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Friday, January 16, 2009

Emperor Workstation Priced at $40,000 [Workstation]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/RiP18IDsouM/emperor-workstation-priced-at-40000

It's has been quite a while since we last heard about the Emperor Workstation, and everyone had to wonder how much this thing was going to cost. Well, try $40,000.

If that figure sent a shudder through your spine, I'm assuming, like most of us, that you could in no way afford this. For everyone else, this three-headed beast with THX 5.1 surround sound, air filtering, light therapy and touchscreen controls is available now. [NovelQuest via Gizmag]

Secrets of the Vaio P [Designmodo]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/RuepTvBMFGk/secrets-of-the-vaio-p

Engadget Chinese took the time to interview the Vaio P's designer, Takuma Tomoaki, who sheds light on secrets of the super-widescreen LCD and never before seen accessories.

Tomoaki said the entire design of the Vaio P was based around the keyboard, which is roughly 90% the size of the VAIO TT keyboard. Tomoaki called this the smallest usable keyboard possible, and the rest of the shape was based around this, including the Vaio P's 120mm depth.

This is what birthed the 1600x768 screen, which apparently packs such a high resolution because it's intended for native 720p playback. ORLY?!. Last time I checked, the Vaio P could barely playback standard video, let alone HD. A larger screen was actually planned too, but those pesky wi-fi, 3G and Bluetooth antennas got in the way.

The top panel of the Vaio P is an aluminum alloy, the middle is plastic and the bottom panel is carbon fiber.

Tomoaki says there are plans to integrate functionality the Vaio P with that of the Playstation and Walkman line of products. He didn't say much beyond that, but I'd guess it'd have to do with media related features.

There are plenty of other details in the interview apparently (translate at your own risk), such as aborted plans to manufacture a line of accessories which, I kid you not, included a leather Vaio P fanny pack, and a white furry wallet. Yikes. [Engadget Chinese via Engadget]

Java-based Bolt Joining the Mobile Browser Wars, Doesn't Look Horrible [Mobile Browsers]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/eD2DvaS3gTU/java+based-bolt-joining-the-mobile-browser-wars-doesnt-look-horrible

Bitstream is working on a mobile browser called Bolt, based on WebKit and compatible with pretty much any J2ME-compatible handset (read: almost everything). CrackBerry ran it through its paces, and it looks promising.

The version you see above is for BlackBerry, though functionality should be almost identical between platforms. Like Skyfire of Opera Mini, Bolt performs a good deal of page optimization server-side, meaning that it's fast. In fact, compared to the Bold's stock browser, it's really fast. Rendering accuracy looks about as good as any other WebKit-based mobile browser (Safari, Chrome, S60 default browser) but appears significantly snappier than its competition.

Bolt is in a private beta for now, but you can request an invite here.

J2ME is nearly ubiquitous, barring the obvious iPhone/G1 exceptions. That means Bolt will run fine on your BlackBerry, S60 and Windows Mobile phones, among many others. [CrackBerry]

Laser Hard Drive boasts 1Tbits/s access time, doesn't exist yet

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/15/laser-hard-drives-boast-1tbits-s-access-time-doesnt-exist-yet/

Whenever we uncover promising new research into lasers, we can generally be sure that it will sound really awesome, and that it will be a long time before it trickles down to the consumer electronics scene (if ever). That said, research into light powered computing has shown considerable promise -- with some folks estimating that commercial laser-drive hybrids (with picosecond pulse lasers doing the work that magnetic read/write heads once did -- something considered impossible until very recently) will be available in five years time. Although the first drives will only achieve a humble 1 TBits/s, in the future we might see femtosecond-based laser drives reaching speeds beyond 100TBits/s. And you know what they say... that's a lot of terabits.

Filed under: Storage

Laser Hard Drive boasts 1Tbits/s access time, doesn't exist yet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dream G2 doesn't get the irony of ripping off an open-source OS

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/15/dream-g2-doesnt-get-the-irony-of-ripping-off-an-open-source-os/

So we guess we gave Sciphone too much credit when we thought its G2 was running real, actual, genuine Android. "Why would anyone ape the user interface," we thought, "when the codebase is available to whomever wants it?" Silly us! Turns out the G2's guts have absolutely nothing to do with Android other than the fact that the UI does a commendable job of looking like the real thing, though the presence of a stylus gives credibility to its KIRF roots. The hardware (which even gets a "Google" logo on the back) actually doesn't look that bad -- and it's loaded with some apps that you won't find on a G1 -- but we'll hedge our bets and wait for a new HTC, thank you very much.

[Via Android Central]

Continue reading Dream G2 doesn't get the irony of ripping off an open-source OS

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds