Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Averatec introduces 25.5-inch D1200 all-in-one PC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/09/averatec-introduces-25-5-inch-d1200-all-in-one-pc/


Nah, it's no netbook, but it's certainly more than a rumor. Averatec has just cut loose details on its newest machine, a 25.5-inch PC / TV combo that looks to take on the likes of MSI's AE1900. The D1200 all-in-one PC comes equipped with a hybrid digital / analog TV tuner and supports buttery smooth 1080p playback. Specs wise, you'll find a 2.5GHz dual-core E5200 processor, 320GB hard drive, 4GB of memory and Vista Home Premium (64-bit). There's also an 8x DVD burner, 2 megapixel webcam, WiFi, gigabit Ethernet, Intel's G4500HD graphics, a wireless remote and a panel that's either WXGA or 1,920 x 1,200, depending on which version of the rundown you read. At any rate, it's up for order as we speak for a buck under $1,000.

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Averatec introduces 25.5-inch D1200 all-in-one PC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 8:35 PM

ExpressCard 2.0 standard finally finalized, faster than ever

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/09/expresscard-2-0-standard-finally-finalized-faster-than-ever/


A final spec has been promised for over a year now, but the PCMCIA folks have just now finally settled on the long-awaited ExpressCard 2.0 standard which, among other things, incorporates the new SuperSpeed USB spec to allow for faster transfer rates. In real world use, that should translate to transfer rates up to 5Gbps, or roughly 10 times faster than the previous ExpressCard 1.2 standard. Otherwise, you can naturally expect full backwards compatibility with existing ExpressCards and, as PCMCIA hopes, even more products using the format in the future now that it has all that extra bandwidth, although it seems Apple didn't get that memo.

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ExpressCard 2.0 standard finally finalized, faster than ever originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 8:33 PM

Nokia hopes to one-up Touchstone, harness wireless power for "ambient" phone charging

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/09/nokia-hopes-to-one-up-touchstone-harness-wireless-power-for-am/


Like a page torn right out of the government's top secret files on Nikola Tesla, a Nokia research team is working on a wireless energy harvesting mechanism, which sucks up all that cancer-giving RF floating through the air and turns it into electrical current. Their goal is about to capture about 50 milliwatts of power for "ambient charging" -- which would at least be enough to top off the battery while the phone is off. Unfortunately, right now their current prototypes are only pulling down 3 to 5 milliwatts, and many in the industry are convinced it can't be done (don't worry, Nokia, that's just The Man, keeping you down). To be honest, we're not totally sure were comfortable with the thought that there's enough RF floating around to make this even theoretically possible, but as we slowly come to grips with our own mortality, we imagine we'd gladly pay an extra $70 or so for the privilege of never having to charge our phone again. Nokia itself isn't over promising: they plan on supplementing this juice with solar power, and thinks it'll be three or four years until it makes its way into a handset -- probably around the time your existing iPhone contract dries up.

[Thanks, CanisMinor]

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Nokia hopes to one-up Touchstone, harness wireless power for "ambient" phone charging originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 8:31 PM

Fedora 11 packs a next-gen file system, faster boot times, all the joys and pitfalls of Linux

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/09/fedora-11-packs-a-next-gen-file-system-faster-boot-times-all-t/


Linux just gets sexier and sexier, and Fedora 11 just joined Ubuntu 9.04 in the ranks of super modern Linux distros released this year. Fedora doesn't have all the desktop refinements of Ubuntu, or the wild popularity, but it does act as the underpinnings of Intel's Moblin, and the Sugar OS, and doesn't shy away from the future. Fedora 11 makes the bleeding edge ext4 filesystem the default for installs, which speeds performance and improves data integrity -- Ubuntu offers ext4 as an option, but some application incompatibilities have caused data loss problems, so hopefully Fedora has overcome that. Fedora 11 also has boot times in its sights, with a goal to be at the login screen in 20 seconds, new versions of GNOME and KDE desktop environments (GNOME is default, but KDE 4.2 is looking great) and plenty of other minor and major tweaks. Sure, it's still Linux: most folks who expect to just swap out their Windows environment wholesale are sure to be sorely disappointed, but it's clear the steady march of progress continues unabated -- and hey, it's good enough for Intel and the children.

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Fedora 11 packs a next-gen file system, faster boot times, all the joys and pitfalls of Linux originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 8:30 PM

130-Megapixel Camera Made From a Run-Of-The-Mill Scanner and an Ancient Lens [Cameras]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/O9FAXdssmQ8/130+megapixel-camera-made-from-a-run+of+the+mill-scanner-and-an-ancient-lens

The idea of a scanner-made camera is nothing super new, but concocting one which snaps photos at 130-megapixels is pretty amazing. That's exactly what some Japanese dude with a touch of tech know-how accomplished.

Spyuge, the amateur photographer responsible for this DIY gem, says that he took a 1200 dpi Epson GT-S620 scanner, and an old Canon FD 50mm lens, fusing the two together to produce this. He said he chose that particular scanner because it has a CCD sensor, uses a camera-like lens of its own and uses LED lighting. In some of the shots, there's obviously noticeable noise even at 800 or 1024 res, but all things considered, these photos are more than respectable.

Bouncing Red Ball also has a close-up zoom to show what kind of detail the camera setup can produce (SPOILER: it's not shabby at all). For the few brave ones out there, you can also check out a full-resolution image for yourself. This is not for the faint of heart. In case you don't want to do the (relatively basic) math, a 130-megapixel image calculates out to roughly a 13,000x10,000 res! olution image.

Meanwhile the rest of us can appreciate some of the shots found in Spyuge's Flickr stream. [Spyuge via Bouncing Red Ball via Boing Boing Gadgets]




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Posted by Augustine at 7:02 AM

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