Monday, July 29, 2013

Origin PC's EON 13-S offers another spin on Clevo's latest gaming laptop, promises Haswell and Kepler for $1,474

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/29/origin-pc-eon-13/

Origin PC's EON 13S offers yet another spin on Clevo's latest gaming laptop, promises Haswell and Kepler for $1,474

Like the look of Digital Storm's VELOCE gaming notebook, but have strong loyalties with another system builder? Don't worry -- Origin PC has just announced another gaming rig with the exact same chassis: the EON13-S. The similarity is no coincidence, both models are based on the 13.3-inch Clevo W230ST, carefully branded and customized by each company.

Origin's twist on the laptop includes a 4th Generation Intel Core processor, NVIDIA GTX 765M graphics and up to three storage devices. The company didn't announce specifics, but Clevo's own product page outs Intel's 2.8GHz i7-4900MQ, 2.70GHz i7-4800MQ and 2.40GHz i7-4700MQ chips as possible options. The base model also supports up to 16GB of RAM, though its Digital Storm variant tops out at 8GB. Naturally, Origin says that many of these elements will be customizable and upgradable, with the most frugal configuration ringing in at $1,474. Additionally, customers that order before August 5th can score free overclocking and a gratis Corsair M95 mouse. Not bad, if you're looking for tiny gaming machine. Check out the company's official press release after the break.

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Portitle Finds and Aggregates All the Movie Info You Could Ever Need

Source: http://lifehacker.com/portitle-finds-and-aggregates-all-the-movie-info-you-co-934742550

Portitle Finds and Aggregates All the Movie Info You Could Ever Need

Windows/Chrome: When you're trying to find a movie to watch, you might want to look it up on IMDB, then read about it on Wikipedia, then try to find a place to watch it. Portitle puts all of this info in one place, and is accessible from your right click menu.

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The Secret Deals That Make YouTube Buffer

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-secret-deals-that-mean-you-have-to-wait-for-youtube-947766871

The Secret Deals That Make YouTube Buffer

If you ever find yourself having to wait for YouTube to buffer video—buts ads, they load just fine—then don't worry, you're not alone. In fact, it's likely you're on the receiving end of a corporate deal which limits how much you can enjoy online video.

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New York's Bike Sharing Scheme, Visualized

Source: http://gizmodo.com/new-yorks-bike-sharing-scheme-visualized-947772621

New York's Bike Sharing Scheme, Visualized

New York's Citi Bike scheme has been up and running for a couple of months now—which means there's a glut of data available to analyze. This interactive New Yorker viz shows how the bikes were used every 15 minutes between June 8th and July 8th.

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ASUS' RAIDR Express PCI-e SSD is compatible with both legacy and UEFI BIOS

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/28/asus-raidr-express-pci-express-ssd-bios-duomode/

ASUS' RAIDR Express PCI Expressbased SSD is compatible with both legacy and UEFI BIOS

These days, it's fairly easy to find a PCI Express-based SSD to transform one's desktop -- Angelbird, Fusion-io, Micron and ASUS will sell you one, just to name a few. That said, the last of those three has just revealed a new entrant that will certainly catch the eye of many, as the RAIDR Express claims to be the first PCI-e SSD to be compatible with both legacy and UEFI BIOS. The so-called DuoMode feature is joined by 240GB of storage space, sequential 830MB/s read and 810MB/s write speeds and a reported 620,000 hours mean time between failure (MTBF).

You'll also find the latest LSI SandForce controller, Toshiba-built 19nm MLC flash, and 100,000 4K read/write input/output operations per second (IOPS). The bundled RAMDisk utility allows users to dedicate up to 80 percent of a computer's available RAM for use as a high-speed virtual drive, and if you needed any further proof that it's fast, look no further than in the video after the break. Curiously, ASUS isn't talking pricing just yet, but it should start shipping in the very near future.

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Via: PC Perspective, Engadget Japanese

Source: ASUS

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UK court sides with Volkswagen on security concerns over key pairing

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/29/uk-court-volkswagen-megamos-crypto/

DNP UK court sides with Volkswagen on security concerns over key pairing

Giovanni Ribisi had better hope he doesn't botch a job anytime soon. Flavio Garcia from the University of Birmingham cracked the security system that pairs an owner's key to their Porsche, Lamborghini or Audi, and Volkswagen's parent company wants that research to remain unpublished. The UK's high court sided with VW's owner and granted an injunction protecting the Megamos Crypto system. Afterward, Garcia was offered to print his findings, but without the all-important decryption codes. He refused, saying that the public has a right to see the holes in the systems it relies on and that this wasn't an attempt to give criminals a hand in boosting cars. While the court's logic is sound -- once revealed, all manner of "if this ever fell into the wrong hands" situations could arise -- it's unsettling to see government bend to corporate request. At least we know Eleanor can sit in the garage for just a little longer now.

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Via: BoingBoing

Source: The Guardian

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MediaTek's MT8135 SoC does dual-core big.LITTLE MP, packs PowerVR Series6 GPU

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/29/mediatek-mt8135-biglittle-mp-powervr-series6-g6200/

MediaTek's MT8135 SoC does bigLITTLE with dual CortexA15 and dual CortexA7

It'll be a while before MediaTek's true octa-core SoC makes its glorious arrival, but for the time being, the company's unveiling something just as interesting -- and perhaps more practical. The new MT8135 announced today is a "quad-core" SoC aimed at "the middle- to high-end tier of the tablet OEM market." We quote "quad-core," because it actually consists of two clusters: dual Cortex-A15 cores and dual Cortex-A7 cores. But the good news is that unlike the original big.LITTLE configuration where only one cluster can operate at any given time (depending on how heavy the workload is), MediaTek's confirmed that it has implemented big.LITTLE MP ("MP" as in heterogeneous multi-processing) in the MT8135, meaning both the A15 and the A7 clusters can operate simultaneously.

Another highlight of this MT8135 is that it'll be one of the first SoCs -- alongside LG's H13 (which we've seen first-hand), Renesas' APE6 and Renesas' R-Car H2 -- to come with Imagination Technologies' almighty PowerVR Series6 GPU. Specifically, this is the PowerVR G6200 which, as part of the MT8135, can apparently deliver "up to four times more ALU (arithmetic logic unit) horsepower" than the Series5XT GPU on the cheaper, quad-A7 MT8125. And unsurprisingly, the MT8135 gets the same Miracast wireless video goodie given to the MT8125; though it's also worth noting that the latter only supports LPDDR2 RAM instead of the more powerful LPDDR3.

Sadly, there's no further information regarding availability, but you can kill some time by checking out more technical details in the video (with benchmarks) and press releases after the break.

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Source: Imagination Technologies

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Toshiba outs Satellite E45t / E55 mid-range laptops, Intel models have Dragon Assistant pre-loaded

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/29/toshiba-satellite-e45t-e55d-e55dt/

Toshiba outs Satellite E45t / E55 mid-range ultraportables, Intel models have Dragon Assistant pre-loaded

A few months after introducing its Kirabook flagship, Toshiba is back with some mid-range laptops that bring some of the same understated design elements. The 14-inch Satellite E45t Ultrabook and the 15-inch E55, announced today, have the same pared-down look as the Kirabook, except they're made of aluminum instead of pressed magnesium, and the bottom isn't made of metal but rather, textured plastic. The screen resolution is also lower, at 1,366 x 768; these are middle-of-the-road machines, after all. On the bright side, they all support 802.11ac WiFi -- of a surprise on otherwise humdrum systems like these. The E45t, which will be sold only at Best Buy and on Toshiba's site, comes in just one configuration, with a Core i5 Haswell processor and a 500GB hard drive paired with an SSD. Perhaps most interesting, though, is that the E45t will come with Dragon Assistant on board for simple voice commands (think: shutting down the computer, doing a web search, controlling multimedia playback, et cetera). You can expect to find that next week, on August 4th, with a suggested retail price of $818, though a Toshiba rep told us it'll likely sell for $799.99 once it actually hits shelves. Just a heads-up.

The 15-inch version, meanwhile, will be offered with either a Core i5 processor and touchscreen (that's the E55t) or a quad-core A6 APU. There are actually two AMD models: one configuration comes with a touchscreen (that would be the E55Dt) and one has a non-touch panel (that's the E55D). Strangely, the non-touch model also offers lesser storage; that has a 750GB HDD, while the touch version goes up to a full terabyte. Either way, you get a number pad, which you won't find on the 14-incher, though you'll be missing out on that Dragon Assistant app with the AMD models. These will be available in September, a little later than the 14-inch model, with the non-touch E55D going for $580 and the touchscreen E55Dt priced at $700. We haven't yet confirmed pricing for the E55t, that lone Intel-based model, but we'll update this post once we do.

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Samsung reportedly crafting 10- and 12.2-inch tablets with 2,560 x 1,600 displays

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/29/samsung-tablet-rumors/

Samsung reportedly crafting 10- and 12.2-inch tablets with 2,560 x 1,600 displays

Samsung already has tablets on the market bearing almost any display size that might interest you. If a tweet from @evleaks is to be believed, Sammy has yet more slates in the pipeline, including its biggest one yet. Allegedly, the unannounced SM-P900 tablet carries a 12.2-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 screen (same res as the Nexus 10), an Exynos 5 Octa heart, and an S-Pen that would make it part of the Note family. Another device, known as the SM-P600, is said to cram that same resolution into a 10-inch display, and switches Samsung's chip for a Snapdragon 800. We'd be more willing to buy the rumor if there were pics to back it up, but it's rare for the source to be completely off the mark. Could we see these new tablets at IFA alongside a trio of Galaxy Note III models? Join us in a little under a month for the Samsung edition of Mythbusters.

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Via: Mobilegeeks

Source: @evleaks (Twitter)

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Autographer wearable camera launches tomorrow priced at £400, we go hands-off

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/29/autographer-wearable-camera-hands-on-price/

Wearable camera Autographer launches globally next week, we go handsoff

It's been a long time coming -- close to a year, but OMG Life's clippable, er, lanyard-able life-logging camera will be available to buy tomorrow. The Autographer launches in the UK (where the company's based) and most major European countries on July 30th, priced at a rather prohibitive £400 (we're still confirming a US dollar price, but a later launch has been promised) and pitching itself as "the world's first intelligent wearable camera." We'd position it as an addition to your smartphone and/or standalone camera -- like Lytro or the incoming Memoto -- for those that have the cash.

There's a curious appeal to it, helped by an attractive design that's predominantly plastic. We spent over three days wondering around, sometimes with it on a leather lanyard (included) around our neck, sometimes clipped to our belt or shirt pocket. For better or worse, it's a truly hands-off camera: there's really no way to frame or even time your captures. The Autographer itself chooses when to take a shot using its five sensors (monitoring changes in color, temperature, magnetometer, motion and acceleration), which means there's a hefty dose of luck involved in how your photos turn out. See whether Lady Luck was shining down on us (the sun certainly wasn't) and check out our sample images below and first impressions after the break.

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Source: Autographer

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Sunday, July 28, 2013

Ad Student Births a New Tumblr: âAds for Anythingâ

Source: http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/ad-student-births-a-new-tumblr-ads-for-anything_b51343

This new Tumblr account comes from Avery Harrison, creative intern at Digitas and student at Miami Ad School, San Francisco. ‘Ads For Anything‘ was built under the premise of ideas that appeared brilliant in Harrison’s head at first-thought and not-so-brilliant once those ideas had a chance to roll around in his brain for a while. The dreaded creative letdown, an affliction that comes down like a thunderbolt after the initial honeymoon period. Been there myself, Mr. Harrison.

Scroll through the Tumblr, and you’ll see generic photos with blocks of generic fortune-cookie text that could be about any product. For example: “Live against the grain” is set over a wooden texture with a “Your Logo Here” block. Many of these genericisms could be early drafts of Mercedes spots, which probably doesn’t say a lot about Mercedes or Jon Hamm voice-overs. In fact, I’m somewhat surprised Mercedes hasn’t plucked Harrison for a job already – “To some people, passion is just a word” and ” There is always enough time to go for it” beg for Hamm’s voice to be played while a black SL zooms around a bend.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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MoDaCo.Switch enters public beta, gives indecisive HTC One owners both worlds

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/28/modaco-switch-enters-public-beta-gives-indecisive-htc-one-owner/

MoDaCo.Switch enters public beta, gives indecisive HTC One owners both worlds

Can't decide between HTC One's native spin on Android and the Google Edition's vanilla build? Now you don't have to: MoDaCo.Switch is now officially available for public beta testing. True to its name, this custom firmware allows users to reboot the phone and switch into a different version of Android, making it easy to enjoy both Sense 5 and Google's stock AOSP Android build independently. It's more than a simple dual-boot, however, MoDaCo.Switch shares apps and data between both builds, which makes using them together a less jarring experience. The Beta still has some limitations of course; MMS and call log data isn't shared between ROMS and there seem to be some issues with fast boot. Still, if you're willing give it a spin, hop over to the adjacent source link to get started.

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Via: Liliputing

Source: MoDaCo

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Foc.us headset hits the FCC, ready to shock gamers' noggins into shape

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/28/foc-us-headset-fcc/

Focus transcranial directcurrent simulation headset hits the FCC, prepares to shock gamers

It may not have FDA approval, but the noggin-shocking Foc.us headset recently passed through the FCC for certification. The unit utilizes transcranial direct-current simulation on the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is claimed to improve short-term memory and cognitive function. Currently pitched as a cranial performance enhancer for gamers, Bluetooth 4.0 low energy connectivity allows it to be controlled via a smartphone app. Snake oil or not, Foc.us is still set to ship this month, and you can relive out our weird and tingly experience with it in our hands-on.

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Source: FCC, Foc.us

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Famed Hacker Barnaby Jack Dies Suddenly At 35, One Week Before Hacking Convention

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/hacker-barnaby-jack-dies-2013-7

Barnaby Jack hacker

(Reuters) - Barnaby Jack, a celebrated computer hacker who forced bank ATMs to spit out cash and sparked safety improvements in medical devices, died in San Francisco, a week before he was due to make a high-profile presentation at a hacking conference.

The New Zealand-born Jack, 35, was found dead on Thursday evening by "a loved one" at an apartment in San Francisco's Nob Hill neighborhood, according to a police spokesman. He would not say what caused Jack's death but said police had ruled out foul play.

The San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office said it was conducting an autopsy, although it could be a month before the cause of death is determined.

Jack was one of the world's most prominent "white hat" hackers - those who use their technical skills to find security holes before criminals can exploit them.

His genius was finding bugs in the tiny computers embedded in equipment, such as medical devices and cash machines. He often received standing ovations at conferences for his creativity and showmanship while his research forced equipment makers to fix bugs in their software.

Jack had planned to demonstrate his techniques to hack into pacemakers and implanted defibrillators at the Black Hat hackers convention in Las Vegas next Thursday. He told Reuters last week that he could kill a man from 30 feet away by attacking an implanted heart device.

"He was passionate about finding security bugs before the bad guys," said longtime security industry executive Stuart McClure, who gave Jack one of his first jobs and also had worked with him at Intel Corp's McAfee, a computer security company.

"He was one of those people who was put on this earth to find vulnerabilities that can be exploited in a malicious way to h! urt peop le," McClure said.

Jack became one of the world's most famous hackers after a 2010 demonstration of "Jackpotting" - getting ATMs to spew out bills. A clip of his presentation has been viewed more than 2.6 million times onYouTube.

Two years ago, Jack turned his attention to medical devices, while working on a team at McAfee that engineered methods for attacking insulin pumps. Their research prompted medical device maker Medtronic Inc to revamp the way it designs its products.

The U.S. government also noticed Jack's work.

"The work that Barnaby Jack and others have done to highlight some of these vulnerabilities has contributed importantly to progress in the field," said William Maisel, deputy director for science at theFood and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

Jack's passion for hacking sometimes got him into trouble.

In 2010, he connected his laptop to a gold bullion dispensing machine at a casino in Abu Dhabi, according to fellow hacker Tiffany Strauchs Rad. She said Jack had permission from a hotel manager to hack the machine but security intervened.

It turned out the hotel did not actually own the gold machine and the American Embassy had to be called in to help resolve the misunderstanding, Rad said.

"He would hack everything he touched," she said.

'BELOVED PIRATE'

Jack's most recent employer, the cybersecurity consulting firm IOActive Inc, said on its Twitter account: "Lost but never forgotten our beloved pirate, Barnaby Jack has passed."

Jack, who was known as Barnes to his friends, had been scheduled to present his research on heart devices at Black Hat on August 1. Last week, Jack told Reuters he had devised a way to hack into awireless communications system that linked implanted pacemakers and defibrillators ! with bed side monitors that gather information about their operations.

"I'm sure there could be lethal consequences," Jack said in a phone interview.

He declined to name the manufacturer of the device but said he was working with that company to figure out how to prevent malicious attacks on heart patients.

Jack's sudden death drew responses from the hacking community reminiscent of those that followed the suicide of hacker activist Aaron Swartz in January.

Dan Kaminsky, a well-known hacker, described the death as a tragedy. "Barnaby was one of the most creative, energetic, diverse researchers in our field," he said.

"You'll be missed, bro," tweeted another well-known hacker Dino Dai Zovi.

Jack's sister, Amberleigh Jack, who lives in New Zealand, told Reuters her brother was 35 years old. She declined to comment further, saying she needed time to grieve.

Some of his friends pitched in to help the family with expenses. They collected $4,345 from 37 people over 13 hours through a crowdfunding website: http://www.gofundme.com/BarnabyJackHacKidFund.

Black Hat said that it will not replace Jack's session at the conference, saying the hour would be left vacant for conference attendees to commemorate his life and work.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Vicki Allen, Bill Trott and Lisa Shumaker)

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How Bankers With Messy Apartments Bootstrapped MyClean, A Brilliantly Simple Cleaning Startup That Generates Multiple Millions

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/myclean-2013-7

mike sharf

Three years ago, former Citibanker Mike Russell turned to his friend at Bank of America, Mike Scharf, with a business idea. 

The New Yorkers had busy lives and thus, messy apartments. They also had disposable incomes. But when you live in a non-doorman building with no cleaning service readily available, getting your home cleaned can be tough.

Cleaning services are largely found via word of mouth or direct mail advertisements. A reliable, easy to peruse database of cleaning people online didn't exist.

The pair bootstrapped MyClean with the help of a $267,000 friends and family round of financing. The site makes finding and ordering a cleaning service in the New York City area as easy as ordering food on Seamless or GrubHub.

Scharf and Russell had to overcome a lot to make the business work. They scrapped the original idea to outsource cleaners after clients received disappointing results and left scathing Yelp reviews. Problems with the site were tough to fix; neither Scharf nor Russell are technical. But now Scharf and Russell have created a business that sustains more than just themselves. 

MyClean oversees every part of the cleaning cycle, from managing site orders to dispatching its workers to various locations on the fly. Scharf, the company's CEO, works with government sponsored agencies to find people who are looking for a steady paycheck, gives them training, and hires them as full-time cleaners working six days per week. MyClean now employees 125 cleaners in addition to the dozen people who oversee the entire operation.

Scharf estimates his staff cleans 1,000 homes and businesses each each week. Users are loyal; 80% buy into MyClean's subscription model, which allows them to book cleaners consistently every week, two weeks or month. There's a 5-15% discount given to subscribers, who can also pick how thoroughly they want their residences c! leaned.< /p>

To tidy up a one bedroom, one bath in Manhattan, the going rate is $84. To get it really clean, it's $135. If your house is in really bad shape, MyClean's team will give it a deep clean, which includes a complete wipe down of the oven, cabinet shelves and more for a little over $200. Tip is not included. Cleaners can be dispatched the same day you order the service, as long as the request is in before 4:00 PM.

At $135 for a thorough clean, it's more expensive than a cleaning service you could find yourself. But MyClean makes it so easy to find and book a cleaning online, many people don't mind paying a little extra. 

MyClean isn't profitable yet; it's breaking even. But as the cleaning startup space heats up (venture-backed Exec recently launched a competitor on the west coast for example), MyClean's business is too.

Under the leadership of Ken Schultz, a former lawyer who is MyClean's VP of Operations, MyClean is generating $4-5 million annually. It's raking in $400,000 per month, up from $15,000 a few years ago.

To continue growing the business, MyClean will be launching a mobile app and expand to more cities. Currently, the service only operates in Manhattan, Queens, Bronx and Brooklyn. Scharf's team is eying New Jersey cities where many New York City commuters live.

For Scharf, a first-time entrepreneur, growing a multi-million-dollar business hasn't been predictable. When asked what's surprised him most about running a startup he replied, "You have to be willing to do everything yourself and follow through."

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