Friday, January 18, 2008

MacBook Air processor situation gets explained

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/219066005/

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We already knew the basic details about the processor at the heart of Apple's MacBook Air, but those itching to know exactly how Apple and Intel managed to cram everything into that oh so small package may want to head over to AnandTech, which has pieced together a fairly thorough report on the matter. As the site reports, the processor is based on Intel's 65nm Merom architecture and packs an 800MHz bus, yet it uses the significantly smaller chip package that Intel had originally only planned to debut with the launch of its Montevina laptop platform later this year. That combination, along with the Intel 965GMS chipset with integrated graphics, allowed for a 60% reduction in total footprint size, and a TDP rating of just 20W, as opposed to 35W from the regular Core 2 Duo processor. If that's still not enough MacBook Air minutia you, you can hit up the link below for the full rundown.

[Via AppleInsider]

 

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DLO introduces HomeDock HD: yet another upscaling iPod dock

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/218487559/

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Just in case the HomeDock hasn't been revamped and slightly renamed enough already, DLO is busting out yet another in the line and throwing the all-too-trendy "HD" moniker in there for good measure. As with most every other alternative already on the market, the HomeDock HD offers up 720p / 1080i upscaling and gives your iPod an easy way to output content via HDMI. You'll also find an optical digital audio output, a USB port, an auxiliary input and S-Video / composite outputs. DLO claims that the enhanced on-TV interface will just melt your heart (more or less, anyway), and the bundled remote will keep you firmly planted on the sofa when flipping through clips. Mum's the word on pricing at the moment, but feel free to take a second and check out this thing's backside after the break.

[Via CNET]

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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Library of Congress uses Flickr to crowdsource tagging and organizing its photo archive

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/217809620/library-of-congress.html

David sez, "The Library of Congress is now posting photos at flickr so citizens can tag and describe them."
The project is beginning somewhat modestly, but we hope to learn a lot from it. Out of some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist.

The real magic comes when the power of the Flickr community takes over. We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves. For instance, many photos are missing key caption information such as where the photo was taken and who is pictured. If such information is collected via Flickr members, it can potentially enhance the quality of the bibliographic records for the images.

Link (Thanks, David!)

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Epson launches ultra-short throw EMP-400W / EMP-400We projectors

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/217893209/

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Before long, you won't be bragging about how many inches your projector can throw out. Oh no, you'll be boasting about how many LEGOs you can slide between the lens and the wall. Joining the quickly evolving short throw revolution is Epson's latest duo, which both feature a native 1,280 x 800 resolution, 500:1 contrast ratio, automatic 4:3 / 16:10 / 16:9 detection and resizing, a ten-watt built-in speaker, VGA (x2), S-Video and composite inputs and an Ethernet port to boot. From what we can gather, the only differences in the EMP-400We are the additional security features (those pesky kids...), a longer warranty and a bundled wall mounting bracket. All in all, we'd opt for the £999 ($1,956) EMP-400W -- unless, of course, you've got a room / house full of mischievous youngsters, in which case we suppose it's worth a few extra hundred pounds to rest easy protect your investment.

[Via AboutProjectors]

 

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Turn Any Phone into a Voice Recorder with Drop.io [Telephony]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/217288187/turn-any-phone-into-a-voice-recorder-with-dropio

dropiovoice.pngPreviously mentioned file sharing site Drop.io has added a neat feature: the ability to record and share MP3 audio from your phone. Create a new voice "drop" and get a phone number and extension. Call it, and start talking or recording a lecture, podcast, or interview, and when you hang up, the recording's available as an MP3 download for sharing at a custom drop.io URL. Store up to 100MB "drops" (that's shared files and/or MP3's) for free or upgrade for 1GB of storage for 10 bucks. Update: This post giving you déjà vu? Our apologies for the duplicate.


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Namexif Batch Renames Digital Photos by Date [Featured Windows Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/217333655/namexif-batch-renames-digital-photos-by-date

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Windows only: Photo file utility Namexif renames your digital pictures based on the timestamp they were taken, plus a custom name (like an event description). Point Namexif at a directory of photos, and it reads the EXIF metadata your digital camera stores with the photos, and renames the files from your camera's default IMG_7934.JPG to the date in a format you choose, like 2008-01-01-New Year's.jpg. Very handy, especially for processing huge batches of photos from vacation or the holidays. Namexif is a free download (donations welcome) for Windows only.


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Top 10 Telephone Tricks [Lifehacker Top 10]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/217747547/top-10-telephone-tricks

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When getting things done involves making phone calls, you want to spend the least amount of time and money on the horn as possible—and several tricks and services can help you do just that. With the right tones, keypresses, phone numbers, and know-how, you can skip through or cut off long-winded automated voice systems and humans, access web services by voice, and smartly screen incoming calls. Check out our pick of the 10 best telephony techniques for getting more done in less time over the phone.

10. Avoid the cost of calling 411 with GOOG 411.

Instead of calling regular 411 to get information (and an extra charge on your phone bill), Google by voice by calling 1-800-GOOG-411 to get a street address or phone number. Some Lifehacker readers say GOOG 411 works better than others; if you haven't tried it, here's a YouTube clip (courtesy of Google) on how to give it a try.

9. Get out of annoying calls and meetings with SorryGottaGo.com sounds and the Popularity Dialer.

Interrupt a long phone call or meeting (or date!) with two interesting services: SorryGottaGo.com (original post) offers a myriad of sounds you can play while you're trapped on an endless phone call that give you the perfect excuse to hang up. (Like, someone's at the door, or you're out of change to feed the naggy public phone.) Along the same lines, schedule an interrupting call with the Popularity Dialer (original post) an incoming calling service that can make you seem "in demand." (Do we actually recommend these two services? Maybe not, but it's nice to know they're out there when you're desperate.)

8. PayPal money via voice call.

phone-paypal.png When you owe your buddy 12 bucks on the dinner bill and you're out of cash, cal 1-800-4PAYPAL (1-800-472-9725) to send him the money via email (your phone must be activated on your PayPal account for this to work). Here's more on how to send and receive money via phone with PayPal.

7. Email yourself reminders, blog, and set Google Calendar appointments by phone with Jott.

"Do everything you'd ever want from the phone" service Jott supercharges your ability to leave yourself a reminder voicemail. Jott will transcribe your voicemail to self and email it to you, as well as post to your blog, add events to your Google Calendar, and more. See Kevin's full rundown on how to get things done over the phone with Jott.

6. Avoid annoying calls with a custom silent ringtone.

If your cell phone supports per-caller ringtones, reader Jim suggests selectively silencing the low-priority incoming calls with a dead air ringtone. Here's how to make a ringtone from any MP3 on your mobile.

5. Ring all your phones from one number with GrandCentral.

grandcentralonenumber.png Sick of missing calls to the office while you're home or vice versa? Set up a free GrandCentral number that can ring all your phones at once from one number, or selective phones based on the caller—like your cell phone, office phone, and home phone. GrandCentral's got scads of neat customized phone features; see Adam's tour of how to consolidate your phones with GrandCentral.

4. Skip the greeting and get right to the beep with one keypress.

Long voicemail greetings are tedious to sit through, but on many services, specific keypresses can skip you right to the beep. Hit 7 or # to bypass that long greeting, and save time and money on your cell phone bill.

3. Name that tune.

411song.png Dying to know what song that is playing on the car radio? Call 866-411-SONG and hold your phone up to the speakers. Just 15 seconds (and a small fee), and 411 SONG will send you a text message with the song name and artist. (This only works on cell phones with SMS capabilities.)

2. Swear like a sailor to skip directly to a human operator.

When that Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system's making you navigate an endless menu of options, put your potty mouth to good use. Some IVR's are programmed to listen for naughty words and speed you along to human help when they hear them. Adam gave this trick a try and dropping the F bomb did indeed zap him right through to a human. We suggest using this trick when you're not within earshot of your co-workers.

1. Trick automated phone bots into thinking your line's dead.

If you've got automated phone marketers or political campaigns or debt collectors ringing your phone at all hours, trick the system into thinking your phone's dead. Add the U.S. Special Information Tone signal for "vacant circuit" to the beginning of your voicemail greeting to automatically unsubscribe your phone number from bot call lists.

How do you save time and money getting things done on the phone? Let us know in the comments.


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BeatBearing project weds ball bearings, elegance to make jams

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/217502731/

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Rest assured, we've seen a fair amount of totally sexy music makers in our day, but Peter Bennett's BeatBearing has instantly become one of our favorites. The project is described as a "simple tangible user interface that uses ball bearings to program a sequencer," and it enables the user to create a myriad melodies using sounds from the basic components of a drum kit. As with most musical things, this truly is better appreciated through video, so do yourself a favor and click on through to see it in action. And yes, we too are waiting in tense anticipation for this thing to go commercial.

[Via Technabob]

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Eye-Fi kicks the folder habit, adds iPhoto support

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/217613566/

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Believe it or not, MacWorld does continue even after Jobs has left the building. In as much, Eye-Fi just announced support for Apple's iPhoto as well as the Safari and Firefox browsers when accessing their web-based Eye-Fi Manager. iPhoto support means you can now capture images from your digital camera to your $99 Eye-Fi 2GB SD card and transmit them directly into the photo management software while on your home WiFi network -- right, no hotspot uploading action for you. Considering photos were previously dumped into a folder (or 19 on-line sites), the free update is definitely a step in the right direction.

[Via TUAW]

 

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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The MacBook Air

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/217184142/


Apple just announced the .16-inch thin MacBook Air -- a laptop so thin it fits in a manila envelope. The new machine features a full-size keyboard and LED-backlit 13.3-inch display with built-in iSight, and the new larger trackpad supports multi-touch gestures. Just like the iPhone, you'll be able to pan around, pinch to zoom, and rotate with two fingers, and move windows with a flick. Apple got the size down by using the same 1.8-inch 80GB drive that's in the iPod classic, but you'll be able to order a 64GB SSD as an option. The Air eschews optical media, but there's a separate external you can snag for $99 and Apple's also announced a feature called Remote Disk that'll let the Air get data off the optical drive in any PC or Mac running the Remote Disk software. Pricing starts at $1799, and the Air will be shipping in two weeks.

We'll have a hands-on with the MacBook Air here in a just a few, stay tuned!

Gallery: MacBook Air

 

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