Friday, June 06, 2008

Forbes: iPhone Could Kill the DS (Spore Shows Us Why They're Wrong) [IPhone]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/305549099/forbes-iphone-could-kill-the-ds-spore-shows-us-why-theyre-wrong

Forbes is running a frankly bizarre piece that the DS's greatest threat is the iPhone, because it has "the touch-sensitive screen of a Nintendo DS with the motion sensitivity of the Nintendo Wii" (the writer is absolutely hyped for this combo) and the upcoming App Store will in bring a flood of games. The primary goods he waves at is EA's Spore. Not only is he wrong on principle—the iPhone really isn't about games to start, and remember Apple's most recent gaming rennaissance?—but Spore actually just proves our point.

The DS version of Spore is already a very different, much smaller game than the truly galactic full-scale universe you're getting on the Mac and PC. It's like Spore Lite. And the iPhone version is even simpler than that—it's basically just the "spore" stage of Spore, totally top-down and 2D, extremely simple. In a way, it's just a glorified version of the cellphone games that people who'd pick up a DS or real portable gaming system would totally ignore. There's no crossover or competing audience with the DS version—it's basically just a distraction, and that's what most games on the iPhone will be.

Will games on the iPhone be better than most other cellphone games? Probably. It has the juice, the platform and the controls. But it won't knock a DS or PSP out of your bag by any means. It's just not the same space. [Forbes]


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Origo Develops Recycling System that Turns Car Emissions Into Fuel [Gas Crisis]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/305580461/origo-develops-recycling-system-that-turns-car-emissions-into-fuel

The concept has been around for a while, but Origo Industries is planning on being the first company to release a CO2 recycling system that turns your car emissions into fuel. The unit captures CO2 from your car exhaust and stores it until it can be recycled in a home unit that uses algae to produce bio-oil. According to the company, the system could produce as much as 660 gallons of free fuel per year—which sounds too good to be true. We shall find out soon enough as Origo is scheduled to unveil the technology for the first time at this year's Green-Car-Guide Live! in the UK starting on June 12th. [Tradingcharts and Gizmag]


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Philips introducing 52-inch 1080p 3D display

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305421158/

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It's no nightmare -- 3D is officially in style. Or it's succeeding in fooling us, one or the other. Further proof that taking things to the third-dimension is all the rage has arrived courtesy of Philips, who has announced its intentions to reveal a 1080p 52-inch 3D display at InfoComm later this month. The unit will utilize the same WOWvx technology showcased a year prior in its 20-inch display, and will feature 700 cd/m2 brightness, a 2,000:1 contrast ratio and an 8-millisecond response time. The auto-stereoscopic display should be "commercially available from Q4 2008 onwards," but we haven't a clue how costly it'll be when it eventually lands.

[Via SlashGear]
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ASUS 42-inch Eee TV spotted at Computex

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305505951/

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As ASUS continues to rapidly dilute its Eee brand like it's going out of style, we still find the 42-inch Eee TV somewhat intriguing. It seems that the set was bolted up with a PlayStation 3 'round back, which was obviously used to pipe the Blu-ray version of Cars on-screen for onlookers to fawn over. Check out a few more snaps of the sides at Engadget Chinese.
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WWDC 2008 is Monday at 10:00AM PST / 1:00PM EST, set your alarms

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305541373/

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Rumor roll call: 3G iPhone: check. Mid-range Mac desktop: check. Tablet MacBook: check. Tablet iPod touch: check. New MacBook Pros: check. Wait. You do realize that this is WWDC, and Apple usually only announces one, maybe two new pieces of hardware, right? They really just tend to focus on the software being that it's their, um, worldwide developer conference. (iPhone 2.0 firmware: check. OS X 10.6: check. Me.com: check.) Whatever, set your alarm clocks because we'll be there blowing it out live.

Where you need to be:
Steve Jobs WWDC 2008 keynote - live coverage
All WWDC 2008 coverage
[RSS] [Twitter]

En Español:
El WWDC empieza este lunes 9 de junio a las 10:00 PST USA... ¡prepárate!

What time to post the GO AWAY note on your door on Monday, the 9th. (Leave more time zones in comments!)
07:00AM - Hawaii
10:00AM - Pacific
11:00AM - Mountain
12:00PM - Central
01:00PM - Eastern
05:00PM - GMT
06:00PM - London
07:00PM - Paris
02:00AM - Tokyo (June 10th)

Also, how do you want us to write this thing up? We usually do the latest updates at the bottom (so it reads like anything else -- top to bottom); at Macworld we polled and did newest updates at the top, and a lot of people told us afterward that they preferred it the old way. So, what say you?

View Poll

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Audi Q5 to boast NVIDIA-powered interface, gadgets aplenty

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305573351/

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Audi is certainly no stranger to cramming some less-than-common technology into its vehicles, and it looks like its new Q5 compact crossover vehicle is no exception, with it set to roll out of the factory later this year with some NVIDIA-powered graphics. That comes in the form of the vehicle's Harman/Becker-designed MMI (Multi-Media Interface) "3G infotainment system," which relies on an unspecified NVIDIA graphics processor to provide smooth map transitions, along with photorealistic depictions of points of interest and other eye candy. As if that wasn't enough, the vehicle's in-dash system will also boast support for external USB storage media, built-in Bluetooth, satellite radio, and even a SIM card slot that'll effectively turn it into a quad-band GSM cellphone.
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Sony's HT-IS100 HTIB features micro-drivers

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305593651/

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Sony continues its series of home theater updates today with a new HTIB, the HST-S100. Like some previous Sony packages, the HST-S100 doesn't feature a central receiver, instead integrating the 450W amplifier, 3 HDMI ports and Sony Digital Media Port right into the back of the sub. Furthering the stealth factor, the five speakers themselves are no bigger than strawberries -- which has us wondering about mid-range performance, but we'll withhold judgement until we actually hear 'em. You get some other mid-high-end goodies for your $700 as well, like S-AIR wireless speaker capability, Bravia SYNC for Theater, which simplifies operation with select Sony gear, and auto speaker calibration. Should be out in July, we're told.
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Thief steals Eye-Fi-equipped camera, proceeds to give himself away

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305611362/

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It was inevitable, really. We've seen quick-footed thieves swipe GPS units that eventually led to their arrest, a bank robber who didn't even bother to close his clamshell while holding up the joint and now, we've seen the Eye-Fi card really pay off. According to the outfit's PR firm Red Consultancy, one particular vacationer had her entire stash of camera gear (over $1,000 worth) stolen while taking a load off in Florida. Upon returning home and checking things out, she noticed that all of the snapshots taken prior to the theft were uploaded, and upon closer inspection, she even noticed a clear shot of the remarkably idiotic crook. After syncing up with the boys in blue, all of the gal's equipment was eventually returned, and some semblance of normalcy was finally returned. How's that for a feel good story, huh?

[Image courtesy of Al]
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IBM cools stacked silicon chips with water

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305630406/

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IBM interlayer cooling for 3D chips
Stacking silicon into what are called 3D chips is something IBM does as good as, if not better than, any other screener. Problem is, all those stacked circuits create a an exponential amount of heat, and traditional cooling methods don't scale. So what does IBM do? It comes up with integrated water channels about the size of a human hair that it's calling "interlayer cooling." According to IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory, this is the first tech of its kind. The 50 micron channels between individual chip layers are performing at 180 watt/cm2 per layer for a stack with a typical footprint of 4 cm2. In other words, it works.

[Via TG Daily]
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Aiptek joins the fold with PocketCinema V10 mini-projector

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305649997/

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If there are two things Aiptek knows, it's cheap and small. Along with Foxconn and Honlai, Aiptek is introducing a pocket-sized projector over in Taipei, and it's being eloquently dubbed the PocketCinema V10. Reportedly, the device taps 3M's miniature projection technology to shoot up a 50-inch image, and if you don't have a bona fide source laying around, it can still entertain guests by reading from the 1GB of internal memory or 3-in-1 multicard reader. Furthermore, it packs a built-in battery and stereo speakers, but unfortunately, we can't tell you where or when you'll be able to purchase one of these unpriced wonders.

[Via AboutProjectors]
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