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Wednesday, August 03, 2011

T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide review

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/02/t-mobile-mytouch-4g-slide-review/

Not too long ago, things were pretty simple in T-Mobile's Android land. For us (the nerds, geeks, power users, early adopters, and other misbegotten social deviants) there was the G series of phones with plain Android, culminating recently with LG's delightful G2x. If you wanted to buy your mom an Android smartphone, you'd point her at the myTouch series of handsets with custom HTC Sense-based skins, like last winter's myTouch 4G. Life got a bit more complicated with the introduction of LG's Optimus T, Samsung's Galaxy S 4G, and other devices that don't neatly fit into the carrier's grand branding scheme. Well, fear not! T-Mobile and HTC went ahead and refreshed last summer's lovely myTouch 3G Slide with a dash of dual-core tech lifted right from HTC's Sensation flagship and a bespoke 8 megapixel shooter said to be "the most advanced camera of any smartphone". Those are fighting words... so does the myTouch 4G Slide (as it's called) beat the likes of Samsung's Galaxy S II, Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc, and Nokia's N8 in terms of imaging performance? Is the sliding keyboard as pleasant to use as its predecessor? And most importantly, is this your mom's next phone? Read on for our full review.

Gallery: T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide review

Continue reading T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide review

T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SparkFun launches ProtoSnap, pre-wired Arduino kits for beginners (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/02/sparkfun-launches-protosnap-pre-wired-arduino-kits-for-beginner/

Looking to get your start in the world of Arduino programming, but having trouble with that whole circuit prototyping thing? Well, the crafty guys and gals at SparkFun have whipped up something they call ProtoSnap -- pre-wired boards with an Atmel AVR processor and a small pile of components that are ready for experimenting. When you've got your code down, the parts easily snap apart for use in a properly soldered, permanent project. There are three different kits available in the online store now, the Pro Mini ($45), the LilyPad Development Board ($60), and the LilyPad E-sewing kit ($20), the latter being an accessory pack for the LilyPad Board. Check out the gallery of goodies below, as well as the video and PR after the break.

Gallery: SparkFun ProtoSnap Kits

Continue reading SparkFun launches ProtoSnap, pre-wired Arduino kits for beginners (video)

SparkFun launches ProtoSnap, pre-wired Arduino kits for beginners (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: data centers accounted for just 1 to 1.5 percent of electricity use last year, Google claims less than 1 percent of that

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/02/report-data-centers-accounted-for-just-1-to-1-5-percent-of-elec/

You'd think, watching companies like Apple break ground on sprawling data centers, that the number of servers powering our untethered lives was on the rise. In a different decade, you might have been right. But not this one. According to a study prepared at the request of The New York Times, the number of servers in use has declined "significantly" since 2005. That's mostly because of the financial crisis of 2008, says lead researcher Jonathan G. Koomey of Stanford University, but we also can't discount the effect of more efficient technologies. What's more, he says, servers worldwide consume less energy than you might have guessed: they accounted for somewhere between 1 and 1.5 percent of global electricity use in 2010. And while Google, the king of cloud computing, has been cagey about revealing just how many servers house its treasure trove of data, the company said that of that 1 to 1.5 percent, it accounted for less than 1 percent -- meaning, just a hundredth of a percent of all the electricity consumed last year. All told, data centers' energy consumption has risen 56 percent since 2005 -- a far cry from the EPAs 2007 prediction that this figure would double by 2010, with annual costs ballooning to $7.4 billion. Then again, this slower-than-expected growth could well be temporary. Though Koomey can't specify to what extent the financial crisis and technological advancements are to blame, he insists, broadly speaking, that we're primarily seeing fallout from the economic slowdown -- a stay of execution, of sorts, for those of us rooting for energy conservation.

Report: data centers accounted for just 1 to 1.5 percent of electricity use last year, Google claims less than 1 percent of that originally appeared on Engadget on Tue , 02 Aug 2011 16:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OCZ's Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSD offers 2,800MB/sec, 500,000 IOPS, plenty of thrills

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/02/oczs-z-drive-r4-pcie-ssd-offers-2-800mb-sec-500-000-iops-pl/

Hard to believe that we spotted OCZ Technology's original Z-Drive at CeBIT 2009. Just over two full years have passed, and already we've seen the 600MB/sec claims offered on that fellow eclipsed by a few successors. Today, the latest in the line is making its debut, with the Z-Drive R4 offering 2,800MB/sec and over 500,000 IOPS with a single SuperScale controller; step up to a dualie, and you'll see 5,600MB/sec transfer rates coupled with 1.2 million input-output operations per second. Not surprisingly, this guy's aimed squarely at enterprise users -- folks who can genuinely take advantage of the speed, and are willing to pay the unpublished rates (yeah, we asked!) that go along with it. It's retaining the PCIe-based form factor, and will be shipped in two standard configurations: a half height version designed for space constrained 1U servers and multi-node rackmount servers, and a full height version. Each of those will be made available with SLC / MLC NAND flash memory, and as with all of OCZ's enterprise kit, customer-specific configurations and functionality are available upon request. Full release is after the break, big spender.

Continue reading OCZ's Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSD offers 2,800MB/sec, 500,000 IOPS, plenty of thrills

OCZ's Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSD offers 2,800MB/sec, 500,000 IOPS, plenty of thrills originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:00:00 EDT. P! lease se e our terms for use of feeds.

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Move over Skype, calling from Gmail now supports 38 languages and cheaper calls

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/02/move-over-skype-calling-from-gmail-now-supports-38-languages-an/

Kon'nichiwa, hola, and bonjour says Google, as it expands Gmail calling to support a total of 38 languages and four currencies including Euros, British pounds and Canadian / US dolla dolla bills y'all. The calling feature allows Gmail users to call landlines and mobile phones from within their Gmail browser for next to nothing, making the email center a one-stop shop for IMs, emails, video and voice calls. The year-old service is lowering its call rates to $0.10 per minute to mobile phones in the UK, France, and Germany, $0.15 per minute to Mexico, and $0.02 per minute to any number in China and India. Calling landlines is even cheaper -- which would be fantastic if you actually knew someone that still used one. The expanded language support and cheaper calls adds another piece of ammo to Google's arsenal as it goes head-to-head with Skype (which charges $0.18 - $0.25 per minute for calls to UK mobile numbers), after the company conveniently partnered with Google+'s arch nemesis for calls from within the social network. But hey, at least those late-night arguments won't cost the former nearly as much as it once did.

Continue reading Move over Skype, calling from Gmail now supports 38 languages and cheaper calls

Move over Skype, calling from Gmail now supports 38 languages and cheaper calls originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms ! for use of feeds.

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