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Thursday, November 03, 2011

drag2share: HP replaces the Slate 500 with the Slate 2, adds Swype and cuts the starting price to $699

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/02/hp-replaces-the-slate-500-with-the-slate-2-adds-swype-and-cuts/

Until Microsoft gives Win8 the final seal of approval, the Windows tablet show must go on, right? Right. HP just refreshed its enterprise-friendly, Windows 7-flavored Slate 500 with the Slate 2, and took the opportunity to knock the starting price down a hundred bucks to $699. In terms of design, there's nothing much to see here -- it's the same 8.9-inch tablet that's been on sale for the past year. Only this time, HP added Swype, refreshed the CPU with Intel's Atom Z670 and proffered a smaller 32GB SSD option to appease the IT guys who are going to heavily lock these down anyway. Speaking of security, it also packs TPM circuitry and Computrace Pro for tracking lost or stolen laptops and then deleting the data remotely. It'll be available worldwide this month -- just in time for corporate to buy you a lil' somethin' somethin' for the holidays.

Gallery: HP Slate 2

Continue reading HP replaces the Slate 500 with the Slate 2, adds Swype and cuts the starting price to $699

HP replaces the Slate 500 with the Slate 2, adds Swype and cuts the starting price to $699 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Stanford program cracks text-based CAPTCHAs, shelters the replicants among us

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/02/stanford-program-cracks-text-based-captchas-shelters-the-replic/

CAPTCHAs. In the absence of a Voigt-Kampff apparatus, they're what separate the humans from the only-posing-to-be-human. And now three Stanford researchers have further blurred that line with Decaptcha, a program that uses image processing, segmentation and a spell-checker to defeat text-based CAPTCHAs. Elie Bursztien, Matthieu Martin and John Mitchell pitted Decaptcha against a number of sites: it passed 66% of the challenges on Visa's Authorize.net and 70% at Blizzard Entertainment. At the high end, the program beat 93% of MegaUpload's tests; at other end, it only bested 2% of those from Skyrock. Of the 15 sites tried, only two completely repelled Decaptcha's onslaught -- Google and reCaptcha. So what did the researchers learn from this? Randomization makes for better security; random lengths and character sizes tended to thwart Decaptcha, as did waving text. How long that will remain true is anyone's guess, as presumably SkyNet is working on a CAPTCHA-killer of its own.

Stanford program cracks text-based CAPTCHAs, shelters the replicants among us originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: HP's 3115m is the Pavilion dm1z rebadged for the business set, starts at $429

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/02/hps-3115m-is-the-pavilion-dm1z-rebadged-for-the-business-set-s/

You've seen that laptop before. You know you have. Stumped? Okay, here it is. HP just announced the 11.6-inch 3115m for the business market and it is, for all intents and purposes, a rebadged Pavilion dm1z being marketed to a more buttoned-up kind of customer. For starters, it looks just like the newly redesigned dm1, flush trackpad and all. A dual-core AMD E-450 APU, 1366 x 768 display, Beats Audio and battery rated for 11.5 hours come standard. At the entry level, you'll also get a modest 2GB of RAM and 320GB 5,400RPM HDD. Oddly, 5,400RPM drives are as good as it gets here, whereas with the dm1 7,200RPM disks are the gold standard and you can even upgrade to an SSD. IT guys might prefer the this one, though, because it comes with HP's Keyed Cable lock and a Computrace Pro module for tracking and remotely wiping lost or stolen laptops (you'll need to activate this feature yourself). It'll go on sale in the Americas on November 11th with a starting price of $430 -- a thirty-dollar premium over the dm1z. Glossy press shots below -- you know, in case you need a refresher on what this thing looks like.

Gallery: HP 3115m

Continue reading HP's 3115m is the Pavilion dm1z rebadged for the business set, starts at $429

HP's 3115m is the Pavilion dm1z rebadged for the business set, starts at $429 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Amazon Prime adds new reading option with Kindle Owners Lending Library

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/02/amazon-prime-adds-new-reading-option-with-kindle-owners-lending/

Amazon's home page has a new message for Prime members from CEO Jeff Bezos, indicating that their membership plan has a new bonus: free books. The Kindle Owners Lending Library service offers up to one book per month from a selection of thousands of titles, including "over 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers" with no due dates. That's in addition to the free two-day shipping and access to TV shows and movies offered through Prime Instant Video as a part of the $79/year package. Of course, it also serves to the platform lock-in tighter between a suddenly very compelling subscription entertainment service, and its hardware (you will need a Kindle device, from what we're reading the apps won't work), including the upcoming Kindle Fire. Fans of the E inked word can check out the press release after the break for a few more details.

[Thanks, Straton & Abbas]

Continue reading Amazon Prime adds new reading option with Kindle Owners Lending Library

Amazon Prime adds new reading option with Kindle Owners Lending Library originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Jawbone Up detailed: tracks activity, food intake and sleep cycles, available November 6 for $100 (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/03/jawbone-up-detailed-tracks-activity-food-intake-and-sleep-cycl/

Back in July, Jawbone did something puzzling. The company, best known for its Bluetooth headsets, teased a photo of a colorful wristband called the Up -- a deceptively simple thing that could purportedly track your eating, sleeping and exercise habits. The outfit left out a few teensy details: the price, shipping date and, the biggest riddle of all, how it works.

At last, the company's ready to talk specifics. We just got word the Up will be available in the US November 6th for $100, and will continue its world tour on the 17th. With that price, it's well-matched against the clip-on Fitbit Ultra tracker, and indeed, they have some key features in common -- namely, a step counter and a few requisite social networking features. But with a sensor that knows when you're in deep sleep and a mobile app that can identify photos of food, it has a few unexpected tricks that could give devices like Fitbit a run for their money. We'll be getting one to test very soon, but in the meantime, join us past the break to learn more.

Gallery: Up by Jawbone

Continue reading Jawbone Up detailed: tracks activity, food intake and sleep cycles, available November 6 for $100 (video)

Jawbone Up detailed: tracks activity, food intake and sleep cycles, available November 6 for $100 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Opera Mini 6.5 and Mobile 11.5 embark on data awareness mission, now available for download

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/03/opera-mini-6-5-and-mobile-11-5-embark-on-data-awareness-mission/

Nearly three weeks after Opera Mini 6.5 graced the Android Market, it's now ready for iOS, BlackBerry, J2ME and S60 (the latter's in the form of Opera Mobile 11.5). The download, which is no different than what we saw on Google's mobile OS, brings with it an option to keep track of the amount of data you've used. This type of feature seems to be catching on all over the mobile world as more and more companies continue to switch to capped internet plans. If you're looking for this option, it appears as a dedicated page within the browser's help menu. Now is the time, Opera fans, to go forth and save data.

Opera Mini 6.5 and Mobile 11.5 embark on data awareness mission, now available for download originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Republic Wireless to offer unlimited calls, SMS and data for $19 per month

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/03/republic-wireless-to-offer-unlimited-calls-sms-and-data-for-19/

Prepaid world, you're getting called out. Offering what appears to be the lowest unlimited everything plan we've seen thus far, Republic Wireless -- a division of Bandwidth.com -- is ready to roll out its game-changing service next Tuesday. The carrier will be doling out all-you-can-eat talk, text and data for $19 per month. We're still slim on the nitty gritty details, but we know the new network is so inexpensive because it plans to utilize hybrid Android devices that rely mainly on UMA (the same WiFi-calling tech employed by T-Mobile) and will drop back to cellular roaming on Sprint when you're not in range of a hotspot. The company's main site offers nothing more than a teaser for now, but promises that we'll know all of its secrets no later than November 8th. If you're pulling your hair out wanting to find out more, we guess the teaser was a success.

Continue reading Republic Wireless to offer unlimited calls, SMS and data for $19 per month

Republic Wireless to offer unlimited calls, SMS and data for $19 per month originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: New sensor can read your heart from afar, but knows not your feelings

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/03/new-sensor-can-read-your-heart-from-afar-but-knows-not-your-fee/

Are you fed up with your current ECG sensor? Tired of all the mess of electroconductive gels, sticky electrodes and tangled wires? How about this: Britain's Plessey Semiconductors offers an ECG sensor that promises heart-monitoring without the hassle. We've seen similar technology before, but according to the company, the Electric Potential Integrated Circuit -- or EPIC, as it's humbly called -- can read heartbeats even through a sweater; future versions might be embedded in hospital gurneys for constant, unobtrusive monitoring. Like an extremely sensitive voltmeter, it detects tiny changes in electric fields, which means it could also be used for Kinect-style motion interfaces. The company even imagines a future system where firefighters can use the EPIC to find humans in a smoke-filled room. If you're thinking, "My, that sounds just like my Deus Ex dreams" -- hey, we're right there with you.

New sensor can read your heart from afar, but knows not your feelings originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: CSR sharpens indoor and in-car navigation with SiRFstarV, SiRFusion and SiRFprimaII

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/03/csr-sharpens-indoor-and-in-car-navigation-with-sirfstarv-sirfus/

It's been a while since we last heard from CSR, but that changed earlier this week, when the company unveiled its new SiRFprimaII and SiRFusion platforms, alongside its SiRFstarV architecture. According to the UK-based firm, both SiRFstarV and SiRFusion are designed to provide more accurate geographic data and enhanced indoor navigation capabilities across PNDs and other mobile devices. SiRFstarV, the logical follow-up to CSR's SiRFstarIV architecture, culls location data not only from GPS, but from Galileo, Glonass and Compass satellites, as well as a range of radio signals, accelerometers, gyros and compasses. All this information is fed to the user via the SiRFusion platform, which combines data from radio systems and sensors to provide constantly updated location graphics. Together, both SiRFstarV and SiRFusion promise to help users find their way around both indoor and outdoor locales, within an accuracy range of ten to 15 meters.

The SiRFprimaII platform, displayed above, is strictly geared toward in-car navigation and infotainment systems. This system combines a SiRFprimaII SoC and TriG RF multi-GNSS radio with CSR's Bluetooth and WiFi technologies to create a multimedia rich, touchscreen-based in-car environment. Geared toward both ODMs and OEMs, this hardware-software combo enables drivers to get more reliable navigation data, while allowing passengers to stream video, surf the web and manipulate everything via remote control. As for that SoC, it's powered by a 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 app processor, features an LCD controller for displays of up to 1280 x 720 resolution, and boasts a pair of 3D graphics and video accelerators. For more details, check out the pair of press releases, after the break.

Continue reading CSR sharpens indoor and in-car navigation with SiRFstarV, SiRFusion and SiRFprimaII

CSR sharpens indoor and in-car navigation with SiRFstarV, SiRFusion and SiRFprimaII originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 06:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: LomoKino Super 35 Movie Maker lets you channel your inner Charlie Chaplin for $80

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/03/lomokino-super-35-movie-maker-lets-you-channel-your-inner-charli/

Ever wish you could return to a simpler cinematic era -- one characterized not by 3D graphics and Spielberg, but by silent images and Eisenstein? Well, you can now spearhead the movement yourself, with Lomography's new LomoKino Super 35 Movie Maker. With this device (pictured above), amateur filmmakers can manually produce their own frill-free movies on any roll of 35mm film. All you have to do is load your film into the so-called "magic box," turn the crank and let the LomoKino work its magic. The camera, which boasts a 25mm lens and max aperture of f/5.6, will capture 144 shots on a single roll of film, good for about 50 to 60 seconds of footage. It also supports a wide array of effects, including slide film, color negative, redscale and black and white. Once that's developed, you can run it through Lomography's LomoKinoScope, direct it toward a light source, and watch your homemade Baby's Lunch or Nanook of the North unfold before your eyes. You won't find any sound, special effects, or fancy post-production tools here -- just moving images, plain and cinematically pure. Lumiere enthusiasts can grab one now for $80, or opt for both the LomoKino and the LomoKinoScope, bundled together for $100. For more details, roll past the break for a sample video and the full PR, or get a closer look at the LomoKino in the gallery, below.

Continue reading LomoKino Super 35 Movie Maker lets you channel your inner Charlie Chaplin for $80

LomoKino Super 35 Movie Maker lets you channel your inner Charlie Chaplin for $80 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, November 02, 2011

drag2share: This Woman's Fake Face Is Made from 500 Faces [Image Cache]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5855562/this-womans-fake-face-is-made-from-500-faces

Self-portraitist clickflashwhirr has been snapping shots of her mug every day for over a year—and that's nothing new on the net. But averaging 500 of those snaps into one artificial face? Beautifully creepy.

The digital composite was done by Tiemen Rapati, who explains he "simply [counted] the individual RGB values for each pixel and for each portrait, and [divided] those values by the number of portraits." The result is a slightly hazy, easy on the eyes, year-plus amalgamation of a woman. It's dreamlike, but unsettling to think the face we're looking at here never really existed. I wonder if her face hurt after making that same expression over and over and over and over again? [Tiemen Rapati via Colossal]

You can keep up with Sam Biddle, the author of this post, on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.

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drag2share: Internet Explorer Desertion Continues as Usage Drops Below 50 Percent [Web]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5855654/internet-explorer-desertion-continues-as-usage-drops-below-50-percent/gallery/1

Internet Explorer Desertion Continues as Usage Drops Below 50 Percent Internet Explorer has long been declining in popularity, but it hit an abandonment milestone in October as its market share dropped below 50 percent for the first time in more than a decade. What browsers are reaping the benefits?

Microsoft's browser is far from dead, but the October stats are hardly favorable. Some of IE's decline can be attributed to the rapid increase in mobile browser usage—Safari rules that land. But while IE is still hovering above 50 percent of users on desktops, it's dropping fast—nearly 2 percent last month. Most of the defecting desktop users are going to Chrome, but Firefox still has an edge over Google's browser. Check out graphs above for more or head over to Ars Technica for comprehensive analysis of web usage. [Ars Technica]

Internet Explorer Desertion Continues as Usage Drops Below 50 Percent

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drag2share: Android Browser leapfrogs Opera Mini, but Safari increases its lead

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/02/android-browser-leapfrogs-opera-mini-but-safari-increases-its-l/

Web browser warriors have some more statistical firepower to play with, now that Net Applications has released the latest usage figures for mobile browsers. Google's vaguely titled Browser has inched up from a 16.3 percent share last month to 18.7 percent, counterbalanced by Opera Mini, which declined from just under 19 percent to 13.1 percent. Similarly, both Symbian and BlackBerry's mobile browsers dropped a few percentage points, down to 2.6 and 2.4 percent respectively. While rumors of a mobile-friendly version of Chrome continue to bounce around, there remains a substantial gap between second-place Android and the current mobile browser boss, Apple's Safari, which has now extended its dominance from 55.6 percent to 62.2 percent. The battle of the browsers wages on.

Android Browser leapfrogs Opera Mini, but Safari increases its lead originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: HP and Calxeda's Moonshot ARM servers will bring all the boys to the yard (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/02/hp-and-calxedas-moonshot-arm-servers-will-bring-all-the-boys-to/

HP and Calxeda's indiscreet partnership has been revealed to the world: Project Moonshot is a new server based around a brand new ARM-based EnergyCore system-on-chip. These new units are so efficient that a four core version, packing 4GB DRAM, consumes just five watts at full pelt -- for perspective, that's less than your average tablet. The other funky innovation is that all the server nodes now share a single power, cooling, management and storage system rather than carrying it themselves. In terms of space saving, the Redstone four unit chassis you can see in the image above can hold 288 of the little blighters. If you set your alarm clock early to learn more about efficient server architecture, head on past the break for two videos, including a tour of HP's server labs and some press release goodness.

Continue reading HP and Calxeda's Moonshot ARM servers will bring all the boys to the yard (video)

HP and Calxeda's Moonshot ARM servers will bring all the boys to the yard (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Engadget's holiday gift guide 2011: tablets

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/02/engadgets-holiday-gift-guide-2011-tablets/

Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! We're well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties surrounding the seasonal shopping experience, so we're here to help you sort out this year's tech treasures. Below is today's bevy of curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season.

Of all the electronic gifts you could buy someone right now, a tablet seems like one of the safer bets. It's a cheaper way of saying "I love you" than bestowing a $1,000 laptop, and it takes less chutzpah than signing someone up for a smartphone (along with two years of data fees). And let's be real here: what's more festive than flopping onto the couch in pajamas after opening gifts and lazily playing Angry Birds while It's A Wonderful Life airs in the background? Yeah, we can't think of anything either.

Sadly, we don't have any webOS-flavored tablets this time around, and we couldn't include some hotly anticipated numbers like the Transformer Prime, since they're not shipping yet and we don't even know much they'll cost. Still, we managed to find a slew of Android tablets (and one iPad) across a range of budgets. Been on the fence about what to get? Skip past the break for some ideas.

Continue reading Engadget's holiday gift guide 2011: tablets

Engadget's holiday gift guide 2011: tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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