Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

TVonics rolls out tiny MFR-300 Freeview tuner

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/323542197/

Good luck convincing Grandma to pack a DVR-250 next to the same telly that's been avoiding TV detectors for years, but how about a "match box-sized" addition that gives all the benefits of the digital switchover and without taking up a lot of space? TVonics MFR-300 improves on previous versions with support for Audio Description allowing people with sight problems to hear subtle on screen changes described, plus interactive TV features, EPG and parental controls. The 70mm x 27mm x 54mm box is available for £59.99 and can actually mount behind the TV, so all that's left is teaching your family how to use it -- good luck with that.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

AMD's flagship Phenom X4 9950 BE announced: Intel laughs, points

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/323811069/

Filed under: Desktops

AMD just pranced out its latest trio of desktop processors including its new 2.6GHz quad-core Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition ($235) -- AMD's top o' the line desktop proc. The Black Edition branding makes this processor ideal for tweakers and overclockers. HotHardware's already done the job of putting the procs through their respective paces. As you'd hope from AMD's flagship desktop CPU, the X4 9950 is faster across the board than the previous AMD title holder, the X4 9850, albeit, just 5%. That puts it about level with Intel's Quad Q6600 processor but no match for Intel's Core 2 Extreme QX9650. AMD continues to lag Intel in terms of performance per watt as well. Hit up the read link when you're ready to sprinkle a little silicon speak onto your morning ritual.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Major tech companies joining forces to create massive patent shell company

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/323935523/

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Yeah, we hate patent trolls as much as anyone, but the Wall Street Journal says that a group of major tech companies have created a patent shield organization to fend off trolls that sounds to us like it'll eventually just be an even worse troll. The foundation, called the Allied Security Trust, will take $250,000 in buy-in money and $5M in escrow from member companies -- Verizon, Google, Ericsson, HP, and Cisco are apparently the founding corporations -- and use it to buy up patents to prevent future litigation. After a member company buys a patent, it will grant itself a non-exclusive license and sell it to AST, which will then license it to the other members. Of course, that means that AST will eventually own a large number of patents on common technology, which means it could very well become a aggressive patent litigant itself. Not to worry, says AST CEO Brian Hinman: the group will "never be an enforcement vehicle," and it isn't anyone's intention to "make money on the transactions." Sure, sure -- but any time players this big start putting this much potential cash on the line, we're not going to take random promises at face value. See you in Marshall, boys.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Monday, June 30, 2008

Home Floating Over the Pacific Brings Peace, Insane Envy [Architecture]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/323160049/home-floating-over-the-pacific-brings-peace-insane-envy

It may not be crazy high-tech architecture, but there's something about this Chilean home hanging over the Pacific—the breathtaking views, the clean design—that has me glued to the screen with a mixed feeling of complete awe, peace, and envy.

Divided in three floors, Casa 11 Mujeres (House 11 Women, named like that because it was designed for a family with 11 daughters, ages four to twenty) was built with bare concrete with wood floors, glass, and steel on a 45 degree slope looking down Cachagua beach, 87 miles north of Santiago de Chile. The bottom floor contains shared spaces, while the second level has the daughters bedrooms—all overlooking the sea—, and the top floor has the master bedroom, kitchen, living room, and dining room.

I don't know about the 11 daughters part, but sign me up for the rest. [Dezeen]

Mitsubishi's new iSP 149 series LCDs have it all in one place

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/322964353/

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

If you're a lazy ass consumer (the very best kind), bent on pulling a device out of the box, plugging it into a wall, and never messing with another bit of "setup" again, you're certainly not alone. In fact, most folks never lift a finger to calibrate their displays, plug better speakers in, or place those speakers in actually advantageous spots. To that end, Mitsubishi is debuting its new LT-46149 and LT-52149 LCDs with integrated 16-speaker sound projectors. Similar to the sound bars offered up by many home audio manufacturers, the "Integrated Sound Projector" (iSP) is designed to bounce sound off walls and around the room to give the illusion of surround sound. The perk of TV integration is an easy to use room configuration on-screen tool to specify your room's dimensions, couch placement and preferred sweet spot size. At the end of the day, your sound is all coming from one spot, so directionality isn't going to quite match a for-realsie surround sound setup, and the system we listened to was a little sharp in the high end, but it's certainly a unique and appealing offering from Mitsu to the everyman TV watcher. The TV itself is CableCard ready, can support sound over HDMI and PCM inputs, and offers Mitsu's 120Hz film dejuddering -- that rather awkwardly makes your favorite films look like they were shot by a TV news crew. The 46-inch and 52-inch LCDs will sell for $3,299 and $3,699, respectively.

Gallery: Mitsubishi's new iSP 149 series LCDs have it all in one place