Intel's mSATA SSD 310 reviewed: a pint-size performer through and through

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/29/intels-msata-ssd-310-reviewed-a-pint-size-performer-through-an/

The forecast for speedy, razor-thin laptops is looking pretty sunny right about now, because it seems Intel's SSD 310 truly does bring the power of a full-sized solid state drive on a tiny little board. Storage Review and The SSD Review thoroughly benchmarked the tiny 80GB mSATA module this week, and found it performs even better than advertised -- easily tearing through 200MB / sec reads and 70 MB / sec writes -- which put it slightly behind Intel's legendary X25-M series but well ahead of the company's X25-V boot drives. While we're still not seeing Sandforce speeds from Intel's tried-and-true controller and 34nm silicon and they might not make Toshiba's Blade run for the hills, we can't wait to test it out in some new Lenovo ThinkPads when they integrate the SSD 310 later this year. Oh, by the way, that big green board up above isn't the drive. It's actually the tiny one on top.

Intel's mSATA SSD 310 reviewed: a pint-size performer through and through originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 16:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Olympus XZ-1 reviewed: $499 for sweet simplicity

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/30/olympus-xz-1-reviewed-499-for-sweet-simplicity-in-a-compact-sh/

We had a feeling the Olympus XZ-1 would be a winner, and Digital Photography Review seems to think so, too -- it called the 10 megapixel, full-manual point and shoot "the best photographers' compact currently available" at the end of a thorough review. Most of the praise was heaped on that F1.8-2.5 Zuiko lens, providing an "unbeaten combination of range and brightness" whose potent, detailed low-light performance was practically enough to cancel out the publication's worries about the lack of a adjustable noise reduction setting. Though the publication admitted that the camera lacked the customization of certain Micro Four Thirds cousins, it didn't miss most of the advanced controls, preferring the streamlined menus and manual dials for easy access to common adjustments. (Battery charging over USB and a dedicated movie button were also deemed nice touches.) In fact, the only major ding DPReview had for Olympus was the complete omission of auto exposure and autofocus locks for focus-and-recompose shooting, but if you're willing to snap shots using Olympus's 11 AF points and aren't looking to tote a set of expensive interchangeable lenses around, this might be the one. Dive into our source link to find out for sure.

Olympus XZ-1 reviewed: $499 for sweet simplicity originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nook Color earns its very early, very unofficial Android 3.0 Honeycomb wings

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/28/nook-color-earns-its-very-eary-very-unofficial-android-3-0-hone/

One of the first things that happens after a new platform emulator breaks loose is that a bunch of hackers far smarter than ourselves get hold of it, tear it apart, and port it to whatever's convenient. In the case of this week's Android 3.0 Honeycomb preview, "whatever's convenient" would be the Nook Color, which reigns as perhaps the cheapest decent-quality Android tablet money can currently buy. Naturally, xda-developers has a thread going on the subject as we speak; the current port is said to be really slow and mostly broken -- but then again, that kind of describes the current state of the emulator itself. Good news is that the developer says he plans on working on graphics acceleration to improve performance over the weekend, so with any luck, the Xoom might have some unofficial competition before too long. Follow the break for another shot.

[Thanks, s30zgt]

Continue reading Nook Color earns its very early, very unofficial Android 3.0 Honeycomb wings

Nook Color earns its very early, very unofficial Android 3.0 Honeycomb wings originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Qwiki Is Like a Mini, Visually-Rich Wikipedia That Reads to You [Webapp]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5744339/qwiki-is-like-a-mini-visually+rich-wikipedia-that-reads-to-you

Qwiki is a new webapp that helps you learn about virtually anything, but aims to inform you quickly by reading the articles to you while showing you a slideshow of pictures while you listen.

Qwiki was announced awhile back but just launched to the public—as an alpha release—this week. When I first heard about it I thought it sounded kind of stupid—why do I need a web site to read to me, especially in a computerized voice?—but after giving it a try you'll come to see what it's compelling. It doesn't hurt that it's nice to look at (the format of the slideshows are especially creative), but each article is so concise yet sufficiently informative that you can brush up on any topic in about a minute and actually feel like you know a fair amount about it. It's one of those things you have to try.

Of course, it's not perfect. The page on George Orwell is far more compelling than, say, the page on Lifehacker. This is primarily because there's only one picture of the Lifehacker site and several pictures related to George Orwell (and other featured topics). The difference really demonstrates how effective the slideshow can be. Their computerized voice also needs a little work on her pronunciations, as I imagine Jizmodo would be a very different kind of blog. Again, it's an alpha release, so we should see improvements and more content as time goes on. Right now, it's pretty cool and definitely worth a look.

Qwiki

You can contact Adam Dachis, the author of this post, at adachis@lifehacker.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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Toshiba Used Nano-Technology For This Color-Changing Laptop [Laptops]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5745828/toshiba-used-nano+technology-for-this-color+changing-laptop

Considering most of Toshiba's laptops have a design only their R&D department can love, they must've turned to the mood rings of yesteryear for styling inspiration with their Dynabook Qosmio T750. Supposedly it's the first-ever color-changing laptop.

Unfortunately it doesn't change color like a chameleon, but instead uses nano-technology for the metallic look, which changes from green through to blue and then purple. The effect was achieved without using any metal, making it kinder to the environment according to Toshiba.

Under all that gloss, there are some powerful components ticking away to ensure it's got brains as well as beauty: there's a 2.66GHz Intel Core i5-480M, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, plus a 750GB HDD. The laptop itseld measures 15.6-inches, and has a 1366 x 768 resolution screen. For now, it's only available to our Japanese friends. [JapanToday via The Earth Times and RegHardware - Thanks, Yogesh!]

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