Apparently the gamer who masterminded this hedonistic joyride was Steve Fatone, brother of *NSYNC's Joey and music video director for luminaries like, um, the Jonas Brothers. So maybe his taste in music is suspect, but we think we just might get along with him anyway, after this indulgence. [Engadget]
The tech is applied to things like USB ports, which in 3.0, will go from polling (clock based, always checking) devices to being managed via events, so they can sleep whenever not being used. And graphics, when the page isn't changing, can be run out of a frame buffer so the GPU and video RAM can sleep. When I say more sleep, I mean for additional milliseconds or longer. This adds up, over the course of a day when people stop to read or step away from their computers. In the past, the OS controlled the power savings, and that required power to process in turn, so you were using the system's power to manage power, keeping those other components from ever really turning off. By doing power management with more granularity, in hardware and software together, you can switching things on/off fast enough to fit in lots of "naps" and you can also do it with less processing overhead.
I'm excited for this tech to go everywhere where there's a chip.
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Networking
D-Link gets official with mydlink-enabled network cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Cellphones
Close to 700,000 Palm Pre apps downloaded to date originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
This browser comparison chart pits IE8 against Firefox and Chrome and puts IE8 on top time after time, but in very dubious categories. Each row comes with its own ridiculous set of comments justifying the seemingly meaningless checkmarks, like this note on customizability:
Sure, Firefox may win in sheer number of add-ons, but many of the customizations you'd want to download for Firefox are already a part of Internet Explorer 8 – right out of the box.
Interesting, since none of the Firefox extensions I install add any IE8 functionality. We've given Microsoft props for significantly improving Internet Explorer in the latest release, but this chart feels like dirty pool to us. Let's hear what you think of this insane (to us, at least) chart in the comments.
First, a direct translation: AT&T's upgraded (or more accurately, upgrading) 3G network claims data download rates of 7.2 megabits per second. Though that's the lingo used to describe bandwidth, it's important to remember that those are not megabytes. AT&T's impressive-sounding 7.2 megabits would yield somewhere closer to .9 megabytes (900 kilobytes) per second, and that's only if you're getting peak performance, which you never will because...
That 7.2Mbps is theoretical, and due to technical overhead, network business, device speed and overzealous marketing, real world speeds are significantly lower. As you can see on our chart above, our tested speeds for everything from EV-DO Rev. A to WiMax ran at anywhere from one half to one sixth their potential speed. Accordingly, Jason found AT&T's network to run at about 1.6Mbps with the iPhone 3G S—about a third faster than with the 3G, though he was probably still connecting at 3.6Mbps rates—the 7.2 rollout won't be complete until 2011, according to AT&T.
AT&T-style HSDPA is expected to reach out to an eventual theoretical speed of 14Mbps, which will undoubtedly make the current! 3G netw orks feel slow, but won't necessarily blow them out of the water. That's the thing: the iPhone, and indeed just about all high-end handsets on the market today, operate at speeds that are reasonably close to the limits of 3G technology. In a funny sort of way, the iPhone 3GS is already a bit out of date.
So what's next? And what the hell are those really long green bars up there? Those are the so-called 4G (fourth generation) wireless technologies. Americans can ignore HSPA+ and EV-DO Rev B. for the most part, and given that they're the slowest of the next-gen bunch, shouldn't feel too bad. And anyway, as Matt explained, WiMax and LTE are what's next for us.
Both Verizon and AT&T are within a couple of years of deploying LTE in their networks, and WiMax is already out there in some cities. Our own WiMax tests on Clearwire's network peaked at an astounding 12Mbps—nearly eight times faster than the iPhone 3GS on AT&T. And even if WiMax is shaping up to be more of a general broadband protocol than a cellular one, this is the kind of thing that'll be in your phones in a few years, and the promises are mind-boggling: earlier this year, Verizon's LTE were breaking 60Mbps.
So in short, your brand-new, "S"-for-speed iPhone is pretty speedy—as long as you only look to the past.
SquareTrade warranties state that should you break your iPhone just because you're an idiot, they'll replace your iPhone with a brand new model. Their prices, below, are reported to be lower than Best Buy's by a good margin:
Current Promotional Rate/Regular Rate:
8gb 3G model: $76.80 / $96 (TOTAL for 2 years)
16gb 3G S: $96 / $120 (TOTAL for 2 years)
32gb 3G S: $120 / $144 (TOTAL for 2 years)
Knock on wood, but the iPhone 3G build has proven to be a pretty sturdy design. I've sat on the thing, dropped it more than once and basically treated it like crap, and the thing still works well. On the same token, I know someone (*cough* Andi Wang *cough*) who drops her cellphone down the stairs on a daily basis.
So she should probably consider this deal from SquareTrade, as well as moving into a ranch-style home. I'm going to take my chances. [SquareTrade]
Filed under: Wireless
Huawei's E583X wireless modem turns 3G to WiFi, beautiful lights originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | E mail this | Comments
This means that you get a ton of portable storage space, and you still don't need an AC adapter. You just plug the drive into a USB 2.0 port and proceed with your business. Simple, easy, nice. Pricing and availability is still up in the air for now, but we'll keep our eyes peeled. [Seagate]
It's not abundantly clear when you'd use the as-yet-unannounced electric engines, or exactly how efficiently the onboard solar panels will collect sunlight and charge the as-yet-unannounced batteries.
Let's be honest: You probably won't use them all that often. The point is to have them, and to tell your rich-ass friends that you are, in Code-X's words, "a pioneer and frontrunner on the path to a cleaner and more environmentally friendly future." The point is to be saying this while gunning your twin F1 Limor 710HP smogmasters to drown out the riffraff circling you in those environmentally unfriendly Jet Skis.
The most sinister thing about the whole operation is the length that Code-X went to render a completely non-existent boat into so many real-life scenes, almost as if James Cameron was the company's marketing consultant. [Code-X via Josh Spear via DVice]
Breadbox64 runs on the embedded Contiki OS, and lets you tweet and view your friends' timeline from the ancient platform, provided you have the proper networking gear installed. It will even automatically update your timeline every two minutes. The UI is as 8-bit as can be, though I wouldn't call it the most aesthetically pleasing thing in the world (you didn't expect it to look like TweetDeck, did you now?). Anyways, you can download it if you want here. It's good for a novelty tweet or two. [Van den Brande]
This setup is deceptively simple. There's an electro-magnetized ring of wire sending 1-watt signal at 7.6-something MHz. From there, a carefully placed and wound coil of wire (yellow) sends the magnetic signal in a direction where another smaller coil (green) specifically tuned to receive the power and send it to a tiny speaker. It reminds me of the way a generator or motor work, somehow. The range was about 3 feet and the music was quiet by audible and worked when I moved the speaker in different directions. Impressive!
The chances of this making its way into mobile gadgets that charge with no cables or pads, ever? We're far off. The range and power are dependent on the size of the coils and the exact way they are wound, so they resonate the magnetic signals just right. Maybe a micro array of these, optimized several generations from now, will do the trick.
Or maybe the Dharma institute already has the answers.
The NW features a 15.5-inch widescreen display (albeit 1366x768), along with a HDMI output connector for plugging it into a TV, so you can enjoy the full 1080p goodness of your Blu-ray discs. There is also a "display off" button, which does exactly what you would expect, ideal if you have got this plugged into a big screen in a darkened room.
Specs include an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM, up to 400GB hard drive and an optional dedicated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card to improve your movie watching. Slot-wise there are three USB ports, ExpressCard, SD and Memory Stick PRO.
Available this summer the Vaio NW can also come without the Blu-ray drive for a saving of $80... but given this is all about HD and movie watching I really don't know why. [Sony]
Filed under: Desktops
Samsung debuts first 32GB DDR3 memory module originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Continue reading Video: Samsung's e-passport turns your head into a rotating government specimen
Filed under: Displays
Video: Samsung's e-passport turns your head into a rotating government specimen originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
MIT Tech Review says Noel Fink, the man responsible for the breakthrough, isn't even entirely sure what it could be used for, except for weaving it into clothing for some military reconnaissance. But the fact that it's designed to be foldable.
Researchers worked this magic by embedding 8 sensors in an arrangement around the center of the fiber sheet which allows it to detect light and color from various angles. Even better, the sensors can detect the angle at which light hits the fiber, which would make 3D imaging theoretically possible. (the MIT article goes into even greater depth as to how they pulled this off, but I'm trying to keep you awake). Anyways, cameraphones are so 2000s. In the '10s I want a goddamn camerasuit. [MIT Tech Review]
An immersive multitouch, multi-user "Touchwall" has been revealed... for trade conference attendees.
Billed as an "intelligent, multi-user Touchwall" the kit, made by Schematic, uses their previous multitouch panels to create a surface which can be used by multiple people.
It is being used for the first time at an advertising festival in Cannes, where it can recognize attendees by their RFID badges and offers them a personalized workspace wherever they happen to be standing. It also displays relevant info, such as 3D maps of where they need to go and features a built in social network element for users to leave each other messages.
But the special thing about the Touchwall is its multi-user capabilities where people can work side by side and even share information. [BoingBoingGadgets]
Spaceport America will be the first spaceport in history, and it will host commercial operations by private space travel companies, like Virgin Galactic.
I'm sure that—in a few centuries—this structure will be buried under multiple layers belonging to another huge structure: A giant spaceport—one of many in the world—in which massive spacecrafts will be lifting off and arriving from trips from the Moon, Mars, Titan, and Europa. Or at least, I hope that's what will happen.
If you are around, you can attend the historic groundbreaking ceremony—the first step in its construction—on Friday, June 19, 2009. Check the link for details. [Spaceport America]
* Apparently, the stuff dreams are made of look like vaginas from the air. Rubber vaginas.
< /a> 
