Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, October 15, 2012

Simple.TV finally starts shipping to backers, latecomers can still order for $149 and up

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/15/simple-tv-finally-starts-shipping/

The Kickstarter success known as Simple.TV had let it be known that units would start showing up at backers' doorsteps around October 10th-15th, and now those who happily invested on the project will be pleased to know the company's doing just as it promised. Meanwhile, folks who were late to the Kickstarter shindig can still grab a simplified video streamer for themselves via the outfit's site, where a Simple.TV Limited, Premier and Lifetime can be found for $149, $199 and $299, respectively. In case you need a quick refresh, the Simple.TV puck will let users watch and record live TV, which can then be easily streamed to a variety of devices -- including, as you can see above, an iPad, Mac or PC as well as Roku boxes. You'll find more info on what bundle is best suited for you at the source link below.

Filed under: Misc, Home Entertainment, HD

Simple.TV finally starts shipping to backers, latecomers can still order for $149 and up originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

Simple.TV | Email this | Comments

iOS 6 tethered jailbreak updated with official Cydia, quicker installation for your A4-packing device

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/15/ios-6-tethered-jailbreak-now-with-cydia/

The iPhone Dev-Team has just outed a new version of Redsnow that opens up iOS 6 to an official version of the sinful, definitely-not-Apple Cydia store, but you'll still have to be tethered to use it. The process is now simpler, as the latest version recognizes your already-installed iOS 6 OS and installs only the necessary jailbreak files, and Cydia is now installed automatically as well -- rather than needing a complex workaround like the last version. If you're willing to put up with the tethering and have an A4-powered iPhone 4, 3GS or gen-4 iPod touch device, the laundry list of how to do it is at the source below -- but there's always the risk of bricking, so caveat emptor, of course.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple

iOS 6 tethered jailbreak updated with official Cydia, quicker installation for your A4-packing device originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 05:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

Redmond Pie | Email this | Comments

Acer announces Aspire 5600U and 7600U all-in-ones, coming this month for $1,000 and up

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/15/acer-aspire-5600u-7600u-touchscreen-all-in-ones/

For the most part, Acer blew its Windows 8 load back at IFA and Computex, but as we're learning now, the company still had a handful of goodies left to announce. The outfit just introduced a pair of touch-friendly, Win 8-ready all-in-one desktops, the 23-inch Aspire 5600U and the 27-inch Aspire 7600U. As you can see in the press shots, the design here is fairly minimal, with an edge-to-edge display, a transparent panel at the bottom of the bezel and a thin frame measuring less than 1.4 inches thick. The machines can also tilt so that they lie at a nearly face-up 80-degree angle.

In either case, you'll get a 1080p panel, with 8GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Either machine, too, can be configured with Acer's InstantOn technology, which promises 1.5-second resume times. The 27-incher has a discrete NVIDIA GT640M GPU with 2GB of video memory, however, while the 23-inch model is stuck with integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics. Further, while they both have Core i5 CPUs, the 5600U has a 2.4GHz 3110M, while the 7600U has a 3210M, clocked at 2.5GHz (overclockable to 3.1GHz). The 7600U also has two HDMI inputs, whereas the 5600U has one. Finally, the U5600 will be available in touch- and non-touch-enabled configurations, while the 7600U will be touch-only. Both will be available this month, with the 23-incher starting at $1,000 for touch-enabled models, and $1,150 for touchscreen variants. The 7600U will sell for quite a bit more: $1,900.

Filed under: Desktops, Acer

Acer announces Aspire 5600U and 7600U all-in-ones, coming this month for $1,000 and up originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Two Scary Incidents Almost Forced Felix Baumgartner To Abort His Mission

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/ns1repmi4Yg/felix-baumgartner-breaks-the-sound-barrier-2012-10

Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier in a 24-mile jump from the edge of space today.

But that almost didn't happen.

Two serious issues nearly forced the Austrian daredevil to abort his mission, he revealed in a press conference.

First, the heater in his visor wasn't working. This caused to his visor to fog up when he exhaled.

"On our checklist of things we had this as a mission abort. If you cannot see anything you cannot leave the capsule,” he said.

Second, immediately after bunny-hopping off the capsule Baumgartner "was supposed to get himself into a delta position — head down, arms back - as soon as possible," explains the BBC. Instead, the Austrian went into a flat spin and video footage shows him tumbling multiple times.

Baumgartner could have pulled his stabilization parachute at this point, but at the cost of gaining enough speed to break the sound barrier.

By now we all know how it ended. The extreme sportsman landed safely after 10 minutes in free fall. He reached speeds of 833.9 mph or Mach 1.24 and set several other records including highest manned balloon flight and highest skydiving jump.

felix

Please follow Science on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Kimera Systems wants your smartphone to think for you

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/13/kimera-systems-wants-your-smartphone-to-think-for-you/

When Google took the wraps off Now we all got a pretty excited about the potential of the preemptive virtual assistant. Kimera Systems wants to build a similar system, but one that will make Mountain View's tool look about as advanced as a Commodore 64. The founder of the company, Mounir Shita, envisions a network of connected devices that use so-called smart software agents to track your friends, suggest food at a restaurant and even find someone to paint your house. That explanation is a bit simplistic, but it gets to the heart of what the Artificial General Intelligence network is theoretically capable of. In this world (as you'll see in the video after the break) you don't check Yelp or text your friend to ask if they're running late. Instead, your phone would recognize that you'd walked into a particular restaurant, analyze the menu and suggest a meal based on your tastes. Meanwhile, your friend has just reached the bus stop, but it's running a little behind. Her phone knows she's supposed to meet you so it sends an alert to let you know of the delay. With some spare time on your hands, your phone would suggest making a new social connection or walking to a nearby store to pick up that book sitting in your wishlist. It's creepy, ambitious and perhaps a bit unsettling that we'd be letting our phones run our lives. Kimera is trying to raise money to build a plug-in for Android and an SDK to start testing its vision. You check out the promotional video after the break and, if you're so inclined, pledge some cash to the cause at the source.

Continue reading Kimera Systems wants your smartphone to think for you

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Alt

Kimera Systems wants your smartphone to think for you originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 05:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink