Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Intel demonstrates Light Peak on a laptop, says 10Gbps speeds are only the beginning

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/intel-demonstrates-light-peak-on-a-laptop-says-10gbps-speeds-ar/

Folks in Brussels for Intel's European research showcase got to get their hands on the company's Light Peak this week, with the first demonstration of the optical cable technology running on a laptop. Outfitted with a 12mm square chip that converts the optical signal into data the machine can read, two separate HD video streams were piped to a nearby TV, which displayed them with the help of a converter box -- a necessary evil until the Light Peak chips are developed for the display side of things. According to Justin Rattner, Intel's CTO, the current 10Gb / second speeds are just the beginning. "We expect to increase that speed dramatically. You'll see multiple displays being served by a single Light Peak connection. There's almost no limit to the bandwidth -- fibers can carry trillions of bits per second."

Intel demonstrates Light Peak on a laptop, says 10Gbps speeds are only the beginning originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 May 2010 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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B-Cycle: the GPS-Equipped Bike Sharing System I Want Right Now [Bikes]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5530730/b+cycle-the-gps+equipped-bike-sharing-system-i-want-right-now

Denver is the first city to be hope to B-cycle, a Trek-developed bike sharing system equipped with awesome goodies like GPS route tracking.

How does it work? Well, there are B-cycle stations all around Denver. Once you have an account, you can grab a bike from any of them. When you're done, you can then drop it off at any other station. The GPS unit inside the bike (there's no nav screen, it's hidden inside the bike itself) tracks your route and lets you check it out online when you're signed in.

It's a pretty awesome idea, with custom bikes made just for the system by Trek. It's pretty reasonably priced, too, with a single day costing $5 and a year costing $65, plus daily hourly usage fees.

They're currently finishing the details on the next batch of cities, although they're mum on what those cities will be. You can vote for your city on their site if you want to try to get it near you.

(I was told that in order to bring the system to NYC, they need a whole lot of grassroots support and people asking the city for this. Selfishly, I want that to happen. So start harassing Bloomberg about it! Let's make this happen!) [B-cycle]

Zotac's ZBOX HD-ID11 tiptoes into the wild, should ship soon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/zotacs-zbox-hd-id11-tiptoes-into-the-wild-should-ship-soon/

When you've got a footprint of just 7.4- x 7.4- x 1.73-inches, it's hard to make too big of an impression. That said, Zotac's new ZBOX looks to be just the thing for those scouting a diminutive HTPC or bedroom machine that can handle the best Glee re-runs and all of that YouTube HD footage that your long-lost siblings continue to email you from the wilds of Wisconsin. Originally launched back in March, this pint-sized PC is just now starting to make its way out to reviewers, which hopefully means that it's ever closer to shipping to end users, too. The benchmarking lords over at Hot Hardware took the time to unbox and preview the device, giving you the opportunity to wade through a gallery of images while it undergoes all sorts of torture. Head on down and have a look if an Ion-based machine that can fit inside your shoebox sounds even marginally appealing.

Zotac's ZBOX HD-ID11 tiptoes into the wild, should ship soon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 May 2010 11:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS ships $400 Eee PC Seashell 1005PR, complete with Broadcom Crystal HD chip

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/asus-ships-400-eee-pc-seashell-1005pr-complete-with-broadcom-c/

You've waited long enough, and now it's finally time for you to treat yourself to the HD-savvy netbook you've been craving. You deserve it. You really do. Motivational speeches aside, ASUS would sure love for you to feel that way, as the company's Eee PC Seashell 1005PR has finally departed the "coming soon" stage -- according to ASUS, anyway. Amazon's product page still indicates that stock is incoming, but it seems as if the 10.1-inch machine should be filtering out to various sales channels as we speak. In case you've forgotten, $399.99 nets you an Intel Atom N450 processor, 250GB hard drive, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, a battery good for "11 hours" of life, a 1,366 x 768 resolution panel and Broadcom's Crystal HD accelerator. Kind of sells itself, no?

ASUS ships $400 Eee PC Seashell 1005PR, complete with Broadcom Crystal HD chip originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 May 2010 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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