Saturday, June 09, 2012

Linux lands on Android 4.0-toting MK802 mini PC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/09/linux-lands-on-mk802-mini-pc/

Linux lands on Android-toting MK802 mini PC

If the MK802 piqued your interest but has you pining for Ubuntu, Linux Questions forum user michaelfisk has a solution. The secret sauce is a pre-baked image of Ubuntu 10.04 modified for a different device using the same 1.5 GHz Allwinner processor. Simply slide a microSD card prepped with a bootable image of the distro into the mini PC and you're set. Though Lucid Lynx can be coaxed to run on the $74 mini PC without considerable hassle, performance isn't exactly top notch -- unseemly load times and a few kinks are reportedly throughout the experience. Eager to load up your Cotton Candy competitor with Linux? Hop past the break to see Liliputing give it a test drive or hit the links below for walkthroughs and the appropriate download.

Continue reading Linux lands on Android 4.0-toting MK802 mini PC

Linux lands on Android 4.0-toting MK802 mini PC originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jun 2012 01:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dausen iPhone pico projector battery case at Computex 2012 (hands-on video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/09/dausen-iphone-pico-projector-battery-case-at-computex-2012-hand/

Dausen iPhone pico projector battery case at Computex 2012

It's not the first iPhone 4/4S pico projector battery case we've come across here at Engadget, but we spotted this little number at Computex 2012 and just couldn't resist sharing it with you. What makes this accessory a bit more unique is that it incorporates the latest in DLP technology from Texas Instruments. As such, it's capable of projecting a 640x360-pixel image up to 70 inches across with 1000:1 contrast ratio. The 2200mAh battery lasts about 3 hours on a charge an can even top off your iPhone in a pinch. Additional features include a built-in speaker powered by a 0.5W audio amplifier. We spent a few minutes using the pico projector and while it works pretty much as advertised, it clearly struggled with the harsh lighting conditions of the show floor. Stay tuned for pricing and availability, but don't miss our hands-on gallery below and our demo video after the break.

Continue reading Dausen iPhone pico projector battery case at Computex 2012 (hands-on video)

Dausen iPhone pico projector battery case at Computex 2012 (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jun 2012 02:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friday, June 08, 2012

More People Pirate Game of Thrones Than Watch Game of Thrones on HBO [Piracy]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5916885/more-people-pirate-game-of-thrones-than-watch-game-of-thrones-on-hbo

More People Pirate Game of Thrones Than Watch Game of Thrones on HBOAccording to TorrentFreak, Game of Thrones averages around 3.9 million pirated downloads per episode. According to the great Internet resource known as Wikipedia, only 3.8 million people watch Game of Thrones on HBO. That means more people pirate the show than actually watch the show on TV.

To no one's surprise, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show on television by a huge margin. It's been tracking like that the entire season, but now that the Spring TV season is nearly over, it's been coronated as the king. Last year, the series based on the books by George R. R. Martin clocked in at 3.4 million pirated downloads per episode, so the show is doing better on both the shady black box of ratings and shady grey area of the Internet even though this season wasn't as good as the first.

Obviously, HBO Go numbers don't apply here but the effect of HBO Go isn't nearly as powerful as we think. HBO told the NY Times that only 1% of its total viewership across its network is actually from HBO Go. [TorrentFreak]

Intel's TV service aims at Nielsen, big cable, might not get here

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/08/intel-tv-setbacks/

Intels TV service plans stalled as big cable flexes muscles

Reuters is reporting that Intel's mooted virtual television network has hit the buffers because it can't beat its cable rivals spending. The company is eyeing up the $100 million TV business with a set-top-box and over-the-top service that would offer smaller, cheaper bundles of channels rather than the hundreds that come with a basic cable subscription. It would leverage its facial recognition technology in the system both by offering precise ratings data to networks and by showing targeted adverts to whoever it can see is watching. The former will surely annoy Nielsen, a player with plenty of its own influence in the industry. Despite hiring a quartet of industry heavyweights to help negotiations, studios are refusing to offer discounts to a new and untried entrant, meaning we may not see the service arriving by that planned November launch date.

Intel's TV service aims at Nielsen, big cable, might not get here originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jun 2012 10:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Ultrabooks of Computex 2012

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/08/ultrabook-roundup-computex-2012/

It was last year that Intel chose Computex, a computer tradeshow in Taiwan, to introduce its Ultrabook concept to the world. Twelve months later, 110-plus models are in the pipeline, which meant the Taipei Convention Center was overrun by skinny, lightweight laptops. Make that skinny, touch-enabled laptops. Between those new Ivy Bridge chips and Microsoft putting the finishing touches on Windows 8, this week's show was nothing if not a five-day-long wedding between two tech giants: almost every device on display here was a vehicle for showing off Microsoft's glossy new OS. At every turn, a celebration of touchscreen notebooks.

With more than 30 hands-on posts this week, we can see where one Core i5 laptop might look like the next, or how you might have failed to keep up with Jonney Shih's rapid-fire product announcements. Now that we're wrapping up here in Taiwan, though, we're ready to take a step back and think about what it is we just saw. Whether you felt overwhelmed by our wall-to-wall coverage or just need to catch up, we suggest you meet us past the break for a quick recap of all the new Ultrabooks. Oh, and if you're in the market for a new laptop, you can check your trigger-happy finger at the door. With few exceptions, we're not expecting these to go on sale until the fall, when Windows 8 is expected to sta! rt shipp ing.

Continue reading The Ultrabooks of Computex 2012

The Ultrabooks of Computex 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Browse Like Bond: Use Any Computer Without Leaving a Trace with Tails [Video]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5916551/browse-like-bond-use-any-computer-without-leaving-a-trace-with-tails

Browse Like Bond: Use Any Computer Without Leaving a Trace with TailsIf James Bond logs on to a computer, he doesn't want to leave a bunch of files, cookies, or his IP address out there for someone to find. It might seem extreme, but sometimes it's a good idea to take the same precautions yourself.

In this post, we'll walk through how to use a USB stick or DVD to anonymize, encrypt, and hide everything you do on a computer no matter where you are. When we say "browse without leaving a trace", we truly mean it. Using the Linux-based, live-boot operating system Tails (The Amnesiac Incognito Live System), you can use any computer anywhere without anyone knowing you were ever on it. Tails is a portable operating system with all the security bells and whistles you'll ever need already installed on it. You can install Tails on one of your many dust-gathering USB drives or a DVD. We'll show you how to set up your own portable boot disc in the second section, but let's start by taking a look at what you get with Tails.

What Tails Is and What's Packed Into It

The magic of Tails is that you don't have to do a lick of work: once you create your boot disc you'll have a completely anonymous, totally private operating system preloaded with all the software you (or James Bond) would need. What's packed into it? Let's take a look.

The Software Packed Directly into Tails

Browse Like Bond: Use Any Computer Without Leaving a Trace with TailsOnce you create your Tails boot disc, you'll be ready to reboot your computer into an encrypted and private operating system preloaded with all the software you'll need to browse the web, email, IM, and edit documents. Regardless of whether you choose a DVD or USB nothing you do is left on the computer you booted from.

  • Built-in online anonymity: The key feature that's going to appeal to most people is Tails' built-in online anonymity. This comes in the form of the customized web browser Iceweasel built using the anonymous web browsing technology from Tor. The browser also includes popular security extensions like HTTPS Everywhere for secure browsing, Adblock Plus to block ads, and NoScript to block Java and Flash. Other than those features, the web browser works exactly like you'd expect a web browser to work.
  • Built-in encrypted email and chat: Additionally, you also get encrypted and private messaging. Tails includes the Claws email client with OpenPGP for email encryption and the instant messaging client Pidgin with an OTR cryptography tool that encrypts your IM conversations.
  • Built-in file encryption: When boot Tails from a USB drive instead of a DVD, you can save documents to the thumb drive and they're automatically encrypted using an encryption specification called LUKS. (Since the DVD is read-only, you can't save any files—which is its own form of security.)
  • A full suite of editing software: On top your web access being private you also get a full suite of work and creative software. Tails comes preloaded with Openoffice for editing documents, Gimp for editing photos, Audacity for editing sound, and plenty more additional software.

Now let's walk through how to set up a boot disc for yourself.

Step-by-Step Guide to Set Up Your Own Tails DVD or USB Drive

Browse Like Bond: Use Any Computer Without Leaving a Trace with TailsTails is pretty easy to set up on your own and it doesn't differ much from setting up any other Linux Live CD. However, a few extra steps do exist to verify your download.

Step 1: Download the Necessary Files

You need to download two different files to get started with Tails: an ISO (an image of Tails that is burned to a disc) and a cryptographic signature to verify the ISO image:

  1. The ISO Image (Direct download / Torrent)
  2. Cryptographic Signature (Direct download / Torrent)

The developers behind Tails recommend you verify your Tails ISO to make sure it's an officially released version that hasn't been tampered with. We won't walk through that process here, but they have instructions on their web site for Windows and Mac or Linux.

Step 2: Burn Tails to a CD/DVD

You can find documentation for creating a Tails USB from scratch on each operating system here. Alternately, you can more easily make bootable USB installation of Tails after you boot from a Tails live DVD. For our purposes we're going to burn Tails to a bootable DVD because it's an easier process than creating a USB stick from scratch.

On Windows: Right-click the ISO image, select Burn Disc Image, select your DVD drive.

On Mac: Right-click the ISO image, select Burn "tails..." to Disc, select your DVD drive.

Once it's finished burning let's boot into Tails and kick the tires.

Step 4: Boot into Tails

Stick your Tails DVD, CD, or thumb drive into your computer and reboot. The process for booting into a disc or external drive depends on your system, so lets look at how to do it on Windows and Mac.

On a Windows System: Different Windows computers have different default settings for booting from an external drive. If yours doesn't already check for a boot DVD first you can always edit the BIOS boot order (often the DEL key at startup) to make sure your computer looks for a CD or USB before it starts. Alternately, you can closely watch the BIOS screen at the beginning of your computers startup for the Boot options shortcut (usually one of the function keys). When you get to the boot option menu, select your DVD drive and you'll boot into Tails.

On a Mac System: When you turn on your Mac immediately press and hold down the Option key to access the Startup Manager. Select the Tails DVD (the description will actually say "Windows") and you'll boot into Tails.

Step 5 (Optional): Clone the DVD onto a USB Drive

Browse Like Bond: Use Any Computer Without Leaving a Trace with TailsNow that you're booted into Tails it's easy to clone your boot DVD onto a USB drive directly from the Tails operating system. Here's what you need to do:

  1. Connect your USB drive to your computer.
  2. Select Applications > Tails > Tails USB Installer.
  3. Click the Clone and Install Button.
  4. Select your USB drive, click "Create Live USB Drive" and let the program run.

When the installation is complete you'll have a bootable USB drive. The benefit of the USB drive is that any files you create in Tails are saved and encrypted directly on your device. However, a USB drive could theoretically be hacked into if you leave it around which is why the ultra-paranoid might prefer a read-only DVD for Tails.

Also, Macs don't support USB booting without downloading and installing additional software called rEFit. This means you have to download and install rEFit on every Mac you want to boot into Tails from a USB drive.


Creating a bootable Tails disc is a simple process and a great use for one of those USB drives you have laying around doing nothing. Since you can use Tails on about any public computer you run into it's a great way to keep your browsing and usage hidden from the world. It's even beneficial on your home computer since you don't have to alter your system in any way.

This Modern Island Home Is Entirely Powered by the Sun [Design]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5916783/this-modern-island-home-is-entirely-powered-by-the-sun

This Modern Island Home Is Entirely Powered by the SunGreat Barrier House, built by Crosson, Clarke and Carnachan in New Zealand's Great Barrier Island, is a sustainable solar-powered home constructed of sustainably-sourced timber in deference to its ecologically-sensitive island surroundings.

Despite its open frame and floor plan, Great Barrier House maintains a comfortable temperature all throughout the year, thanks to the low E glass that provides reliable insulation no matter the season.

This Modern Island Home Is Entirely Powered by the SunMost impressive: The fully solar-powered home has had as many as nine laptops in use simultaneously, all without ever making use of the backup generator that is on hand just in case.

This Modern Island Home Is Entirely Powered by the SunThe fireplace, Inhabitat reports, has been used only once by the client—to generate ambience rather than for warmth!

[Inhabitat]

Report: Intel Is Planning Targeted TV Advertising With Facial Recognition [Rumors]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5916805/report-intel-is-planning-targeted-tv-advertising-with-facial-recognition

Report: Intel Is Planning Targeted TV Advertising With Facial RecognitionReuters is reporting that Intel is pursuing a creepy little venture, in conjunction with cable providers, which involves a set-top box, recognizing your face and then targeting ads.

The report suggests that, while the technology wouldn't go as far as identifying individuals, it could provide data such as age and gender. From there, it would be easy to target ads, depending on the demographic sat in front of the TV.

Apparently Intel is already in talks with content providers to negotiate how it could be rolled out, and how specific channels could be targeted in the first instance. It's easy to see the attraction for the companies involved: in theory, such a system should significantly improve the ability to generate ad revenue. The report also suggests that Intel is hopeful that it could roll a system out by the end of the year.

No doubt you're thinking that you would never agree to have such a system installed in your home. And quite right, too: in fact, it's hard to see how any consumer would be convinced they wanted to experience such an invasion of privacy. But what if your cable subscription received a healthy discount as a result? Everyone, after all, has a price. [Reuters via The Verge]

Image by OnInnovation under Creative Commons license

HTC Desire V makes its European debut with dual-SIM capabilities, keeps your affairs in order

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/07/htc-desire-v-dual-sim-smartphone/

HTC Desire V makes its European debut with dualSIM capabilities, keeps your affairs in order

Whether you travel a lot, have to deal with spotty coverage or straight up lead a double life, HTC has a new dual-SIM smartphone for you with the Desire V. The handset is a first of its kind from the company for its European audience, which is said to debut first in Ukraine at a cost of 3,800 грн (approx. $470). The Desire V is an Android 4.0 smartphone with Sense 4 and is based on the Qualcomm MSM7227A SoC. Its spec sheet is quite decent, which includes a 1GHz CPU, a 4-inch WVGA display and a 5-megapixel camera. You'll also find 512MB of RAM, and while the phone offers just 4GB of internal storage, it also includes a microSD card slot and 25GB of storage through Dropbox. Only one SIM will support data connections, however, as the latter is limited to GSM/GPRS connections -- still fine for voice, but keep that in mind. You'll see the Desire V hit the streets next month, which'll give you enough time to get your affairs in order (or disorder, as the case may be).

HTC Desire V makes its European debut with dual-SIM capabilities, keeps your affairs in order originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 goes on sale melding quad-core Ivy Bridge and GeForce GTX 660M

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/08/lenovo-ideapad-y580-goes-on-sale/

Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 goes on sale melding quadcore Ivy Bridge and GeForce GTX 660M

The Y580 led the avalanche of Lenovo IdeaPads unveiled at CES; its dependence on both Intel Ivy Bridge processors and Kepler-based NVIDIA graphics kept it out of the spotlight for some time, but it's now ready to ship out. The finished 15.6-inch laptop skews very clearly to gamers and other performance mavens. The range starts off with a quad 2.3GHz Core i7, a GeForce GTX 660M and 8GB of RAM. Any heavier outlays of cash upgrade the display resolution, optical drive and storage to as much as a 1080p screen, a Blu-ray combo drive and a 1TB hard drive with a companion 32GB SSD for good measure. None of them will win a contest for sheer portability, but a tight official price spread between $1,299 and $1,549 ($1,039 and $1,239 on sale) guarantees that it won't be hard to get exactly the PC you need to play Spec Ops.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 goes on sale melding quad-core Ivy Bridge and GeForce GTX 660M originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jun 2012 01:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, June 07, 2012

Google gives a sneak peek at Chrome for Windows 8's Metro UI, plans a test release soon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/07/google-gives-a-sneak-peek-at-chrome-for-windows-8-metro-ui/

Google gives a sneak peek at Chrome for Windows 8's Metro UI, plans a test release soon

Google vowed that it would adapt Chrome to Metro back in March, and it's just now providing its first real look at the Windows 8 revamp. Don't expect a radical remake: it's Chrome, just in Metro. Even so, the very first test releases will support charms for sharing and other cross-OS features, and they will obey Snap View for tablet-friendly Windows 8 multitasking. Metro support will come in the next Dev channel release for those using the Windows 8 Release Preview. Those of us leery of running a pre-beta web browser on top of a beta OS will have to wait some months to see the finished result. That patience should be rewarded through better touchscreen support and refinements to the overall interface, so by the time the dissenting among us are ready to toss Internet Explorer 10 aside, Chrome will be waiting with open arms.

Google gives a sneak peek at Chrome for Windows 8's Metro UI, plans a test release soon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hydroponics Island Lets You Secretly Grow All Kinds of Herbs In Your Kitchen [Kitchen]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5916575/hydroponics-island-lets-you-secretly-grow-all-kinds-of-herbs-in-your-kitchen

Hydroponics Island Lets You Secretly Grow All Kinds of Herbs In Your KitchenThere is nothing like cooking or 'baking' with fresh 'herbs', but if you live in an apartment perched high above the city, you probably don't have room for a garden. Unless you can find space for Peter Buley's kitchen island which hides a secret hydroponics garden.

Inside its lovely white-washed maple exterior you'll find a set of stand alone "ebb and flow" hydroponics systems accesible via a cedar drawer system. And since the sun don't shine inside, a pair of LED and a pair of high output CFL bulbs ensure the plants get plenty of light. There's no word on pricing, but Buley is happy to create a custom island upon request. For anyone who maybe wants to turn their small herb garden into a business of some sort.

Hydroponics Island Lets You Secretly Grow All Kinds of Herbs In Your Kitchen

[Analog Modern via Core77]

Sierra Wireless outs thinnest-ever 4G LTE module, teases skinny AT&T-ready laptops and tablets

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/07/sierra-wireless-em7700-4g-lte-module/

Sierra Wireless outs thinnestever 4G LTE module, teases skinny AT&Tready laptops and tablets

One of the bigger challenges of spreading LTE has been size; going 4G has tended to put on a little weight. A new Sierra Wireless embedded modem, the AirPrime EM7700, could be just the ticket to shedding those pounds. It's reputedly the thinnest module ever made, at a tenth of an inch deep, and should slot into an Ultrabook or tablet without anyone making snide comments about the extra bulk. The EM7700 is still using the Qualcomm MDM9200 Gobi chipset that we spotted in the related MC7700 and Lumia 900, and won't have world 4G roaming -- in fact, it's explicitly tuned just to AT&T's LTE frequencies, so there's no question as to who gets first crack. Shipments are due to start in the last few weeks of spring and will make it entirely probable that AT&T's next wave of 4G mobile gear will have slimmed down a few belt notches.

Continue reading Sierra Wireless outs thinnest-ever 4G LTE module, teases skinny AT&T-ready laptops and tablets

Sierra Wireless outs thinnest-ever 4G LTE module, teases skinny AT&T-ready laptops and tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TomTom's Nike+Sportwatch gets revamped, adds NikeFuel, subtracts price (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/07/nike-sportwatch-revamp/

Nike  TomTom revamp the Nike Sportwatch, now with extra Nike Fuel

Nike and TomTom have updated the GPS-toting Sportwatch to include NikeFuel and maintain parity with its FuelBand active bracelet. NikeFuel is a universal standard that converts your exertions into a normalized score -- great for when you want to want to compare your exertions against friends with different hobbies. It's also heralding a revamped Nike Plus website where we hope it'll integrate with the recently announced Xbox edition. The Anthracite Blue Glow (or "Black and Blue") edition lacks a Nike+ shoe sensor so costs €150 ($190), while the other three colors will, pushing the price up to €170 ($215).

Continue reading TomTom's Nike+Sportwatch gets revamped, adds NikeFuel, subtracts price (video)

TomTom's Nike+Sportwatch gets revamped, adds NikeFuel, subtracts price (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 07:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This Beautiful Device Turns Your iPhone and Android Into an Ultra-Thin Laptop [Gadgets]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5916337/this-beautiful-device-turns-your-iphone-and-android-into-an-ultra+thin-laptop

This Beautiful Device Turns Your iPhone and Android Into an Ultra-Thin LaptopThis is the ClamBook, a super-sleek, airier-that-Air thingamajig that has a 16:9 widescreen, a keyboard, and a battery. It will turn your iPhone or Android cell into a beautiful, ultra-thin laptop. Obviously, not as powerful as a real laptop, but as useful as many.

There are no many technical details about it yet, though. They claim it will be available for the holidays, but there's no price and no specs.

There is no description on how it works either. For Android I can see this happening system-wide, but for iPhone it will only really work with some applications, as the system itself can't be in landscape mode.

In any case, it's a beautiful concept that I hope turns into a real product. I like the idea of carrying this around for some trips, rather than a MacBook Air. The Verge

This Beautiful Device Turns Your iPhone and Android Into an Ultra-Thin Laptop This Beautiful Device Turns Your iPhone and Android Into an Ultra-Thin Laptop This Beautiful Device Turns Your iPhone and Android Into an Ultra-Thin Laptop

RunCore rolls out Pro VI SSD for Ultrabooks in need of a jolt

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/06/runcore-rolls-out-pro-vi-ssd-for-ultrabooks/

RunCore rolls out Pro VI SSD for Ultrabooks in need of a jolt

Not to be left out of the Computex party, RunCore has just unveiled a 7mm-thick Pro VI solid-state drive to give new Ultrabooks a swift kick. The company is aiming squarely at the sunnier side of mid-range SSDs through a speedy JMicron controller that hits 550MB/s in reads, and a less aggressive but still brisk 380MB/s for writes. The SATA 6Gbps drive doesn't have any special tricks up its sleeves, but there's no doubt that it fits just about any ultrabook category: capacities swing from a very modest 32GB to a 512GB drive meant to take over from ho-hum spinning disks. While RunCore's customer list isn't public material, we wouldn't be surprised if a lot of extra-thin notebooks wending their way out of southeast Asia this year carry the Pro VI inside.

Continue reading RunCore rolls out Pro VI SSD for Ultrabooks in need of a jolt

RunCore rolls out Pro VI SSD for Ultrabooks in need of a jolt originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Asus offers Thunderbolt upgrade card for some 7-series motherboards

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/06/asus-thunderbolt-upgrade-card-for-7-series-motherboard/

asus-thunderbolt-upgrade-card-for-7-series-motherboard

Want to have your mobo cake now and eat the Thunderbolt later? Asus is there for you with its new Thunderbolt EX Upgrade card -- as long as you buy, or have bought, certain of its 7-series motherboards. The supported models have a "unique system link connector" to cable to the upgrade card, which will gobble up one of your PCIe x4 slots and use a DisplayPort to serve up the 'bolt. So if you don't feel like laying the cash down now and don't mind giving up ports later, pass-through the break to see which models will work.

Continue reading Asus offers Thunderbolt upgrade card for some 7-series motherboards

Asus offers Thunderbolt upgrade card for some 7-series motherboards originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 20:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS shows off a docking monitor built for the PadFone, we go hands-on (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/07/asus-padfone-docking-monitor-hands-on/

ASUS shows off a docking monitor built for the PadFone, we go handson video

Back when ASUS formally launched the PadFone, it trotted out a handful of accessories to go with it: a keyboard dock, tablet station and even a stylus that doubles as an earpiece. As it turns out, the outfit had even more goodies up its sleeve: we just spotted a PadFone docking monitor hanging out in the ASUS booth here at Computex. For starters, it is what it sounds like: a 27-inch 24-inch display with a cradle designed specifically to accommodate the PadFone's dimensions. There are also HDMI, VGA, DVI and four USB 3.0 ports in case you want to use it as a standalone monitor.

When you plug in the handset, the display turns into an all-in-one PC, with Ice Cream Sandwich as your desktop OS. Since the 1920 x 1200 screen isn't touch-enabled, you'll have to get used to interacting with Android using only a mouse and keyboard. We'll admit: we would have preferred to just tap the home button instead of click on it, especially when we were ready to switch apps, but nonetheless, Android makes for an intuitive-enough desktop operating system, what with the home screen full of shortcuts. Funnily enough, even, we felt more comfortable using Android in a desktop setting than we did with Google Chrome OS, which was actually designed with PC form factors in mind. Otherwise, we found ourselves craving a little more pixel density, but we did appreciate the matte finish, which offers wide viewing angles despite the fact that this isn't an IPS display.

Accor ding to an ASUS rep staffing the event, the Docking Monitor will eventually go on sale in the US, though he couldn't say when or for how much. In the meantime, check out our hands-on photos and quickie demo video.

Continue reading ASUS shows off a docking monitor built for the PadFone, we go hands-on (video)

ASUS shows off a docking monitor built for the PadFone, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 00:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS shows off its first Thunderbolt monitor, along with 3D, WiDi and multitouch displays (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/07/asus-shows-off-its-first-thunderbolt-monitor-along-with-3d-and/

Take a stroll around ASUS' Computex booth, and you'll see a wall full of new displays -- and we're only half counting the one made for the PadFone. By our count, the company is getting ready to release four new monitors: one with multitouch, one with Wireless Display, one that does passive 3D and one with Thunderbolt (the company's first). Starting with the multitouch model, it has a folding hinge that allows the 23-inch screen to lie completely flat. As you'll see in the video below, it makes for a more ergonomic angle if you're playing simple games like Fruit Ninja, though we can also see it coming in handy for more social activities such as Scrabble or finger painting with kids. And as bizarre as the form factor might look, we also found the hinge mechanism easy to operate: it's reassuringly sturdy, without feeling too loose or rigid. On its own, the IPS, 1920 x 1080 display offers rich colors and wide viewing angles. As far as connectivity is concerned, there's a USB 3.0 socket, along with HDMI, VGA and a DisplayPort.

Moving on, that 27-inch, 1080p 3D monitor has an MHL port, allowing it to work with select tablets and phones. There's 2D-to-3D conversion built in, but we have to warn you the three-dimensional experience is fairly lackluster. To use this you'll need passive, not active 3D glasses, and like other monitors that rely on this technology, you'll have to work hard at finding just the right position where the 3D really pops. Even after you settle into that spot, the three-dimensional rendering isn't nearly as convincing as on some other displays we've seen. If you the 3D starts to make you nauseous, you might enjoy it as a standalone display, thanks to its low-glare IPS panel. Want to connec! t it to a PC? There are also built-in DVI and HDMI / HDMI.4 sockets.

Next up, ASUS is getting ready to ship its first Thunderbolt monitor, which has a 27-inch, 1080p screen, along with a DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Lastly, there's a 27-inch Wireless Display-compatible model with 1080p resolution, a DisplayPort and a pair of HDMI sockets. As far as all of these displays are concerned, we don't know pricing or availability, though ASUS was at least able to confirm that the Thunderbolt model is headed to the US. For now, check out our photos below and head past the break for a short video tour.

Continue reading ASUS shows off its first Thunderbolt monitor, along with 3D, WiDi and multitouch displays (video)

ASUS shows off its first Thunderbolt monitor, along with 3D, WiDi and multitouch displays (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 01:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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