Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Samsung's tiny HMX-R10 Full HD camcorder lands in Korea, US next month

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/14/samsungs-tiny-hmx-r10-full-hd-camcorder-lands-in-korea-us-next/

Samsung's impressively small HMX-R10 HD camcorder has finally been set free to dance upon Korean retail shelves. The mini cam is just 12.5-cm long and 4-cm wide (4.9 x 1.5-inches) and records 9 megapixel stills or 1,920 x 1,080 pixel video (courtesy of its 1/2.33-inch CMOS sensor) to SDHC memory cards up to 32GB in capacity. The cam also brings a 5x optical, electronically stabilized zoom lens angled at a unique 25-degrees which, according to Samsung, makes for a more natural shooting angle. The 2.7-inch touch-screen LCD features Samsung's Magic Touch UI that automatically focuses on any point that you touch. Sounds sweet but in practice this type of tech is a novelty requiring two handed operation that will just slow you down in the field. It'll also shoot super-slow-motion at 60, 300, or 600 fps at decreasing resolutions most assuredly (Sammy doesn't say). Fortunately, Amazon has this shooter listed at $500 for a May 15th release Stateside and beyond.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Samsung's tiny HMX-R10 Full HD camcorder lands in Korea, US next month originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | E mail this | Comments

Toshiba's leaked product roadmap gets us hot, extra bothered by fuel-cell powered L01 MID

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/14/toshibas-leaked-product-roadmap-gets-us-hot-extra-bothered/

If the roadmap posted after the break is to be believed (and we think it is) then Toshiba is set to capture a lot of attention with its Snapdragon-based handhelds over the coming year. Techblog.gr has what it claims to be the Toshiba Device Roadmap through 2010. They've shown us a PowerPoint sample off-line that seems to support the claim. Of course, this isn't the first time Tosh has leaked an entire product cycle and the named devices align nicely with some of the prototypes Toshiba was showing-off at CES in January (see gallery below). Toshiba was already off to a good start in 2009 with its incredibly thin 4.1-inch TG01 running atop Qualcomm's snapdragon platform. It just gets better from there. First we've got the TG02 (launching in Q4) update to the TG01 that adds IPX4 water resistance without changing the specs or the dimensions. The TG03 ups the ante again with the inclusion of a 3-channel speaker for a better video experience.

Also in Q4, Tosh looks ready to launch a 15-mm QWERTY slider version of the 9.9-mm TG01 with new capacitive (!) touchscreen called the K01. All other specs look unchanged including WinMo 6.5. Next is the K02 clamshell with primary 3.5-inch WVGA display and QWERTY on the inside coupled with a secondary LCD and 10-key on-screen keypad on the outside. The K02 features a resistive touchscreen, HSPA data, and same QSD8x50 chipset found in the TG01 (and all the other devices on this roadmap). Last, but by no means least, is the 7-inch L01 looking every bit the love-child of a Nokia N800 and HTC Advantage. The very same device that was shown powered by a DMFC (fuel cell) at CES in January. Interesting since Toshiba has promised a consumer device powered by a fuel cell before March of 2010. Unfortunately, it's limited to the same WVGA resolution seen on the smaller screens and WinMo 6.5 when it launches. Assuming the leak is true, of course.

Gallery: Toshiba's DMFC "internet viewer" prototypes are truly next-gen

Continue reading Toshiba's leaked product roadmap gets us hot, extra bothered by fuel-cell powered L01 MID

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Toshiba's leaked product roadmap gets us hot, extra bothered by fuel-cell powered L01 MID originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 05:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Monday, April 13, 2009

JVC intros 1080p GD-463D10 3D LCD monitor in Japan

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/13/jvc-intros-1080p-gd-463d10-3d-lcd-monitor-in-japan/

Not that JVC's been avoiding the 3D bandwagon or anything, but it has yet to formally introduce a 3D HDTV to really take advantage of the in-home 3D revolution that 3D backers just swear is right around the bend. The GD-463D10 is a 46-inch LCD HDTV with a native 1,920 x 1080 resolution, 2,000:1 contrast ratio, twin ten-watt speakers and support for three-dee material. We're also told that the set will come bundled with a pair of polarized glasses when it ships in Japan early next month. The only problem? That ¥700,000 ($6,978) price tag, which seems particularly painful with no real 3D programming to speak of. Yet, of course.

[Via Impress]

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

JVC intros 1080p GD-463D10 3D LCD monitor in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

AOpen rolls out XC Encore OE700 media PC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/13/aopen-rolls-out-xc-encore-oe700-media-pc/

It's been a little while since AOpen last popped up on our radar, but the company certainly hasn't stopped cranking out tiny media PCs in the interim, and it looks like it might have a winner on its hands with its new XC Encore OE700 model. While the core specs of your choice of Core 2 Duo processor and up to 4GB RAM aren't exactly anything remarkable, the system does employ a number of measures to ensure it stays as quiet as possible, including a Smart Anti-Vibration System that dampens hard drive noise, and a new case design dubbed SNSS (or Smart Noise Suppression System) that promises to keep all the other noises in check. You'll even get a home theater-friendly VFD display and, of course, a Media Center compatible remote control -- assuming you live in Japan, that is, as there's still no indication of a release 'round these parts.

[Via Electronista]

Filed under: Desktops, Media PCs

AOpen rolls out XC Encore OE700 media PC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

SandForce breaks into SSD market with speedy SF-1000 processors

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/13/sandforce-breaks-into-ssd-market-with-speedy-sf-1000-processors/

With SSD prices still well above the point of affordability, we're thrilled to see more entrants joining the burgeoning market. Big players like Western Digital and Corsair are being greeted by small timers such as PhotoFast, Fusion-io and SandForce, the latter of which has just escaped "stealth mode" in order to launch its first solid state drive processor family. The chips utilize DuraClass technology and promise to address "key NAND flash issues allowing MLC flash technologies to be reliably used in broad based, mission critical storage environments." More germane to our discussion is the nice boost in transfer rates and lower cost of production; we're told that the SF-1000 crew sports a standard 3 gigabit-per-second SATA host interface connecting up to 512 gigabytes of commodity NAND flash memory, and that it delivers 30,000 IOPS and 250MB/s performance (sequential 128KB read or write transfers) with 100 micro-second latency. If all goes well, select OEMs will be launching SSDs based on this processor later this year, so we'll definitely be keeping our eyes peeled.

[Via GadgetMix, thanks Kamal]

Filed under: Storage

SandForce breaks into SSD market with speedy SF-1000 proc! essors originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Studio Spotlight: Bulletproof

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDieline/~3/Mefh_h2yYzk/studio-spotlight-bulletproof.html

Bulletproof is a firm in London that focuses on packaging, branding and shopper marketing. Take a look at their varied body of packaging design.

More after the jump.

New Shuffle Costs Apple $21.77 to Build [Apple]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/EoS2t1B6060/new-shuffle-costs-apple-2177-to-build

According to a new teardown report by iSuppli, the $79, third generation iPod shuffle costs Apple a total of $21.77 to build and box. Here's the cost per component:

Main Processing Chip (Samsung)
$5.98

4GB Flash Memory (Samsung)
$6

Lithium Ion Battery (Smallest iSuppli had ever seen)
$1.20

Various Capacitors and Resistors (Smallest iSupply had ever seen, a grain of salt a pop)
Less than a penny each

The prices of the headphones, body and case were unspecified, but apparently those components make up the other half of the shuffle's component cost to Apple. And with the build price at just 28% of the sale price, the shuffle should be Apple's most profitable iPod ever, even if iSuppli's report doesn't account for expenses like R&D. [BusinessWeek and image]

Carriers could be forced by EU to support VoIP services

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/13/carriers-could-be-forced-by-eu-to-support-voip-services/

We've seen it time and time again -- carriers using their power to strong-arm consumers into paying services that could very well be free. Over in Europe, the almighty EU is considering "binding guidelines" that could force wireless operators to allow VoIP services such as Skype to run over their cellular networks. It should be noted that all of this is still very preliminary at the moment, but if the Union can somehow force carriers to support these so-called "innovative services," we could see a very favorable (for consumers, anyway) domino effect. As it stands, each EU country has the ability to decide individually on how they deal with blocked internet services, but obviously an EU-wide mandate would seriously shake things up. Or cause unstoppable riots, one.

[Via Electronista]

Filed under: Cellphones

Carriers could be forced by EU to support VoIP services originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 07:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Bloggers Be Warned: Proposed FTC Plan Would Hold Web Writers Liable for False Brand Discourse - http://ping.fm/wIu1A

AdAge: ROI May Be Measurable in Facebook, MySpace After All; whoa, simply incredible! :-) - http://ping.fm/lJ2fs

New in Labs: Gmail search made easier (and lazier)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OfficialGmailBlog/~3/Ih3f6KUQTEk/new-in-labs-gmail-search-made-easier.html

Posted by Ibrahim Bokharouss, Software Engineer

On the Gmail team, we believe finding the right email among thousands of messages can be as important as finding the right web page across the billions of web pages out there. So with the aim of making search in Gmail easier, we built a new experimental feature in Gmail Labs: Search Autocomplete.

Turn on Search Autocomplete from the Labs tab under Gmail Settings, and you'll get suggestions as you type in the search box. One of the most popular searches in Gmail is for names or email addresses, so the first kind of suggestions you'll see are contacts. Some names are not easy to remember (my last name is an excellent example!) — with this new Labs feature you can just type a couple letters and select the desired contact from the drop down list. Easy and quick as that.

Gmail also offers a bunch of advanced search operators, which provide a powerful way to find that one message you have in mind. You can search in specific places (e.g. in chats or sent items), or search for messages with attachments of a certain type (e.g. docs or photos). Suppose I want to search for photos that were sent to me by my friend Chris. Normally, I would have to enter Chris' email address followed by filename:(jpg OR png), which I gladly admit is even a bit too geeky for me. With Search Autocomplete, I can just type "photos" or "pictures," select "has photos" from the drop down list (as in the screenshot! below), and the search query (filename:(jpg OR png)) gets inserted for me. Similarly, you can type in the word "attachment" and Search Autocomplete will list the most common attachment types for you.

One of the reasons we still show you the geeky search query is to allow you to adapt it to your needs. For example, if you'd like to include tiff files in your search result, you can adapt the query manually to filename:(jpg OR png OR tiff).

That's it for now. Play around and make sure to use the time that you save on searching to let us know what you think.

A new mobile Gmail experience for iPhone and Android

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OfficialGmailBlog/~3/CAvue3AfIBA/new-mobile-gmail-experience-for-iphone.html

Posted by Rob Kroeger, Engineer, Google Mobile

Today we're introducing a major revision to Gmail for mobile that takes advantage of the latest browser technology available on iPhone and Android devices. We've updated the user interface, made it faster to open messages, allowed for batch actions (like archiving multiple messages at once), and added some basic offline support

Despite the advent of 3G networks and wifi, smartphones still lack a high-speed, always-on broadband connection and can have connections far less reliable than their desktop brethren. So, just like when we redesigned the Gmail for mobile client app last October, we've gone back to the drawing board and redesigned Gmail for the mobile browser to overcome some of these limitations. We made performance more consistent, regardless of connection type, and laid the foundation for future improvements.

Now, when you go to gmail.com from your iPhone or Android browser, archiving email is quicker because it doesn't require a response from a remote server. Instead, we cache mail on the device itself (using database storage on the iPhone and a device-local mobile Gears database on Android-powered phones). Actions like archiving or starring messages are first applied to this cache and then sent to Gmail servers in the background whenever a network connection is available. You only have to wait for a response from the server when you're requesting an uncached message or list of messages. As a result, you can start-up Gmail even if you're on a slow connection. You can even compose mail and open recently read messages while offline.

We made extensive use of other browser functions too: for example, the floaty bar that lets you archive, delete or apply more actions is animated via CSS transformations and controlled in part with touch event! s (when you scroll the screen, it follows you).

The HTML5 canvas tag is used to render the progress spinner without the overhead of downloading animated GIFs to the device. Now that we've developed a framework for the new Gmail for mobile, we're planning a whole lot more: faster performance, improved offline operation, new functionality, and interface enhancements that take advantage of the unique properties of smartphones.

To try this new version of Gmail for mobile, just go to gmail.com from your mobile browser. It's currently available on any Android-powered devices or iPhone OS 2.2.1 or higher. For now, the new version is available in English only. We'll be rolling this version out to everyone over the course of the day, so if you don't see the updated user interface yet (you'll know you have it when you see that floaty bar), check back soon. For easy access, we recommend creating a homescreen link.

New in Labs: Sender time zone

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OfficialGmailBlog/~3/CyvhP7Gn88U/new-in-labs-sender-time-zone.html

Posted by Marcin Brodziak, Software Engineer

Let's say your girlfriend sends you an angry email. It's mostly about how you behaved at the party last night and then left for a business trip without saying goodbye. You read it from the other side of the globe, jet-lagged after a 12 hour flight. You want to call and sort things out, but forget that it's now almost 3:00 am her time. After waking her up, things only get worse.

There's a new feature in Gmail Labs called Sender Time Zone that can help. Turn it on from the Labs tab under Settings, and you'll see green phone icons next to people who are probably awake and readily reachable (if it's between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm in the sender's local time zone) and red ones next to those who could be sleeping or out of the office:

Click "show details" and you can see when a message was sent in the sender's time zone as well as what time it is for them now:

Message headers always include the time sent and often include time zone info too. We use that information to show you these icons. If the time zone isn't included for a given message, this Lab! s featur e won't display anything. Try it out and tell us what you think.

New in Labs: Inserting images

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OfficialGmailBlog/~3/WMbC5KLDf9c/new-in-labs-inserting-images.html

Posted by Kent Tamura, Software Engineer

Well, it's about time. You no longer have to use workarounds to put images into your messages or attach images when you really want to inline them. Just turn on "Inserting images" from the Labs tab under Settings, and you'll see a new toolbar icon like this:

Make sure you're in rich formatting mode, or it won't show up. Click the little image icon, and you can insert images in two ways: by uploading image files from your computer or providing image URLs.

Keep in mind that Gmail doesn't show URL-based images in messages by default to protect you from spammers, so if you're sending mail to other Gmail users, they'll still have to click "Display images below" or "Always display images from ..." to see images you embed.

Got feedback on inserting images? Send it our way.

@bmorrissey - million-dollar microsites give way to flexible Web platforms (one-offs give way to lasting value) http://ping.fm/82w2m

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)