Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, January 14, 2008

Saverclip Offers Unique New Way of Measuring Energy Consumption [Energy Saver]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/216732138/saverclip-offers-unique-new-way-of-measuring-energy-consumption

Pissing away electricity —just about everyone does it. That is why this "Saverclip" concept from designer Lee Young Don could prove useful to anyone looking to save a few bucks on their electricity bill. The clothespin-like device latches onto any power cable and determines energy usage by measuring the electromagnetic fields emitted by specific electronics (it also recharges using the same fields).

Thanks to the easy-to-read LCD layout, users could get a clear idea of what devices are responsible for the most wasted energy. It is a simple and user-friendly design which could prove very practical should it ever emerge from a concept into reality. Although I doubt that a finished product would look this slick. [Yanko Design]

Is This the MacBook Air? (Verdict: Most Plausible Yet) [MacBook Air]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/216773188/is-this-the-macbook-air-verdict-most-plausible-yet

Wired's Apple insider (heh) says it is. Their rendering is super skinny and shaped like a teardrop when it's closed, bulging at the hinge and tapering down to the edge. Ethernet ports are jettisoned in favor of wireless only—the most sensible explanation for the "Air" moniker yet. Aluminum casing, ultra-thin, all wireless—all reasonable given what's come out. The much less likely bit is that the screen itself is multi-touch—trackpad, maybe—but obviously we'll see tomorrow. And a full-frontal:

[Gadget Lab]

33 megapixel Super Hi-Vision (Ultra HDTV) could be on the air in 2015

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/216566933/

Filed under: HDTV

1080p and QuadHD / 4K can take a step back, the Japanese government has announced plans to bring Super Hi-Vision (a.k.a. Ultra High Definition) to life as a broadcast standard by 2015. With its 33 megapixel (7,680 x 4,320) resolution and 22.2 channel surround sound, challenges so far have included building a camera that can record it, and equipment to transfer the 24Gbps uncompressed stream. Fortunately, some forward thinker in Japan's Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry -- that we are strongly considering as a write in candidate for the presidential elections -- is beginning a joint project with private companies to make this happen, beginning with a research investment of about $2.7 million this year alone. If you're still confused as to how much more res this is than anything you currently own, check out the handy chart after the break.

Continue reading 33 megapixel Super Hi-Vision (Ultra HDTV) could be on the air in 2015

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NewerTech intros USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/216626175/

Filed under: Peripherals

Sure, we've seen similar adapters in the past, but NewerTech's latest is quite a few rungs higher on the attractive scale than its most formidable rivals. The inelegantly named USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter allows users to easily connect any 2.5-, 3.5- or 5.25-inch HDD / optical drive to a computer via USB, enabling folks to transfer critical data or backup an internal drive altogether without having to hunt down some snazzy external chassis. Notably, the adapter plays nice with IDE, ATA and SATA (among others), has no qualms dealing with OS X / Linux and will set you back just $29.95.

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Leaked Dell laptop brings the sexy

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/216653701/

Filed under: Laptops

We've had many a leaked Dell fall into our laps over the years, but this one is already shaping up to be our fave. We don't have a name, date, or price on it yet, but we can tell you this number is aiming to be 20mm (0.78-inches) thick, with an aluminum extrusion and carbon-fiber chassis -- exotic materials rarely found in Round Rock machines. It'll also have an LED backlit display, but all of the above is still pretty early so there may be changes made before it goes into production -- which, by our standards, can't be soon enough.

Gallery: Leaked Dell laptop brings brings the sexy

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BenQ's emaciated 8 megapixel DSC X800: just barely three-dimensional

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/216718891/

Filed under: Digital Cameras

It may not be the biggest name in consumer electronics, but when it comes to stuffing megapixels into ridiculously-skinny packages, there aren't many out there who do it better than BenQ. Case in point is the new eight megapixel DSC X800, which, at just 9.8 millimeters at its thinnest point (14mm at its fattest), is not only slimmer than the recently-announced DC X835, it even gives the company's trimmest seven megapixel shooter, the 12.5-millimeter DC X725, a run for its money. Besides its pocketability, however, this model doesn't offer much in the way of high-end features: 3x optical zoom, 3-inch LCD, digital image stabilization, VGA movie mode, and a rather non-standard microSD slot are par for the course here. Keep reading after the break for another angle / color combo of the as-yet-unpriced shooter, which should be shipping sometime this quarter.

[Via Slashgear]

Continue reading BenQ's emaciated 8 megapixel DSC X800: just barely three-dimensional

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iPhoneCam streams video from your iPhone over WiFi

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/216099495/

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video

A fancy mirror contraption not quite what you had in mind for video conferencing on your iPhone? Fret not, friends; Ecamm Network is back at it, this time devising a way to stream video from the camera -- at 30fps, no less -- to the Mac of your choice over WiFi. Even better, the clever cats hooked it up with Bonjour, so the Mac just sorta sees it as a camera without any configuration needed. The possibilities are pretty endless (or limited, depending on your point of view), but we suppose it's nice for iPhone owners to instantly have a free, remote cam for iChatting, if nothing else. The download isn't available yet, but Ecamm is teasing that they just might be willing to demo it at their Macworld booth this week.

[Via TUAW]

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LG's silver Prada gets a new on-screen QWERTY

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/216355146/

Filed under: Cellphones

Mmmm, the LG Prada (AKA, LG-KE850) was just turned out in silver. 18 European countries including the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy will see the new version of LG's touchscreen later this month. Besides the color change the phone now features a proper on-screen QWERTY, not just T9 -- thank you LG! Really, that's all we could hope for.

Gallery: LG's silver Prada gets a new on-screen QWERTY

[Via Akihabara News]

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DroboShare Drobo NAS mini-review

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/216445239/

Filed under: Features, Storage, Networking

So we snagged a DroboShare to hook our lonesome, directly-attached Drobo into. At $200 for what's essentially a USB network adapter we had some pretty high expectations, but thankfully we've been pretty impressed so far. Setup simply entails upgrading your Drobo hardware and Dashboard software to the latest versions (v1.1), restarting the box, and then plugging into the DroboShare. That's it. Detection, configuration, everything else is entirely automatic. Within a few moments it auto-mounts as a shared network drive via SMB, regardless of what file system the Drobo itself is running, or whether you're running Windows or Mac. (For those running on Linux or other operating systems, the DS is still accessible over your network via standard SMB share just like any other server.)

Click on for more on network auto-mounting and a couple speed tests.

Gallery: DroboShare Drobo NAS mini-review