HP's McKinney hints that a flexible display Palm device could happen

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/hps-mckinney-hints-that-a-flexible-display-palm-device-could-ha/

Speaking at MobileBeat in San Francisco today, HP's Phil McKinney chatted up the company's flexible display tech, which uses rugged Mylar-infused sheets similar to those found in solar panels and can display video while still being bistable the same way E Ink is -- in other words, it'll hold an image without power. Thankfully, this seems to be more than a pipe dream sitting in a lab somewhere, because McKinney went on to say that "these are the kinds of display technologies that will change what we think of in form factors, both in products from Palm with flexible displays, and with HP." In other words, it's entirely within the realm of reason to imagine a bendy webOS device that gingerly sips battery juice -- or stops sipping it altogether -- while you're reading the morning news. We wouldn't expect it any time soon, of course, but it's encouraging to hear a conservative industry behemoth like HP start to talk like this. In the meantime, can we just get a new Pre, guys?

Gallery: HP's flexible display at MobileBeat 2010

HP's McKinney hints that a flexible display Palm device could happen originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Revenge of the quadrocopters: now they move in packs (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/revenge-of-the-quadrocopters-now-they-move-in-packs-video/

In case you didn't find the original quadrocopter chilling enough, the GRASP Lab out of the University of Pennsylvania has gone and added a bit of cooperative logic to the recipe so that now multiple little drones can work together. Also upgraded with a "claw-like" gripper that allows it to pick up and transport objects, the newer quadrocopter can team up on its prey payload with its buddies, all while maintaining its exquisite balance and agility. Skip past the break to see it on video.

Continue reading Revenge of the quadrocopters: now they move in packs (video)

Revenge of the quadrocopters: now they move in packs (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 05:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MIT's piezoelectric fibers can act as speaker or microphone, don't mind auto-tune

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/mits-piezoelectric-fibers-can-act-as-speaker-or-microphone-don/

Piezoelectric materials work quite simply, in theory -- motion in, electricity out, or vice versa -- and since that's just how speakers and microphones transmit their sound, it's not much of a stretch to imagine someone would figure out audio on a micron scale. That someone is MIT's Yoel Fink, who's reportedly engineered a marvelous process for producing fibers that can detect and emit sound. Following up their famous work on flexible cameras, Fink's team discovered they could keep piezoelectric strands rigid enough to produce audible vibrations by inserting graphite, AKA pencil lead. Better yet, the lab process can apparently make the threads on a fairly large scale, "yielding tens of metres of piezoelectric fibre" at a single draw. The potential for fabric made from such fibers is fantastic, of course -- especially combined with this particular scientist's previous research into camera cloth.

MIT's piezoelectric fibers can act as speaker or microphone, don't mind auto-tune originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows Phone Live to offer remote wipe, location, and sync for your Windows Phone 7 device

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/windows-phone-live-to-offer-remote-wipe-location-and-sync-for/

See, Android owners don't ever lose their phones, so that's why they don't need this capability... right? Right? Hot on the heels of yesterday's news that RIM would be delivering a comprehensive remote wipe solution to BlackBerrys this year, Andy Lees is mentioning at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference today that an all-new Windows Phone Live website will figure prominently into the Windows Phone 7 equation when devices launch toward the end of 2010. It looks like the site is divided into two, arguably equally important parts: a sync function, which lets you transfer photos directly from your phone (a la Kin Studio, perhaps?), move OneNote content, synchronize contacts, and so on, and a suite of tools for dealing with a lost or stolen device -- you'll be able to remotely wipe it, locate it, lock it, or just make it ring until you drive the thief out of his gourd.

On a related note, Lees is also announcing that we'll be seeing the first volley of Windows Phone 7 devices in five languages -- English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish -- and that Windows Phone Marketplace (the Windows Phone 7 version of it, presumably) will be available in 17 countries out of the gate. That's not what we'd call global domination, of course, but you've got to start somewhere.

Windows Phone Live to offer remote wipe, location, and sync for your Windows Phone 7 device originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tokyo University's Grape-DR supercomputer is a tangled green powerhouse

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/tokyo-universitys-grape-dr-supercomputer-is-a-tangled-green-pow/

We live in an ecologically minded era, where Ford spends more time talking up the new Mustang's mpg rating than its 0 - 60 times. Appropriate, then, that supercomputers are now being rated not on ultimate speed but on speed relative to power consumption. Top of the Green500 supercomputer list is the Grape-DR, a Japanese cluster at the University of Tokyo powered by a combination of 128 Intel Core i7-920 processors and four bespoke accelerator chips. That combination enables the system to manage 815.43 megaflops per watt, a good bit higher than the 773.38 rating an IBM-based machine in Germany managed. That's quite a bit lower than the team hopes to achieve, indicating they can boost that rating by 50 percent by the end of the year. Hopefully by then they invest in some cable management. Two of our staff network engineers passed out after just glancing at the picture above. The third... well, he didn't fare so well.

Tokyo University's Grape-DR supercomputer is a tangled green powerhouse originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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