drag2share: Lettuce Gaze Upon the Future of Agriculture

source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/vip/~3/jJtusfJPBnU/lettuce-gaze-upon-the-future-of-agriculture-789817712

Florida has its oranges, Georgia has its peaches, and California has its lettuce. These leafy greens are the Golden State's biggest vegetable crop, bringing in $1.6 billion annually. Problem is, they require a lot of attention to raise properly. Historically, California has relied of its abundant, affordable work force. But with that labor pool shrinking and foreign competition increasing, lettuce farmers in America's Salad Bowl are facing rising labor costs and worker shortages. And that's where the fully automated Lettuce Bot comes in.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

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Crowsflight for iOS: Enjoy Wandering Without Ever Getting Lost

Source: http://gizmodo.com/crowsflight-for-ios-enjoy-wandering-without-ever-getti-805863347

Asking for directions is a sign of weakness. Everyone knows that. Still, that's not necessarily to say that you should solely rely on the sun and your wildly unfounded gut instincts. Crowsflight for iOS gives you a middle ground.

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All It Took to Hijack Google Glass Was a Dumb QR Code

Source: http://gizmodo.com/all-it-took-to-hijack-google-glass-was-a-dumb-qr-code-812240007

The scariest Google Glass hack just got fixed before anyone evil could actually use it, but the details are a little unsettling. Using nothing more than Glass's camera and a malicious QR code, hackers would have been able to steal total control of the device if you so much as looked at the wrong thing.

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drag2share: Magic Lantern gives 14 stops of DR to Canon 5D Mark III with dual ISO recording

source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/17/magic-lantern-dual-iso-canon-5d-mark-iii/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

Magic Lantern's brought some miraculous features to Canon EOS DSLRs lately, including RAW video recording on the 5D Mark III, and video recording, period, to the 50D. Its latest feat is no less amazing, even for jaded DSLR shooters. By exploiting unused dual ISO amplifiers on a sensor chip in the Canon 5D Mark III and 7D, new firmware allows you to record lighter parts of a scene at ISO 100 and darker portions at ISO 1600. It works with RAW video and stills on the 5D III and RAW stills only on the 7D, with both requiring post-processing after capture. That bit of creative coding increases the dynamic range of both cameras to around 14, though not without some drawbacks. Namely, the 7D implementation is buggy for now, you'll lose some resolution while gaining aliasing in shadows and highlights, and won't be able to check critical focus by zooming in. Still, the organization has a track record of quickly improving new features -- so, if you've got the guts to risk voiding your warranty, hit the source.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

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Acer's 23-inch Z3-605 all-in-one ships to the US, starting at $700

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/17/acer-z3-605-us/

Want a straightforward Windows 8 all-in-one that won't cost a pretty penny? Acer has you covered with the launch of its Z3-605 Series in the US. The 23-inch desktop isn't a performance champ when it carries up to a Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive and a DVD burner. Don't dismiss it out of hand, however -- the 1080p IPS-based LCD should deliver a good-looking picture, and a touchscreen variant supports air gestures. If there's enough here to leave you intrigued, you can pick up the Z3-605 today for a modest $700 in base trim, or with touch for $800.

Filed under: Desktops, Acer

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Source: Acer

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Researchers Use Circuit Printer to Make Functional Heart Muscle

Source: http://gizmodo.com/researchers-use-circuit-printer-to-make-functional-hear-789602979

Growing replacement organs in a lab and transplanting them is science-fiction dream-turned-very-possible-reality, but so far it's been limited to simple tissues. Today, MIT researchers published findings on their successful attempts to build functional heart tissue, using a modified machine originally meant to build integrated circuits.

Growing heart tissue in the lab presents an enormous challenge. If the muscle cells aren't precisely arranged to pull along the same axis, the tissue can't do its pumping job. For the 3D cell guidance they needed, researchers at MIT's Draper Lab created thin, micro-perforated sheets of biorubber. They stacked these sheets with a programmable machine from the integrated circuit industry, positioning the pores to create interwoven muscle bundles when seeded with mouse muscle cells and rat neonatal heart cells. By controlling the alignment of the resulting fibers, the researchers can produce tissue that precisely mimics the natural heart.

While several challenges currently prohibit mass-scale production of viable cardiac tissue, the researchers say this unprecedented level of cell growth control opens "a whole new design space." Next, they plan to test the tissue in rats that have suffered heart attacks. And there's a chance that someday, in the not too distant future, nobody will have to die of a broken heart. [MIT Technology Review via KurzweilAI]

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NASA and SETI discover new Neptunian moon, spot what Voyager 2 missed

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/15/new-moon-neptune/

A baker's dozen worth of moons might already sound like too many for us Earthlings, but Neptune has just had its count bumped to 14. Though the extra luna appeared as a white dot in over 150 photos taken by NASA's Hubble telescope between 2004 and 2009, it took SETI's Mark Showalter to discover it after poring over images of faint rings around the planet. Dubbed S/2004 N 1, the satellite is no more than 12 miles across and completes its orbit every 23 hours. Hoping to spot it in the night sky? You're better off hitting the second source link for more pictures, as it's 100 million times dimmer than the faintest star viewable with the naked eye, and it escaped Voyager 2, to boot.

[Image credit: NASA, ESA and A. Feild (STScI)]

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Source: NASA, HubbleSite

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Xolo Play T1000 brings Tegra 3-based phones to India

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/15/xolo-play-t1000/

Tegra 4-based phones may be all the rage lately, but many in India haven't even had a shot at the Tegra 3 -- not very fair, we'd say. Xolo is addressing that deficit by launching the Play T1000, which brings the Tegra 3 to the country for the first time. The quad-core processor adds a gaming-friendly spin to what's otherwise a close cousin of the X1000 we saw back in March. Both phones share a 4.7-inch 720p LCD, 21Mbps HSPA+ and an 8MP rear camera; the T1000 cuts the (thankfully expandable) storage down to 4GB in return for a sharper 2MP front camera. Pricing may clinch the deal for some Indians, however. The Play T1000 is available now for 15,999 rupees ($268) off-contract -- a price low enough to make us wish there were plans for a US release.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, NVIDIA

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Source: Xolo

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Toshiba's Exceria Pro SDHC cards claim 'world's fastest' write speeds of 240MB per second

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/16/toshiba-exceria-pro-sd-cards/

SD cards are a dime a dozen, so any new entrants need a pretty juicy hook to get our ears pricked. Toshiba's Exceria Pro cards mightn't have any wireless or special transfer features, but they do claim to take the "world's fastest" title for one basic spec: write speeds. Intended for top-level cameras, the Pro SDHC cards will come in 16GB and 32GB configurations and tout the UHS-II high-speed standard for achieving write speeds of 240MB per second. Launching alongside the Pro options will be a couple of Exceria SDXC cards with capacities of 32GB or 64GB. Also UHS-II compliant, these have maximum write speeds of 120MB per second; data read speeds of all Exceria cards top out at 260MB per second. They'll be available in "major markets worldwide," but will arrive in Japan first, with the Pro cards launching in October before the regular Exceria models in November. Pricing info isn't available right now, but we imagine they'll be a little more expensive than the standard cards tucked away in your point-and-shoot.

Filed under: Cameras, Storage

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Source: Toshiba

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ZTE Geek U988S outed as world's first Tegra 4 phone, headed to China Mobile

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/15/zte-geek-u988s-tegra-4-phone/

China's TENAA certification database is notorious for leaking mobile devices, but this time ZTE's learned that if you can't beat it, then just play along with it. After this U988S was leaked by TENAA recently, ZTE decided to share some product shots on a forum and Sina Weibo ahead of time. What's more, the company confirmed that this red device is actually the China Mobile version of the Geek, but the Intel chip has been replaced by NVIDIA's upcoming Tegra 4. As teased before, this will likely make the new Geek the world's first phone to pack this quad-core chip, which will be clocked at 1.8GHz and will have 2GB of RAM, according to the TENAA filing.

Other changes include the 5-inch LCD upgrade from 1,280 x 720 to 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, plus the front-facing camera is now at 2 megapixels instead of just 1. On the other hand, the old 8-megapixel main camera is here to stay. Sadly, this particular device will only work on China Mobile's TD-SCDMA network, meaning the rest of the world will have to stay tuned for a global version. Let's hope that this wouldn't take too long.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: Engadget China

Source: Sina Weibo, TENAA, ZTE Fans

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Meet Utilite, a $99 quad-core ARM-based PC running Ubuntu

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/15/meet-utilite-a-99-quad-core-arm-based-pc-running-ubuntu/

That box you see above? It's a quad-core ARM-based PC running Ubuntu called Utilite. The desktop system, made by Compulab, will be available next month starting at $99. While there are plenty of Android dongles built on ARM SoCs out there, few (if any) can truly offer a PC-like experience. The company -- best known for its Trim Slice, Fit-PC and MintBox products -- wants to change this.

Utilite packs a single, dual or quad-core Freescale i.MX6 Cortex-A9 MPCore processor (up to 1.2 GHz), up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM (1066MHz), an mSATA SSD (up to 512GB), WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI and DVI-D outputs, two Gigabit Ethernet sockets, four USB 2.0 ports, one micro-USB OTG connector, audio jacks (analog and S/PDIF), a micro-SD XD slot and two ultra-mini RS232 interfaces -- phew!

Rounding things up is support for OpenGL ES, OpenVG and OpenCL EP plus multi-stream 1080p H.264 on-chip decoding. All this fits in just 5.3 x 3.9 x 0.8 inches (135 x 100 x 21mm) and only consumes 3-8W using a 10-16V supply (unregulated). Those are impressive specs for the price, and the system sure looks positioned to compete favorably with some of the x86 boxes out there.

Filed under: Desktops

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Source: FanlessTech

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Intel may launch internet TV service using OnCue name

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/13/intel-may-launch-internet-tv-service-using-oncue-name/

Intel has been open with its plans to introduce an internet-based TV service, but many of the details remain up in the air -- not the least of which is the name. However, GigaOM has done sleuthing that suggests the offering could be called OnCue. A reported shell company for Intel, Sest, has registered trademarks that include the OnCue title, a logo and a "TV has come to its senses" slogan. Simultaneously, an employee at the marketing agency OMD claims to have worked on the OnCue launch. Intel isn't commenting on the apparent discoveries, but we wouldn't count on the trademarks arriving in tandem with a product. When the company is taking a very cautious approach to entering the internet TV field, there's a chance that the names will be all we ever see.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Intel

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Via: GigaOM

Source: LegalForce

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Revolv shows how you could control a connected home with Google Glass (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/14/revolv-google-glass-connected-home/

Hasta la vista, switches.

Filed under: Misc, Google

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Source: Revolv

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Dual-SIM HTC Butterfly S certified for China, comes with removable back cover

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/14/htc-butterfly-s-dual-sim-9060-china/

It's a given that HTC will eventually launch its new Butterfly S in China, but will it be a dual-SIM version like the One Dual variants offered over there? The answer is yes, according to a filing in TENAA's database. This particular "9060" device comes with WCDMA radio, meaning it'll be picked up by China Unicom but will also work in many parts of the world.

According to a source of ours, the entire back cover (black or white; with NFC antenna) is removable to give access to the two micro-SIM card slots, as well as a microSD slot as featured on the One Dual. The trade-off, however, is the increased 10.89mm thickness from the original 10.6mm. That said, the listed 158g weight is a little below the original 160g, so we're not sure if the battery capacity is still at 3,200mAh.

The rest of the phone should otherwise be identical to its single-SIM sibling: 1.9GHz quad-core processor (so should be the same Snapdragon 600 SoC), 5-inch 1080p LCD, UltraPixel main camera, BoomSound stereo speakers and Android 4.2.2. As always, we shall keep an eye out for a price and date.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Via: SlashGear

Source: TENAA

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Moto X's Open Mic demoed, enables voice command when screen is off (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/14/moto-x-open-mic-voice-command-rogers/

Just when we're getting bored of all these static Moto X leaks, a couple of new video clips popped up to finally show off some of the software goodies. The first one appears to be a leaked Rogers promotional video (embedded after the break), in which a nice lady introduces us to a new Google Now voice command feature, which can be toggled with a custom phrase even when the screen is off. According to another clip uploaded by kronikbudz, said feature is called Open Mic, but there's no indication as to whether this will be exclusive to Motorola devices or whether it'll come with the next Android release.

The Rogers video adds that the Moto X will provide ambient "active updates" notifications on the screen when the phone is locked, and this is pitched as a more sensible replacement for the meaningless blinking light. Later on, the same lady demonstrates how one can activate the phone's camera -- even when locked -- by simply twisting the wrist twice. We're a bit worried that this may allow accidental activations, unless the phone can detect whether it is inside a pocket or bag.

Finally, the lady says the Moto X will be "exclusively" heading to Rogers this August in either black or white, thus confirming the "late Summer" window that we were previously told. Enjoy your very own exclusivity while it lasts, Mr. Schmidt!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: MobileSyrup, Android Authority

Source: Google+, Vimeo

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