Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, March 28, 2011

Smart Fortwo ED gets official EPA ratings: 94 MPG city, 79 MPG on the highway

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/28/smart-fortwo-ed-gets-official-epa-ratings-94-mpg-city-79-mpg-o/

Looks like "Team 250" is primed to add a few new members now that the EPA has revealed its official MPGe ratings for Smart's Fortwo EDs. Rated at 94 miles-per-gallon in the city and 79 on the highway, the car takes motorists 63 miles per charge -- making it slightly less able than Nissan's Leaf with its 73 mile range, 106 MPG in town, and 92 MPG on the open road. Now that the Fortwo ED has its governmental blessing, interested parties can lease one from selected dealers -- sorry folks, buying's not an option -- for a hefty $599 per-month, which seems staggeringly high compared to the $349 monthly lease rate for the larger, more capable Leaf. Perhaps the Smart squad won't be getting many new teammates after all.

Smart Fortwo ED gets official EPA ratings: 94 MPG city, 79 MPG on the highway originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Electric Cars Report | US Department of Energy | Email this | Comments

Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/28/quadrocopters-juggle-balls-cooperatively-mesmerize-with-their-l/

You've seen one quadrocopter juggle a ball autonomously while gliding through the air, but how's about a pair of them working cooperatively? Yeah, we've got your attention now. The Zurich-based lab that brought us the piano-playing and ball-bouncing quadrocopter is back with a simply breathtaking display of robotic dexterity and teamwork. Like all mad scientists, they call their Flying Machine Arena research "an experiment," though we see it a lot more as a Pong-inspired dance of our future overlords. We all know how far video games have come since two paddles batted a ball between one another, right?

Continue reading Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy (video)

Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Robots.net | source

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Red One faces Arri Alexa in high-res, Choose Your Own Adventure-style face-off

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/28/red-one-faces-arri-alexa-in-high-res-choose-your-own-adventure/

RED1 MX faces Arri Alexa in choose your own adventure-style face-off

Most of the time when one product takes on another in a no-holds-barred face-off somebody walks away with a championship belt. Not this time. Here it's Gunleik Groven, Norwegian filmmaker and photographer, comparing the RED One Mysterium X and the Arri Alexa, two pro-quality shooters that come in at a price semi-pro producers can afford -- the RED clocking in at $42,485 the way Gunleik configured it, the Arri at $70,000. There are some obvious differences, like the RED shooting at 4K and the Arri at 1080p, but the vast majority of the comparisons here are far, far more subtle than that, meaning you're just going to have to pore over the comparison on the other end of the source link yourself and download the gigabytes of sample footage that's been thoughtfully provided. If you do need something of a conclusion, though, it's this: "These are both excellent cameras we could only dream of 5 years back... you cannot really complain on the equipment if you don't get your shot with either of these."

Red One faces Arri Alexa in high-res, Choose Your Own Adventure-style face-off originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 09:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BrainGate hits 1,000 day mind-control milestone, nearly three years of pointing and clicking

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/28/braingate-hits-1-000-day-mind-control-milestone-nearly-three-ye/

Aspiring Svengalis rejoice! For BrainGate has reached a significant landmark in computational thought-control -- the 4 x 4-mm implantable chip has given a woman with tetraplegia the ability to point and click with her brain for 1,000 days. An article recently published in the Journal of Neural Engineering said the woman, known simply as S3, performed two easy tasks every 24 hours, using her mind to manipulate a cursor with 90 percent accuracy. Each day she was monitored, S3 would post up in front of a computer and continuously command the thing with her thoughts for 10 minutes. Functionality reportedly deteriorated over time, but the paper points to the chip's durability, not sensor-brain incompatibility, as the culprit. Research is currently underway to incorporate BrainGate into advanced prosthetics that could get tetraplegics like S3 up and moving again. Now, how's that for the power of positive thinking?

BrainGate hits 1,000 day mind-control milestone, nearly three years of pointing and clicking originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 10:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hot New 'Color' App Lets You Stalk People Having More Fun Than You [Gawker]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5786184/hot-new-color-app-lets-you-stalk-people-having-more-fun-than-you

Hot New 'Color' App Lets You Stalk People Having More Fun Than You

Have you heard about this "Color" phone app? It's the hot new location-based photo-sharing social network thing that everyone's talking about but nobody really understands. Well, I've figured it out: It's the best way to stalk strangers who are richer… [Gawker]

Atomos Ninja and Samurai HD video recorder / monitors bring compression jutsu to pro filmmaking

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/26/atomos-ninja-and-samurai-hd-video-recorder-monitors-bring-comp/

We all drool over the hi-res video shot by cameras like the RED EPIC, but for indie-film types, processing the massive files produced takes a lot of time (and therefore money) and not everyone has an ARRI ALEXA to do native recording compression. Enter the Atomos Ninja and Samurai HD recorder / monitor / playback devices that take your 10-bit video and compress it in Apple's 1080p ProRes QuickTime format to make your post-production life a little easier. The Ninja pulls video through HDMI and deposits it on your choice of 2.5-inch HDD or SDD storage, does playback via a 4.3-inch 480 x 270 touchscreen, and has continuous power thanks to dual hot-swappable batteries (available in 2600, 5200, and 7800 mAh varieties). Meanwhile, the Samurai matches the Ninja's specs, but swaps out the HDMI connection for HD-SDI ports and adds SDI Loop-Through to connect an external monitor, a larger 5-inch 800 x 400 display, and 3D support (if you get two Samurais genlocked together). Both units have FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 and 3.0 connections for offloading your vids. Those with Spielbergian aspirations can pony up $995 for the Ninja right now, or pay $1,495 for the Samurai upon its release this summer.

Atomos Ninja and Samurai HD video recorder / monitors bring compression jutsu to pro filmmaking originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 11:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scientists improve blue OLED efficiency, don't promise everlasting light

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/26/scientists-improve-blue-oled-efficiency-dont-promise-everlasti/

Although this is not the first time we've seen an efficiency increase in blue OLEDs, it's worth noting that their proposed cap of productivity up to this point was a lowly five percent. It's exciting to learn, therefore, about a breakthrough by professor John Kieffer and graduate student Changgua Zhen from the University of Michigan, which has resulted in them successfully increasing azure diode power efficiency by 100 percent. The duo, accompanied by some bright minds in Singapore, manipulated performance controllers by rearranging OLED molecules in a computer model, improving material characteristics. In simple terms though, we're still looking at a measly ten percent efficiency, so we'll see where they take it from here.

Scientists improve blue OLED efficiency, don't promise everlasting light originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Physorg | source

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Samsung's 11.6-inch 9 Series laptop official at $1,199, still comes with 64GB SSD

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/26/samsungs-11-6-inch-9-series-laptop-official-at-1-199-still-co/

An Italian demonstrator gave us hope, but now we're empty inside -- the exceptionally thin 11.6-inch version of Samsung's 9 Series laptop will indeed come with a puny 64GB solid state drive. Well, perhaps empty is a bit of an exaggeration, as the machine's gorgeous duralumin curves fill our hearts with joy, as does the comparatively inexpensive $1,199 price tag that Sammy just confirmed on its website. And hey, we know of an Engadget editor making do with just 60GB of storage in his notebook, so it's not an untenable thing -- but when Samsung's marketing materials proudly boast that "You'll have room to bring it all with you with the 64GB drive," it's hard to repress the tears. That said, if "portable" is your middle name, you'll find all the pre-orders you need at our source link.

[Thanks, Brian]

Samsung's 11.6-inch 9 Series laptop official at $1,199, still comes with 64GB SSD originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 21:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iMobot creeps, crawls, cranes its way into our hearts (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/26/imobot-creeps-crawls-cranes-its-way-into-our-hearts-video/

It may not look like much, but this little modular robot's got the stuff to give Keepon a run for its money -- oh yeah, and according to its creators, iMobot's got big implications for the field of robotics too. Sporting four degrees of freedom, two rotating joints, and a pair of faceplates that act as wheels, the patent-pending device can crawl, drive, and potentially act as an autonomous camera platform. The surprisingly agile hunk of machinery was developed by two UC Davis professors who say their versatile invention could aid in search and rescue, as well as education and research. We think it's super cool that iMobot could be a hero, but really, we just want to see it bust a move. Check out a video of our new robo love after the break.

Continue reading iMobot creeps, crawls, cranes its way into our hearts (video)

iMobot creeps, crawls, cranes its way into our hearts (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 23:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

PhysOrg | source

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UC Davis (1), (2) | Email this | Comments

Hanwha unleashes HDMI / USB adapter for iPad, iPhone 4, and fourth-gen iPod touch

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/27/hanwha-unleashes-hdmi-usb-adapter-for-ipad-iphone-4-and-four/

Feel the desire to watch your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch (fourth gen) videos on the big screen, but looking for something with a little more girth than Apple's HDMI solution? Hanwha's latest dongle might do the job. As you can see above, in place of the original adapter's dock connector port is a USB 2.0 socket -- compatible with cameras supporting mass storage connection -- alongside the 720p-friendly HDMI port, but you'll have to use the switch to toggle between the two modes. And that little mini-USB port on the far right? Well, it's there to provide some juice to "reduce battery drain," but probably not enough to charge up your iDevice. If you're still interested and have a friend in Japan, Hanwha's charging ¥5,980 (around $73), which is almost double that of Apple's $39 connector. Is USB support worth such a price jump? Your call.

Hanwha unleashes HDMI / USB adapter for iPad, iPhone 4, and fourth-gen iPod touch originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 22:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Akihabara News | source

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WSJ: Google teams with MasterCard and Citigroup for NFC payments, also files patent app

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/27/google-teams-with-mastercard-and-citigroup-for-nfc-payment-demo/

Ever since the Nexus S and its nifty little NFC chip hit the market, there's been speculation that El Goog was planning a foray into the mobile payment arena currently occupied by the likes of Charge Anywhere. Now, it looks like that plan may be in high gear, as the Wall Street Journal reports that Google's secretly partnered with MasterCard and Citigroup to test out just such a system. According to the publication, the early demo pairs "one current model and many coming models of Android phones" with existing Citigroup-sponsored credit and debit cards, and is using the phones' NFC chips with those VeriFone readers we recently heard about.

What's more, a newly-published patent application from the crew in Mountain View may hint at the software behind such things. The application describes a service that sets up Google as a third-party broker who receives the shopping cart info of customers placing orders via a device (including those of the mobile variety), allows them to select shipping and other options, and provides the total order cost. It then collects payment, coordinates shipment, and forwards order information to the seller to complete the transaction. So companies can have Google handle all their payment-taking needs in return for getting a sneak peek at what folks are buying -- something that the WSJ's sources say might be a component of the setup Google's testing right now -- as opposed to other third-party services, like Paypal, that only obtain and exchange payment info with merchants. Looks like Alma Whitten (Google's Director of Privacy) has her work cut out assuaging the concerns such a system will inevitably create in an increasingly privacy-minded populace.

Sean Hollister contributed to this report.

WSJ: Google teams with MasterCard and Citigroup for NFC payments, also files patent app originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android adapter concepts promise to accessorize any headset

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/27/android-adapter-concepts-promise-to-accessorize-any-headset/

Well, here's a bit of a twist -- a concept device designed to actually a fund a Kickstarter-like service for concept devices. While that may not exactly inspire the most confidence, these concepts from the folks behind upstart Makible are certainly unique enough to get us interested. They included the standard headphone adapter pictured above, which promises to turn any set of headphones into a proper (and eye-catching) headset, as well as an iPhone headset adapter that will let you use any iPhone headset with your Android phone (check it out after the break). Both will apparently be limited to 10,000 units apiece assuming they get the necessary funding, with the headphone adapter setting you back $20, while the iPhone version runs just $10. Want to see them become a reality? Then you can hit up the link below to get your order in.

Continue reading Android adapter concepts promise to accessorize any headset

Android adapter concepts promise to accessorize any headset originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ThinkPad Edge E420s now shipping for $699, E220s coming in April

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/28/thinkpad-edge-e420s-now-shipping-for-699-e220s-coming-in-april/

Don't tell us you've forgotten about Lenovo's pair of new Edge machines! Sure, they've taken a while to get to market, perhaps having been inconvenienced by a little hiccup with Intel's Core 2011 chipsets, but the first of them is now well and truly on sale and the other is looking eager and ready to go too. The 14-inch E420s is up on Lenovo's web store, starting at $699 with a 2.1GHz Core i3-2310M CPU, while its 12.5-inch sibling, the E220s, is expected on the 8th of April, judging by the roadmap doc we've uncovered below. The E420s touts what Lenovo calls an Infinity Glass display, meaning simply edge-to-edge glass, alongside a fingerprint reader, a fetching new matte black lid, a HD webcam, 4GB of RAM and 250GB of HDD storage at a minimum, and a 48.8Wh battery. A 1366 x 768 resolution is your only option, unfortunately, though you can spruce up performance by quite a bit if you opt for the i5-2410M, which does 2.3GHz at default speeds or 2.9GHz when only one of its two cores is pushed to the limit ... or should that be to the Edge?

[Thanks, Chris and Abdu]

Continue reading ThinkPad Edge E420s now shipping for $699, E220s coming in April

ThinkPad Edge E420s now shipping for $699, E220s coming in April originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 04:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony and LG price a swath of 3D HDTVs

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/28/sony-and-lg-price-a-swath-of-3d-hdtvs/

We're still waiting on LG's ginormous 72-inch LZ7900 to make its debut on store shelves, but the rest of CES's primo 3DTV crop is rearing to ride out, with Sony's HX929, HX820 and HX720 series of LED-backlit LCD screens and LG's Infinia PZ750 plasmas now priced at Amazon. 3D-Display-info.com found Sony's locally-dimmed Bravia sets starting at $2,099 for a 46-inch HX720 with Gorilla Glass protection, all the way up to $3,799 for the premium 55-inch XBR-55HX929 with a full-array LED backlight. Meanwhile, the 50-inch LG PZ750 (with Smart TV, naturally) starts out at $1,599, while a 60-inch version of the same thing will run $2,199. Which one fits best in your den? That depends on a number of things, but we will add that the Sony sets are merely up for pre-order, while the LG units are listed as shipping within a matter of weeks.

Sony and LG price a swath of 3D HDTVs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 05:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

3D-Display-info (1), (2) | source

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Silicine might be the new graphene, now that it's been physically constructed

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/28/silicine-might-be-the-new-graphene-now-that-its-been-physicall/

Surely you've heard of graphene, the one-atom-thick layer of pencil lead that has the potential to change the world of computers, batteries and screens? You might want to familiarize yourself with the term "silicine," too. It's basically a version of graphene constructed out of silicon, which doesn't naturally align itself into the same eminently useful honeycomb shape -- but, given a little prod here and a layer of silver or ceramic compound there, can do much the same thing, and with better computing compatibility. First proposed around 2007, it's reportedly been produced twice now by two different teams, which gives physicists hope that it could actually be useful some day. For now, researchers need to figure out a way to easily produce it so detailed experiments can be performed -- from what we understand, the good ol' scotch tape method just won't do the job.

Silicine might be the new graphene, now that it's been physically constructed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 06:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Graphene-Info | source

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