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- France's ANDRA developing a million-year hard drive, we hope our badly-written blogs live in perpetuity
- Fujifilm sues Motorola over broad camera and phone patents, claims RAZRs and Xyboards are at fault
- Inhabitat's Week in Green: origami Yoda, high-speed rail line and a self powered building
- PSA: Sprint LTE goes live today, honest and for true (update: includes Missouri)
- Motorola Atrix HD now on sale at AT&T: $100 on contract for LTE, 720p and ICS
- Nokia and AT&T cut Lumia 900 price to $50, sweeten the Windows Phone 7.8 pot
- Xbox 360 Halo 4 bundle fights new enemies, packs familiar hardware on November 6th
- Sony Xperia tipo sidles into the FCC, inspires yawns
- NIF sets record with 500 TW laser shot, lab-based nuclear fusion not far behind
- Adidas miCoach out now on European Xbox 360s and PS3s, connects to cameras and own hardware
- Lexar XQD memory cards announced, will duel with Sony for Nikon D4's attention
- LG selected to develop 60-inch flexible OLED by 2017
- Google Takeout introduces transfer tool for Google+ circles, merges your work and personal life
- Ask Engadget: best tablet, software and case for a child with a developmental disorder?
- Mobile Miscellany: week of July 9th, 2012
- Google posts Android 4.1 Jelly Bean's changelog, explores its latest dessert in detail
- Utah researchers create 'Spintronic' LED, claim it's 'brighter, cheaper' and eco-friendly
- Alt-week 7.14.2012: Bleeping sheep and ATLAS art
- Beacon Audio Phoenix review: our new favorite portable speaker
- Engadget Podcast 301 - 07.14.2012
- MapQuest picks TomTom Maps to power iPhone and Android turn-by-turn navigation apps
- Samsung Series 7 Gamer review: the company's first gaming laptop makes its way to the US
- Google brings five California-based US National Parks into Street View
- Garmin GLO Portable GPS and GLONASS receiver hit the FCC, get torn down for good measure
- Microsoft updates SkyDrive for Windows app: new status window, freshened logo
- BAE Systems speaks about unmanned ASTRAEA: no reason it can't stay in air 'for weeks'
- Savi People app brings 'smarter' contacts to iPhone, integrates with your favorite social networks
- XBMC for Android app revealed; source code available now, beta APKs soon (video)
- LogMeIn's Cubby offering up 1GB for referrals, tells Dropbox where it can store it
- RED5 remote control plane can fly like an eagle, spy like one too
- RIM slapped with $147.2 million in damages from Mformation patent lawsuit (update: RIM response)
- Greenpeace: Apple's energy policy has improved, still needs to remove the coal smoke from iCloud
- ASUS Transformer Prime TF700T showing 'in stock' at Office Depot, days before scheduled US release
- Zero Motorcycles recalls 2012 models with 'lack of weatherproofing'
| Posted: 15 Jul 2012 10:55 AM PDT Us humans have been quick to embrace digital technology for preserving our memories, but we've forgotten that most of our storage won't last for more than a few decades; when a hard drive loses its magnetism or an optical disc rots, it's useless. French nuclear waste manager ANDRA wants to make sure that at least some information can survive even if humanity itself is gone -- a million or more years, to be exact. By using two fused disk platters made from sapphire with data written in a microscope-readable platinum, the agency hopes to have drives that will keep humming along short of a catastrophe. The current technology wouldn't hold reams of data -- about 80,000 minuscule pages' worth on two platters -- but it could be vital for ANDRA, which wants to warn successive generations (and species) of radioactivity that might last for eons. Even if the institution mostly has that pragmatic purpose in mind, though, it's acutely aware of the archeological role these €25,000 ($30,598) drives could serve once leaders settle on the final languages and below-ground locations at an unspecified point in the considerably nearer future. We're just crossing our fingers that our archived internet rants can survive when the inevitable bloody war wipes out humanity and the apes take over. [Image credit: SKB] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fujifilm sues Motorola over broad camera and phone patents, claims RAZRs and Xyboards are at fault Posted: 15 Jul 2012 09:57 AM PDT Motorola won't have had much of a break following the dismissal of a key Apple lawsuit, after all. In a low-profile move, Fujifilm has sued Motorola for allegedly violating four particularly broad patents on camera and phone technologies -- we're talking basics such as transmitting data outside of a cellular network. The camera designer has supposedly been pushing for a licensing deal since April of last year without much success, and it's asserting that "at least" a wide swath of Motorola devices released both before and after that time are the key offenders, including the RAZR MAXX and Xyboard lines. The complaint is scarcely into the docket and makes it difficult to gauge just what kind of chance Fujifilm has to win in court; we just know that Motorola's (and now Google's) patent lawsuit headache is developing into more of a migraine. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Inhabitat's Week in Green: origami Yoda, high-speed rail line and a self powered building Posted: 15 Jul 2012 09:25 AM PDT 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. It's been a great week for two of our favorite things over at Inhabitat: LEGOs and Star Wars. First, a group of LEGO builders from LEGOLAND Windsor built the tallest LEGO tower ever, snatching the title back from South Korea and returning it to the UK. Then, using 152,455 LEGO bricks, Rolls-Royce built a half-size replica of the jet engine that powers the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. In one of the most ingenious LEGO constructions ever built, LEGO pro Rene Hoffmeister built a barrel organ that plays the Star Wars theme song. And in other Star Wars news, we reported on the renovation of Luke Skywalker's boyhood home in Tatooine (actually it's in Tunisia). And finally, we shared a photo of this 7-centimeter-tall origami Yoda -- the most adorable bit of Star Wars memorabilia ever made. Another story that we've been watching closely is Apple's surprise divorce from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), the leading green electronics certification system. Apple announced this week that it would no longer certify any of its products with EPEAT. Just a few days later, San Francisco announced that none of its 50 city agencies would be able to buy Apple laptops and desktop computers with city funds. It's clear that all that public outcry had an effect -- by the end of the week Apple apologized for the move as a big mistake and rejoined EPEAT. Public WiFi is becoming a hot topic in green tech, as New York City announced a new pilot program to convert old phone booths into WiFi hotspots; and in Paris, Mathieu Lehanneur recently unveiled a gorgeous public WiFi station covered with a green roof. We were pretty psyched to learn that the California State Senate approved the first bit of funding for a high-speed rail line running from Sacramento to San Diego. In other high-speed news, Justin Bieber was pulled over for going over 100mph in his custom-chrome Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid. (Can you blame him?) And in one of the most interesting green transportation developments in recent memory, a funny-looking car with a huge wind turbine attached to the back demonstrated that it can travel upwind faster than the wind. We did a bit of globetrotting this week as we profiled Guamgzhou's elegant Canton Tower, the tallest building in China. We also checked in on the Parkview Green FangCaoDi, an incredible pyramid-shaped building in Beijing that has its own energy-efficient microclimate. We wrote about Voltaic Solaire Delta, a self-powered building in Brooklyn that will be officially unveiled next week, and we took a look at PackH20, an amazing, collapsible backpack that promises to make transporting water easier in the Third World. In other exciting green tech news, a team from MIT developed a new battery-free chip that captures energy from light, heat and vibrations all at the same time, which could be a big breakthrough for the future of energy harvesting. And perhaps most promising of all, the IEA predicted a 40 percent worldwide increase in renewable energy usage by 2017. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PSA: Sprint LTE goes live today, honest and for true (update: includes Missouri) Posted: 15 Jul 2012 08:45 AM PDT Sprint's decision to take its LTE live in Kansas City marked a short prelude to a full orchestral performance -- the carrier's upgraded 4G network is now official. Kansas City and St. Joseph in Kansas and Missouri, as well as 13 urban areas in Georgia and Texas, are taking the leap past WiMAX speeds as of today. Senior network VP Bob Azzi has warned the Kansas City Star that the current LTE access is still mostly for use outside until it expands to the 3G network's range, although he adds that there will be a coverage map available from July 16th onwards to let EVO 4G LTE, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S III owners know when their phones reach full potential. Just remember that the real party starts in 2013, when Sprint hopes to both flick on voice over LTE and ramp up to extra-speedy LTE-Advanced. Update: As locals in the comments have helpfully reminded us, St. Joseph is in Missouri and just sits along the border with Kansas -- you know what they say about horseshoes, hand grenades and being close enough. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motorola Atrix HD now on sale at AT&T: $100 on contract for LTE, 720p and ICS Posted: 15 Jul 2012 08:31 AM PDT Well, lookie here. It didn't take long for Motorola's latest Atrix variant to go from unveiled to launched, as the Atrix HD is now on sale at AT&T for a wallet-pleasing $99.99 on contract. Sign the dotted line for two years, and you'll be getting a 4.5-inch Android superphone, complete with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), a true 720p display, Kevlar-infused backing, a "splash resistant" casing and an LTE radio. Those who indulge quickly are set to grab a gratis Vehicle Dock for "a limited time," and you'll also enjoy the first Moto handset to bring the outfit's Circle Widget to the homescreen -- which is engineered to take owners directly to their AT&T account info, displaying data usage, battery status and more. The phone's listed right now in AT&T's smartphone section in Titanium and Modern White, but the link to buy it seems deactivated for the moment. Still, it's all square to go on sale today, so keep a close eye on the source link if you're dead-set on an upgrade. Psst... you can learn more about the Atrix lineage through our original Atrix 4G and Atrix 2 reviews. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nokia and AT&T cut Lumia 900 price to $50, sweeten the Windows Phone 7.8 pot Posted: 15 Jul 2012 08:19 AM PDT Early Lumia 900 adopters might feel spurned knowing that their devices won't get any near-future upgrades beyond Windows Phone 7.8, but AT&T and Nokia are hoping that some new customers just need a little incentive to forgive the OS ceiling. As of now, the Lumia 900 has taken a permanent price cut to $50 on contract, whether it's one of the early color options or pretty in pink. Although the price drop might not take power users' eyes off of the Windows Phone 8 prize, it could make the Lumia 900 a low-hanging fruit for more than a few newcomers. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Xbox 360 Halo 4 bundle fights new enemies, packs familiar hardware on November 6th Posted: 15 Jul 2012 07:45 AM PDT It's widely considered a tradition: Microsoft readies a new Halo game, and a new Xbox 360 bundle swings by stores to mark the occasion. The Limited Edition Halo 4 Xbox 360 follows that pattern, with a special (if minor) twist. No one will be shocked by the new Halo-themed artwork or the inclusion of a Halo 4 copy in the 320GB system's box, but the ring of light on both the console and its two matching gamepads will drop the Xbox 360's green glow in favor of a distinctive bright blue. At $400, the console arriving November 6th will aim chiefly at the hardest of hardcore sci-fi shooter fans -- although murmurs of an upcoming successor console could make the Halo 4 pack an unofficial swan song for Microsoft's market dominator. Consider the stand-alone $60 special edition wireless controller for a less expensive way to say goodbye. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sony Xperia tipo sidles into the FCC, inspires yawns Posted: 15 Jul 2012 06:49 AM PDT Another day, another FCC filing. This time, though, the documents on offer aren't tipping us off to the impending arrival of some wunderphone -- it's just Sony's recently outed Xperia tipo. The diminutive 3.2-incher -- set for an official Euro bow this August -- is no screamer with its 480 x 320 TFT display and lone 800MHz Snapdragon CPU. The ICS handset's real claim to fame is its availability in single- and dual-SIM flavors. And based on the radios outlined in the corresponding Commission docs -- GPRS/EDGE/GSM 850 and 1900; WCDMA 850 and 1900 -- this modest phone could see a low-end berth on AT&T. Excited? Neither are we. Still, you can peruse the user manual, take a tour of the phone's inner workings and parse through dense legalese at the source link below. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NIF sets record with 500 TW laser shot, lab-based nuclear fusion not far behind Posted: 15 Jul 2012 03:28 AM PDT In an effort to recreate the fusion reaction that occurs in start formation, the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, CA has been building up to some extremely powerful laser shots. Back in March, researchers fired off 411 terawatts, and we know that kind of power doesn't come cheap. NIF's latest test shot, fired July 5th, set a new record with 192 lasers producing more than 500 trillion watts of peak power and 1.85 MJ of ultraviolet laser light. Mind you, that's more than a thousand times more energy than the United States uses at any given moment, not to mention a hundred times more power than other lasers can fire consistently. More record-setting shots are sure to come, and in addition to enabling research on harnessing nuclear fusion, NIF's mega-lasers are helping inform the design of new laser facilities being built in China, Japan, Russia, France and the UK. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adidas miCoach out now on European Xbox 360s and PS3s, connects to cameras and own hardware Posted: 15 Jul 2012 01:13 AM PDT Those looking to hone their own olympian body in preparation for this year's Games can grab Adidas' miCoach title for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Tapping into both consoles' respective motion-sensing cameras (and Adidas' own sensors and units), there are six sports to dabble in, with over 400 different exercises that can be synced with existing miCoach accounts. There's also a raft of Adidas-emblazoned athletes to takie you through those motions. The games are priced up at £21 (around $32) a piece in the UK, but American indoor athletes can expect their version to arrive around July 24. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lexar XQD memory cards announced, will duel with Sony for Nikon D4's attention Posted: 14 Jul 2012 11:04 PM PDT Nikon's D4 is currently the only belle at the XQD ball, and until now, Sony was its only memory suitor. However, Lexar's just arrived with a new line of cards to compete for the D4's affections. The Fremont-based company says it collaborated with Nikon to build the PCI Express-based memory, and that they'll hit the market sometime in the third quarter of 2012 -- with no mention of specs or prices so far. Unfortunately, that means we don't know how Lexar's offerings will stack up against Sony's H-series or S-series cards already on the market. That said, while you wait for more details about Lexar's new cards, feel free to check out the lovely data the D4 will be putting on 'em when they arrive. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LG selected to develop 60-inch flexible OLED by 2017 Posted: 14 Jul 2012 08:57 PM PDT While regular consumers still wait for the first big screen OLED display to make it to big box stores, Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy has chosen LG to lead the a consortium charged with developing a 60-inch flexible OLED by 2017. Part of the Future Flagship Program, its goal is to generate exports and create jobs by promoting next-generation technologies. The idea is that these flexible displays could be used in windows displaying information say at a bus stations or other public places like a store. So while it appears the focus is currently on commercial applications, we for one have our hopes that we'll one day be able to roll down a giant OLED screen where most might expect the screen for a projector. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Takeout introduces transfer tool for Google+ circles, merges your work and personal life Posted: 14 Jul 2012 07:34 PM PDT Those who extol the virtues of keeping one's personal and professional life separate probably never had to juggle two Google+ accounts. Folks saddled with a Google+ profile for both their personal Gmail account and their organization's Google Apps account can now migrate circles, blocks and other information from one account to another using Google Takeout. The new tool won't eliminate your double digital life completely, however -- content such as posts, profile information and comments don't migrate. The process takes time, too, kicking off with a seven day waiting period before restricting the user's Google+ access for 48 hours while Takeout boxes up the data. Still, this should make managing Circles across multiple accounts a little simpler. Check out the official Google help page at the source link below. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ask Engadget: best tablet, software and case for a child with a developmental disorder? Posted: 14 Jul 2012 07:06 PM PDT We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is coming to us from is from Kim, who wants to help her four-year-old play games and communicate in the home. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.
For our two cents, we'd say that in such circumstances, continuity is probably an important factor to take into account. However, we're also aware that some of the specialist apps run into the hundreds of dollars, which few can easily afford, so let's turn the question over to our community. Do you have experience in the area, or perhaps you've already been in this situation? Either way, why not share what you know? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mobile Miscellany: week of July 9th, 2012 Posted: 14 Jul 2012 05:54 PM PDT Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, Motorola debuted the RAZR V in Canada and the Sony Xperia Ion was spotted at Rogers -- curiously, the phone has yet to be formally announced for the carrier. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of July 9th, 2012. Motorola RAZR V revealed for Q3 availability in Canada Motorola took an opportunity this week to introduce us to the RAZR V, which is set for arrival in Canada during Q3. The Android 4.0 smartphone will feature a dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, a 4.3-inch qHD display and an 8-megapixel camera. Pricing has yet to be established for the RAZR V, although it's said to be available through Bell Mobility, Videotron, Virgin Mobile and Wind Mobile. [MobileSyrup] Verizon announces latest LTE expansion efforts We've got news of Verizon's latest LTE expansion plans, which was made official for the following areas:
Consumer Cellular welcomes Huawei 8800 for $175 outright Consumer Cellular, an MVNO that caters primarily to seniors, introduced the Huawei 8800 to its lineup this week, which is available for $175 outright. The Android 2.2 handset features an 800MHz CPU, a 3.8-inch WVGA display and a 5-megapixel camera. [Phone Scoop] Jelly Bean keyboard ported to Android 4.0 Thanks to the efforts of Beansoft, owners of Ice Cream Sandwich devices can now poke at the keyboard of Android 4.1. The virtual keypad was ported from AOSP code and then bundled as a free app in the Play Store. Currently available as a beta, the keyboard supports English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil) and Russian languages, although full word prediction and auto correction of missing spaces are only available for the English language. [Talk Android] Sony Xperia Ion makes early arrival at Rogers Wireless retail Word on the street has it that Rogers has begun receiving shipments of the Sony Xperia Ion. What's more, a recent leak suggests the phone will be a temporary exclusive to the carrier, which is said to retail for $49 on a three-year contract or $549 outright. [Mobile Syrup 1, 2, 3] HTC Desire C debuts at Sasktel and Virgin Mobile Canada The HTC Desire C, an entry-level smartphone with Android 4.0, is now available through both Sasktel and Virgin Mobile in Canada. The handset contains a 600MHz CPU, a 3.5-inch HVGA display, a 5-megapixel camera and is available from Sasktel for just $99 outright. Virgin Mobile customers will need to pay a bit more, however, as the Bell subsidiary has priced the Desire C at $149 off-contract. [MobileSyrup] Other random tidbits
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| Google posts Android 4.1 Jelly Bean's changelog, explores its latest dessert in detail Posted: 14 Jul 2012 04:48 PM PDT We've certainly delved into Android 4.1 Jelly Bean's new features, but Google itself is just now giving us a full exploration of its update's sugar-laden heart through an official changelog. While Google Now, the updated camera app and other core components easily get their due, the checklist also has a decidedly more buttery feel than one would think -- key individual apps like Calendar now have more elegant transitions to go with the leaps and bounds in Android's overall speed. The breakdown even goes into corners that Google scarcely illuminated during the Google I/O keynote, such as accessibility and the finer nuances of the new keyboard. If you're the sort whose Jelly Bean fever has you checking for that Galaxy Nexus upgrade so often that you're nearly punching a hole in the screen, Google has your (no doubt temporary) placebo. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Utah researchers create 'Spintronic' LED, claim it's 'brighter, cheaper' and eco-friendly Posted: 14 Jul 2012 03:36 PM PDT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alt-week 7.14.2012: Bleeping sheep and ATLAS art Posted: 14 Jul 2012 02:20 PM PDT Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. While there might not quite have been the epic science news that we had last week, that doesn't mean that there isn't plenty going on in the world of Alt. In this installment we get to see how CERN tricks out its offices, how one farmer tries to keep his flock, and learn about how the military will be high-tailing around the planet in just a few years. This is alt / week. Let's start things off on a high -- or should we say fast -- note. Good ole DARPA has announced that it plans to launch a full-scale rocket plane by 2016. Dubbed the "X-plane," it'd travel at a somewhat swift Mach 20 (roughly 13,000 mph,) and would theoretically allow the military to reach anywhere on the planet in less than an hour. Apparently the vehicle would be recoverable, so we're guessing that means it's not manned. To help the project along, DARPA has also started a new program called "Integrated Hypersonics" to build on the department's previous high-speed flight work. Quick quick now! Okay, so last week was the big Hadron Collider news, but what about a big Hadron Collider? In graffito form? Why the heck not. Muralist Josef Kristofoletti presents us just that. Sure, this isn't exactly some Banksy-style throw up in some down-town ball court. It actually adorns the side of the ATLAS control room, but we think the work wouldn't look out of place at the latest guerrilla gallery either. And there we were thinking physics was all tweed jackets and elborate jokes. If New York art schools are to turn out more of these sorts of minds, if Cuomo has anything to do with it, it'll be with much less bullying going on. Well, perhaps this is more for younger minds, but new legislation will require schools to establish methods to detect and deter online bullying. Taking effect from July 1st next year, schools will be required to investigate any student reports of cyberbullying, be it through email, Facebook or instant messaging. We're not suggesting we start tagging bullys, but one farmer in South Africa had a similar idea for his sheep. By attaching a mobile phone-like device around the neck of one sheep in each of his four flocks, Erard Louw set it up so that it calls home when the sheep start to run. Sounds innocent enough, but sadly, this is not a call Louw wants to receive. The odd fright aside, if sheep are running, it typically means that thieves have broken in to try and steal them. Turns out it wasn't a bad investment though, as one light-fingered fool has already been caught. A call about losing your one of your flock? Not that uncommon. Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt / week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Beacon Audio Phoenix review: our new favorite portable speaker Posted: 14 Jul 2012 12:00 PM PDT We'll admit it: we're jaded. There is so much bad, middling and just okay stuff floating around in the portable speaker universe that we're tired of even thinking about it. We've had our distinct favorite -- the Tivoli iPal -- for almost 10 years now, and it takes a lot to knock it off its unglamorous, but distinctive, pedestal. And we predict that it will continue to stay there. But newcomer Beacon has a hot little number in a soft-touch red dress that we're willing to put right next to it on a slightly more diminutive pedestal. The $99, baseball-sized, Bluetooth-packing Phoenix has gotten under our collective skins, and we'd like to tell you why. Design
The good folks at Beacon know that looks are just as important as sound in the small speaker game these days. The muted fire truck color is handsome and the whole package feels more like a pair of OXO Good Grips kitchen shears than an overpriced Beats Audio accessory. Two sides are covered by tastefully spaced grill holes covering stereo speakers. Around back, the only ports are 1/8-inch audio in and mini-USB for charging. Up top are the transport controls, surrounded by a red and / or blue LED indicator ring to denote Bluetooth pairing / connection status or hardware line-in. The long presses used to differentiate between volume up and track skip are slightly annoying, but we didn't find ourselves using them too much anyway -- controlling on your host device is easier. A quarter-inch riser lifts the unit slightly, giving it a nice, built-in way to isolate the sound from the surface it's sitting on. If you're scared of the attention the red will bring you and your little friend, it's also available in electric blue and flat black. Sound The Phoenix puts out the best balance of quality and volume we've ever heard in a speaker of this size. The 180-degree speaker orientation (they face in opposite directions) isn't the best for panning cognition, but it helps to separate sounds that were meant to be heard on different speakers, which helps add to overall clarity. It's best heard from about five feet away, where the sound can be given some space to bounce around the room a little bit. One of the most refreshing features of the Phoenix is that it seems almost completely distortion-proof. At this price level, most small speakers will get as loud as the Beacon, but we've never heard anything get as loud as the Beacon without distortion. We can't stress how important this is: most consumers will usually crank their small speakers until the sound is unbearably broken up, just to get the music to reach a little farther in space. No such worries here: as loud as we cranked the source and the on-unit volume, we heard almost none of the clipping or distorted mud that plagues nearly every other Bluetooth speaker on the market today. To the contrary, this hot little box is actually at its best at louder volumes, although we did find the high end to be slightly angular when it's loud, cutting through the bass a bit too much for our ears. The two small speakers inside have their own character that mimics the soft-touch exterior. Reproduction is certainly not clear as a bell, but it seems to have a slightly soft-focus coloration that we began to grow fond of with time. You shouldn't be looking to buy reference-quality studio monitors at this price point or form factor anyway. Function The Phoenix takes itself seriously for what it is. Smaller options like X-mini's Capsule speaker range are almost infinitely portable, but also almost not worth the trouble considering they only have slightly louder output than most devices' built-in speakers. Larger options like Tivoli's iPal offer superior loudness and quality, but they don't fit quite so easily in a carry-on already overstuffed to avoid ever-rising bag check fees. This mid-sized box does require a little spatial planning, but the sound it puts out is well worth committing the social gaffe of leaving an extra couple of pairs of socks at home to clear up room for it. And the battery life? In a word, it's awesome. Four and a half hours on USB current will bring you to full charge. The Phoenix lasted four whole days as our primary computer output, always-on and connected via 1/8-inch. Streaming music over Bluetooth at medium to high volume, it stayed on for a staggering 18 hours, bringing it into the almost completely worry-free zone of usability, a testament to the set-it-and-forget-it mantra. Its wireless range seems slightly smaller than other devices -- it got fussy if we traveled more than 10 feet away from the source, but we're happy to sacrifice that small inconvenience in exchange for better battery life. Wrap-up Beacon's first foray into consumer electronics has turned out very nicely. Like some sort of genetically enhanced pet, it's a pleasure to be around, fun to touch and requires little to no maintenance. It falls into the sparsely populated family of "gadgets that make our lives better," a characteristic that makes it worth far more than the hundred bucks Beacon will ship it to you for today. Update: Many of you are pointing out that there's a $45 version of this speaker available at Amazon that lacks only this version's color and branding! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Engadget Podcast 301 - 07.14.2012 Posted: 14 Jul 2012 11:35 AM PDT  Live! from the Hamptons, it was Friday night! at the official Engadget Retreat Basement Garage Studio, where the surroundings are cozy, the recording is iffy, and the rabbit is always just around the corner. The Engadget Podcasters prove once again that there really is no such thing as vacation in their world as long as there are Tesseracts to chat about. Hosts: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater 02:05 - Thorsten Heins, Mike Lazaridis elected to RIM board during shareholders meeting
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
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| MapQuest picks TomTom Maps to power iPhone and Android turn-by-turn navigation apps Posted: 14 Jul 2012 10:32 AM PDT Still trying to figure out which way to turn when it comes to on-phone navigation? How's about a free option to ponder? MapQuest's gratis iPhone and Android programs are set to get a heck of a lot better, and soon. The company just announced that TomTom would become its maps provider, enabling it to provide coverage for more than 7.5 million miles of roads across North America. Interestingly, it seems that TomTom is finding new life after the death of the PND (personal navigation device) in software; just last month, Apple knighted TomTom to power its own internal Maps app, which is set to debut with iOS 6. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Series 7 Gamer review: the company's first gaming laptop makes its way to the US Posted: 14 Jul 2012 09:00 AM PDT Sure, thin, light and power-efficient may be the latest trend in notebook design, but one category of portable computing isn't afraid of going against the grain: the oversized gaming laptop. These big machines often flirt with double-digit weights, with screens in excess of 17 inches and the most powerful chipsets under the hood. Samsung's Series 7 Gamer is no exception, of course, weighing in at 8.39 pounds and packing plenty of power. The machine's recent US debut isn't its first foray into the market, however -- this machine first appeared in Europe late last year, albeit with an older processor and GPU. Now, Sammy has brought the rig stateside, adorning it with new parts for the New World, namely a 2.3GHz Core i7-3610QM CPU and NVIDIA's GTX 675M graphics processor. How does Samsung's first oversized gaming machine measure up? Let's find out. Look and feel If, at first glance, you thought the Samsung Series 7 Gamer was anything but a 17.3-inch desktop-replacing behemoth, you'd be forgiven. When viewed from on high, the rig's sharply tapered edges lend it a deceptively thin appearance. The illusion quickly disappears, however, when you inspect it from the sides and behold the machine's substantial, 1.96-inch-thick chassis. Still, the angled edges highlight the system's design: brushed metal, glossy plastics and clean lines. The Gamer may be built for fun, but it's all business on the outside -- meaning it avoids the siren call to cover itself in loud colors, over-designed speaker grills and "hardcore" accents. In fact, it's downright respectable-looking, which might be a welcome change for gamers who want a machine with a more professional facade. The design isn't without its faults, however -- the glossy veneer on the lid, for instance, loses some of its charm the instant it comes in contact with human skin, collecting fingerprints like a regular gumshoe. And that chunky edge? It doesn't exactly make the most of the rig's requisite thickness, housing only a Blu-ray drive on its starboard side, flanked by a pair of USB 2.0 ports. On the other hand, the machine's left edge crams in a decent selection of connectors -- two USB 3.0 sockets, a multicard reader, outputs for HDMI, VGA and DisplayPort, Ethernet, and a spot for the AC adapter all crawl up the edge. The front and rear, however, are largely blank, save for a pair of HDD / power LEDs on the front lip and some generously sized air vents around back. Straddling the edge of the hinge we find a set of touch-sensitive controls, including a power button and one-touch access for mute, WiFi, volume controls, LED backlighting and a few keyboard status lights. There's also a rather large graphic that says "Turbo" on it, but it isn't touch-enabled like everything else on the glossy strip -- in fact, it's isn't a button at all. No, this is a fancy backlit indicator, one that doesn't light up at all until you thumb the dedicated performance switch on the machine's right side. Here's where things get a little too cute for comfort. The rotating toggle allows users to quickly switch between four modes: green, library, balanced and gaming. These tune the rig to save power, run quietly (disable the fans), work efficiently or crank performance to 11, respectively. The nub is actually fairly useful, if a bit stiff to turn, and the transitions between settings are quick and to the point -- at least until the dial lands on "gaming." Suddenly, the machine's display fades to black, temporarily blinding the user while a targeting reticule overlays the screen, accompanied by a series of mechanical and digital sound effects. As the desktop comes back into view, that target finds a home in the desktop wallpaper, which darkens to match the hardcore motif that power setting so clearly requires. The notebook's exterior layers play along as well: most of the backlit keys transition from white to blue. The exceptions are the "WASD" keys, which darken to a serious red. Crimson circles now surround the power and volume controls, pulsating along with the sound coming from the machine's stereo speakers. Tread carefully, son, you're in gamer country. The whole show is controlled by (and can be disabled through) Samsung's ModeShift, which actually turns out to be a minor boon, albeit a cheesy one. (More on this later, of course.) Overall, the Series 7 Gamer is a respectable, well-designed rig with only a hint of the stereotypically hardcore. More often than not, its clean, unassuming lines don't draw it unwanted attention -- but gamers with a flair for the flashy can change that with a flick of their thumb. At worst, it's a minor collector of grubby-looking fingerprints. All in all, that's not much to whine about. Keyboard and trackpad Throw a stone in any electronics retailer, and you'll probably wind up smashing some poor machine's chiclet keyboard. That arrangement of island-style keys has become such a staple of mobile computing that it's become hard to imagine a laptop with anything else. The Series 7 Gamer eschews that fad altogether, adopting a "classic" laptop keyboard with slightly curved key caps that bump up against each other. Writing prose on the Gamer is like typing on an old Thinkpad, and it's a good feeling. Keys depress silently with minimal pressure, but push back with enough force that it never feels mushy. In truth, the keyboard isn't anything to fawn over, but as a touch typist, it's hard to find fault with something so tactile. Gamers won't find much to gripe about either -- the very same pop that makes the rig's keyboard a pleasure to write with feels just as good in games, and the left Ctrl and Alt keys fall naturally under the pinkie and thumb. The Windows key is thankfully hard to reach while gaming, though butterfingered gamers can choose to have it automatically disabled when the rig is in "gaming mode." Despite these little nods, the keyboard remains pretty standard -- more than passable for the average gamer, but enthusiasts (and the special few who keep track of keyboard ghosting) shouldn't expect anything out of the ordinary. Speaking of things that are hardly out of the ordinary, let's talk about the trackpad, and by natural extension, our hands. Call us mutated freaks of nature (go ahead, do it), but we have a habit of rubbing mouse sensors on laptops just the wrong way -- and not when we mean to. Like so many pads before it, the Gamer's mouser is flush with the unit's palmrest, making it easy to brush with your palm while you're pecking at the keyboard. This causes the cursor to jump, drift and even click mid-prose. Ironically, while we were typing the keyboard portion of this review, the cursor jumped no fewer than nine times, mucking up our text and generally wreaking havoc. As always, a quick Fn combination disables the trackpad, if necessary. A slightly recessed pad might have avoided this problem, though it admittedly wouldn't have looked as slick. The pad itself actually works quite well -- it's luxuriously large, and, as previously illustrated, plenty sensitive. It even does a passable job of picking up most gestures, a minor feat for many Windows laptops. Its buttons are a bit stiff, too, but all told, the touchpad does its job well enough. Still, there's no substitute for a proper gaming mouse, so folks picking up this machine will want to accessorize accordingly. Display and sound Gaming machines are expected to be large, overpowered and brimming with attitude -- but all that means bupkes if they're packing a dim, washed-out display. Luckily, that's not the case with the Gamer's LED-backlit, 400-nit SuperBright Plus panel. This 1,920 x 1,080 looking glass definitely adds to the eye-melting experience so many gamers strive for, if only thanks to its incredible luminosity. It doesn't slack in the color department either, washing our retinas with rich, vibrant hues and dark blacks. The rig's visual fidelity fades a bit when you view the screen from too far off center, but not so much that we couldn't fully enjoy a personal screening of Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. The machine's speakers, on the other hand, manage neither to impress nor disappoint: its stereo drivers and accompanying subwoofer are merely okay. The upside to a truly average audio experience is that you won't feel let down by a system that's trying to overreach -- music and games come through at maximum volume without a hint of distortion, and higher-pitched sounds aren't particularly tinny. On the other hand, a deep, full bass is also absent, and more subtle, complex undertones may well go unheard. Dolby Home Theater 4 is on board to stretch the speakers' capabilities a tad, but gamers looking for a virtualized surround sound trick to help them audibly pinpoint enemy footsteps won't find much purchase here. The Series 7 Gamer can certainly fill a room with sound when needed, but its onboard audio options are no substitute for a good headset. Performance and battery life Looking to cash in on NVIDIA's latest mobile chipset? Better hold your breath -- despite the Samsung Series 7 Gamer's impressive specs, Kepler isn't the pulse that keeps it alive. That's not to say the rebranded GTX 580M at the machine's core isn't killer in its own right. Paired with a 2.3GHz Core i7 CPU (3.3GHz with Turbo Boost) and 16GB of DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA's GTX 675M GPU painted the plains of Skyrim at 56 frames per second, capturing its essence in the rig's native 1,920 x 1,080 resolution at ultra high quality. The seedy end of Liberty City pitched a similar average, clipping along at 50fps on high settings -- though GTA IV's score was quickly halved when anisotropic filtering was doubled to 16x. Arkham City's streets, on the other hand, were safe at 61fps -- making no concessions in quality along the way -- and Valve's After watching the Series 7 Gamer shrug off every gaming challenge pitted against it, we were hardly surprised to see it could survive a standard Engadget workday. Multiple browser applications, each with at least two dozen active tabs, Photoshop, two word processors, IRC clients, Twitter and Spotify all churned along without a hitch. To be honest, we expected nothing less, and we weren't disappointed. Its 7,200RPM 1.5TB HDD wasn't sluggish either, booting in under 35 seconds and waking from sleep in six -- possibly leveraging the same 8GB of flash "ExpressCache" memory as its cousin, the Series 7 Chronos. Not too shabby.
Phenomenal computing power comes at a cost, of course -- that is, phenomenally lousy runtime. Like most of the machines in its category, the Series 7 Gamer suffers from short battery life. Tuned to Engadget's standard run-down parameters, the Gamer lasted two hours and 11 minutes before reaching a critical low -- certainly not bad for a 17.3-inch gaming monster, but not impressive for its class, either. The machine's own "green" mode improved matters slightly, netting an extra 20 minutes of runtime before the machine gave out -- an improvement, but still a far cry from the laptop's claimed 3.7-hour runtime. In the off chance you lug the Gamer to a LAN party and forget your AC adapter, you won't be playing much -- the machine's GPU won't run at full barrel without an external power source. Software As much as Samsung nailed the hardware aspect of its first mobile gaming rig, it still leaves users to stumble over unnecessary bloatware. The serious PC gamers sighted in the machine's hardcore reticule typically know their way around a Windows machine, and will resent being babied by would-be companion software that further dumbs down Microsoft's vanilla experience. Not that its meager offerings are truly offensive -- Cyberlink's Media Suite, YouCam and a host of customer support / migration tools are hardly uncommon pack-ins, and Sammy's standard Easy Settings puts much of its own special tweaks in a single, easy-to-access location. But do we really need another launcher aping Mac OS' staple dock? Between the Windows 7 start menu and task bar, users already have ample room to pin their favorite applications or files; these launchers are, quite frankly, redundant. As aggravating as common bloatware and silly launchers can be, real disappointment comes from lost potential. The aforementioned ModeShift manager, for instance, lets users gently tweak a handful of useful settings -- disabling the trackpad and Windows key while in game mode, for instance, or toggling color optimization for the hardcore setting -- but the depth of customization it could have offered leaves us wanting. Remember when we described the rig's fancy "game mode" transition flourish? It actually has four different animated transitions to choose from. This is fun, for sure, but we were disappointed to find the software wasn't open to creating custom themes and transitions. After mucking around in the software's INI file, we found we could shift into game mode with a custom, Engadget-themed SWF file and choose our own context-appropriate background, but the software offers no official way to create a personal transition. Similarly, ModeShift's LED control panel is limited to adjusting brightness and timed dimming presets, leaving no option to customize the mode's color tenor beyond the blue and red accent it defaults to. Want to game with the balanced mode's white backlight? Tough. What Samsung offers is useful and functional, but we still ache for the potential tweaks we couldn't make. Configurations A quick glance at the Series 7 Gamer's specs will tell you almost everything you need to know about configuration options: there aren't any, at least not out the door. Officially, the Gamer ships with a 2.3Ghz Intel Core i7-3610QM Processor (3.3Ghz with Turbo Boost), NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 675M, GPU, a 7,200 RPM 1.5TB hard drive with ExpressCache, a Blu-ray drive and 16GB of DDR3 RAM. Our review unit differed just slightly from this, revealing two smaller hard drives, as opposed to a single massive one. The total available space is about the same, but the distinction is worth noting -- as is the fact that both drives and the RAM can be manually serviced. Prefer a fast-booting SSD to buckets of storage? Do it yourself -- or don't. You've got options to spare. The competitionThe Series 7 Gamer is definitely one of the top performers in its class, but that $1,900 price tag is nearly as hefty as the rig itself. Still, it isn't as expensive as it could be -- deck out an Alienware M17x ($1,499-plus) with the same hardware, and you'll be paying over $2,300, even more if you opt for a GeForce GTX 680M. Likewise, Origin PC's EOS17-S racks up a $2,263 price tag when built to match the Series 7 Gamer, and can be configured with a wide range of processors and GPUs to tailor the price to your budget. MSI's recently updated GT70 ($1,550-plus), on the other hand, features the very same GPU and processor as the Gamer at a small discount, and can be had for even less with the rig's original GTX 670M intact. Wrap-up Samsung carefully ascribed the "Gamer" moniker to its latest piece of kit, knowing full well that a failure to deliver would incur the ridicule of a particularly knowledgeable and opinionated customer group. Good thing, then, that the Series 7 Gamer lives up to its handle. Despite our minor gripes, we can't deny its screaming performance. Yes, it has average speakers and a trackpad that might be a large-handed person's worst enemy, but its flaws are easily outshined by that gorgeous 400-nit display. At $1,900, the Series 7 Gamer isn't the cheapest oversized rig on the market, but for Samsung, it's an excellent first foray into the category -- even if it does go a little overboard on those "game mode" transitions. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google brings five California-based US National Parks into Street View Posted: 14 Jul 2012 06:18 AM PDT Taking a virtual tour of the Amazon or Antarctica? Totally doable with Street View. But some of America's finest National Parks? Yeah, those have been a long time coming. Today, Google announced the inclusion of five California-based US National Parks in Street View, and for those who haven't had the opportunity (of a lifetime) to visit, they're absolutely worth a look. Starting at the top, Redwoods National Park provides a street level look at some of the world's most mysterious trees, while those looking for even more Treebeard-type characters can point their browser to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks. Naturally, Yosemite and Joshua Tree (shown above) are included as well, and the 360-degree views Google's cadre of motorcars managed to capture really do a fairly astounding job at capturing the splendor. The toughest part? Knowing which one to traverse first. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Garmin GLO Portable GPS and GLONASS receiver hit the FCC, get torn down for good measure Posted: 14 Jul 2012 04:43 AM PDT Hasty, no? Merely hours after being announced to the world, Garmin's GLO Portable GPS and GLONASS receiver have touched down in the FCC's database. Per usual, that's a fairly solid indicator that the devices will be available for sale on US shores within a few weeks, and if you're curious, there's even a draft user guide tucked in the source link below. Truth be told, there's not a ton here that wasn't already made public -- it's obviously "Made for iPod / iPhone / iPad," and Garmin asserts that the included battery will take three hours to charge but 12 hours to deplete. The manual also asserts that Android users "may need to use an application to allow the sensor to properly communication over Bluetooth," and just in case you're thinking of getting wet and wild, the outer casing is said to be "rugged, but not water-resistant." For shame -- we were totally looking forward to geotagging our next romp down the Gauley. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Microsoft updates SkyDrive for Windows app: new status window, freshened logo Posted: 14 Jul 2012 01:31 AM PDT We dug into Microsoft's recently updated SkyDrive efforts in a review earlier this year, and it looks as if the company's still intent on improving things based on user feedback. The newest update to SkyDrive for Windows (version 16.4.6003.0710, for the number crunchers) includes quite a few under-the-hood improvements that are said to bolster "performance, reliability, and compatibility." But beyond that, you'll also see a much-requested status window; put simply, this guy gives users a glanceable view at whether or not their SkyDrive is in sync, and displays the time at which it was last updated. In the event that a sync is still ongoing, you'll also see the number of megabytes and files you have remaining to sync. Finally, Microsoft has refreshed the SkyDrive logo -- not surprisingly, there's a pinch of that Metro styling throughout. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BAE Systems speaks about unmanned ASTRAEA: no reason it can't stay in air 'for weeks' Posted: 13 Jul 2012 10:14 PM PDT BAE Systems' ASTRAEA isn't a new concept -- the company's been playing up its unmanned potential for quite some time now -- but it's all seeming entirely less pie-in-the-sky now that the Farnborough Airshow has kicked off. Typically, UAVs are thought to be smaller, drone-type apparatuses; these things are typically used in military exercises where remote gunfire or reconnaissance is required. Clearly, it's about time someone asked the obvious: "Why?" Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal, Engineering Director Systems and Strategy, Military Air and Information at BAE and ASTRAEA Program Director recently spoke at the aforesaid event, noting that this particular aircraft could "open up a new market." He continued: "Current search and rescue aircraft are limited by human endurance, however with a UAV there's no reason why they can't stay up for weeks." Sadly, he also affirmed that there aren't any plans to ship actual humans up in the air without a pilot onboard, but if you're rich and mettlesome enough to pull it off yourself... well, be sure to send us the video. Also, Godspeed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Savi People app brings 'smarter' contacts to iPhone, integrates with your favorite social networks Posted: 13 Jul 2012 08:58 PM PDT If you haven't been completely content with the stock Contacts app on your renowned Cupertino handset, and were wishing there was a little more to squeeze out of it -- there might just be something in the App Store waiting to meet your needs. Enter Savi People. The 99-cent application essentially brings all your address book connections into one hub, but what separates it from the Contacts you've come to know is its integration with most of your preferred social networks -- you know, the likes of Twitter, Facebook and, with the latest update, Instagram. Assuming you give Savi People the credentials to get into your accounts, you'll be tweeting, sending direct messages and posting on people's walls in no time directly from the app. You can grab Savi People for a little less than a dollar right now, though that could change at any time as it is a "special" price.
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| XBMC for Android app revealed; source code available now, beta APKs soon (video) Posted: 13 Jul 2012 08:28 PM PDT Surprise surprise, after popping up on the iPad last year, XBMC developers revealed tonight that they've created a version of the media center that runs as an Android app. Currently the team has it stable on the Pivos XIOS DS set-top box, and posted a video (embedded after the break) showing it running on a phone and a tablet. Of course, the different varieties of Android hardware audio and video decoding is mostly a software only affair, but universal hardware decoding is in the plan. The truly dedicated can dig up the source code right now, but APKs for beta testers are promised "in the coming weeks." According to the blog post, it currently includes a community member created touch oriented skin and hopes to have more available before any version of this hits Google Play officially. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LogMeIn's Cubby offering up 1GB for referrals, tells Dropbox where it can store it Posted: 13 Jul 2012 08:00 PM PDT Seems like everyone's aching to store your files, these days -- Dropbox, Sugar Sync, that new startup, Google. Logmein's gotten into the game as well, launching its Cubby service in beta earlier this year, letting folks share files on their Windows machines, Macs and iOS and Android devices. The company's looking to entice interested parties by offering up 1GB of storage for users who refer a friend to the service. Also new is unlimited sharing of "Cubbies" and a refreshed iOS app.
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| RED5 remote control plane can fly like an eagle, spy like one too Posted: 13 Jul 2012 06:57 PM PDT RED5's Spy Hawk might look like the stuff of a hobbyist's dreams, but it's not such an innocent craft. The remote control glider does precisely what its moniker implies, melding one part recreation with that other time-honored tradition: espionage. That's right, aspiring CIA-types can get a headstart gathering intel by relaying video captured with the nose-embedded, 5-megapixel camera to the transmitter's built-in 3.5-inch LCD screen. And lest that precious recon get lost, an included 4GB SD card will let you safely save it all for a rainy blackmail kinda day. There's also an autopilot stabilization feature to keep it upright in windy conditions, but temper your excitement, as the drone's 7.4v Li-ion battery is only rated for 15 minutes of uninterrupted privacy invading flight time. If you're spidey senses are a-tinglin' just knowing this sneaky toy plane exists, prepare to make peace with $305 (£249) and pre-order at the source below. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RIM slapped with $147.2 million in damages from Mformation patent lawsuit (update: RIM response) Posted: 13 Jul 2012 06:52 PM PDT RIM just keeps taking hard knocks in the patent arena. Just days after Nokia had its turn piling on extra infringement claims, device management developer Mformation Technologies has won a hefty $147.2 million verdict against RIM for allegedly violating a remote management patent. The damages amount to $8 for every BlackBerry linked up to a BlackBerry Enterprise Server up to a certain point -- no small impact for a company whose lifeblood is business. About the only reprieve is an escape from future penalties, which would most certainly have soured the recovery efforts for a company already on the ropes. The crew from Waterloo hasn't yet responded to the verdict, but it's hard to picture the company leaving those kinds of damages to sit without an appeal. Update: RIM has issued a statement in response to the verdict, and it's unsurprisingly putting forward motions that it hopes would overturn the verdict. It's also keen to point out that issues like the obviousness of the patent haven't been settled, which it hopes would deflate Mformation's case. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Greenpeace: Apple's energy policy has improved, still needs to remove the coal smoke from iCloud Posted: 13 Jul 2012 05:34 PM PDT Wondering where Apple stands environmentally after the recent withdrawal (and subsequent return) of its laptops and desktops from the EPEAT rating system? Greenpeace has issued a well-timed report, outlining the company's broader back-end energy policies. According to the organization, "Apple's clean energy policies have significantly improved, but the company still gets low scores for its energy choices when compared with sector leaders." Greenpeace applauds Cupertino's commitment to goal coal-free by next year, but wonders aloud how the company will get there, noting that while it has invested in solar and other renewable energy sources, it still buys power from outlets that rely on coal. The organization also took the time to admonish Apple's lack of transparency on its environmental plans. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ASUS Transformer Prime TF700T showing 'in stock' at Office Depot, days before scheduled US release Posted: 13 Jul 2012 05:02 PM PDT July 16th? Why wait? A full three days prior to the previously scheduled US release date, ASUS' Transformer Prime TF700T is showing as "in stock" right now from Office Depot. For those who've managed to forget about it's amenities since its original unveiling some six months ago, this one's packing a 10.1-inch (1,920 x 1,200) display, Android 4.0, Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11b/g/n, 32GB of internal storage and NVIDIA's Tegra 3 keeping the gears turning. As expected, $499.99 is the asking price, with an estimated delivery of "Just as soon as shipping partners get back to work next week." Oh, and scalpers -- it's limit two per customer. Just a heads-up. [Thanks, Tony] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Zero Motorcycles recalls 2012 models with 'lack of weatherproofing' Posted: 13 Jul 2012 04:44 PM PDT If you took Zero Motorcycles up on its offer for 25,000 free miles with the purchase of a bike, you might be turning in those wheels for a fix-up soon. According to Asphalt and Rubber, the electric motorcycle maker is recalling 254 of its 2012 units due to "insufficient weatherproofing." The affected models are at risk for an electrical short inside the battery management system, which could cause the bikes to cut power during in wet weather. Zero says it will notify owners with faulty motorcycles and repair the bikes free of charge. This isn't the company's first recall -- in 2009, it pulled models that were prone to crashing more than usual, and just a few days ago Zero recalled 2011 and 2012 bikes with a faulty brake light switch. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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