Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Firefox 4 Beta 7 Is Nearly Complete and Much Speedier [Video]

Windows/Mac/Linux: Firefox 4 Beta 7 is out, and it's an impressive preview of the final release. Mozilla has let loose the JaegerMonkey engine, enabled hardware graphics acceleration on Windows and Mac, and integrated Sync and the awesome Panorama/"Tab Candy".

Mozilla says their JaegerMonkey compiler, combined with their other improvements, leaves Firefox 4 with a seriously impressive engine for rendering web pages and interpreting webapps and games. Their chart of three benchmark tests, including their own, shows what looks like some serious improvements, at least over their previous releases (and we can't wait to put them to the test):

In a demonstration video, Team Firefox makes the case more clear for how JavaScript performance can speed along tomorrow's webapps:

Firefox 4 Beta 7 Is Nearly Complete and Much Speedier

In addition to the raw code and horsepower additions, Mozilla also notes the inclusion of hardware-based graphics acceleration in this beta, along with more obvious integration of previous experiments like Sync, Pannorama, and App Tabs.

Firefox 4 Beta 7 is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. Download it, give it a spin, and tell us what you think of the new browser and its liquored-up simian core.

Fasten Your Seatbelts – Firefox 4 Beta adds new JavaScript power and faster graphics [The Mozilla Blog]

Crazy Android Keyboard App 8pen is Now Free [Android Apps]

Crazy Android Keyboard App 8pen is Now Free A week of sales in Android's Market at $1.50 either went so well for 8pen that they could afford to give it away for free...or it was their only option due to lack of downloads.

I had a very brief play with it last week after I ran into Gizmodo reader Adrian on the train. Tracing various figure-8s on his Hero's screen wasn't the most intuitive way to type, I felt—and in fact, I struggled to string a single word together. Maybe a longer stab at it would've been more successful—some of you downloaded it last week and seemed to like it, but most said they would'nt replace Swype or SwiftKey with it.

Anyway, it's now free (and includes a long list of updates such as voice input, dictionary support and themes), so if you were hemming and hawing over paying a buck fifty (or 99p) for the app, have a go and let us know in the comments below. It works on any Android phone running 1.6 or higher. [8pen via Phandroid via EuroDroid]

Can a PC Be Upgraded Forever? [PCs]

This little aluminum computer has one big goal: To be the last PC you will ever need. That's what the manufacturer claims: The Xi3 Modular's three boards will allow you to upgrade it forever. Maybe. I just like the color.

The tiny Xi3 Modular has one board with two AMD Athlon 64 processors and the RAM, while two I/O boards handle all connectivity and input/output requirements. They say that, by changing these boards you can "upgrade this computer forever" to save money and resources. Nice intentions, Captain Planet, but many computer manufacturers have tried the same approach only to discover that their modular technology always gets outdated, rendering their whole upgrade strategy into a broken pencil: Pointless.

Still, it's a nice little computer which is designed to be mounted anywhere. It comes with dual display support with 1080p DVI, VGA, HDMI, LVDS and DP output, plus 6 USB and 2 SATA Ports, Xi3p and PCIe, and it's available in limited quantities for $849. [XI3 via BusinessWire]

Open source Kinect camera driver now available for download

This is a little confusing, but it looks like there's another Kinect driver out in the wild, and this one is actually available for download. The folks at NUI Group, who posted results first, are working on an SDK and Windows driver for all the capabilities of the device, which they plan to release as open source once their $10k donation fund is filled up. Meanwhile, hacker Hector Martin has performed a quick and dirty hack of his own (three hours into the European launch, no less) and has released his results and code into the wild. Sure, pulling data from the IR and RGB cameras and displaying it is a lot different than actually making sense of it, but if you're just looking for a way to plug your Kinect into your computer and squeeze some fun visuals out of it (and you're smart enough to deal with some pretty raw code), it looks like Hector is your man of the hour. Peep his video proof after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Open source Kinect camera driver now available for download

Open source Kinect camera driver now available for download originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony's 'affordable' PMW-F3 Super 35mm camcorder announced, still not priced

When Sony announced it was working on an "affordable" pro-level 35mm camcorder, we knew that would be a very relative term. Now the company has finally unveiled the thing, though it's apparently still deciding just how affordable it's going to be. A price is not yet set, said to be low enough for "indie" filmmakers and others lacking major production house funding, but we have other details on the upcoming PMW-F3, like its 35mm CMOS sensor with recording modes of 1080p at frame rates ranging from 1 up to 60, with stops at important speeds like 23.98 and 59.94. The body can be purchased alone or there's a PL kit that includes 35, 50, and 85mm prime lenses. Again, no cost is known at this point, but expect the MSRP to be closer to Volkswagen than Vaio.

Gallery: Sony PMW-F3