GM shows off Terrain SUV with noise cancellation, says silence equals fuel efficiency

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/25/gm-shows-off-terrain-suv-with-noise-cancellation-says-silence-e/

GM claims its new Terrain has other SUVs beat when it comes to fuel efficiency, and they're citing active noise cancellation -- a concept near and dear to audiophiles everywhere -- as one of the driving factors that puts it 4MPG above the competition. Basically, the Terrain's enlisted a new one-touch "Eco mode" that allows its four-cylinder engine to run at a lower torque, decreasing engine speeds, and thus saving gas. The thing is, this increased fuel efficiency comes with a "low-end frequency boom," which is where the noise cancellation sets in: two microphones built in to the car's headliner detect the boom, prompting a frequency generator to pump counteracting sound waves through Terrain's speakers. Simply put, GM's just getting rid of an unpleasant hum. So a quieter car isn't necessarily a greener car, but we'll take a more fuel efficient SUV any day. If you're picking up what GM's laying down, check out the full PR after the jump.

Continue reading GM shows off Terrain SUV with noise cancellation, says silence equals fuel efficiency

GM shows off Terrain SUV with noise cancellation, says silence equals fuel efficiency originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 06:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  GM  | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

2011's new HDTVs from Samsung, Panasonic, LG start to arrive in stores, pricing leaks out

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/24/2011s-new-hdtvs-from-samsung-panasonic-lg-start-to-arrive-in/

After they strut their stuff on the CES runway the only thing left for 2011's latest & greatest HDTVs to do is take their act on the road and that's exactly what's happening. CNET's David Katzmaier has tweeted about finding a few Samsung and Panasonic models at various retailers already, though as usual it's the lower end models that are coming in first -- if you want a top of the line Panasonic VT30 instead of a 720p 3D Samsung D490 plasma (51-inch, $969), you'll have to wait. Still, it's good to ballpark what you'll have to budget and while HDGuru has followed up on previous Panasonic pricing leaks with MAP and specs for most of Samsung's line, cj1319 on AVSForum has early details on minimum advertised prices on LG's Nano LED lit LCDs & plasmas. Check the source links below for all the details,but don't expect any help from us while you're scraping together 10 g's for the 72-inch 72LZ9700 LG LCD pictured above.

2011's new HDTVs from Samsung, Panasonic, LG start to arrive in stores, pricing leaks out originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink @dkatzmaier  |  HDGuru, Samsung PN51D490A1  | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Intel Thunderbolt: a closer look

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/24/intel-thunderbolt-a-closer-look/

So what's this Thunderbolt stuff, and why is it in your new MacBook Pro? Intel just broke it down for us, and now we'll do the same for you. Simply put, Thunderbolt's a familiar-looking port, a brand-new chip, and a cord, which allows devices to pipe two data streams simultaneously -- in both directions -- over a single cable at up to 10 gigabits per second to start, primarily using PCI Express x4 for data and DisplayPort for video. The Thunderbolt controller chip -- required for the system, but Intel says it's hardware-agnostic and doesn't require an Intel processor or chipset to use -- acts as a miniature router that rapidly switches between the two bidirectional channels of data.

Sounds great, but why would you want to buy into yet another copper cord? Intel defends that Thunderbolt will be backwards and forwards-compatible depending on the cable used. Representatives explained that the basic system can work with any other PCI Express 2.0-compatible I/O system with, say, a FireWire or eSATA adapter doing the dirty work --Intel wouldn't specifically comment on USB 3.0 -- and that the port you'll find in new MacBook Pros and storage devices can actually take an optical cable when those are cost-effective enough to roll out, because Intel will eventually bake the optical transceivers into the cables themselves. In the meanwhile, you can get up to three meters of range out of a basic cable, plus a fairly generous 10 watts of power over the bus, and since Thunderbolt devices are designed to be daisy-chained, you may be able to get another three meters for each device you add on that sports a pair of the ports.

Though Intel wasn't talking about likely prices for the chips or cables in even the most general terms, Promise and LaCie had prototype devices on hand headed to the market soon -- get a peek at them and a closer look at the cable in our gallery below, and we'll have video up in a little while too.

Update: Looks like LaCie's product now has a name and vague release date: it's the LaCie Little Big Disk, coming this summer, with a pair of solid state drives inside.

Gallery: Intel Thunderbolt close-up shots

Intel Thunderbolt: a closer look originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Gmail Chat Exporter Makes Copying and Printing Chats Much Easier [Bookmarklets]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/#!5769118/gmail-chat-exporter-makes-copying-and-printing-chats-much-easier

Gmail quietly, automatically saves your chat messages, as if they were emails. That makes copying, saving, or printing multiple chats across a few days pretty difficult. Enter Gmail Chat Exporter, a bookmarklet that creates a simple text chat history with any contact.

You'll need to copy Jim Matteson's JavaScript code and create a bookmark for it (with the code as the URL). Once it's in place, click the bookmark while you've got Gmail or Google Apps mail open, and enter the name of a contact, exactly as they would appear in your Chat sidebar. Give the script a bit of time to work, as Matteson made it respectful of Google's servers. When it's all done, you'll see a text output that goes back quite a ways—but you can search out a date to find what you need.

Handy stuff. Got another way of grabbing your Google Talk chats for copying? Tell us in the comments.

Intuitive User

Read More...

Summary only...

Chrome 10 Now Lets Extensions Run in the Background [Updates]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/#!5769168/chrome-extensions-now-allowed-to-run-in-the-background

Certain extensions—like Gmail notifiers, for example—are great when your browser is running, but can't run when it's closed. Chrome's added a new feature that will let extensions stay open, even if you don't have any open browser windows.

There aren't a ton of extensions using this feature yet, but it's fairly new. We expect that just like desktop extensions, a lot of developers will be adding this feature to their extensions very soon. Essentially, it allows you to start a process and close all your Chrome windows. The process (checking your Gmail, for instance) will stay open in your system tray (or the Dock, in OS X's case), so it can keep giving you desktop notifications even when you don't have any Chrome windows open. You can also access your background-enabled apps from the system tray or dock, which is pretty handy.

This feature actually has quite a few neat possibilities. For example, it also allows Chrome apps to load content in the background too, so apps can update in real time even when they're not open. That means in theory, something like Mint—which is right now, just a bookmark to Mint.com in the Chrome Web Store—could load all that information in the background, ready for you when you open it up, no waiting required.

We're pretty interested to see what developers do with this feature now that it's out. To test it out, you can check out the countdown timer app, which will send you notifications even when you've closed all your Chrome windows. You'll need Chrome 10 for the background feature to work. Hit the link for more information.

Background: Extending Your App's Life [Google Code Labs via ReadWriteWeb]

---

You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
 

Read More...

Summary only...