Akamai sees internet speeds climb, Asia still dominates broadband arms race

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/26/akamai-sees-internet-speeds-climb-asia-still-dominates-broadban/

Akamai's annual State of the Internet report is loaded with all sorts of interesting, if not terribly surprising, tidbits about both broad and narrowband connections around the globe. The big news? The world-wide average connection speed has jumped 23-percent from last year, to 2.1Mbps. Speeds in the good ol' US-of-A were up 15-percent for an average of 5.3Mbps, though we still languish in 14th place on the list of fastest countries. As expected, Asia continues to dominate the speed race, with 61 cities in Japan alone making the top 100 list. If you want the fastest connections the States have to offer you'll have to head for San Jose or Riverside in CA or the home of the Wu (that's Staten Island for those of you not in the know), which all tied with an average 7.8Mbps connection. Check out the PR after the break and click the more coverage link to download some charts.

Continue reading Akamai sees internet speeds climb, Asia still dominates broadband arms race

Akamai sees internet speeds climb, Asia still dominates broadband arms race originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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These Women Are Wearing Clothes Made of Real Milk [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5824826/these-women-are-wearing-clothes-made-of-real-milk

I'm having a hard time believing this, but these women are wearing clothes actually made with real milk. Yes, the liquid white stuff. The milk fabric was created by 28-yo German biologist and fashion designer Anke Domaske.

Domaske and her team have found a way to turn sour milk into a environment friendly yarn in a very easy and clean way. They eliminate the liquid from it, extracting a protein found that solidifies and then is ground into the threads that form the fabric. Domaske finds the whole thing fascinating, do I:

Milk is underrated because people only view it as a food-stuff. But you can make a lot more from it – milk is a wonderful, natural raw material. The special thing about milk is that is has a lovely silky feel. The fabric falls wonderfully, and it's cheaper than silk.

That's the most amazing thing to me: the clothes feel like silk, but they don't impact the environment like silk production does—which depends on pesticides and other things. This process recycles spoiled milk, which sadly exists aplenty.

She will be selling her designs for as little as $290, which is impressive considering the quality and how new the process is. [DW via The Next Web]

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Stanford researchers create transparent battery, dream of a see-through iPhone (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/26/stanford-researchers-create-transparent-battery-dream-of-a-see/

We've had about all of the transparent displays we can handle. Besides, what good is a screen you can see through if the electronics behind it are as opaque as ever? Thankfully, the fine folks at Stanford are working hard to move us towards a future filled with invisible gadgets. Yi Cui and Yuan Yang led a team that have created a lithium-ion battery that appears transparent. In actuality, the cells are composed of a very fine mesh of electrodes, approximately 35-microns wide, that are small enough to appear invisible to the naked eye. The resulting power packs are cheap and flexible but, currently, can only store about half as much energy as a traditional Li-ion battery. Cui has a particular destination in mind for creation, as he told the college paper, "I want to talk to Steve Jobs about this. I want a transparent iPhone!" Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Stanford researchers create transparent battery, dream of a see-through iPhone (video)

Stanford researchers create transparent battery, dream of a see-through iPhone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Clearwire announces $99 Clear Spot 4G Apollo hotspot

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/25/clearwire-announces-99-clear-spot-4g-apollo-hotspot/

We just spotted it at the FCC earlier this month, and Clear customers will now soon be able to get their hands on the company's new Clear Spot 4G Apollo mobile hotspot. Clearwire announced today that the device will be available for $99 (or leased for $6 a month) in "late July," which should mean any day now unless our calendars are off. Built by Gemtek, the hotspot allows for up to eight simultaneous connections, and promises up to six hours of continuous use from its built-in rechargeable battery -- plans to go along with it start $35 a month, with unlimited mobile data running you $45/month (with no long-term contract, of course). Press release is after the break.

Continue reading Clearwire announces $99 Clear Spot 4G Apollo hotspot

Clearwire announces $99 Clear Spot 4G Apollo hotspot originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple patent application takes the hard keys out of the keyboard, promises a flat surface solution

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/25/apple-patent-application-takes-the-hard-keys-out-of-the-keyboard/

Apple's giving us a patent application peek into its post-PC future, and it looks like hard keys will be so 2008. The recently revelead filing shows off a virtual, flat keyboard concept for Cupertino's line of non-iOS products that flirts with metal, plastic and glass form factors. Using a combination of piezoelectrics, haptic feedback and acoustic pulse recognition, these prospective designs will be able to detect your finger-pounding surface input. If you're the fast-typing kind, you're probably wondering how your digits will recognize the keys sight unseen. Well, there's a few workarounds for that. In its metal and plastic iterations, Jobs and co. plan to stamp or micro-perforate the layout into place, while their glass counterpart would receive a graphical overlay. The application also promises an LED-lit display for hard to see conditions and the inclusion of capactive sensors to enable multi-touch functions, so you avoid e.e. cummings-style emails. Of course, applications aren't necessarily indicative of a surefire product, but those interested in tickling their imagination can give the source link a look.

Apple patent application takes the hard keys out of the keyboard, promises a flat surface solution originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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