Thursday, July 29, 2010

Sony's 360-degree RayModeler 3D display brings its glasses-free act to LA, plays Breakout (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/28/sonys-360-degree-raymodeler-3d-display-brings-its-glasses-free/

Sony talked up its cylindrical no-glasses 3D 360-degree prototype display last fall, and now it's showing off the tech, dubbed RayModeler 3D, on US soil at SIGGRAPH 2010 through tomorrow. A major bonus of that showcase is an English language video -- embedded after the break, plus a hands on including a game of Pong Breakout from Core77 and our videos from the Japanese exhibition -- showing how it all works, including the eight-camera rig and turntable that capture objects in 45-degree separations before they are interpolated to create a continuous 360-degree motion image. Sony claims this is the first of its type capable of high quality images, full color and interactive live motion -- check it out and imagine keeping a tiny 3D pet or floating, disembodied head on your bedside table, where it can respond and react to your every gesture. We wouldn't want our blip-verts any other way.

Continue reading Sony's 360-degree RayModeler 3D display brings its glasses-free act to LA, plays Breakout (video)

Sony's 360-degree RayModeler 3D display brings its glasses-free act to LA, plays Breakout (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rogers' budget-friendly chatr brand launches in Canada

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/28/rogers-budget-friendly-chatr-brand-launches-in-canada/

We knew it was coming, and now it's official: Rogers Wireless has today launched its entry-level "chatr" wireless brand for Canadians everywhere -- and by "everywhere," we mean Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa (Montreal is coming soon, as is possibly elsewhere). Two plans are available: $45 monthly for unlimited talk-and-text and $35 for unlimited talk and 50 free texts. As of now, the official website's showing four devices to choose from, available at full price only (no subsidizing). On the low end, relatively speaking, there's the Nokia 1661 candybar for $60, followed by the LG GB125R flip for $75, the Nokia 2680 portrait QWERTY slider for $95, and Samsung's Gravity landscape QWERTY slider sitting at the top of the chain for $130. Rogers -- whose name appears nowhere in Chatr's branding so far -- expects "hundreds" of chatr kiosks to be rolled out at Future Shops, Best Buys, Costcos, and other retail outlets.

The brand will compete with other budget-conscious options from the likes of Wind Mobile and Mobilicity, but this one's got the advantage of Rogers' more established, wider-reaching network. According to The Globe and Mail and CBC News, Wind will be offering a whopping $150 credit for those who switch to its network from Rogers / chatr. Mobilicity's chairman John Bitove has a different strategy altogether, threatening to complain to the Competition Bureau that Rogers' possible goal here is to drive other discount phone brands out of business before dissolving chatr and leaving the market with only a higher-priced segment. And if you were wondering where Telus and Bell Mobility stand, well, both companies are reportedly expected to follow suit with entry-level brands of their own. Data plan-averse Canadians should have quite the selection from which to choose.

Rogers' budget-friendly chatr brand launches in Canada originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Evatran's Plugless Power gives your wheels a wireless proximity-based charge

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/28/evatrans-plugless-power-gives-your-wheels-a-wireless-proximity/

Trading gas nozzles for electric sockets may be the green thing to do -- in more ways than one -- but wouldn't plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles be that much sweeter if you could just forget about the plug? That's what Evatran is trying to do with its Plugless Power technology, shown off at Plug-In 2010 in San Jose, which charges your car automatically when you pull up to the company's specially-designed curb. The "station block" above is a wireless induction charger (yes, a car-sized Powermat) that beams electricity to a shoebox-sized device you mount to the undercarriage of your vehicle, magnetically detecting and gravitating towards said shoebox even if you park somewhat crooked. The system presently works with 80 percent efficiency when firing electrons across a two-inch gap (engineers are shooting for 90 percent by the time it hits production) but of course the base station itself doesn't get power from the ether -- it requires one of the company's own Level 2 wired chargers (and compatible wiring) to run. Should your residence or place of business be equipped, the 240 volt towers will set you back $3,245 this December, and the proximity charger will be available to early adopters in Q2 2011 (we're hearing April) for the bargain price of $800.

Evatran's Plugless Power gives your wheels a wireless proximity-based charge originally appeared on Engadget! on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BeagleBoard finds new purpose in DIY wearable computer

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/29/beagleboard-finds-new-purpose-in-diy-wearable-computer/

We've already seen the small and flexible BeagleBoard used for a couple of different DIY projects, but few quite as impressive as this wearable computer built by Martin Magnusson. In addition to complementing any outfit, this rig runs Angstrom Linux, uses a modified pair of Myvu Crystal video glasses (and some stylish shades) for a display, and simply relies on a Bluetooth keyboard for input and a tethered iPhone for internet connectivity. Of course, if the shoulder strap isn't your thing, Martin has also demonstrated that the rig can discreetly fit in a standard CD case -- check it out after the break, and hit up the source link below for a look at the complete build process.

Continue reading BeagleBoard finds new purpose in DIY wearable computer

BeagleBoard finds new purpose in DIY wearable computer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia N8 up for official รข¬469 pre-order in Italy, available in September

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/29/nokia-n8-up-for-official-469-preorder-in-italy-available-in-se/

Nokia's Symbian^3 flagship -- the 3.5-inch N8 with 12 megapixel camera -- just went up for pre-order on Espoo's Italian storefront showing an end of September availabilty. Now before you get up in arms about the €469 price tag (about $610), remember, the €370 estimated retail price announced was pre tax and pre carrier subsidy. That's just how Europe does things, deal with it. We're not seeing the preorder available elsewhere but we'll update you if that situation changes.

[Thanks, Faisal]

Nokia N8 up for official €469 pre-order in Italy, available in September originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC will ship all Android phones in China with Froyo on board, fuels fire for immediate update closer to home

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/29/htc-will-ship-all-android-phones-in-china-with-froyo-on-board-f/

A wordy headline, to be sure, but a pleasing one nonetheless. We came across HTC's Chinese web portal listing the Desire as coming with Android 2.2 (with Sense!) and simply had to ping the official source for confirmation. It turns out the info up there is no mistake: all HTC Android handsets shipping to China -- which includes the Wildfire and Tianyi -- will do so with Froyo preloaded, cutting down on your upgrade angst at least until the Gingerbread man comes a'knocking. HTC has also reiterated that a 2.2 update for its phones already on the market will be delivered "very soon," so if all goes well, we should be looking at a Froyo-dominated August in the land of High Tech Computers.

[Thanks, Christian]

HTC will ship all Android phones in China with Froyo on board, fuels fire for immediate update closer to home originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lookout's App Genome Project warns about sketchy apps you may have already downloaded

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/29/lookouts-app-genome-project-warns-about-sketchy-apps-you-may-ha/

Lookout's App Genome Project warns about sketchy apps you may have already downloaded
If you're an iPhone user, the only privacy notice you'll see from an app regards your current location -- as much a warning about the associated battery hit from the GPS pinging as anything. If you're an Android user, however, things are different, with a tap-through dialog showing you exactly what each app will access on your phone. But, do you read them? You should, with Lookout running a sort of survey across 300,000 apps on those two platforms, finding that many access personal information even though they seemingly don't need to. One particularly scary instance, an app called Jackeey Wallpaper on Android, aggregates your browsing history, voicemail password, text messages, and even your SIM ID and beams it all to a server in China. That this app has been downloaded millions of times is a little disconcerting, but it's not just Android users that have to fear, as even more iPhone than Android apps take a look through your contact infos. What to do? Well, be careful what you download to start, on Android read those privacy warnings... and we're sure Lookout wouldn't mind if you took this opportunity to download its security app.

Lookout's App Genome Project warns about sketchy apps you may have already downloaded originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Intel's Optical Breakthrough Downloads an HD Film in a Second, Literally [Intel]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5597832/intels-optical-breakthrough-holds-promise-of-staggering-speeds

Intel's Optical Breakthrough Downloads an HD Film in a Second, LiterallyTransfer a song to your phone. Seems pretty fast, right? Now imagine transferring the entire printed catalog of the Library of Congress in a minute and a half. Intel says they've got the technology to make it happen (eventually).

Intel detailed their breakthrough to the press at an event today, marking the milestone of impressive 50 gigabits per second transfer speeds using an underlying technology that could go much, much further. We've covered the promise of fiber optic speeds before, but nothing like this. Intel CTO Justin Rattner explained just what "silicon photonics" even means, why the world needs it, and what it promises in the near future.

Silicon photonics is, simply, the combination of optical technology with traditional silicon chip manufacturing techniques—the same processes used to make all of our CPUs and GPUs. By employing existing methods, turning data into light and back again will be affordable.

The fundamental process is that of transferring data by converting electrons—which are what make the device you're reading this on right now work—into photons. Intel's photonic technology uses a dazzling bit of engineering—and I do mean dazzling, as we're on the scale of your fingernail—to encode data into laser streams. These streams converge into one, and travel along a fiberoptic strand to their destination, where they are decoded from light back into electrons.

Intel's Optical Breakthrough Downloads an HD Film in a Second, Literally

Why would we need anything as complicated and sophisticated as this? The fact of the matter is that we're nearing the limit of what we can do with electrons—and there's no arguing with physics. Once we get in the realm of 10 gigabit transfer speeds, we've pushed copper wiring about as far as it will go without degrading the signal beyond usefulness. And with the mind boggling volume of data swirling around—HD movies, lossless audio, high resolution photos—what might sound excessive today will be essential sooner than we think.

Intel's fiber connection, on the other hand, can take us farther and faster. Immensely so. At the speed Intel has announced today, you could download an HD film from iTunes or 100 hours of music in less than a second. And if they reach their theoretical potential of 1 terabit per second, you could slurp down three seasons of an HD show or backup your entire harddrive in the same amount of time.

Intel's Optical Breakthrough Downloads an HD Film in a Second, Literally

Rattner said Intel hopes to have silicon photonics "widely deployed" by mid-decade, though holding one's breath in cases like this is usually a bad idea. We asked Intel, after hearing them tout the advantages silicon photonics offers for consumer devices, whether we could expect to see this technology replacing USB within this timeframe, prompting them to stress that the significance of the breakthrough is in its potential, not its concrete applications—commercial adoption will hinge on the market and manufacturing factors. Still, they have proven the technology works, and works well. For now, I can safely say that they have preemptively ruined USB 3.0 for me. [Intel Silicon Photonics Research]

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When Foursquare Gets Creepy [Checking In]

Source: http://jezebel.com/5597934/when-foursquare-gets-creepy

When Foursquare Gets Creepy"I saw that you checked in there on Foursquare," said the stranger calling the restaurant where Shea Sylvia was dining. He suggested they "hang out," adding, "You probably shouldn't be telling people where you are on Foursquare, should you?"

Sylvia lives in Kansas City and works in online marketing. Her story, first chronicled on her personal blog and reprinted in The Guardian, is creepy on unending levels. There is the fact that he chose to call the restaurant and ask the manager to find her, based on a description culled from her profile photo. There is the threatening, teach-you-a-lesson tone, shortly after she declined to be overjoyed at his advances. And somehow, the simple act of jumping platforms — hasn't he ever heard of tweeting at someone? — into the physical space, at an unguarded moment, is creepiest of all.

In a piece published alongside Sylvia's, Leo Hickman writes about how he was on the other end of the equation: as an experiment, he picked a woman off Foursquare, culled Internet data on her, and then apprehended her at a work event in a London bar. When she showed up, "sensibly accompanied by a male colleague," she was understandably not that thrilled with the whole thing.

And yet services like Foursquare are supposed to do this, at least in part: Create a kinship between people who use the same services and share the same spaces but might never speak. That's why people opt in to it, though that sense of real-time lack of privacy is exactly why I've stayed away from it, however enthusiastically I've embraced other social media. Every Internet user negotiates how much personal information to share and how and when, but I would argue that for women, the situation is far more volatile, the vulnerability more terrifying. (Is it a coincidence that both targets, experimental and otherwise, in the Guardian stories are women?). And once you invite people into an aspect of your private life in any sort of public way, it's difficult to order them out.

Last year, before Twitter had geolocation and before Foursquare really took off, I was at a party, rummaging through a fridge for a beer, when someone tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I was Irin. "I found your tweet!" he said triumphantly, waving an iPhone in my face. How, exactly? I had tweeted a mention of a "rooftop party," and the neighborhood where it was taking place; he had been demonstrating Twitter to someone at the party, typed in the neighborhood where we were. When he saw my tweet, he used the tiny thumbnail photo and asked around to find me.

Now, despite my initial alarm, it turns out this guy is not a total creep like the guy who called Sylvia, and we are still friendly — at my urging, he joined my salsa studio, and he in vain tried to teach me how to play squash. In fact, we have real-life mutual friends, including but not limited to the ones throwing the party. You could argue that Twitter had bridged the awkward gap of strangers talking to each other at a party, the broken social bonds of our fragmented society, and so on and so forth. And yet some of those social bonds are broken for a good reason: There are terrible people in the world, we shouldn't necessarily trust all of them implicitly, and drawing lines around what we share can be useful and necessary.

Sylvia wrote of her experience, "I'm angry. I feel like someone violated an understanding that all of us generally nice people online have -– you don't cross the line." Of course, even people you know well in your physical life can turn out to be not "generally nice people." But there, the possibilities are more controlled and limited, and you choose to share different levels of information with, say, your Mom as opposed to your co-worker as opposed to the guy who serves you coffee. When those lines are crossed, it's enough to make you want to stay at home.

How I Became A Foursquare Cyberstalker [Guardian]
The Night I Was Cyberstalked On Foursquare [Guardian]

Image Via Korn/Shutterstock

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How to Make a DIY Macro iPhone Lens [Macro]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5597914/how-to-make-a-diy-macro-iphone-lens

How to Make a DIY Macro iPhone LensAs great as the iPhone 4 camera is, it's not exactly ideal for macro situations. Luckily, you can build your own iPhone macro lens—with wire, glue and a disposable camera—so that it can be.

Instructable user RVogel decided to create his own macro lens for the iPhone and came up with a pretty nifty solution. Basically, he took the lens from a disposable camera and repurposed it on a mount to fit an iPhone (theoretically, you can create a mount to fit any cell phone camera).

It's a pretty tough job that involves some drilling, sanding, cutting, bending wires at 90 degree angles, and more, but after you're done, you can take pictures like this:

How to Make a DIY Macro iPhone Lens
Which is to say, not bad! His full instructions on making your own iPhone macro lens can be found here. [Instructables via Unplggd]

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Nokia's Crowdsourced Design Competition Shows Fans Really Do Want Android [Nokia]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5597549/nokias-crowdsourced-design-competition-shows-fans-really-do-want-android

Nokia's Crowdsourced Design Competition Shows Fans Really Do Want AndroidWhen Nokia started crowdsourcing ideas for a new potential phone, I very much doubt they expected one of the key criteria named by partakers would be an "open source operating system with unlimited multitasking." Like...Android? Their fans want Android?

Ok, fair enough, Symbian is open-source and can do a small amount of multitasking. But say "an open source platform capable of multitasking" to anyone on this planet, and they'll think of Android. And rightly so—Nokia-adopting-Android rumors have circulated in the past, mostly due to an overwhelming desire from their users for a platform that's just a little bit more up-to-date than Symbian.

Nokia may've quashed those rumors just like they discarded Symbian for their high-end series of phones, but can MeeGo really save the day? I'd start looking at Android, if I were their new CEO. This crafty designer has the right idea.

But back to the design competition. There are three design sketches that you can vote for, with the winning design being turned into a 3D render by Nokia's team of artists. Whether or not it turns into an actual phone, that's for Nokia to decide. Somehow, I can't quite see it happening however. [Nokia Conversations via EuroDroid]

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Panasonic reveals HDC-SDT750 3D camcorder, is super proud of itself (updated with video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/27/panasonic-reveals-hdc-sdt750-3d-camcorder-is-super-proud-of-its/

Never mind the extensive leaks, Panasonic, you've got a right to be proud about the HDC-SDT750. After crowing about its end-to-end 3D experience, Panasonic has finally made its HDC-SDT750 camcorder official, which looks like it will be the first of its kind to hit the market. Sure, this is just a baby step: the 3D mode is enabled by snapping on an included 3D conversion lens that splits the image in twain to be recorded as right and left images by the standard 1080p sensor. That means each side will only be 960 x 1080, so you can't quite shoot Avatar in your backyard just yet, but it should look fine on standard 3D televisions. Unfortunately, you can't do much more with the 3D video right now other than pump it out over HDMI straight from the camera -- at least with the 3D stills that you can snap you can load them onto an SD card and play them off of AVCHD-compatible Blu-ray players. Still, these are exciting times to be alive, and you can always shoot in 2D with the no-doubt great 3MOS camcorder underneath (which seems to be very similar to the HDC-HS700) while you wait for the rest of the planet to catch up. The SDT750 will be out in October for a hefty $1,399 asking price. PR is after the break.

Update: The "after the break" lounge has now also been enriched with some video of the SDT750's official unveiling [Thanks, Jan].

Continue reading Panasonic reveals HDC-SDT750 3D camcorder, is super proud of itself (updated with video)

Panasonic reveals HDC-SDT750 3D camcorder, is super proud of itself (updated with video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic will offer interchangeable 3D lens for Micro Four Thirds by year's end

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/27/panasonic-will-offer-interchangable-3d-lens-for-micro-four-third/

Like Panasonic's new 3D-capable HDC-SDT750 camcorder but don't want to shell out $1,400 for a brand-new kit? Get a load of this Micro Four Thirds lens. That's right, Panny's just announced an interchangeable 3D lens that affixes to the standard Lumix G-series mount, meaning any of the company's new sub-DSLR shooters could see in stereo with a firmware hack update. Sadly, compatible models are still "to be announced" and even the lens pictured above is just a prototype, but we won't have too long to wait for the real deal -- the Japanese manufacturer says it'll be on sale by the end of the year. Press release after the break.

Continue reading Panasonic will offer interchangeable 3D lens for Micro Four Thirds by year's end

Panasonic will offer interchangeable 3D lens for Micro Four Thirds by year's end originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Street Slide: it's electric! (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/28/microsoft-street-slide-its-electric-video/

Remember the first time you used Google Street View? Amazing, right? Thing is, traversing a busy urban street in a 360-degree photographic bubble can be disorienting, especially when searching for a specific address or business. So check this: Microsoft Research has developed a rather nifty solution it calls Street Slide. Zoom out of your panoramic bubble and the street is presented as a dynamic, multi-perspective "strip" giving you an instant visual summary of the surroundings -- similar to viewing the entire street from a distance. Fortunately, Microsoft took advantage of what would otherwise be the unused letterboxed screen above and below the strip to add navigational and informational aids like clickable business logos and building numbers. Pretty impressive, and Microsoft is already working on taking Street Slide mobile with an iPhone port, and no doubt a version for the upcoming Windows Phone 7 series of devices. Unfortunately, don't expect this to be released anytime soon as the team has only processed about 2400 panoramas so far covering just 4 kilometers of streets. Check the video after the break, you'll be glad you did.

Continue reading Microsoft Street Slide: it's electric! (video)

Microsoft Street Slide: it's electric! (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MIT Technology Review  |  sourceMicrosoft  | Email this | Comments

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Toshiba's latest Cell Regza LCDs are Slim, but don't go calling them 2D

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/28/toshibas-latest-cell-regza-lcds-are-slim-but-dont-go-calling/

Ready to climb Mount Fuji and see what the next top Japanese TV will look like? Toshiba has just outed its trio of flag-bearing displays for this fall: the Cell Regza Slim 55XE2 and 46XE2, and the full-bloodied 55X2. Inch-based dimensions are already given in their model names, but you'll also want to know they offer 240Hz refresh rates, 1,000 nits of brightness and 9,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratios on the chunkier X2 (augmented with local backlight dimming), and a 2D-to-3D conversion technology that'll translate your stale old 2D imagery into bodacious triple dimensionality. You're also keeping the 3 terabytes of storage and the capability of time-shifting up to eight channels at a time from the older model, though you're no longer limited to a hard cap of 26 hours per channel. Connectivity is also rich, with options for DLNA and/or up to eight HDDs, while jacking in a Blu-ray recorder will permit you to record straight to the optical media the same way you can do to the Regzas' own storage. All these goodies won't come cheap, however, as the flagship 55X2 will retail for a well-rounded million Yen ($11,430) in late October, to be preceded by its Slim siblings with prices of ¥700,000 ($8,000) for the 55-inch and ¥600,000 ($6,858) for the 46-inch earlier that month. Full press release after the break.

Continue reading Toshiba's latest Cell Regza LCDs are Slim, but don't go calling them 2D

Toshiba's latest Cell Regza LCDs are Slim, but don't go calling them 2D origina! lly appe ared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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