Friday, October 29, 2010

ITRI shows off 6-inch FlexUPD AMOLED, hybrid 2D/3D display, makes lots of promises

ITRI shows off 6-inch FlexUPD AMOLED, hybrid 2D/3D display, makes lots of promises

ITRI shows off 6-inch FlexUPD AMOLED, hybrid 2D/3D display, makes lots of promises
Hey, remember when Taiwan's ITRI said that flexible TFT-EPD displays would be ready for smartphones by 2009? Yeah, well, keep that in mind when reading about this new 6-inch flexible display the company says will be released in a line of e-readers "very soon." It's called the FlexUPD, a 1mm thick AMOLED with a 5cm folding radius, 150nits brightness, and "unbreakable" construction. ITRI is also talking up its switchable 2D/3D display that we saw earlier, able to display both types of content simultaneously and do so without the requirement of goofy glasses. That tech is called i2/3DW and is set to "revitalize the [display] industry by revolutionizing the concept of 3D viewing." You keep on believing, ITRI, we'll just keep on waiting.

Continue reading ITRI shows off 6-inch FlexUPD AMOLED, hybrid 2D/3D display, makes lots of promises

ITRI shows off 6-inch FlexUPD AMOLED, hybrid 2D/3D display, makes lots of promises originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 11:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AOC goes ultraslim with new sixpack of LED-backlit monitors

AOC goes ultraslim with new sixpack of LED-backlit monitors

Tired of looking at the same, aged, lifeless pixels day-in and day-out? Now you've a way to change it. AOC has just unveiled its latest range of LCD monitors, and the whole lot is seductively thin. Measuring just 12.9 millimeters on the depth chart, this sixpack ranges from 18.5- to 23-inches and offers up a 16:9 widescreen viewing angle. Unfortunately, screen resolutions are being kept secret (we're crossing our fingers for 1080p across the board), but we are told to expect VGA / DVI inputs, a flexible base, five millisecond response times and a laughable dynamic contrast ration of 50,000,000:1. Mum's also the word on pricing, but look, at least you've got a lovely selection of high resolution images to gawk at below.

Continue reading AOC! goes ul traslim with new sixpack of LED-backlit monitors

AOC goes ultraslim with new sixpack of LED-backlit monitors originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel, Samsung, Toshiba form consortium aiming for 10nm chips by 2016

Intel, Samsung, Toshiba form consortium aiming for 10nm chips by 2016

There isn't much to say here, so let's just get on with the facts: Intel, Samsung, and Toshiba are joining forces and pooling R&D efforts in a consortium funded in part by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (an expected 50 percent, or 5 billion yen / US $62 million) and the rest from the members. The goal? Semiconductor chips nearing 10nm by 2016. Ten more companies are expected to be invited once things get sorted out, so major chip-related corporations, please keep checking your mailboxes daily.

Intel, Samsung, Toshiba form consortium aiming for 10nm chips by 2016 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dean Kamen unveils revamped bionic arm and water machine, LED light bulb powered by Cree

Dean Kamen unveils revamped bionic arm and water machine, LED light bulb powered by Cree

Segway inventor Dean Kamen just stole the show at TEDMED 2010, with both a far-reaching lecture on how technology can save the developing world, and a peek at his latest projects. We'll spare you the wave of guilt for now and get right to the cool stuff, like the latest rendition of his Luke prosthetic arm and Slingshot water machine. Dean admitted he's having difficulty finding companies interested in manufacturing the former, but it's looking snazzier than when it last grabbed Stephen Colbert, with components like this shoulder piece printed out of titanium in a custom 3D printer, and it's slated to look like this. The Slingshot's seeing even more action, as Dean and company have pulled it out of the ugly box into these svelte tubes, and finally has a distribution deal (with Coca-Cola, of all companies) to bring the clean-water-from-any-source machines to developing countries early next year.

Last but not least, the man's got a product you might be able to afford for your home. In the quest for an item for his FIRST young engineers to sell -- a la Girl Scout cookies -- he tapped LED manufacturer Cree to produce an 450 lumen light bulb that draws just 7 watts and will retail for about $25 door-to-door. In case you're wondering, that's cheaper and more efficient than most any lamp we've seen before. Dean says they've already produced several hundred thousand of the bulbs thanks to a surprise $3 million investment from Google, and plan to have them in the hands of every FIRST kid soon. Keep on fighting the good fight, Dean.

Dean Kamen unveils revamped bionic arm and water machine, LED light bulb powe! red by C ree originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS lays out Armdroid and Wintel tablet plans, we already feel overwhelmed

ASUS lays out Armdroid and Wintel tablet plans, we already feel overwhelmed

Leave it to ASUS to blast out an entire series of tablets that saturate the market in a single go. Many of these have already been mentioned, leaked, or even revealed at trade shows. But now we've got company president, Jerry Shen, filling in the launch details. Starting in December, ASUS will begin launching tablets in 7-, 9-, 10-, and 12-inch form factors. The 12-inch model will run Windows on an Intel chipset and be ready for purchase in January. Of interest, Shen says that Microsoft assisted in the development by making several enhancements to related technologies including touch control and the user interface. In March ASUS will launch a pair of 7 inchers (one with WiFi and the other with "3.5G" and phone functions) and another pair of 9-inch tablets (an ARM-based Tegra 2 model running Android and another Wintel tablet) with a price gap of $100. Of course, we've see a 10-incher around as well. That means we should see a grand total of five or six tablets from ASUS at CES in January. Fun.

ASUS lays out Armdroid and Wintel tablet plans, we already feel overwhelmed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 05:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Liquid Metal gets official in the UK with Android 2.2 and Breeze UI

Acer Liquid Metal gets official in the UK with Android 2.2 and Breeze UI

After seeing quite a few leaks, Acer just made its Liquid Metal handset official. The 3.6-inch slate runs Android 2.2 Froyo atop an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7230 processor. Inside all that molten metal you'll find 802.11n WiFi, support for 14.4Mbps HSDPA, DLNA/UPnP streaming support, Dolby Surround technology, and an image stabilized 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash capable of recording video at 720p (30fps). Acer's new handset also features a new Breeze UI and SocialJogger app that aggregates Twitter and Facebook feeds. Look for it to land in brown in the UK starting mid November for £299. A silver version should arrive in early December. Still no word on that AT&T compatible jobbie that passed through the FCC. One more image and the full press release after the break.

Continue reading Acer Liquid Metal gets official in the UK with Android 2.2 and Breeze UI

Acer Liquid Metal gets official in the UK with Android 2.2 and Breeze UI originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 06:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, October 28, 2010

OCZ amps up performance on RevoDrive X2 PCIe SSD: 740MB/sec, up to 120k IOPS

OCZ amps up performance on RevoDrive X2 PCIe SSD: 740MB/sec, up to 120k IOPS

Blink, and you've probably missed it. Just four short months after we saw OCZ Technology's original RevoDrive reviewed (and subsequently adored), along comes revision two. The RevoDrive X2 PCI-Express SSD looks, feels and smells the same as the first, but the performance is obviously looking north. The unit we saw introduced at Computex was capable of hitting 540MB/sec, while the X2 pushes that to 740MB/sec and up to 120,000 IOPS -- "nearly triple the throughput of other high-end SATA-based solutions." Furthermore, this guy packs double the SandForce SF-1200 controllers (four versus two in the original), and it retains the onboard RAID 0 design that you've come to know and love. It's available as we speak in 100GB to 960GB capacities, but there's nary a mention of price; something tells us that you're probably not the target market if you have to ask.

Continue reading OCZ amps up performance on RevoDrive X2 PCIe SSD: 740MB/sec, up to 120k IOPS

OCZ amps up performance on RevoDrive ! X2 PCIe SSD: 740MB/sec, up to 120k IOPS originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bang & Olufsen rolls out 32-inch BeoVision 10-32

Bang & Olufsen rolls out 32-inch BeoVision 10-32

It's still a long way from the more budget-friendly model you may have been hoping for, but Bang & Olufsen has now at least introduced a smaller BeoVision LCD TV. That comes in the form of the company's new 32-inch BeoVision 10-32, which hangs onto many of the features of the other BeoVision 10 series TVs, including edge LED-backlighting, a DVB-HD module, and a pair of built-in speakers that B&O says offers a sound quality that is "quite superior compared to the market level for TVs of this size" -- you can even add your choice of one of two motorized stands. Just how much will it cost you? Try €4,000, or roughly $5,500. Full press release is after the break.

Continue reading Bang & Olufsen rolls out 32-inch BeoVision 10-32

Bang & Olufsen rolls out 32-inch BeoVision 10-32 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Gives Gmail for iPhone Some Sweet Tweaks [Gmail]

Google Gives Gmail for iPhone Some Sweet Tweaks [Gmail]

Google Gives Gmail for iPhone Some Sweet TweaksThe newest mobile Safari-optimized version of Gmail isn't a breakthrough, but offers some much appreciated improvements. Namely, a snappier, near-perfect inertial scroll, and a persistent toolbar that will follow you through your inbox for easier navigation. [Google Mobile Blog]

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Subaru-Powered, Jesus-Supporting Flying Car Gets FAA Approval [Video]

Subaru-Powered, Jesus-Supporting Flying Car Gets FAA Approval [Video]

Subaru-Powered, Jesus-Supporting Flying Car Gets FAA ApprovalThe I-Tec Maverick, a roadworthy dune buggy powered by a Subaru engine, has won the first certification from the Federal Aviation Administration for a flying car. Its first mission: Saving the Third World.

Steve Saint runs i-Tec, which stands for "indigenous people's technology and education center." A Christian missionary, Saint started the firm to solve technological problems for remote tribes of Central and South America, and spent six years working on the Maverick.

With a 170-hp, 2.4 liter Subaru four-cylinder built into a canvas-covered frame, the Maverick can run up to 60 mph in less than 4 seconds. But its real trick comes when it deploys a cloth wing on a 22-foot mast and takes flight. After years of testing, the FAA in September certified the Maverick as a "powered parachute." That's different than the Terrafugia and similar vehicles which are classified as roadworthy planes.

Saint says since the Maverick needs just 100 yards to take off, it could help missionary pilots and jungle tribes become self-sufficient without having to abandon their way of life. His current estimated price for a production Maverick is $80,000, but hopes that sales to recreational pilots drive down the cost.

CNN interviewed Saint and took a ride in the Maverick:

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Roku makes hardware and software available to license, embedded TVs can't be far out

Roku makes hardware and software available to license, embedded TVs can't be far out

Aw, suki suki now! Roku -- the guys responsible for taking over your living room -- just announced that it's making its hardware and software platform available to license. At first glance, you may assume this means little to nothing for consumers, but you're (hopefully) mistaken. If you'll recall, the Roku XD was rebranded in order to slip into Netgear's vast sales channels, but the software part of this equation has our interest very much piqued. We've already seen Vudu's software baked into a number of HDTVs, and we're envisioning a future filled with world peace, In-N-Out for all and Roku-embedded television sets. We'll take two outta three if we have to, though.

Continue reading Roku makes hardware and software available to license, embedded TVs can't be far out

Roku makes hardware and software available to license, embedded TVs can't be far out originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 17:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vuzix Wrap 920AR dev bundle available 'nowish' with clear AR glasses 18 months away

Vuzix Wrap 920AR dev bundle available 'nowish' with clear AR glasses 18 months away

When we got our hands on the Vuzix Wrap 920AR at CES we saw a promising piece of gear without too many practical applications. And where do things stand, nearly a year later? Available now (aside from a "30 to 45 day delay" on all orders) the headset is strictly developers only. According to Pocket-lint, the company is only eighteen months away from clear AR glasses with heads-up displays -- and, believe us, we'd love to see that -- but in the meantime, your hard earned $2,000 will get you the glasses, a Vuzix VR Manager license, and access to the Vuzix SDK. So, who's going to be the first to pitch us a system for Augmented Reality comment moderation? We'd love to some new and novel ways to "downrank" a few of our favorite commenters, if you get our drift.

Vuzix Wrap 920AR dev bundle available 'nowish' with clear AR glasses 18 months away originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft 'Tags' 2 billion real-world objects with its phone-friendly barcodes

Microsoft 'Tags' 2 billion real-world objects with its phone-friendly barcodes

Microsoft might be late to the cameraphone-able barcode game, but it appears to be making up for lost time. Its multi-colored (and, frankly, rather attractive) Tag barcodes added a few important innovations on top of the general QR code concept, and apparently to good effect: 2 billion Tags have been printed since the January 2009 launch, and 1 billion of those Tags were printed in the past four months. Sounds like Microsoft has found some momentum, and they claim to have gained a lead in the publishing industry already. Obviously, the analytics, customization, and anti-fragmentation nature appeals to Big Barcode, but we'll have to wait and see if Tag is the ultimate choice of the everyman. Plus, won't ads be able to hack our brains and implant URLs at-will soon enough? We're holding out for that.

Continue reading Microsoft 'Tags' 2 billion real-world objects with its phone-friendly barcodes

Microsoft 'Tags' 2 billion real-world objects with its phone-friendly barcodes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 20:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon FiOS field trial introduces XG-PON2 to the lexicon, shows 10Gbps capabilities

Verizon FiOS field trial introduces XG-PON2 to the lexicon, shows 10Gbps capabilities

Verizon's FiOS footprint may be on an expansion hiatus, but that's not to say the company's abandoning existing users. Nearly 3.5 years after boosting FiOS internet speeds with G-PON, the company is now out testing XG-PON2 -- a newfangled iteration that somehow enables 10Gbps upstream and downstream from its existing fiber network. If you'll recall, we heard just a few weeks back that the outfit was close to being able to serve GigE on its existing platform, and now that this field trial has been successful, we'd say the boundaries are stretched even further. In the test, technicians were able to suck down a 2.3GB movie in four ticks of the second hand, and if you're hoping to see the nerdiest video of the day, a highlight reel of the trial awaits you just past the break.

[Thanks, David]

Continue reading Verizon FiOS field trial introduces XG-PON2 to the lexicon, shows 10Gbps capabilities

Verizon FiOS field trial introduces XG-PON2 to the lexicon, shows 10Gbps capabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oakley's 3D specs are a perfect blend of gaudiness and Tron: Legacy

Oakley's 3D specs are a perfect blend of gaudiness and Tron: Legacy

Think run-of-the-mill 3D specs just aren't cutting it? Need the sort of eyewear that ENCOM International would approve or? Here's perhaps a better question: got a infinitesimally-deep hole burning in your pocket? Oakley's recently-announced "optically-correct" 3D glasses are getting a special Tron: Legacy edition in honor of the upcoming internet documentary. Expect graphic art on the frames that, in some of the most amusing and illustrative words we've read in a press release for some time, "salute the cinematic story." Asking price is a steep $150, but fashion doesn't run cheap -- besides, how else are you going to stand out in a dark room filled with bespectacled people all facing the same direction?

Oakley's 3D specs are a perfect blend of gaudiness and Tron: Legacy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Droid 2 update begins with promise of better battery life and more

Droid 2 update begins with promise of better battery life and more

We've receive a number of reports that a 2.3.20 software update for Verizon's Droid 2 is slowly making the rounds this morning. The OTA push promises a number of improvements and enhancements with the promise of better battery life, faster transitions between WiFi and 3G data connection, and quicker location tracking when using GPS being perhaps the most notable. Other enhancements include:
  • New ability to add pictures from your Gallery to a contact.
  • Export all your contacts to the SD card.
  • View details of Social Networking contacts.
  • VZ Navigator is now preloaded on device.
Click through the break for the full list of improvements.

[Thanks, Mark L.]

Continue reading Droid 2 update begins with promise of better battery life and more

Droid 2 update begins with promise of better battery life and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 06:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eye-Fi gets social with the Eye-Fi View online picture portal

Eye-Fi gets social with the Eye-Fi View online picture portal

Eye-Fi gets social, launches View online portal and instant e-mailing of pictures
Yeah, we know. E-mail is like so 1999. Kids today are all about their tweets and their texts, but if grandma can decode a digital picture at all pretty much the only way she's going to get it is via e-mail, and Eye-Fi is making that easier. It's launched Eye-Fi View, an online sharing site not unlike your Picasas or your Flickrs, except that pictures are (nearly) instantly and automatically uploaded straight from the camera, where they can be shared (or not shared) with others. Users can also set up e-mail alerts so that grandma can get a private link to Gerard's graduation photos. Eye-Fi View is free if you don't mind your pictures disappearing after seven days, but if you want unlimited storage for an unlimited time you'll need to step up to the $4.99 monthly or $49.99 annual plans. The disembodied hand? We're pretty sure that's not included.

Continue reading Eye-Fi gets social with the Eye-Fi View online picture portal

Eye-Fi gets social with the Eye-Fi View online picture portal originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 07:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Liquavista displays get flexible, 'unbreakable,' still rather theoretical (video)

Liquavista displays get flexible, 'unbreakable,' still rather theoretical (video)

Liquavista displays get flexible, 'unbreakable,' still rather theoretical (video)
The next generation of display technology is still that, next, but despite being a future away it continues to get better. Liquavista keeps wowing us with various demonstrations of its electrowetting technology offering full color, high refresh rates, visibility in all lighting conditions, and low power consumption to boot. Now they're bendy too, with the company releasing footage of a prototype that's flexible. It's also said to be "unbreakable," demonstrated by a person wearing latex gloves gently tapping on the screen -- because, you know, that's about as tough as it gets outside of the lab. Video is after the break, along with full PR, but in neither will you find any hope of seeing this tech for real before the second half of next year.

Continue reading Liquavista displays get flexible, 'unbreakable,' still rather theoretical (video)

Liquavista displays get flexible, 'unbreakable,' still rather theoretical (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 08:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Shooting Challenge: Freelensing [Photography]

Shooting Challenge: Freelensing [Photography]

Shooting Challenge: FreelensingIt sounds so badass, doesn't it? Freelensing. Like Tom Petty is microwaving your $3,000 DSLR just to get high off the fumes or something. Well, truth be told, freelensing is a little badass, as far as photography techniques go.

The Challenge

Take a photo using the technique of freelensing, like our lead shot by jrdn7730. What the heck is freelensing? Read on.

The Method

Freelensing is when you take a photo with your lens detached from your camera body. You unlock the lens and CAREFULLY pivot it anywhere from a few millimeters to several inches. Depending, the results will look like tilt shift or macro photography. And that makes sense, because a tilt shift lens works a lot like the technique described...though instead of laying down the cash for the traditionally expensive glass, you can capture the effect this way for free. Just keep in mind that light leaks come with the territory.

Now, a word of warning: Man wasn't meant to take photos like this. Beyond the obvious possibility of dropping your lens, you're also exposing your camera's internals to moisture and dust. Done properly, freelensing isn't much more risky than swapping out your lens. But I wouldn't recommend keeping that lens detached for very long. Plan your shot. Detach. Snag the shot. Seal the lens back on the camera.

For more on the technique, LukeRoberts has a nice visual explanation and PhotoJojo has a fantastic general tutorial (via SwissMiss). Read it and then show us what you've got.

The Rules - READ THESE

1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos need to be taken AFTER the challenge was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 800px wide image (200KB or less) AND a 2560x1600 sized in email. (The 800px image is the one judged, so feel free to crop/alter the larger image for wallpaper-sized dimensions.)
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)

Send your best photo by Monday, November 1st at 8AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Freelensing" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameFreelensing.jpg (800px wide) and FirstnameLastnameFreelensingWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

When I'm not running Shooting Challenges, I'm managing my new site: Life, Panoramic. Submit* your photos today!

*There's a Brett Favre joke here somewhere, I can just feel it..

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A Robot With Coffee-Filled Balloons For Hands Is The Best Grabber Yet

A Robot With Coffee-Filled Balloons For Hands Is The Best Grabber Yet

The most dextrous, most careful and most useful robotic gripper is not a claw or a hand with several fingers — it's a sack of coffee grounds.

Working with funds from DARPA, researchers at Cornell University, the University of Chicago and iRobot came up with an ideal robotic gripping device, simply a latex party balloon filled with ground coffee. We'll call it the Kinetic Object grippiNg Arm. Cornell would rather call it a "universal gripper," but we think KONA has a nice DARPA-y ring to it.

It takes advantage of a physical phenomenon called jamming transition. When particles (like coffee grounds) are so densely packed that they can no longer slide past each other, they behave like a solid. When they're loosely packed, they behave like a liquid. Coffee is actually a pretty good analogue for this phenomenon — when you buy those mini vacuum-packed bags of ground coffee, they're hard as rocks; all the air has been sucked out, and the coffee grounds can't move past each other. Open the bag and introduce some air, and they behave like loose particles again.

This is exactly how KONA works. From Cornell's news service: An everyday party balloon is filled with ground coffee and attached to a robotic arm. The balloon presses down and deforms around an object, and then a vacuum sucks the air out of the balloon, solidifying its grip with just the right shape and pressure. When you want to let go, release the vacuum, and the balloon becomes soft again.

Designing hands is one of the biggest challenges in robotics. Like your own hand, robotic hands need to be dextrous yet solid, sensitive yet tough; they must be capable of plucking a raw egg from a basket, picking up a coin and hoisting a heavy object across a room. This is why scientists in Slovenia are letting robots punch them in the arm, and why Israeli researchers this summer offered a cash reward for the best robotic handshake: To truly make robots ubiquitous and helpful, someone needs to figure out the hands.

In this case, the researchers threw out hands altogether and opted for a mushy suction-ball instead.

Hod Lipson, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and computer science at Cornell, said the gripper is so simple, it could go on the market tomorrow. And its universality makes it useful for a wide range of applications, from improving prosthetic limbs to dismantling explosives. A paper describing the work was published online Oct. 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In theory, any type of jammable particulate matter will work — the researchers tried sand, rice, couscous and ground-up old tires — but the researchers settled on coffee because it jams well and is lightweight. Any variety will do, the Cornell Chronicle explains. But we favor a certain blend of flavorful Hawaiian beans.

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My iPad Finally Let Me Down [Shenzhennotes]

My iPad Finally Let Me Down [Shenzhennotes]

My iPad Finally Let Me Down It wasn't that long ago I was praising the iPad for being a wonderful travel computer. It still is—until it isn't.

The qualities that make the iPad so great on the road still apply: long-winded battery life; lightweight form factor that doesn't have to be removed for security scans at American airports; a very capable web browser, especially when complemented by selections from the App Store.

But when unexpected problems arise, the iPad doesn't give many ways to route around them toward a solution.

I don't know if it's God's way of telling me I need to buy a MacBook Air, but I've gotten myself into a bind here in China.

First off, I'm sick. I've clearly picked up some traveler's cruft somewhere. I'm weak. My stomach is upset. Leaving the hotel room—even just to try to eat some breakfast in the hotel restaurant—is taxing.

Plus I've got about 40 images from my DSLR that I need to get formatted into something to post on Gizmodo. A simple gallery would do. It's pretty much Computerizing 101 sort of stuff.

But an unfortunate confluence of problems has made the iPad the wrong appliance for the job.

I can't simply upload the images from the iPad to Gawker's content management system—no filesystem on the iPad for a web page to plug into. I can't email the images from the Photos app to myself, as for some reason it wants to attach the RAW files to the email instead of a converted JPG file; the subsequent 25MB+ email crashes the Photo app before they're sent through if I wanted to send them to someone else.

In fairness, I am running iOS 4.2 Beta 3, which could account for the bug in Photos. A couple of the images have converted as expected, which makes my thwarted success all that more tantalizing.

Dropbox doesn't work for some reason. It could be the Chinese firewall, although I've had issues with the data-side of other apps with web sites that aren't restricted. Hard to say.

Worst of all, I can't try to use any other apps to get the photos online because the App Store refuses to accept any of my account verification, despite entering in every credit card I've got. I can understand not letting me download apps that are restricted in China—I'm on Chinese internet, after all—but for some reason the App Store won't let me download anything at all, not even free apps.

Right now the only option I can see is to view each photo in the Photo app, then take a screenshot of it, then crop and rotate each one, then upload those. It would probably work, although the images would only be as high-resolution as the iPad's screen. Failing all else, that's what I'll do, but I'm not really looking forward to it.

Maybe all the errors—even the App Store failure— can be attributed to the beta version of iOS I'm running. I guess some other foreigner in China can test it next month when the final version of 4.2 is out.

But it's a pretty frustrating feeling to know that your data is inside the device you're using but because of its closed system troubleshooting options are limited. It's a little like being sick at Disneyland and getting stuck at the top of Space Mountain. Suddenly the veneer of blinking lights stops looking like the future and starts feeling like being trapped in a tiny car in the dark inside a warehouse.

I still really like the iPad for travel. I suspect even if I buy an Air—even the tiny version—I'll still bring the iPad along for books, video, etc. I mean, hell, I already own it. Might as well.

But the gild is ever so slightly off the lily. And instead of being impressed with how capable the iPad can be compared to a traditional computer, today I'm missing traveling with a machine that gives me more flexibility when my expected path dead ends.

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Water plus graphene will soon equal computers [Madscience]

Water plus graphene will soon equal computers [Madscience]

Water plus graphene will soon equal computersGraphene was hailed as a miracle substance. Easy to make and cheap to acquire, it could help with anything from DNA sequencing to power production. Now, thanks to water and physics, it could soon be turned into a computer.

Graphene has a lot of incredibly useful properties. It's just carbon, meaning you can get it anywhere, and although it's arranged in sheets an atom thick, it is relatively easy to make. It was applicable to a huge number of technologies, but it resisted the most common component of the most common technology — it couldn't become a transistor in a computer.

Transistors, at their most basic, are on-off switches. Anything that has two different positions can be used to make a computer. Only certain things, however, could make a useful computer. Semiconductors were among those things. They had an 'off' position, which with the use of electrical field could be turned into an 'on' position. Electricity being fast and malleable, the combination made for good computers.

Graphene is just a good conductor of electricity. It doesn't have a readily available on-off switch, both because of its substance and its symmetrical structure. But now, a recent test has shown how you could go about creating one.

Water is one of the most common and responsive substances in the world. Doctor Nikhil Karatkar conducted a test which shows how its properties can be used to help graphene become a part of the tech market. A layer of graphene is placed on a layer of silicon and silicon dioxide. Water is released into the chamber, and shuns the silicon, glomming on to the graphene. This breaks the graphene's symmetry, and makes it into a poor conductor. So the graphene now has an off switch.

Water plus graphene will soon equal computers

Although this has been done before with other substances, doing it with water is a huge breakthrough. Water isn't a dangerous material, or an expensive material. Moreover, water is relatively easy to control. Through temperature or pressure, scientists can control humidity. Make things wet - or cool enough, or pressured enough - and the water will descend on the graphene, turning the transistor off. Dry it out a bit, and the water lifts off the graphene, allowing it to conduct electricity again.

So water and carbon could be the bones of the next generation of computers.

Via Online Library and RPI.

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MacBook Air review (late 2010)

MacBook Air review (late 2010)

The MacBook Air has never exactly been a simple product to review. Since the laptop's launch back in the heady days of 2008, we've always considered it a niche, high-end product and much less a mainstream system. Originally, the wafer-thin (and somewhat underpowered) laptop sold for a painful starting price of $1,799, and had its fair share of problems. Well, we've come a long way from Apple's original play, with two all-new models of the Air. The first is an update to the standard 13.3-inch model priced at a significantly cheaper $1,299, while the newest entrant to the MacBook family is a tiny 11.6-inch model that's nearly the size of an iPad -- and not wildly more expensive, starting at $999. Of course, over time the market for laptops of this type has gotten quite crowded, with a slew of ULV-based thin-and-lights that offer lots of options for lots of budgets. Do the new MacBook Airs have enough to take on a crowded market, or have they been bumped out of the game altogether? Read on for the full Engadget review to find out!

Continue reading MacBook Air review (late 2010)

MacBook Air review (late 2010) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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