Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, March 17, 2008

Details Emerge on Intel's First Mobile Quad-core Processor

Chinese-language site HKEPC is reporting that Intel's first mobile quad-core processor will be the 45nm Penryn-based Core 2 Extreme QX9300. The chip will clock speeds of 2.53 GHz, have 12 MB of L2 Cache and 1066 MHz FSB. The QX9300, however, won't be part of the Q2 Centrino 2 launch because it is a 45W processor and current motherboards are designed for 35W chips. [HKEPC via Register Hardware]

Varioptic and Seiko to Bring Liquid Lenses to Cellphones, Finally

Varioptic has been talking about bringing liquid lenses to cellphones since 2005, but now they have teamed up with Seiko and the watery dreams look to be coming alive. Liquid lenses have the added benefit of being speedier and less power hungry than conventional lenses, but the release of Varioptic's pioneering technology for cellphones has been in the pipe lines for almost two years. Thankfully, Seiko has stepped up to the mark, coining a mass production date of Q3, 2008. The initial models that will be created are the Arctic 314 and Arctic 416, which rate 5 mega pixels in 0.33-inch and 0.25-inch modules. The faster lenses should see an increase in video capture quality and battery life for cellphones adopting the new standard, which can only be a good thing

MIT Media Lab's Siftables Are Cool, But Ultimately Useless

These Siftables from MIT Media Labs are small Post It-sized displays with processing power built in, allowing it to communicate with other Siftables as well as detect motion and proximity. You'll have to see what that means in the video, as they have different examples of shaking these Siftables, connecting them together, and having each respond accordingly to the one next to it. In its current form it's just a neat toy that doesn't really do much, but if you can adapt this to say, cellphones or MP3 players—stuff people actually carry around with them every day—it might make for some neat interactivity when you and your friends meet up and make your iPhones kiss. [MIT via OhGizmo]

Friday, March 14, 2008

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First Video of Hacked iPhone 2.0 In Action

Here is our exclusive video of the iPhone with hacked 2.0 firmware, running on a T-Mobile network instead of AT&T. Despite what other reports have erroneously stated, this is not a jailbroken iPhone with firmware 2.0, but a completely hacked version of the firmware that allows you to run any app and use any compatible carrier you want in the world. As we explained yesterday, it's going to be very difficult for Apple to close this hole, almost impossible, according to iPhone Dev Team sources. Update: changes on first sight: