Voodoo's Envy 133 using custom MacBook Air CPU?

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/309143523/

Filed under: Laptops

We heard they were coming. Now it looks like we've got a second ultra-thin laptop sporting Intel's custom-built, 65-nm processor first unveiled in Apple's MacBook Air. At about 3:00 minutes into the Envy 133 video, Rahul Sood, Voodoo founder, says that his new Envy 133 uses an "off roadmap chip" of Intel design which consumes 20 watts of power. Looking at the Envy spec sheet reveals a processor running at either 1.6GHz (SP7500) or 1.8GHz (SP7700), with 4MB L2 Cache and 800MHz FSB. Right, those are the exact specs as the custom CPU found inside of Apple's MacBook Air. Also of note, LaptopMag says that Voodoo's instant-on IOS is none other than DeviceVM's Splashtop which ASUS is currently bunging into all of its motherboards. Make no mistake, this hunky chunk of carbon fiber is still magical, it's just not the mystery it seemed when launched this morning.

Read -- Splashtop
Read -- MacBook Air procesor
Read -- Envy 133 specs

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

ASIMO learns to understand three people at once

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/309174255/

Filed under: Robots

ASIMO has already proven itself to be pretty multi-talented, but it looks like it's now added yet another trick to its repertoire, with a pair of researchers giving it the ability to understand three people speaking at once. That was done with the aid of eight microphones and a specially-designed software program dubbed HARK, which works out where each voice is coming from and isolates it from other sounds. Right now, however, that's only being used to referee games of rock-paper-scissors, with each individual shouting out their choice at once, but the researchers eventually hope to get ASIMO up to the level of humans' ability to listen at a cocktail party, although they admit that is still a "long way" off.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Princeton follows Shuttle's minimalist lead with 19-inch touchscreen

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/309229088/

Filed under: Displays

Shuttle may have been the first out of the gate with this minimalist design (presumably OEM, and likely only a sign of things to come), but that's not keeping Princeton from doing its own thing with its new PTB-TMW19B tablet display, which just got official for Japan today. While the exterior's identical to the Shuttle, the Princeton model takes a slight dip in resolution to 1440 x 900, although the company makes up for that somewhat by including a stylus and some handwriting recognition software. Otherwise, you can expect a 5 ms response time, an 850: 1 contrast ratio, and even a pair of built-in speakers. Look for this one to set you back ¥128,000 (or just under $1,200) when it hits Japan later this month.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot C905 breaks cover with 8.1 megapixels in tow

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/309294011/

Filed under: Cellphones

Paris who? Sony Ericsson's let yet another one slip out of its fingers before the official announcement, this time around a killer slider said to be the Cyber-shot C905, codenamed "Shiho." If the rumors pan out, it's got one heck of a rap sheet, too, starting off with an 8.1 -- yes, eight point flippin' one -- megapixel camera with both xenon and LED flashes (for still and video capture, respectively), GPS, TV out, DLNA certification, and HSDPA in your choice of European and American flavors. The screen's apparently just QVGA, but in light of everything else we're hearing, we might just be willing to let that slide. It'll apparently be announced on the 17th of the month in gold, silver, and black for a fourth quarter release. Wowza!

[Thanks, Adrian]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Freescale to Spin Out MRAM Business

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/308115510/

Today Freescale said it would spin out its MRAM business to a consortium of venture investors under the name EverSpin Technologies. Such a move makes sense for Freescale, which doesn’t have the resources to focus on developing a competitor to Flash memory, but is also somewhat of a shame; MRAM has the potential to be a large moneymaker if it can scale.

MRAM is one of many fledgling attempts to create better non-volatile memory that can retain information even after the power is turned off. Like Flash, MRAM could find a home in portable computing devices such as laptops or MP3 players. Compared to Flash, MRAM is faster and requires less power (hello, longer battery life). Freescale made news in 2006 when it introduced a 4 Mb MRAM chip. That doesn’t hold much, but it was the result of a decade of research into the technology.

The creation of EverSpin follows similar memory spinouts, such as Numonyx, set up by Intel and STMicrosystems to research PRAM, and the less research-oriented Infineon from Qimonda. AMD and Fujitsu spun out their Flash memory operations as Spansion. Memory is a commodity business that requires large economies of scale to become profitable. Freescale does need to focus on a few core businesses, but I hope its stake in EverSpin gives it plenty of upside if MRAM becomes a market success story.

Read More...

Summary only...