Flash 10.2 beta hits Android Market on March 18th, only supports Honeycomb at release

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/11/flash-10-2-beta-hits-android-market-on-march-18th-only-supports/

Contrary to reports floating about the web, the Motorola Xoom isn't getting Adobe Flash Player 10.2 today -- rather, the tablet is getting updated to support Flash which will actually arrive in one week. Adobe now says that a beta of Flash Player 10.2 will be ready to download from the Android Market on March 18th, supporting only Honeycomb tablets (in other words, just the Xoom) to start, and will eventually be available for Android 2.2 smartphones -- again, contrary to what we'd been told, but we can't really complain on that count. Froyo devices won't get the full battery-friendly Stage Video rendering pipeline and deep browser integration like their Honeycomb tablet brethren, but dual-core phones will reportedly see a performance improvement nonetheless, and there's a new tweak that'll let Flash web apps pull up a virtual keyboard if needed for full functionality. PR after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Flash 10.2 beta hits Android Market on March 18th, only supports Honeycomb at release

Flash 10.2 beta hits Android Market on March 18th, only supports Honeycomb at release originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pop-Up Restaurant Will Sit Atop Famous Buildings and Mountains [Architecture]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5780818/pop+up-restaurant-will-sit-atop-famous-buildings-and-mountains

Swedish appliance giant Electrolux is commissioning a series of restaurants to temporarily sit on top of famous buildings and mountains in Europe. Yes, the idea is insane and no, we have no idea how they got permission to do this.

The Cube is the French Spiderman of fine dining and then some. A pair of pop-up restaurants commissioned by the Swedish appliance giant Electrolux, they're expected to travel across Europe, briefly perching atop famous buildings, monuments, and cliffs; apparently, one of 'em will even settle down in the middle of a lake. And we thought the whole pop-up phenomenon couldn't get any wilder...

Designed by the Italian architects Park Associati, the Cubes will feature a laser-cut aluminum skin, a dining room for 18, and a 538-square-foot terrace that affords stunning views of the surroundings. The first Cube opens April 1 on the arc of the Parc du Cinquantenaire (above). Then it'll move on, along with a companion Cube, to Italy, Russia, Switzerland, and Sweden.

We're dying to know how Electrolux got permission to do this (or who they had to sleep with).

The point? Like most pop-up shops it's a marketing scheme. The kitchen will come equipped with Electrolux appliances, on which chefs will whip up what the press release bills as a "show-cooking service." "Electrolux" will be emblazoned on the wall, if the renderings here are any indication, turning the whole thing into a big, shameless billboard (ick). But with the majestic scenery all around, we reckon people will hardly notice.

[Photos courtesy of Park Associati; hat tip to Frame]

Republished with permission from Fast Co Design

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Microsoft's OneVision Video Recognizer can detect, identify, and track your face on video... so smile!

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/11/microsofts-onevision-video-recognizer-can-detect-identify-and/

Here's your classic case of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Microsoft's Innovation Labs have just demonstrated a OneVision Video Recognizer algorithm that's powerful enough to perform face detection duties on a running video feed. It can recognize and track humanoid visages even while they're moving, accept tags that allow auto-identification of people as they enter the frame, and can ultimately lead to some highly sophisticated video editing and indexing via its automated information gathering. Of course, it's that very ease with which it can keep a watchful eye on everyone that has us feeling uneasy right now, but what are you gonna do? Watch the video after the break, that's what.

Continue reading Microsoft's OneVision Video Recognizer can detect, identify, and track your face on video... so smile!

Microsoft's OneVision Video Recognizer can detect, identify, and track your face on video... so smile! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVGA GeForce GTX 460 2Win has 'double the win,' becomes NVIDIA's first dual-Fermi graphics card

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/11/evga-geforce-gtx-460-2win-has-double-the-win-becomes-nvidias/

Why, it was only yesterday that we were eyeballing a dual-GF104 board from Galaxy, presuming it an artifact of a 2010 project that went nowhere, but there's at least one NVIDIA partner that's going to deliver exactly such a creation, and soon at that! EVGA has just set loose the details of a new GTX 460 2Win graphics card, which ticks along at 700MHz, has 672 cumulative CUDA cores served by 2GB of GDDR5, and reportedly collects more 3D Marks than NVIDIA's finest card out at the moment, the GTX 580. The company also gleefully reports that pricing of the 2Win model will be lower than the 580's. It's interesting that NVIDIA is opting for a pair of the older-gen GF104 Fermi chips here, but then again, those have been big winners with critics and price-sensitive gamers alike, with many touting the use of two GTX 460s in SLI as a more sensible solution than the elite single-card options. Well, now you have both, in a manner of speaking. Skip past the break to see EVGA's latest in the flesh.

[Thanks, Ben]

Continue reading EVGA GeForce GTX 460 2Win has 'double the win,' becomes NVIDIA's first dual-Fermi graphics card

EVGA GeForce GTX 460 2Win has 'double the win,' becomes NVIDIA's first dual-Fermi graphics card originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 02:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bridgelux silicon LED could mean bright future for solid state lighting

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/11/bridgelux-silicon-led-could-mean-bright-future-for-solid-state-l/

While Democrats and Republicans squabble over the future of the incandescent light bulb, a Livermore-based company has produced an LED that they claim could lead to brighter, more affordable solid state lighting. By growing gallium nitride on low-cost silicon wafers, as opposed to the typical sapphire and silicon carbide substrates, the company has achieved an output of 135lm/W (lumens per watt) with a color correlated temperature of 4730K-- brighter than any affordable LED lighting solution we've ever seen. Of course, this isn't the first time efficacy of this level has been achieved, and we've yet to see a practical application, but if Bridgelux's numbers are right, this could mean a 75 percent cut in LED production costs. The company expects the technology to make its way to real world lights in the next two to three years -- perhaps by then the furor over pigtail light bulbs will have settled a bit. Enlightening PR after the break.

Continue reading Bridgelux silicon LED could mean bright future for solid state lighting

Bridgelux silicon LED could mean bright future for solid state lighting originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhysOrg  |  Bridgelux  | Email this | Comments

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