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Friday, May 28, 2010

Autonomous quadrocopter flies through windows, straight into our hearts (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/28/autonomous-quadrocopter-flies-through-windows-straight-into-our/

We don't know whether we should be terrified or overjoyed. We've just come across a video demo from the University of Pennsylvania's GRASP Lab that shows an autonomous quadrotor helicopter performing "precise aggressive maneuvers." And trust us when we say, nothing in the foregoing sentence is an overstatement -- the thing moves with the speed and grace of an angry bee, while accompanied by the perfectly menacing whine of its little engine. See this work of scientific art in motion after the break.

[Thanks, William]

Continue reading Autonomous quadrocopter flies through windows, straight into our hearts (video)

Autonomous quadrocopter flies through windows, straight into our hearts (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 04:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel mulling WebM hardware acceleration in Atom CE4100 chip

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/28/intel-mulling-webm-hardware-acceleration-in-atom-ce4100-chip/

Hey Google, shall we try the other box? Maybe it has hardware acceleration built in for your new WebM video format? Intel's Wilfred Martis has told IDG News that his company is keeping a close eye on Google's new VP8-based format, and should it prove popular enough, hardware acceleration for it will be built into the CE4100 and other Atom chips headed to TVs and overpowered cable boxes in the future:

Just like we did with other codecs like MPEG2, H.264 & VC1, if VP8 establishes itself in the Smart TV space, we will add it to our [hardware] decoders.

Not exactly astonishing news, as Google TV is still likely to proceed on those chips with WebM getting decoded by software in the mean time, but at least Intel's absenteeism from the WebM hardware partner list can now be explained as simple precaution, rather than some deeper division between the companies.

Intel mulling WebM hardware acceleration in Atom CE4100 chip originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 06:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia sells just 100,000 N900s after first five months: so?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/28/nokia-sells-just-100-000-n900s-after-first-five-months-so/

Look, the N900 might be sitting at the top of Nokia's handset pyramid in terms of capabilities, but as we've said all along, the N900 is not a mass-market device. Nokia's been very clear that the N900 was launched as a means to strengthen its Maemo development community (on the path to MeeGo we now know). And by all accounts, it's done just that while winning a rabid fanbase of nerds in the process. Nevertheless, Reuters uses Gartner's estimate of less than 100,000 units sold in the device's first five months as proof that Nokia can't mount a challenge to RIM and Apple. True the numbers are paltry compared to the 8.75 million iPhones Apple sold from January to March. But a more apt comparison might be the oft noted Nexus One sales that reached just 135k units moved after 74 days. Regardless, in its defense, Alberto Torres, head of Nokia's solutions business said that "Sales have substantially exceeded expectations." So yeah, Nokia has problems, but the N900 ~~isn't~~ wasn't one of them.

Nokia sells just 100,000 N900s after first five months: so? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 05:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Comcast to offer Extreme 105Mbps broadband package starting in June?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/comcast-to-offer-extreme-105mbps-broadband-package-starting-in-j/

We've had the megahertz and megapixels races, now how about a megabits per second contest? A Comcast customer has posted a note from his latest bill online, showing a new Extreme 105 service that will puportedly be launching on June 1. You'll need to obtain an Arris WBM760 cable modem to make it work, while also ponying up $249 for installation and $200 each month thereafter, but such is the price of sailing in the mostly unexplored waters of 105Mbps downstream and 10Mbps upstream speeds. Guess that will have to do until Google rolls out that gigabit fiber network later this year.

Comcast to offer Extreme 105Mbps broadband package starting in June? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 08:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony's rollable OLED display can wrap around a pencil, our hearts (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/sonys-rollable-oled-display-can-wrap-around-a-pencil-our-heart/

Nothing says "future" quite like a rollable display. Today Sony's giving us a glimpse into what will one day be with its 80μm-thick organic TFT-driven OLED display. The 4.1-inch display integrates Sony organic thin-film transistors and OLED technology onto a flexible 20μm substrate lacking any rigid driver IC chips. As such it can be wrapped around a cylinder with a 4-mm minimum radius. Display specs include a 432 x 240 pixel resolution (121ppi) supporting 16M colors while exceeding 100nits brightness and a 1,000:1 contrast. It's still research, but it's clearly advancing towards product... someday. See it in action after the break.

Continue reading Sony's rollable OLED display can wrap around a pencil, our hearts (video)

Sony's rollable OLED display can wrap around a pencil, our hearts (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 02:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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