Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Here it Is: The World's First Remote-Controlled (LED) Light Bulb [Led]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5920090/here-it-is-the-worlds-first-remote+controlled-led-light-bulb

Here it Is: The World's First Remote-Controlled (LED) Light Bulb Don't you hate getting all bundled up under the covers, your pillows in the perfect scrunch position under your head, only to realize you didn't turn out the lamp on the opposite end of the room and there's no way you'll be able to sleep with that bright bulb shining in your eyes all night? I do. And I do this all the time.

Luckily for everyone, INSTEON, manufacturers of the best-selling and most reliable home-automation technology today, have come up with the perfect way to avoid finding yourself in the predicament ever again: the world's first remote-controllable LED light bulb.

The 60W, $29.99 bulb can be dimmed via a remote control available for both iOS and Android. As soon as the bulb is screwed in, its unique network address (which is printed on the bulb itself) is instantly recognized by the INSTEON network (or any nearby devices)—which means you'll be able to easily swap bulbs out without having to go through an annoying linking process.

With the most reliable, expandable, brilliant remote control system built right in, it's easy to grow your home network. Link one INSTEON LED Bulb to as many controllers as you want-including keypads, motion sensors, door sensors or even your smartphone. Or, link multiple bulbs to a single controller and turn them all on or off at the same time.

Here it Is: The World's First Remote-Controlled (LED) Light Bulb

With intuitive tap, double-tap and press-and-hold controls, customize INSTEON LED Bulb's settings to suit any ambience through smooth dimming transitions and a wide range of brightness levels. And installing INSTEON LED Bulb is as easy as 1-2-3:

Here it Is: The World's First Remote-Controlled (LED) Light Bulb

It's a modern tech twist on the old clapper. "App on—app, app—App off—app, app."
[Press Release]

The Retina MacBook Pro Can Drive Four Screens Simultaneously [Apple]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5920134/the-retina-macbook-pro-can-drive-four-screens-simultaneously

The Retina MacBook Pro Can Drive Four Screens Simultaneously The new Retina MacBook Pro is an incredible piece of hardware. On its spec sheets, Apple claims it can support "up to two external displays", but it turns out that's bull. In fact, it can support three external monitors.

Hey now. That's some impressive graphics performance from a laptop. This set-up has been tested by several people independently—including The Verge and OWC—and the results are impressive. OWC in particular reports being able to run the following displays:

Retina on laptop @ "best for Retina"
iMac used as a display @ 2560 x 1440 via Thunderbolt
iMac used as a display @ 2560 x 1440 via Thunderbolt/DisplayPort
LG monitor @ 1920 x 1200 via HDMI

Perhaps more impressive is the graphics performance on each and every display—after all, a static display on four monitors isn't much use unless you can actually do something useful with it. Again, leaning on OWC's test, it seems the MacBook has no issues:

"Moving images and media didn't create any lag and we were able to play video on all four displays simultaneously."

Four videos, simultaneously, with no lag. On a laptop. That's pretty sweet. For the record, Apple officially claims the MacBook "simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on up to two external displays." But we know better.

Of course, running three external displays from a laptop is (i) a pain in the ass and (ii) not as efficient as using a beefier computer. But it's still nice to know it can handle it. [The Verge, OWC]

Image by The Verge

Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini: Leaner, Meaner, Faster, Thunderbolt-Equipped [Storage]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5920071/drobo-5d-and-drobo-mini-leaner-meaner-faster-thunderbolt+equipped

The Drobo family of products are generally respected amongst professionals and tech nerds, but the one complaint was that the dynamic storage arrays were too slow. Drobo listened, and now they're answering back with the Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini, two devices designed to handle the most demanding of file transfers.

For the uninitiated, Drobo is a storage controller that isn't unlike a RAID array or home server. But unlike those devices, Drobo doesn't just mirror one drive onto another drive; rather it finds the most efficient ways to mirror data between drives, constantly rearranging and optimizing its data backup, but always ensuring that your files are redundant.

The Drobo 5D isn't radically different from previous-generation devices, as it can still accept up to five 3.5-inch drives, and allows you to swap them out on the fly. though there are a few noticeable additions. First there's USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt connectivity, which means that it has the throughput for blazing transfer times. Secondly, Drobo says they've updated the internal guts of the storage controller, so that those new connections aren't lost on hardware that is bottlenecking itself. And finally, an SSD has been added to speed up data access and read times. Drobo says that there will be a 3x-6x performance boost over older models.

The Drobo Mini is an all new product, designed for the travelling creative professional. The Mini accepts up to 4 2.5-inch drives, and like the Drobo 5D, has Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 connections. The portable array has been ruggedized to survive the bumps and knocks generally associated with travel, and also has an SSD for a speed boost. Expect to see the Drobo 5D and Mini release this summer for $800 and $600, respectively (and no, that doesn't include actual storage). [Drobo]

Chromium OS gets ported to Raspberry Pi

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/20/chromium-os-gets-ported-to-raspberry-pi/

DNP Chromium OS gets ported to Raspberry Pi

Hexxeh has already proven his love for Chromium OS and the Raspberry Pi, obviously the next step was for the hacker to combine his passions into one project. Thus was born Chromium OS for the tiny ARM-powered computer from the UK. The initial commit of the port was officially approved by the Chromium team, meaning that anyone lucky enough to get their mitts on the board can download the code themselves. Of course, there's a long road to hoe before we see a stable version -- if we ever see such a thing. Right now the OS does little more than boot up, but if the embedded version of Chromium can be made to function without issue it could make browsing the web on the Broadcom SOC-sporting PC much less painful. Then again, performance is a big question mark. Seeing how much the 700MHz ARM11 chip struggled with the Midori browser, we wouldn't hold our breath for miracles. Then again, the underlying system is far less demanding than a full fledged Linux distro with a desktop. Hit up the source link to download Chromium OS for the Raspberry Pi yourself.

Chromium OS gets ported to Raspberry Pi originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Project Moonshot take two: HP's low-power Gemini servers let go of ARM's Calxeda for Intel's Centerton

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/20/project-moonshot-take-two-hps-low-power-gemini-servers-let-go/

Last we'd heard of HP's Project Moonshot, that effort to create low-energy servers was set to ride on the back of the Calxeda SoC. But for the rollout of its production-ready "Gemini" models, the company's changed tack, replacing the previously announced ARM chips for Intel's Centerton. Why the sudden swap? Well, it seems that new Atom processor delivers the same energy-sipping promise of its predecessor, while also adding 64-bit support, a broader software ecosystem, error correcting code memory and hardware virtualization. That's all well and good, but when you boil it down to layman's terms, HP's really just angling for the ultimate in efficiency and it plans to do that by providing these compact servers in "a [smaller] footprint" than currently available setups. The system's still not quite ready for primetime consumption, given its very recent public outing, however, demo units are in the pipeline, with a planned launch for the end of 2012. If this sort of back-end geekery gets your blood flowing, feel free to hit up the official presser after the break.

Continue reading Project Moonshot take two: HP's low-power Gemini servers let go of ARM's Calxeda for Intel's Centerton

Project Moonshot take two: HP's low-power Gemini servers let go of ARM's Calxeda for Intel's Centerton originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jun 2012 18:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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