Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, September 01, 2008

Texas Instruments' Pico projector prototype caught on tape

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/379672858/

Filed under: Displays

Our friends at Engadget Spanish got a look at Texas Instruments' DLP Pico projector, which both Optoma and Toshiba have expressed interest in. The little unit pumps out a WVGA (we think) 1000:1 image, which they found quite satisfactory, in addition to 0.5 watts of sound. The built-in battery should run the thing for a couple of hours. Action-packed video after the break, en español!

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CTL releasing Atom-powered 2go nettop for $149

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/379867944/

Filed under: Desktops

CTL, the same cats who brought us the 2go PC laptop, are apparently working up an equally cheap and not-exactly-flashy nettop PC. The 2go PC Nettop will reportedly range in price from $149 to $299 depending on specifications, and the baseline model will feature Intel's DG945GCLF motherboard, Intel's Atom 230 processor, 1GB of Kingston DDR2 RAM, a GMA 950 graphics accelerator, support for one HDD and one optical drive, six USB 2.0 ports and an Ethernet jack. The Essential Plus Edition ($199) adds in Ubuntu and an 80GB 7,200RPM hard drive (while slashing RAM to 512MB); the $299 Essential Performance Edition comes with Windows XP Home, a 160GB hard drive and 1GB of memory. There's no word just yet on when the 4.5-pound boxes will be released, but we'd expect 'em to surface pretty quietly.

[Thanks, Nate]

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LG's 42- / 50-inch PG6900 plasma packs built-in 160GB hard drive

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/380260742/

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

While we new LG had a pair of DVR-packin' plasmas lined up, nothing was officially official until now. The 42- and 50-inch PG6900 plasmas were designed to hold up to 86-hours of programming (SD, we assume) on its 160GB of internal hard drive space, and the 8-day EPG should give you a pretty decent view of what's coming on in the near future. Additionally, you'll find a 30,000:1 contrast ratio, Energy Star compliance, a DVB-T tuner (plus an analog tuner), three HDMI 1.3 ports, 100Hz refresh rate and integrated speakers which are said to be "invisible." Look for these to pop up soon (at least in Europe) for $1,799 and up.

[Via Gizmag]

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Raon Digital Everun Note gets a price, brochure

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/380789549/

Filed under: Laptops

Raon Digital hasn't exactly been keeping many secrets about its Everun Note "UMPC notebook," but it's now finally dropped the veil of mystery around one of the biggest still remaing: the price, and it's also now detailed everything else in convenient brochure form. As UMPC Portal reports, the Everun Note will boast a suggested retail price of $879, which puts it well below the likes of the VAIO UX but considerably more than your average netbook, which it also kinda, sorta competes with. Oh, the perils of bucking the usual product categories. Hit up the read link below for the full brochure.

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Stanford's autonomous helicopters learn new tricks by watching

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/380878802/

Filed under: Robots

While a great many scientists are attempting to create autonomous bots for uses in surgery, a team of Stanford whiz-kids are having a bit more fun with it all. The crew in question has concocted an artificial intelligence system that "enables robotic helicopters to teach themselves to fly difficult stunts by watching other helicopters perform the same maneuvers." Dubbed a demonstration in "apprenticeship learning," the robots can actually learn by observing rather than having to be programmed, meaning that entire airshows could be reeled off by planes that simply keep an open mind when warm-ups are underway. Of course, they could also be used for more serious applications -- mapping out hot spots of California wildfires, finding land mines in war zones, etc. -- but even if none of that pans out, we're cool with inventions being used purely for entertainment.

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