Toshiba launches 14.6 megapixel CMOS sensor with backside illumination for cellphones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/27/toshiba-launches-14-6-megapixel-cmos-sensor-with-backside-illumi/

Backside illumination may sound like something a proctologist would use in a poorly-lit examining room, but it's actually a re-imagining of the CMOS sensor that brings the photodiodes closer to the action, thus delivering brighter images from smaller packaging. OmniVision and Sony both have their takes on the tech and now Toshiba is putting it into a 14.6 megapixel sensor for cellphones and compact cameras. The company claims light absorption is boosted by 40%, resulting in bright pictures despite the high-density 1/2.3-inch sensor. Early production will begin before the end of the year but manufacturing lines won't start firing en masse until sometime next summer, meaning yet another dark and murky winter of dark and murky pictures.

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

Toshiba launches 14.6 megapixel CMOS sensor with backside illumination for cellphones originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Build The Spirit Radio That Creeped Out Tesla Himself [DIY]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/_NtzD2luDYU/build-the-spirit-radio-that-creeped-out-tesla-himself

Tesla's Spirit Radio uses a simple crystal radio circuit connected to a computer sound-in jack to generate spooky sounds from all kinds of electromagnetic sources. As you will see, it creeped the hell out of Tesla himself.

"My first observations positively terrified me as there was present in them something mysterious, not to say supernatural, and I was alone in my laboratory at night."
- Nikola Tesla 1901

"The sounds I am listening to every night at first appear to be human voices conversing back and forth in a language I cannot understand. I find it difficult to imagine that I am actually hearing real voices from people not of this planet. There must be a more simple explanation that has so far eluded me."
- Nikola Tesla 1918

Is it science or the supernatural? Check out the video to see what the radio is capable of and, if your are so inclined, build one and decide for yourself. Needless to say, this would be a hit at a Halloween party. Hit the link for a complete set of instructions. [Instructables]

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Brother, NEC look to invade your retinas next year

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/26/brother-nec-look-to-invade-your-retinas-next-year/

Brother may spend a big chunk of its time on things like printers and sewing machines, but it's also quietly been working on some decidedly more futuristic products, and it may just be set to deliver on one of them. While it wasn't offering much in the way of specifics the last time we heard about its retina display technology, Brother now seems to have a fully developed, fully functional prototype (pictured above), and it says it plans to commercialize the glasses sometime "next year." Naturally, there are a few considerable limitations compared to more traditional displays, but the company's as yet unnamed goggles do promise to beam an 800 x 600 image directly into your retina that'll appear as a 10-centimeter wide image floating about one meter in front of them -- which is certainly no small feat, even if it may not be the most practical one. Slightly less specific, but also working on a retina display of its own is NEC, which apparently hopes to incorporate a microphone into their display and use it as a real-time translation device that would quite literally display subtitles as you talk to someone. Ambitious, to be sure, but NEC is also saying it hopes to get it on the market in 2010.

Read - Register Hardware, "Brother creates direct retinal imaging specs"
Read - Far East Gizmos, "NEC develops Worlds first retina-display translation Eyeglasses"

[Via Popular Science]

Filed under: Displays, Wearables

Brother, NEC look to invade your retinas next year originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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eviGroup's Pad is a 10-inch 3G tablet with personality

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/26/evigroups-pad-is-a-10-inch-3g-tablet-with-personality/

Time to freshen up the old netbook market with a dash of Windows 7, a pinch of touchscreen functionality, and a generous helping of... Seline10? eviGroup, the crew responsible for the attractive 5-inch Wallet MID, has announced the 10.2-inch Pad, whose pièce de résistance is the Seline10 artificial intelligence software that's been in development for a decade, if you can believe it. Its purpose is to act as your secretary / assistant, and while the novelty's good, we all know how well Clippy worked out. Fret not though, it's just an optional extra and shouldn't detract from the appeal of a device that offers 3G and a/b/g WiFi connectivity, one VGA and three USB ports, multicard reader, webcam, microphone, and the old faithful 1.6GHz of Atom power. A price of under €500 is being touted, with further details set to emerge over the coming days.

Filed under: Handhelds

eviGroup's Pad is a 10-inch 3G tablet with personality originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/26/intels-ssd-toolbox-firmware-update-promise-boost-in-performan/

We won't say that we love products leaving the oven before they're completely done, but we do adore gratis firmware updates that better a product even after you've purchased it. That being said, we're actually stoked that Intel has decided to out its second major firmware update for the second-gen 34nm X25-M SSD, and unlike the first, this one has the potential to put smiles on lots and lots (as opposed to a few) faces. The newfangled SSD Toolbox includes an SSD Optimizer for the aforementioned device, which promises to help users "more effectively monitor and manage the SSD's health." It also offers a performance boost to sequential write speeds by delivering up to 100MB/sec on the 160GB model, which represents a rather substantial 40 percent uptick over the existing firmware. The best news of all? Intel's doing more than just blowing hot air, as the benchmarking gurus over at Hot Hardware found out. Hit the read link for their eye-opening analysis.

Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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