Long Awaited Nokia E71 May Hit On May 8th [Cellphones]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/284883771/long-awaited-nokia-e71-may-hit-on-may-8th
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Acer rolls out Business, Value series monitors aplenty
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/284827599/
Filed under: Displays
Never one to skimp on a product launch, Acer has once again gone all out with its latest batch of monitors, with this one consisting of no less than eleven new LCDs that fall into two different product lines. On the lower-end of the lot, you can look forward to 17- and 19-inch 4:3 displays (model numbers V173 and V193), and 19-, 22-, and 24-inch 16:10 displays (V193W, V223W, and V243W) in the company's Value series line, each of which apparently boast 5 ms response times, 2,000:1 or 3,000:1 contrast ratios, VGA and DVI (with HDCP) ports, and presumably all the usual resolutions for their respective sizes. Moving on up a bit, the Business series models add a "stylish and elegant black bezel and base," and again come in 17- and 19-inch 4:3 models (B173 and B193), as well as 19-, 20-, 22-, and 24-inch models (B193W, B203W, B223W, and B243W), with each apparently otherwise boasting the same specs as the Value series models. From the looks of it, you can get your hands on any one of 'em right now, with prices ranging from a mere $185 (list price) to $399 for the top-end Business series model.
Intel brings DirectX 10 to integrated graphics, NVIDIA says not so fast
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/284914410/
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Intel has been boasting of DirectX 10 support for its various integrated graphics options for some time now, but it's only just recently gotten around to actually releasing a Vista driver that brings its GM965 and G35 Express chipsets up to speed. Of course, NVIDIA just couldn't help itself from getting a few (more) digs in at Intel's expense, and it's now kindly provided a few benchmarks to show just how badly Intel's integrated DirectX 10 solution stacks up against the bleeding-edge DirectX 10-ready games it now ostensibly supports. They couldn't find a single game that was able to crank out more than 5 fps, even at a lowly 1280 x 1024 resolution and with the usual graphics intensive settings turned off. Then again, 4.4 fps in Crysis is pretty much par for the course.Read - Crave, "Intel updates graphics with multimedia capabilities"
Read - Hardware Secrets, "Are Intel chipsets really capable of running DirectX 10 games?"Permalink | Ema! il this< /a> | Comments
Legal Snafu Makes Thousands of Patent Rulings Since 2000 Invalid [Oops]
But the Justice Department has already all but conceded that Professor Duffy is right. Given the opportunity to dispute him in a December appeals court filing, government lawyers said only that they were at work on a legislative solution.Yikes! The Supreme Court will probably take this issue on in the not too distant future, but before that, lemme just put this in writing now: I came up with the idea for the iPod and iPhone way before Apple, and I deserve all of the revenue from both of those products. See you in court, Jobs. [NY Times via Boing Boing]They did warn that the impact of Professor Duffy's discovery could be cataclysmic for the patent world, casting "a cloud over many thousands of board decisions" and "unsettling the expectations of patent holders and licensees across the nation." But they did not say Professor Duffy was wrong.
If it was a legislative mistake, it may turn out to be a big one. The patent court hears appeals from people and companies whose patent applications were turned down by patent examiners, and it decides disputes over who invented something first. There is often a lot of money involved.
The problem Professor Duffy identified at least arguably invalidates every decision of the patent court decided by a three-judge panel that included at least one judge appointed after March 2000.
EVGA intros sub-$100 UV12 and UV16 USB graphics adapters
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/284239215/
Filed under: Peripherals
We've heard your cries for USB-to-DVI adapters that don't cost two arms and a good portion of your left leg, and apparently so has EVGA. Announced today with DisplayLink, the company is serving up two new USB graphics adapters (UGAs) in the UV Plus+ family of wares, both of which are hitting resellers as we speak for "well under $100." Both peripherals are designed to play nice in Windows XP and Vista, and while the UV12 supports resolutions up to 1,280 x 1,024 (1,440 x 900 widescreen), the UV16 goes all the way up to 1,600 x 1,200 (1,680 x 1,050 widescreen). Kudos for lowering the bar EVGA, now it's time for everyone else to follow suit.Read | Permalink | Email this | Co! mments 
HTC unveils new HTC Touch Diamond, "not too big, not too small"
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/284574061/
Filed under: Announcements, Cellphones
The device has some pretty nice interface tech that they're calling TouchFLO 3D that heavily emphasizes one-touch browsing and single-finger dialing. They emphasized web accessibility, zoom-in navigation with "just one hand" and not too many fingers. As expected, the device is loaded with Windows Mobile 6.1, a VGA screen and HSDPA 7.2, among other nice specs.
Updates, specs, and pics after the break!
Continue reading HTC unveils new HTC Touch Diamond, "not too big, not too small"
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Monday, May 05, 2008
Continental Airlines expands paperless boarding in US
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/284005343/
Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation
Handset addicts traveling domestically through Houston's Intercontinental Airport have likely utilized the paperless boarding option if hopping on a Continental flight, and apparently the initiative is going over so well that the aforesaid airline and the TSA are expanding it to three more venues. As of now, passengers traveling within the US can enjoy the same luxury at Boston's Logan International Airport and Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C; later this month, the program should slide into Newark International Airport in New Jersey. As expected, only folks traveling alone can take advantage, as the airline feels that pulling up passes for an entire group would actually slow the flow of boarding. There's been no word given on future expansion plans, but at this rate, we wouldn't be shocked to see it hit even more airports in the not-too-distant future.[Via WBZTV]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Eyebeam demonstrating Cubit DIY multitouch table
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/283871253/
Filed under: Displays
[Thanks, Duke]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
US patent for common Mexican bean revoked
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/282242682/us-patent-for-common.html
In the 1990s, a Colorado man named Larry Proctor purchased some beans at a market in Mexico.He selectively bred them for a few years and claimed to have invented "a new field bean variety that produces distinctly colored yellow seed which remains relatively unchanged by season." He called it the "Enola bean," and was granted a "20-year patent that covered any beans and hybrids derived from crosses with even one of his seeds."
His claim of 60 cents per pound of beans sold in the US "caused a steep decline in exports of such beans from Mexico to the USA, according to Mexican government sources."
Today, the United States Patent and Trademark Office revoked Proctor's patent claims
Link
The bean was erroneously granted patent protection in 1999, as US Patent Number 5,894,079, in a move that raised profound concerns about biopiracy and the potential abuse of intellectual property (IP) claims on plant materials that originate in the developing world and remain as important dietary staples, particularly among the poor.
CIAT was able to dispute the inventor's claims to a unique color by providing published evidence of 260 yellow beans among the almost 28,000 samples of Phaseolus in its crop "genebank." At least six of the CIAT varieties were, to most observers, identical to the bean described in Proctor's patent documents on the basis of color and genetic markers. CIAT also put forward publications to show that the claims in the patent application took credit for research already widely available in scientific literature and thus claims made regarding the breeding of the bean in his patent also failed to meet the patent office's statutory requirements for "non-obviousness and novelty."
Paying for the London Underground with a dissolved, naked Oyster card
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/283755674/paying-for-the-londo.html
In this video, Flickr user Chriswoebken dissolves one of the London Underground's RFID-based Oyster cards with nail-polish remover, leaving behind nothing but the chip and its antenna -- and then gets on and off the tube using nothing but a flimsy bit of electronics, sometimes in his hand, sometimes taped to a sheet of paper.I've been trying to come up with a good Oyster killing method since Transport for London made Oysters near-mandatory (you can't get a week-long pass without any Oyster anymore, and the buses are incredibly expensive if you don't pay by Oyster). In my ideal world, I'd pay cash for an Oyster card, use it for a couple weeks, trash it, and get a new one, so that there would be no long-term ride history for me on file.
Unfortunately, the ticket-agents have started to charge £3 for replacement Oyster cards, which I'm sure they'd waive if the card was malfunctioning. Microwaving the card leaves behind some unfortunate burn-marks.
The nice thing about this video is that it hints at the location of the RFID chip in the Oyster, which appears to be one of the corners. Anyone know which? Link (via Beyond the Beyond)
Sisyphus V: A Robot Making a Zen Garden [Art]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/282956110/sisyphus-v-a-robot-making-a-zen-garden
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