solitary desert foliage that belong, perhaps, in the background of some Roadrunner cartoon. The occasional sign warns drivers to be on the lookout for stray horses, burros, cattle and landslides, and a wooden cutout of Smokey the Bear lists the day's fire warning (mild on this particular 30-degree day in early December). Beyond the mountain, the land flattens into the great expanse of the Nye valley, bordered by a range of peaks on either side, a landscape that chugs along without the slightest indication of human progress, until Pahrump materializes beyond the horizon. It's a desert oasis with a surprisingly massive sprawl; 34,000 people spread out over nearly 400 square miles – these are, after all, people who value space nearly as much as their privacy. Ten minutes outside of town, the onslaught of billboards begins, advertising $10 steaks, strip clubs and fireworks emporiums. The town's motto positions it as "your base camp to adventure," a transitory sense of adventure by proximity no doubt shared by the scores of teenagers growing up in a town where a visit to the nearest movie theater means an hour-and-a-half-long drive into Vegas. There is a bowling alley located deep within one of the local casinos, but, otherwise, the local high school students are generally out of luck in an entertainment scene tailored exclusively toward the 21-and-up crowd. At the edge of town sits a giant, white plaster castle, a combination "gentleman's club" and massage parlor. Hang a left there, and you'll find yourself on Homestead, a long country road where men in beards and cowboy hats do controlled burns of brush in their front yards. The road ends a few miles out, dissolving into desert. Sheri's Ranch and the Chicken Ranch, sit where the desert meets the edge of the road, neighboring brothels, the latter of which proudly served as the inspiration for 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas when it was located a few states to the east. Paranormal radio host and world class conspiracy theorist Art Bell also calls the area home, setting up camp amongst a sea of giant antennas, which dot the landscape like a metallic forest. This is the "Land of Nye" he referenced ominously at the top of every episode, having gone so far off the grid that even his replacement host, George Noory, reportedly has trouble contacting him.  It's 160 that serves as the town's main drag, for a few minutes' drive, before filtering out again into the empty desert expanse. The street is lined with the town's three major casinos: Saddle West, the Pahrump Nugget and Terrible's – western themed; all of them. If any single entity runs this community, it may be the latter, its name shared with another sizable casino and a gas station at the edge of town. The street is also home to a number of chain stores – a Radioshack, Home Depot, several fast food joints and a 24-hour Walmart, which seem to have decimated a good deal of the local businesses, serving as the current center of commerce for the city. A few mom-and-pops do seem to be thriving along the stretch, however, like the Pahrump Adult Superstore (which is roughly the size of a department store) and a number of fireworks emporiums, which seem to outnumber supermarkets in the town. I meet Ron Wayne my first morning in town. He's waiting for me in the lobby of my hotel, a small man sinking into a leather couch, largely obscured by the newspaper he's reading. I greet him and he stands to shake my hand, "Mr. Heater, I presume." He's dressed sharply, with wire-rimmed glasses and a suit jacket over a V-neck sleeveless sweater, a large 70s-style collar jutting out over both. He'll wear this outfit both days, a quiet reminder of his former co-worker's fascination with the concept of a daily uniform. His white hair is brushed back, thin on the top and long in the back. He's in excellent spirits, that much is clear. And like that, as he puts it, "we're off like a pack of turtles." I follow Wayne out to his car, a 2002 Chevy Malibu – the same year he left Florida and packed up for Nevada. The car has served him well, he explains. He's driven it across the country several times. There are a number of stickers lining the rear passenger window, including a small rainbow Apple logo. There's not much in the way of small talk as we drive to breakfast. Wayne instead launches almost immediately into his current passion: economics. It's a subject that has fascinated him for his entire adult life, culminating with this year's publication of Insolence of Office. "If I have one legacy," he offers up as we exit the Malibu and walk toward the Pahrump Nugget in the cold Nevada morning air, "I hope it's that book." Over the course of our two days together, we'll eat all of our meals at two different casinos – the Saddle West and the Nugget. Pahrump isn't much on fine dining. There's a steak house in the Nugget, a few coffee houses and a handful of Mexican restaurants, but, otherwise, the majority of the dining establishments in the town involve heating lamps and / or the word "buffet." Today we wind up at the Saddle West for breakfast, after our first choice proves surprisingly hopping on a Tuesday morning. Wayne gets eggs and sausage from an exposed steam tray and jokes about his cardiologist's reaction, picking up where he left off in the discussion of global economics. It's a subject that truly requires Wayne to start from the beginning, tracing matters from the barter system to the advent of paper money, the abandonment of the gold standard and the pending global economic collapse. Wayne's history with the subject began around his twentieth year, a fascination he chalks up to growing up a child of a single mother in Cleveland during the Great Depression. All roads lead to a single conclusion for Wayne: the necessity of investing in precious metals. It's a lesson he's actively attempting to impart on me and one he shared with a young Steve Jobs, who promptly sold his investment, once the value went up. "I'm not sure he entirely understood what I was trying to tell him," Wayne explains. Gold and silver aren't an investment for Wayne – they're security, a protection from a time in the future when the uselessness of non-metal-backed paper money becomes too apparent to ignore; when China does something to address the US' massive debt. These are subjects tackled by Insolence of Office, a 260-page treatise on shielding oneself from the impending economic and societal collapse, featuring chapters with titles like, "The End of the Republic," "Morality and Sexual Preference" and "Illegal Destruction of Fixed Currencies in the United States." The book opens with a rhetorical question: "I wonder how many of us would have accepted the gift of life, if we'd first taken the trouble to read the fine print." It's a question that could apply to Wayne's own rollercoaster-like existence. Insolence was published earlier this year by 512k Entertainment, the company behind Wayne's recent autobiography. Its founders first approached Wayne to be interviewed in their 2009 documentary, Welcome to Macintosh, an appearance he agreed to make with one major caveat: that they read his magnum opus and consider the possibility of using it as the basis for their next film. The manuscript, however, was too dry for such things, according to Wayne. Eventually, though, another mutually beneficial deal was struck between the two parties, with 512k agreeing to publish Insolence, if Wayne agreed to write an autobiography for the company.  The result was Adventures of an Apple Founder – the title, Wayne happily confesses, was his own, an attempt to capitalize on an increased interest in recent years regarding his brief role with the company. In spite of such titles, however, the book only devotes roughly a dozen or so pages to exploring Wayne's role with Apple, spending far more time on subjects like his time at Atari – the place where he was working when he first encountered a young Wozniak and Jobs. It also delves a fair amount into his lifelong interest in the world of slot machines, a key aspect of Wayne's life seemingly at odds with the value he places on money and a large part of the reason he wound up here in Pahrump. For his part, Wozniak graciously wrote the forward to Adventures – something Jobs outright refused to participate in, telling Wayne, bluntly, "I don't think you're a founder of the company," in an email – it was their first communication since 2000, and it would ultimately prove to be their last. "[Wozniak] was extremely generous in that writing in terms of what he regarded as my contribution to the front end of the thing," Wayne explains, taking a break from his plate of scrambled eggs. "It was much more so than I ever considered myself. I regard Steve Wozniak as, not only a whimsical character - he's a delightful person to know and be with - but as one of the most gracious men I've ever met in my life. I remember when this meeting occurred at the Macworld Convention in San Francisco, there he was and from across the room he greets me like a long lost brother." As for Jobs' personality, Wayne is similarly candid, saying with a smile, "I always tell people that if you had to choose between Steve Jobs and an ice cube, you'd stand next to the ice cube for warmth." Wayne regards the fascination surrounding his time at Apple with similar amusement. "Every couple of years or so, somebody will suddenly wake up and say 'Oh, Mr. Wayne, let's find out about him,'" he explains. "And of course every time anything significant happens with the Apple Corporation, here come guys after the 'unknown founder.' To me it's a mystery. I really believe I will probably wind up as a footnote in history because I happened to have known someone. The reality is that I was a co-founder with Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs of the Apple Computer Company. I had absolutely nothing to do with the corporation that followed." Wayne traces such interest back to 1994's The Mac Bathroom Reader, a curious little book of Apple trivia with a cover featuring a rubber ducky and a roll of toilet paper. The book's author, Owen Linzmayer, happily cast Wayne as the "forgotten founder," borrowing that phrase for the first chapter of 1999's Apple Confidential.  Our conversation is interrupted by an older gentleman, who stops by to shake Wayne's hand. He explains the situation to the man with a customary sense of humility and levity, as though he's still not entirely sure why I have ventured this far to talk to him. The man shakes my hand as well and is on his way. He's a fellow hobbyist, Wayne explains, a buyer of coins. In spite of having lived in Pahrump since 2002, Wayne doesn't really know all that many people around town. His social engagements are largely limited to clients and a poetry club that meets for two hours the first Saturday of every month at the Pahrump Library, where Wayne indulges the group with one of a number of his creative hobbies, including his most ambitious work, Grecian Treasure. The mystery story is comprised of 26 sonnets, opening, "On damp, dark streets of London's night, a lonely click of footsteps sound, attendant to a common sight... an average man, now homeward bound." Wayne freely admits that he leaves his house as seldom as possible, a fact that has gone a ways toward furthering this perception of him as a mysterious figure in Apple's history. It's also, apparently, given him an air of mystery around Pahrump. When I pop into a small, newly opened computer store a few days later, I ask the owners if they know Wayne. "Ron Wayne?" one asks. Is he a local politician?" "No," I answer. "He's one of three co-founders of Apple. And he lives here in Pahrump." "Oh," responds the other, "he was on the local news recently, after Steve Jobs died. He's a bit of a recluse." In part, Wayne chalks his sedentary nature up to the fact that he works from home, making himself available to clients who call his house throughout the day, hoping to swing by to make a deal. Wayne deals in coins and stamps, a hobby of sorts that supplements his Social Security checks in his semi-retirement. At one point, the hobby was a full-time business, taking the form of a shop in Milpitas, California, but Wayne prefers the low overheads of his current setup -- a home-field advantage that lands him in the proverbial "catbird seat," as he puts it. He's come across the majority of his fellow traders by way of a now-defunct swap meet in the area or two small, text-only ads in the back of the local Nifty Nickel – "Buying old stamp collections, US & World, pre-1950 also coins, coin collections & unused bulk postage," reads one, in part, measuring roughly an inch across. Having significantly overstayed our welcome, we jump back in the Malibu and are once again off like the proverbial "pack of turtles." It's a bit of a drive to Wayne's house. "You need a car to live here," he tells me, adding, "Though you see more and more people on bicycles, these days. I think you're going to see more and more of them in the future. We're headed toward dark times."  Like many in the area, Wayne's house is of the small, pre-fabricated variety. It's covered in blue vinyl siding, with a small adjacent garage, which Wayne converted into a workspace, when his adopted family moved in with him. Two large carports sit out in front, protecting their vehicles from the oppressive desert sun. Out back, another mobile home and a trailer form a triangle with a small plastic swing set and a lawn of yellowed grass in the middle, a casualty of the poor desert soil, where not a whole lot of anything grows naturally. Two dogs bark furiously behind an iron gate – Mica, a large black mixed breed and Hercules, a fierce little Chihuahua with a Napoleon complex that needs to be locked up in a bedroom when strange reporters come to town. There are five dogs in all living at the house, according to Wayne's estimate – though he can't be entirely sure that the number is correct. They are "beloved pets," according to Wayne, but they'll certainly give a start to strange reporters or anyone else who might approach the home. Make it past the over-excited pack of dogs, and you'll be greeted by a Jennings Star Chief, a vintage quarter machine with a big brass Indian head sitting above the coin hopper. It's an immediate reminder of one of Wayne's other passions: slot machines, a long time love that certainly played a role in his decision to relocate to Nevada. He settled into the industry after a stint working at the Lawrence Livermore Labs and a number of shop jobs. The questionable business practices he encountered working in that industry earlier in life also played a part in his decision to walk away from Jobs and Wozniak early on. As with most other subjects, Wayne starts at the very beginning when describing what precisely drew him to the machines in the first place. "They have a character to them," he explains. "They have a history to them going all the way back to Charlie Fey in San Francisco in 1895, selling bar supplies, and in his garage, he tinkers together the first slot machine. The mechanics of it, the mathematics of it, the symbolization that he had mastery of that fascinated me."  It's a sort of mastery Wayne believes has been drained out of most mechanical fields. But as with so many other areas, the world of slots left Wayne behind. The machines have since moved to what he's deemed a "paper in, paper out" system, printing out slips with small amounts of money, instead of the tangible coin drop – a not so subtle reminder, perhaps, of his larger concern with a society-wide move toward paper currency. Manufacturers have also moved toward microprocessors as a way of beefing up security, deeming the more traditional machines too easy to manipulate. "All they did was shifted the realm of theft. Instead of someone coming in and cheating the machine for twenty or thirty bucks they've got guys who come in and cheat the machine for ten million dollars," he says. "The level of theft has gone up and become more sophisticated."  Though such unevening of odds has, over the years, afforded Wayne the opportunity to turn the tables from time to time. "I was packed up and leaving [a Las Vegas hotel] and right next to the register they had this bank of these Twenty-One machines," he says, beginning what is clearly a favorite anecdote. "So I went up to the first machine and loaded it full, played it and won. I won about five or six hands, the first hand I lost. I go on to the next machine and did exactly the same thing, I went right down the row. I looked like Captain Kangaroo as I was going out the door with my pockets full of quarters. That was one instance when I had recognized what was going on." Wayne is full of such stories, a close study, he's spent decades wandering casinos, looking for patterns, recognizing and taking advantage of attract modes designed to draw overzealous gamers to machines. He still frequents a local casino a few times each week, a rare regular excursion from the familiar scenery of his home / office, finding himself in the dimly lit confines of the Mountain View, a small casino far from the relatively fast pace of the highway 160 casinos, between 11:30PM and 2AM. He hits the Kenny Rogers Gambler and Cleopatra, machines with decent payouts, both. The man so preoccupied with global economics has no illusions that he'll get rich from such activities, instead writing the whole thing off as an amusing diversion, heading home for the night when he hits his self-imposed limit. It's a significant act, he insists, which separates him from the more compulsive sort. Wayne still entertains fantasies about getting back into the other side of the business, however, including a prototype for a machine he says he came close to selling to the Terrible's chain, before financial concerns intervened. On the side of his main room opposite the Star Chief sits a large tube radio, roughly three feet high. Wayne walks over to the beautifully restored piece and fiddles with the knobs for a few minutes, ultimately unable to get any kind of signal, in spite of the large mesh antenna he had built for the system. On top of a small bookcase is a small model, a remnant of a large replica he built of the Nautilus from 1954's Disney adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, using video shot from television, played back on a reel-to-reel machine as reference. Wayne considered the whole project something of a psychological rehabilitation from an unfortunate work experience, just ahead of starting his gig at Atari. Wayne built the sub with assorted pieces from tank sets and dollhouses, amongst other things, with a near obsessive level of detail paid, right down to the lighting and the gilded ceilings, created by painting doilies. Along the wall in the connected dining room is a large shelf stocked with rows and rows of VHS tapes, each featuring a cryptic numbering system – it's all part of a cataloging system Wayne developed, with binders detailing the corresponding classic movies recorded off of TV onto each tape. He's also cataloged clips from the Rachel Maddow Show and Countdown, before Keith Olbermann jumped ship to Current. He's particularly taken with Maddow's anecdotes, which help offer fodder for future political discussions.  There's an extensive collection of firearms scattered throughout the home, as well, hanging from walls and sitting out in the open. And in his bedroom, a small closet-like space bearing a piece of paper with Dante's familiar, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here," on the door, Wayne picks up a large revolver from a dresser next to his unmade bed, opens the chamber and lets the bullets fall from the cylinder into his palm. It's a police-issued .38. It's one of possibly dozens of guns in the small house, many of which are of the ancient sort, including a musket that Wayne would take shooting in the desert until cleaning up the gunpowder trails proved too much of a chore. Wayne shows off gun after gun, quite proud of his collection, including a palm-size .25 Colt automatic. Wayne's office is located just off of the main room. It's a small space with two large windows and shelves devoted to his extensive collection of cataloging just about everything. On a wall next to the bookshelves hang a number of antique guns and swords, with a miniature cannon displayed above the door. A couple of paintings sit on adjacent walls – one features a stern-faced Abraham Lincoln around the time of his Cooper Union address. The other depicts a fierce battle scene, part of a series for which Wayne only completed two paintings, the second hangs above his bed in his nearby railroad-connected bedroom. Both are evidence of yet another hobby, which manifested itself most famously when Wayne designed Apple's extremely un-Jobsian logo, a woodcut-like image of Sir Isaac Newton sitting beneath a tree, one well-placed falling fruit away from inspiration. An old clock ticks away the seconds loudly, and across the room, a small cardboard box sits under a chair, with the words "FAN MAIL" typed out in big block text (during our time together, we'll swing by a small post office housed in a pre-fab building to mail out a signed copy of Adventures). The room is also scattered with assorted memorabilia of Wayne's long, strange trip. There's an image of a young Wayne smiling faintly in a lab coat at his then dream job at Lawrence Livermore Labs, an image of him smiling larger while working at Vegas' Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino, a handful of patent papers brandished with their original red and blue seals and a glossy shot of the Vulcan slot machine he created, a name betraying his love of all things science fiction. On his desk is a low-level Dell desktop with a bundled flat screen monitor purchased about a year and a half ago. Much to Wayne's chagrin, the system was running Vista, rather than the Windows XP to which he was far more accustomed. "I didn't know if all my programs and files would work on Vista," Wayne explains, with a hint of exasperation. I've got an accumulation of 20 years of this stuff and I don't want to lose it all simply because of this wonderful new technology for which I have absolutely no use of anyway."  He eventually caved and bought a cell phone as well. Wayne owns an old Motorola flip handset, which he rarely actually carries on his person, instead relying on customers to utilize his landline. Wayne, somewhat famously, never owned an Apple product until quite recently, when an interviewer gifted him an iPad, and while he was taken with the tablet, it eventually found its way into the hands of Wayne's adopted son, who now claims full ownership of the thing. The room's real treasure trove is housed in a first class USPS mailer. Wayne pulls the contents out and places them on his desk. There's an original Apple I warranty and manual, the latter of which feature's Wayne's Isaac Newton logo, and, compared to the current crop of user friendly technical manuals, reads as though it were written in some alien language. An order form for its follow up is also mixed in, imploring buyers to "get on the list and receive your Apple II before the rush." Pages and pages are devoted to plans and pencil drawings of an Apple I enclosure, which Jobs enlisted Wayne to create after he unceremoniously exited the company. The wood-paneled housing was designed to be low cost, featuring a sliding door meant to shield the keyboard, which would turn the computer on when open. "To this date, I've never seen this idea implemented in any computer design," Wayne writes in Adventures. "Then, I suppose it has only been 35 years, and it takes a bit of time for good ideas to finally come into practice." Apple, for its part, passed on the prototype. The envelope also houses a photocopy of the original Apple contract, penned by Wayne himself – a fact that quite impressed Wozniak. It was Wayne's copy of the contract that wound up on the Sotheby's auction block. The co-founder parted ways with the contract back in the early 90s for around $500, when an autograph dealer asked if he might have any signatures of value. It's one of a number of misfires that dot Wayne's life, one of the few he describes with a rare regretful tone. Mentioning the Statement of Withdrawal of General Partner, a copy of which also lives in the envelope, however, won't elicit any self-pity from the man. "I have no disappointments," Wayne explains. "[Jobs and Wozniak] went on and did their thing, and they did it magnificently. I could not actually have been a part of it. There were just too many aspects of it. My participation with Apple would have gone against my ambitions in life. I wasn't seeing, in the Apple phenomenon, anything that fit what I regarded as my approach to life, what I wanted to make my life mean in the course of my activities, what I was searching for."  Wayne recognized something in Jobs and Wozniak, during his time at Atari, forming a particularly strong bond with Jobs, which involved deep discussions over lunches and long walks. "We'd have lunch together, we'd have dinner together, he came over the house for dinner, we'd have walks and physical activities. We went for walks together and we talked. He told me what his plans and ideas were and was bouncing them off of me. Should he really go off in this direction or that direction?" Wozniak was the engineering genius who designed computers for the sheer fun of it, and Jobs was the consummate businessman who turned it into an industry. "Jobs had a very focused attitude, and I knew he was going to go someplace and he was going to make sure he got there," explains Wayne. "He couldn't match Wozniak, but he recognized the significance of Wozniak. The reality was that Jobs had a focused intent to do something dynamic in business and he would get there on whatever device would carry him." "If he'd lived in the 1830s and had met Sam Colt, he would have ridden to his success on the Colt revolver," Wayne adds. "The device was just a means to an end. He'd actually asked me if he should go ahead with this. With Steve Wozniak. He was concerned about it because there were all these other interests that he had and he was afraid that he would lose out on these other interests if he pursued this enterprise. And I said 'Well, you could pursue these other enterprises more easily if you had money in your pocket, and this looks like a money making thing. Go ahead and do it. Take the money and do your thing.' "  But at 77, Wayne has no desire to pull punches when describing the late former partner. "He was -- not to put too fine a point on it -- a ruthless businessman. Absolutely ruthless, I had a first hand experience in that. I was one of the few people, I think, who actually said 'no' to him and he didn't like it." Wayne said 'no' by turning down two separate job openings offered up by Jobs himself after leaving the company, a fact he insists backs up his claims of not regretting his exit from the company. "If I had any regrets," Wayne says simply, "I would have picked it up on the first pass." Wayne would have been a poor fit for the company, he insists, with Jobs relegating him to a backroom administrative role, rather than allowing him to get his hands dirty with the engineering work he thrived on. So, in spite of that momentary diversion, he remained at Atari during those infamous 12 days. It's out of his office that Wayne runs his coin and stamp business. His workshop, meanwhile, holds the link to his electronics past. The space is housed in a converted garage he began setting up shop in, after his adopted family moved in. He tells me that he's going to invest more time into the space once the current resurgence of interest in his brief time with Apple settles down – at the moment, the space really does feel like a garage, with countless boxes piled everywhere, bearing descriptors like "Scrap Plastic" and "Integrated CKTS" scribbled in Sharpie. There are ancient pieces of electronics scattered throughout and some heavy-duty shop equipment on a couple of workbenches. Hundreds of tiny drawers line two walls, each with a small label describing their contents, all minute electronic components. Wayne pulls down a small black box, fires it up and begins fiddling with its knobs, emitting a high-pitched squeal that changes tones as he adjusts settings. "This," he tells me with a smile, "is a 'Do-Nothing' machine." There are some boxes here and in a rented storage space filled with slot machines Wayne built, having re-entered the field for some time after his brief stint with Apple. Those boxes, like the rest, represent the past, a long history in electronics that has seen him traveling across states and industries, in search of the next adventure. They also offer a potential future for a restless mind that hasn't slowed down in this state of semi-retirement. On the other side of the garage is a giant black railroad safe, the words "Railway Express Agency" written in faded, rusted script, over an even fainter "Wells Fargo." The safe belonged to two different railway companies and sits in Wayne's garage, now emptied of its valuables. It's a two-ton beast that appears impossible to crack, though he admits that someone managed to do it before – an inside job, perhaps, robbing Wayne of his life savings. It was a tragic event that played a large role in his decision to move out to Pahrump. We head back through the house to the Malibu.  "People always ask me where Jobs got 'Apple,'" Wayne offers without prompt on the final drive back to my hotel. "I never thought to ask. I suspect it has something to do with 'bite' and 'byte.'" "You must have liked the name," I offer. "It was his decision to make," he answers, simply, without a hint of judgment. "Well," I respond, "If you hadn't, I'm sure you would have said something." "True. And it gave me plenty to work with for the logo." "Sir Isaac Newton." "And Wordsworth," he answers. "I don't suppose you know Wordsworth." "Not well," I confess. "The Evangelist St. John my patron was," Wayne begins, with a touch of dramatic flourish, piloting his Malibu down Homestead. The scenery is little more than dried brush, fenced in by snowcapped mountain ranges on either side, the brim of a cowboy cap belonging to a casino mascot peeking out just over the horizon. "Three Gothic courts are his, and in the fir was my abiding-place, a nook obscure." He makes his way through the full stanza, all 18 lines of free verse, without pause, culminating with a satisfied sense of finality: Of moon or favouring stars, I could behold The antechapel where the statue stood Of Newton with his prism and silent face, The marble index of a mind for ever Voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone. It's a fragment of "The Prelude," a name Wayne can't remember for the life of him, in spite of his own flawless repetition of the familiar snippet. The final part had found its way onto the wooden border of Wayne's infamously ornate logo, some 35 years prior, a stream of words interrupted by a waving ribbon bearing the words "Apple Computer Co." I roughly paraphrase Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson's suggestion that the borrowed slogan "fit Wayne's self-image more than Apple Computer." Wayne smiles at the suggestion, adding that he certainly can't argue with the assessment. The whole logo was 100 percent Wayne, and it was the first thing to go, with the entrance of marketing guru Regis McKenna, according to Isaacson, replaced by the far more familiar – and Jobsian – bite image, which has existed as the company's logo in some form or another ever since. Wayne insists that Jobs liked his Newtonian contribution enough to have it blown up into a banner for promoting the Apple I at tradeshows.  Fittingly, perhaps, the Victorian logo was a poor ill fit, just like Wayne himself. It was a story, Wayne candidly admits, that he only read a small portion of, hunting for mentions of his own name – a modest undertaking, given his rather scarce face time in the 656 page tome, coverage which Wayne refers to as "curt." But then, in spite of its adventurous subtitle, Wayne's own autobiography devotes a mere dozen pages to the matter – arguably a generous sum, given his 10-day-long employment with the nascent company. It's a stretch of time that can hardly even be regarded as a pit stop in Wayne's sometimes lonely perpetual voyaging. This piece originally appeared in Distro #18. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Tech mainstays finally come together on something: littering more HD content with more DRM Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:53 AM PST  In essence, it sounds as if they're crafting a way to distribute Blu-ray-quality material on SD cards and embedded memory (sound familiar?), and they're also hoping that this will "enable various HD content applications such as HD network download, broadcast content to-go and HD Digital Copy / Managed Copy from Blu-ray Disc." Notably, we're told that Android-based smartphones, tablets, TVs and Blu-ray products in particular can look forward to taking advantage -- in other words, Apple's going to keep doing what Apple does. If all goes well, they'll start licensing the new secure memory technology early next year, and if we had to guess, we'd say the adoption trajectory perfectly matches that of slotRadio. Good luck, folks -- you're going to need it. PANASONIC, SAMSUNG, SANDISK, SONY AND TOSHIBA JOIN FORCES TO COLLABORATE ON NEXT GENERATION SECURE MEMORY SOLUTION Five Companies plan to jointly form 'Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative' December 19th, 2011-Panasonic Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SanDisk Corporation, Sony Corporation and Toshiba Corporation today announced that they have reached an agreement in principle to collaborate on a new content protection technology for flash memory cards such as SD Cards and various storage devices. Under the "Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative"*1, the five companies will start preparing for licensing and promotion of HD (high-definition)-capable security for SD Cards and embedded memory for use in advanced consumer applications such as tablets and smartphones. This content protection solution will be robust enough to protect HD content. A high level of content security will be realized through the use of the initiative's technologies, including unique ID (identification) technology for flash memory and robust copy protection based on public key infrastructure. The five companies believe this technology will enable various HD content applications such as HD network download, broadcast content to go and HD Digital Copy/Managed Copy from Blu-ray DiscTM*2 media. With these applications, users can enjoy HD content on a wide range of devices, including AndroidTM*3-based smartphones and tablets, TVs and Blu-rayTM*4 products. The five companies believe that they each can make substantial contributions that, when combined, will enable them to start licensing the new secure memory technology early next year. The five companies expect to see adoption of flash memory products and various embedded flash memory solutions using this technology in the market in 2012. "Panasonic has always been an innovator in providing the best possible content viewing experience in the living room through development of Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3DTM technologies and products" said Yoshiyuki Miyabe, Corporate CTO, Panasonic Corporation. "With our new secure memory solution, we are excited to create a strong link between the living room experience and the mobile experience. Now consumers can enjoy watching premier content, such as movies, on the go with their smartphones and tablets". "Samsung believes that the time is ripe for an advanced security solution and welcomes the opportunity to deliver a highly viable solution using flash memory chips. Samsung's ongoing commitment to technology excellence will now further extend to early market availability of high-performance NAND technologies implementing the new advanced security solution," said Young-Hyun Jun, Executive Vice President, Memory Business, Samsung Electronics. Co., Ltd. "Consumers are ready for a solution that enables the effortless consumption of online and offline content across multiple device platforms," said Sumit Sadana, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for SanDisk. "SanDisk looks forward to building on its history of innovation in the Flash industry by delivering optimized memory solutions to enable this new usage model with robust security technologies that can protect premium content." "We believe the secure solution created by this initiative will enable customers to enjoy high quality experiences anytime, anywhere. Sony has always been focused on bringing amazing experiences to people through highly-advanced technologies in content creation, content distribution and picture display," said Hiroshi Yoshioka, Corporate Executive Officer and Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. "This technology will open a new door to flash memory applications. As a flash memory manufacturer, we are pleased that our flash memory technology will contribute to bringing people more convenient and exciting experiences of HD content. We will continue our development efforts to create surprising innovation," said Yasuo Naruke, Corporate Vice President, Vice President, Memory Division, Semiconductor & Storage Products Company, Toshiba Corporation. About 'Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative' 'Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative' (a tentative name) is a collaboration of Panasonic, Samsung, SanDisk, Sony and Toshiba to license and promote HD (high-definition)-capable security for SD Cards and embedded memory for use in advanced consumer applications such as tablets and smartphones. For the details, please visit http://nextgenerationsecurememory.com/ *1 "Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative" is the tentative name, it will be decided later. *2 "Blu-ray Disc", "Blu-ray" and "Blu-ray 3D" are trademarks of Blu-ray Disc Association *3 "Android" is a trademark of Google Inc. *4 "Blu-ray Disc", "Blu-ray" and "Blu-ray 3D" are trademarks of Blu-ray Disc Association |
| Eric Schmidt: 'Google tablet coming within six months' Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:36 AM PST  |
| Engadget's Holiday Blues-buster 2011: win a Roku 2 courtesy of Broadcom! Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:00 AM PST  We're starting off the week with a bang: Broadcom is on a quest to "connect everything," and will have three items up for grabs. Today's feature is the Roku 2! Just make sure you check out the rules past the break, and leave a comment below. If you don't win today, don't fret -- you'll have four more chances coming. Good luck! The contest: December 19 - Roku 2 from Broadcom December 20 - Unlocked GSM iPhone 4S from Wyse December 21 - Unlocked Samsung GT-I9100 Galaxy S II (international version) from Broadcom December 22 - Verizon-branded Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE from Appitalism December 23 - iPad 2 WiFi 16GB from Broadcom The rules:
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| Avatar special edition takes another dip on iTunes Tuesday, brings exclusive extras Posted: 19 Dec 2011 06:41 AM PST  AVATAR BREAKS NEW DIGITAL GROUND WITH iTUNES EXTRAS SPECIAL EDITION New Interactive Features Take Fans Deeper into Pandora than Ever Before LOS ANGELES (Dec. 16, 2011) – Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Lightstorm Entertainment announce AVATAR available digitally with first-of-its-kind interactive features in the "AVATAR iTunes Extras Special Edition" beginning on Tuesday, December 20. "AVATAR iTunes Extras Special Edition" lets fans deconstruct some of the movie's most memorable scenes to reveal how James Cameron applied special effects to create the breathtaking world of Pandora. "AVATAR iTunes Extras Special Edition" will be available at www.iTunes.com/Avatar for pre-order starting today, December 16 for $19.99 HD/$14.99 SD. Fans can experience the global box office sensation like never before as they control scene deconstructions in simultaneous views. This new feature will also enable consumers to interact with the performance capture and visual effects levels in 17 of the film's scenes. For the first time ever, Green Screen X-ray gives users an interactive look through the visual effects levels to see the original green screen footage behind a pivotal scene. "Digital platforms like iTunes usher in new ways to interact with and watch movies like AVATAR," said Aubrey Freeborn, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Management for Worldwide VOD and Electronic Sell-Through, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. "These new interactive features enhance the experience and encourage digital ownership." "AVATAR iTunes Extras Special Edition" also features an original screenplay by James Cameron, Cameron's scriptment (a novella with some scenes broken out into dialogue), a gallery of 1,700 images and more. AVATAR, the Oscar and Golden Globe winning epic, is the highest-grossing film of all time, generating nearly $2.8 billion in worldwide box office. AVATAR is also the top-selling Blu-ray disc of all time.    |
| LightPad connects your smartphone to an 11-inch screen, expands up to a 60-inch projection Posted: 19 Dec 2011 06:22 AM PST Despite Samsung's best efforts, perhaps you haven't found the perfect balance of pocketable size and capacious screen? Sure, it sounds pretty counterintuitive, but QP Optoelectronics may have exactly what you're looking for with the LightPad, a folio-styled peripheral that combines a keyboard with an 11-inch rear projection screen. The built-in pico projector lights up the screen with a resolution of 854 x 480 in the first generation model, with a future model promising the same display size at a high-definition 1280 x 720 resolution. The built-in projector also flips around to create a 60-inch display, and will play nice with any smartphone that has an available MHL or HDMI port. While that three-part footprint doesn't make it a particularly viable option for airplane viewing, office types may appreciate the two different form factors. We'll be staking a claim to a hands-on when it makes its debut next month at CES 2012. Until then, satisfy yourself with a brief video demo after the break. QP Optoelectronics to Launch LightPadTM for Smartphones at CES Suzhou, China – December 19, 2011. QP Optoelectronics Co. Ltd. announced today that it will be showcasing its novel LightPadTM product at the CES 2012 exhibition in Las Vegas, January 10-13, booth #37037 South Hall, Upper Level. The patent pending LightPadTM technology is an ideal companion device to extend the functionality and user interface of smartphones, providing the user with expanded utility via built-in 11" high contrast rear projection screen, up to 60" screen in front projection mode, and a full-size keyboard. Connected with a smartphone, The LightPadTM provides virtually all functions of a notebook computer for an individual. This is mainly thanks to a rebirth of rear projection using a pico-projector. The high gain and high contrast rear projection screen provides for a high quality display. Advantages of using a pico-projector for the display is power efficiency (over 500 nits for under 2.5 Watts), thin form factor and light weight – key factors for a portable accessory device. Notebook sized displays are not sufficient for many applications including small group meetings where PowerPoint presentations are common. LightPadTM can produce up to 60 inch display in front projection mode with its super short focal length projection lens. It can be used as a big screen display/projector for meeting presentations, video/TV viewing, and big screen gaming. Connectivity to all smartphone platforms with HDMI or MHL output (iOS, Android, Win, Blackberry) are supported. Specification G1 (2012) G2 (2013) Brightness in Rear Projection mode, 11 inch Rear Projection Screen gain Brightness in front Projection mode Resolution Battery life Interface Mechanical dimensions (closed) Weight Color Gamut Supported smartphones 540 nits @ 2.5W 3.5 18 lumens 854 x 480 5 hrs HDMI, MHL 257 x 207.5 x 12.0 mm 550g 100% of NTSC All smartphones with HDMI/MHL output 540 nits @ 1.5W 3.5 50 lumens 1280 x 720 7 hrs HDMI, MHL 257 x 207.5 x 6.0 mm 350g 100% of NTSC All smartphones with HDMI/MHL output "The smartphone is becoming the primary computing device for consumers and professionals." stated James Lupino, QP Optoelectonics' Vice President of Business Development. "But their small display and keyboard greatly limit their application for serious users, especially for those who are seeking to replace their notebooks. LightPadTM addresses the main drawbacks of the user-interface of smartphones by utilizing dual mode projection technology. With high quality image display, versatile screen size, and super portability, LightPadTM enables a super smartphone for all applications. We expect the LightPadTM will be adopted widely as a must-have for smartphone users." QP Optoelectronics has partnered with Texas Instruments, a leader in DLP- based microdisplays. "We are very proud to work with QP Optoelectronics as it brings the LightPadTM to market", stated Frank Moizio, TI's Business Manager for DLP Pico Projection. "The innovative use of pico-projectors in the LightPadTM is a strong example of how TI DLP is enabling compelling large scale viewing experiences from the palm of your hand." QP Optoelectronics plans for mass production of the LightPadTM in mid-2012 and is in the process of establishing channel partners including licensing partners. |
| PSA: Western Digital and Seagate commence bonfire of the warranties Posted: 19 Dec 2011 06:01 AM PST  Seagate and Western Digital really do have the spirit of the holidays running through their veins, as both companies are slashing the warranty periods on hard drives for the new year. Gone are the days of five-year safety periods, instead owners of Seagate's Barracuda XT, Constellation 2, ES.2 and Momentus XT drives will have three years protection. SV35 Series and Pipeline HD drives have two years while Barracuda, Barracuda Green and the 2.5-inch Momentus get a measly one year. Western Digital on the other hand, will be hacking a year off the Caviar Blue, Green and Scorpio Blue drives that ship after January 1st, each coming with just two years warranty. On the upside, you'll be given the chance to extend the package for a modest fee -- nothing like the odd nickel-and-dime to hasten the post-holiday slump, eh? [Image courtesy of Columbia Pictures] |
| Dell's Streak Pro 101DL to become Baidu's first Yi phone, shows up in FCC's database Posted: 19 Dec 2011 05:35 AM PST  The specs here match what we've seen before: a 4.3-inch AMOLED 960 x 540 display, Corning glass (presumably Gorilla Glass), dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8260, 8GB of ROM and microSD expansion. For those interested, Tencent Tech has reported that we could see the launch of this phone in China as soon as tomorrow, along with a competitive, unsubsidized price tag of CN¥3,000 (about $475). Well, Yi will sure make a fun playmate for its counterpart from Alibaba -- did you know that Jack Ma once called his Aliyun OS an ugly baby? True story.  Terrence O'Brien contributed to this report. |
| Posted: 19 Dec 2011 05:00 AM PST  Hardware, setup and battery life Setting up Sphero is fairly simple. In its clear plastic box, you'll find an alabaster orb, a blue induction charging base and the power cord. Plug the base into a wall outlet, set Sphero in the cradle and a blue LED will light up to let you know the power is flowing. The ball takes about three hours to fully charge if it's out of juice, and the company claims that gives you over an hour of playtime. Once it's topped off with power, you simply shake Sphero to turn it on and pair it to your iOS or Android device via Bluetooth using any of Sphero's various apps. One niggle: most of the time it took at least two or three attempts (and a couple of times it took six tries) to pair Sphero with our handset regardless of which app we were attempting to use. In our experience, we found the quoted battery life to be pretty accurate, as it rolled around for at least an hour and 11 minutes per charge during our testing. We should mention that time was accumulated over the course of several stints of playing with the ball, as opposed to one marathon play session. SoftwareThere are five free Sphero apps available for both iOS and Android owners -- Sphero, SpheroDrive, Draw 'N Drive, SpheroCam and SpheroGolf -- with more to come, as Orbotix has released Sphero's SDK (available at the source link) so devs can add to its software arsenal. As this humble editor owns no iOS devices, Sphero was put through its paces exclusively using the Android apps, though the Apple-friendly versions provide an identical experience. The Sphero app is the gadget's main bit of software that not only facilitates firmware updates, but also duplicates some of the functionality in the other apps. It's got basic joystick driving controls built in, draw and drive capability and a magic 8-ball-like feature called "Answer Me" where you can verbally ask Sphero yes or no questions. It then answers by flashing red for "no" or green for "yes" while displaying its answer on your smartphone's screen. Speaking of flashing colors, we should mention that Sphero's innards include LEDs, so you can change its color at random or tailor it to match your mood via a "Color Picker" function present in every app.  SpheroDrive is exactly what it sounds like: a driving app. It lets you choose from three control modes: joystick, tilt and RC. Joystick mode lets you move Sphero with a digital D-pad akin to what you'd find on an NES Max controller; tilt allows you to you steer using your phone's accelerometer; and RC gives you separate speed and steering controls. You can also change the toy's throttle response by selecting "Cautious," "Comfy" or "Crazy" in the settings menu, and there's a "Boost" function that fires off a quick burst of speed on request. In our experience, we found Sphero's handling to be somewhat inexact and boat-like; planning turns and routes was a must for precise maneuvering. To maintain a satisfactory level of control, we kept it in "Cautious" mode most of the time, though that would likely change if we had more time to acclimate to Sphero's steering. Orbotix claims that you can maintain control of Sphero up to about 50 feet away, and during our time with the device, we confirmed that range prediction was spot on.  Draw 'N Drive is another straightforward app that allows you to draw a route for Sphero onscreen, then sit back and watch the robotic ball do your bidding. We had few issues getting Sphero to faithfully follow our routes, but upon exiting the app we were always greeted by a force close window, so it seems there's still a bug in the code somewhere. Unfortunately, this wasn't the only software glitch we found. The SpheroCam app overlays a joystick driving control on top of what your phone's camera is pointed at so you can shoot stills or video of Sphero in action. While taking photos of Sphero was a snap, we were met with a force close window on our Thunderbolt whenever we attempted to record a video. We informed Orbotix of the issue, and while its engineers haven't had such difficulties using their own Android handsets (including a Thunderbolt), the company is working to correct these problems. SpheroGolf is the last app we used, and it's the one that really begins to tap into Sphero's potential as an augmented reality toy. In practice mode, you control Sphero's trajectory via onscreen swiping in the direction of your choosing. Swing mode lets you use your phone in Wiimote-like fashion to get Sphero to maneuver the course you've created, while driver, iron and putter options determine how far the ball rolls in both modes. It's a neat idea, and it works well enough as is, but we can't help feeling that the game is just scratching the surface of Sphero's golfing potential. For example, we would love to see an app leveraging our phone's camera to display an AR course onscreen -- we think playing Pebble Beach in a parking lot or our living room would make for a far more engaging and entertaining experience. Here's hoping some enterprising devs can craft something similar (or better yet, superior) using Sphero's recently released SDK. Wrap-up That said, Sphero is a great toy to have if you've got any furry friends -- this reporter spent a good thirty minutes making Sphero chase a friend's dog, and it seems the pup had even more fun with it than his human friends. We should also note Sphero's worth as a conversation starter, as most folks haven't seen anything like it, and are keen to take it for a spin. All told, our biggest concern about Sphero is its cost. $130 is a fair chunk of change for a toy, no matter how unique it is, and is ultimately too much to pay for a novelty item whose novelty wears off rather quickly. However, it is quite an interesting plaything, and we'll be watching to see if additional apps can make for a more compelling experience. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Scientists claim equation can predict songs' hit potential; still doesn't help David Hasselhoff Posted: 19 Dec 2011 04:40 AM PST  |
| Kyobo eReader with Mirasol display gets video walkthrough, does things E Ink can't Posted: 19 Dec 2011 04:19 AM PST  |
| Huawei Mercury arrives on Cricket in full Glory, available now for $250 Posted: 19 Dec 2011 03:56 AM PST  Cricket First in U.S. to Unleash the Power, Speed and Elegance of the Huawei Mercury ~ Long Anticipated Android™ Smartphone Features 4-inch Screen and 1.4GHz Processor ~~ Feature Packed Huawei Mercury Comes with Cricket Value Price of $249.99 Just in Time for the Holidays SAN DIEGO, Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cricket Communications, Inc., a leading provider of innovative and value-driven wireless services and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) today announced the exclusive United States availability of the Huawei Mercury, Cricket's fastest and most powerful smartphone, yet. This highly anticipated device is available now for $249.99 (MSRP) at Cricket branded retail stores, dealers and at www.mycricket.com. "We are extremely pleased to be the first carrier in the United States to bring this high quality smartphone to customers and we're excited that we are able to offer this compelling device at a very affordable price," said Matt Stoiber, senior vice president, devices for Cricket. "In addition to its big screen and powerful processor, the Huawei Mercury is packed with many great features including a VGA front facing camera and 8MP rear camera and camcorder with LED flash. Users can also enrich their wireless experience by tethering the powerful Mercury to their tablet and other devices through Cricket's new tethering service plan over Cricket's high-speed 3G network." "Huawei's device strategy has always been to ensure that carriers can continue to grow the population of smartphone connected consumers. We've been able to establish ourselves as a player in this market by providing affordable smartphones, and we're building on that foundation with devices for the high-tier market now," said Jiangao Cui, President of Huawei Device USA. "This particular device, the Huawei Mercury, is an opportunity for us to offer a quality high-end device to the U.S. market that can deliver rich multi-media content including music, video and gaming applications seamlessly." Huawei Mercury Features 1.4Ghz Processor 4" FWVGA Touchscreen Email application for both consumer and business email 8.0 MP AF HD rear camera/camcorder VGA Front Camera 2GB Internal Memory Real Web Browsing at 3G speeds Wi-Fi Capable Stereo Bluetooth Mobile Hotspot (i.e. Tethering); supports up to 5 devices Support for Google Mobile™ Services – Gmail™, Google Maps™ with 3D maps and free turn-by-turn navigation, Google Earth™, Movie Studio, YouTube, access to more than 300,000 apps, millions of eBooks, thousands of movies to rent from Android Market The Huawei Mercury joins Cricket's growing smartphone lineup and is available on Cricket's $55 per month smartphone service plan that includes unlimited talk and long distance, caller ID, voicemail, call waiting, 3-way calling, call forwarding, unlimited text, picture and video messaging, 3G mobile data and email. Additional Cricket Services Supported Cricket Storefront Client -- The Cricket Storefront is Cricket's own application storefront which is preloaded from which users can purchase ringtones, graphics, ringback tones, games and applications. A user must have Flex Bucket funds available in order to make purchases from Cricket's Storefront. Cricket Mobile Web -- Access the Internet from the phone, anywhere Cricket data coverage is available. My Account -- My Account provides Cricket customers with online access to billing and account information. Once customers are registered and logged into My Account they have the ability to add a line of service, upgrade their phone, change their plan, add new plan features, change billing and communication preferences, view text message purchases and check the status of an online order. My Backup -- The My Backup application will back up the users contact list, perform regular updates and download contacts. For more information about Cricket's dynamic device lineup, please visit www.mycricket.com. To follow Cricket's latest news and updates online, go to Facebook at www.facebook.com/cricketwireless and Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cricketnation. |
| After legal battle, MSG HD channels finally arrive on Verizon FiOS Posted: 19 Dec 2011 03:19 AM PST  When the MSG Network was founded in 1969, the New York Knicks were just a few months away from their first NBA championship. The franchise would go on to win a second crown in 1973, after which it embarked on a gut wrenchingly long title drought that persists to this very day. The MSG Network, on the other hand, has been busy employing Mike Breen and expanding its Ewing-esque regional media reach to new platforms, including (rather begrudgingly) Verizon's FiOS TV. Last week, the carrier announced that both MSG HD and MSG+ HD would be coming to its FiOS TV lineup, with select markets receiving the channels as early as Thursday. The move doesn't come without some grumbling, though, especially on MSG's part. As Verizon puts it, the network had previously "refused" to provide its HD channels, but was ultimately forced to do so when the FCC ruled in Big Red's favor. MSG's ownership tried to stay the decision, but a federal court this week denied its request. As a result, New York subscribers can now spend their evenings watching the Knicks in HD, and trying to remember the good ol' times. |
| Sirius XM Lynx strips down for the FCC, flaunts new screws Posted: 19 Dec 2011 02:41 AM PST  |
| Scientists create first solar cell with over 100 percent quantum efficiency Posted: 19 Dec 2011 02:01 AM PST  |
| Tesla's sends Roadster off with 'Final Edition,' successor to arrive in 2014 Posted: 19 Dec 2011 01:08 AM PST  Sure the writing was on the wall, but yes, fans of wildly impractical yet extremely fast EVs, your day of reckoning has come. The atomic red rocket-ship above -- photographed by our friends at AutoBlog -- is one of fifteen "Final Edition" roadsters, which brings the company's contract with Lotus for 2,600 sports cars to a close. Those seeking an Elon Musk blessed whip can get cozy with the upcoming Model S or alternatively stick it out until 2014 -- you know when the Roadster's successor is supposed to land. Tough call, but who are we kidding -- you really couldn't go wrong with either. |
| Google launches revamped doodle website, store, self-celebration ensues Posted: 19 Dec 2011 12:02 AM PST  Google is inviting users to take a trip down Memory Lane, with a new web archive on one of its most celebrated traditions -- the Google doodle. Last week, the search giant unveiled a revamped doodle website, replete with an interactive gallery of over 1,000 homepage designs from around the world. On the new site, users can browse, watch or play with any of Google's myriad doodles, all of which are organized by date and location. Die-hard doodle-heads, meanwhile, can commemorate their love with a customized t-shirt, coffee mug, or any other completely embarrassing stocking stuffer, available at Google's new "Doodle on Demand" store. Check it out for yourself, at the links below. |
| Explosion at Apple supplier injures 57 workers Posted: 18 Dec 2011 10:53 PM PST  |
| ASUS Transformer Prime pre-order shipments delayed at Best Buy, Amazon Posted: 18 Dec 2011 10:06 PM PST 
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in] |
| Arduino hack lights up the tree with every email, spammers get in spirit Posted: 18 Dec 2011 09:09 PM PST  The holidays are all about eggnog, ugly sweaters and disconnecting from the internet just long enough to reassure the family you still care. For those of us with web separation anxiety, the folks at MAKE have hooked us up with an easy way to stay hip to incoming emails -- by connecting the holiday fir to the Internets. It works as such: using an Arduino and PHP script, the tree will check for incoming emails and light up if the number has increased. The set-up can be tweaked based on your most valued type of alert like YouTube comments, texts or changes in the weather. To the family, it will look like unparalleled holiday cheer rather than your cue to ditch the sing-a-long and get back to Gmail. Check out the video after the break. [Thanks, Matt] |
| Apple reportedly discussing its 'vision for the future of TV' with media execs Posted: 18 Dec 2011 07:02 PM PST  |
| How would you change Amazon's Kindle (2011)? Posted: 18 Dec 2011 05:56 PM PST  Amazon's Kindle is, broadly, the million-selling gold-standard that all other e-readers aspire to. This year's edition was slashed back to basics, with the hardware keyboard, touchscreen, expandable memory, 3G access and MP3 support sacrificed in favor of a $79 (with ads) price tag. Now you've had three months to get to grips with the changes, do you feel it was worth it? Do you miss the keyboard, are the adverts too intrusive, is it the right size for comfortable use? If you were in Jeff Bezos' shoes, let us know what you'd have done differently in the comments below. |
| Inhabitat's Week in Green: Flaming turbines, seven eco-chic gifts and a winter wonderland of LED Posted: 18 Dec 2011 04:30 PM PST Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.  In other news, it was an intense week in the world of architecture as renowned firm MVRDV apologized for its "Cloud" skyscrapers, which many people found to resemble the form of the exploding Twin Towers during the 9/11 attacks. We also brought you two high-profile architecture interviews - one with Gensler's Chris Chan on the tallest skyscraper in Asia and one with HOK's Bill Odell on the world's largest LEED platinum project. Meanwhile, BIG unveiled a luxury resort topped with a functional ski slope and we saw a winter wonderland of LED topiaries pop up in Atlanta's botanical garden. As the holiday shopping season reached its peak we also highlighted some of our favorite green gadgets - don't miss these 10 great green gizmos and these 7 eco-chic gifts for techies. We also shared an exclusive tutorial on how to make your own pair of texting gloves, and we checked out Pong's iPhone and iPad cases, which reduce exposure to cell phone radiation. Finally, we saw scientists in Japan create the world's first renewable bio-based polyester and we brought you N-product's iPod watchbands, which are made from discarded backpacks and inner tubes. |
| Circle Pad Pro cracked open, plenty of room to put your feet up Posted: 18 Dec 2011 03:34 PM PST  Earlier this week, Nintendo announced its February 7th US release date for the Circle Pad Pro accessory exclusively through Gamestop. If you've caught yourself wondering about its components, the guys over at ldblog were able to get their hands on the unit that you see above. Beyond basic capacitors for the peripheral's single AAA battery, there's a lot of empty room inside the case -- almost too much. The Circle Pad's spacious interior leaves us wondering, could Nintendo have used this room for an extra stylus holder, or perhaps, to accommodate the beefier AA battery? The world may never know. |
| Verizon Wireless kicks off trade-in program for southern US residents, offers up to $300 credit Posted: 18 Dec 2011 01:21 PM PST  |
| British Telecom is the latest to sue Google over Android, other services Posted: 18 Dec 2011 12:55 PM PST  |
| Sony demos paper-fueled battery; Paper Mario runs for life Posted: 18 Dec 2011 11:16 AM PST  |
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