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Thursday, September 11, 2008

HTC's Touch HD gets even more dreamy

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/389499902/

While that 480 x 800 pixel display has everybody in a feverish pant, MoDaCo has released even more unconfirmed specs on the rumored HTC Touch HD guaranted to pound a lustful wave of disruption into your handset purchasing plans. To start with, it's listed at 115 x 62.8 x 12-mm making it almost exactly the same size as the svelt 115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3-mm iPhone 3G. That's a good start. Now slip GPS, HSDPA data, a 5 megapixel camera (no flash), stylus, microSD slot, 3.5-mm headphone jack, and 1350mAH battery into the mix and you've got the stuff of serious, WinMo fantasy. We'll know if it's all legit soon enough as MoDaCo claims a retail date by Christmas. Yes, really. Only thing missing is WiFi... and Android.

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SanDisk introduces 32GB Extreme III CompactFlash card

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/389593868/

Filed under: Storage

SanDisk's 30MB/s Extreme III line of flash cards keeps growing -- the company just announced the 32GB Extreme III CompactFlash card for $299. Pretty steep, but if you're shooting high-speed RAW images or filming an HD masterpiece, we bet your ears just perked up. Out in October, we're told.

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Plastic Logic's e-reader vs Amazon Kindle... fight! (updated with video)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/389444375/

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The kids at tgdaily have a hands-on video of Plastic Logic's biggie e-reader unveiled at DEMO earlier this week. With it, they've also nabbed a bit more information on this potential subscription-based, Kindle killer. The 7-mm thin reader connects via micro-USB to a PC to charge the unit or transfer documents. Documents can also be transferred over WiFi or Bluetooth (no cellular radio?) -- the reader can even communicate wirelessly with other readers to transfer documents. The 8.5- x 11-inch touchscreen allows for gesture control, as we heard, with the added bonus of quick and easy on-screen annotation of any supported media type such as Word docs, PowerPoint slides, or PDFs. Plastic Logic says they don't plan to compete with Kindle directly, instead, it's targeting business mobile professionals with "a lot of documents already," not those who will get all their content from the Amazon store.

Of course, a variety of leaks have already made it clear that Amazon's not exactly standing still with its Kindle reader with larger and more, eh hem, attractive models in the works. Sony, too, is planning a special Reader-based event next month. So... is 2009 shaping up to be the death of print? Oh hells no -- but it's certainly getting a lot more interesting.

Update: DEMO launch video showing a complete walkthough of a prototype device now posted after the break.

Continue reading Plastic Logic's e-reader vs Amazon Kindle... fight! (updated with video)

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Apple has so much more where Nike+ came from

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/389667456/

Filed under: Wearables

Apple has a batch diagrams and patent-speak that it just shuffled past the patent office, detailing a next-generation Nike+ system that will make runners jump for joy, and non-athletes groan in agony. We're not sure if this is going to be something that Nike can just build shoes for and use existing Apple hardware, or if this'll be a reworking of the whole kit, but there's a lot of new stuff going on here. The system relies on integrating GPS and additional shoe-based sensors into the system, put to work in measuring your stride, the condition of the shoe, and perhaps even blasting you advertisements along your run route. The system can measure your velocity with accuracy in the range of 0.1 MPH, and let you know if you're a toe-planter or a heel-planter when you run. It just can't lug your lazy ass out of bed.

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O3b satellites to enable connectivity for the world's "other 3 billion"

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/389702939/

Filed under: Wireless, Networking

O3B satellites to enable connectivity for the world's

If you thought Verizon was taking its sweet time rolling out FiOS to your neighborhood, imagine how long it would take to connect the entire continent of Africa. Verizon wouldn't bother trying, but satellite company O3b, in partnership with Google, is doing just that. The pair plan to bathe that continent (and others) with soothing Internet waves via 16 medium-earth orbit (MEO) units. Latency is said to be only 120 milliseconds, with maximum download speeds at 1.25Gbps. That's seriously fast, about the same as Japan's Kizuna (set to cover disconnected Asian regions), but before you cancel your 1.5Mbps WildBlue account and go on a bandwidth safari know that these new orbital hotspots are destined to act as backbones for use by smaller ISPs. They'll in turn provide wireless access direct to customers over 3G or WiMax, throttling things appropriately.

[Via ZDNet Government]

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What Laws Should Govern Computing Clouds?

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/389087904/

Google this Friday will host for lobbyists, congressional aides and journalists in the Washington D.C. area a talk about cloud computing at which it will release a new Pew Internet and American Life survey of consumer attitudes toward the cloud. Google has obviously launched these D.C.-area talks as a way to help educate regulators and lawmakers about white spaces, online privacy and other topics near and dear to its interests.

Still, I am curious to hear what the Pew survey says consumers think of the cloud. I would have guessed they don’t think much about it all, unless it’s bringing rain. I’m also curious as to what Google thinks regulators should focus on when it comes to running pools of virtualized servers. Bandwidth improvements and ensuring Network Neutrality are one obvious issue for cloud purveyors, other regulation that should be talked about is how laws and regulations govern the physical location of certain data. Indeed, one interesting side note to Google’s patent for running data centers on the high seas is the lack of jurisdiction in international waters.

On the consumer side, a fair issue to consider is how consumer content stored in such clouds can be used. Witness the kerfuffle over Google’s terms of service regarding Chrome, which tried to claim the right to use any content uploaded or displayed via the browser. But when storing files and data in a cloud, ownership and usage rights are essential, as are clear policies that lay out how such content might be accessed, tracked and monitored. Another issue is whether or not such data could ever truly be deleted from clouds, as former Facebook users had discovered. Not all of these issues require regulation, but it’s worth educating lawmakers about them in advance of more services being offered via the cloud.

image courtesy of Google

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Mobilize 08: GigaOM’s Next-Generation Mobile Conference

Cool Visualization Shows World's Spending On Electronics By Country (We Spend A Lot) [Fun With Data]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/388789342/cool-visualization-shows-worlds-spending-on-electronics-by-country-we-spend-a-lot

Here we see ol' Mercator, if country sizes were drawn according to the amount of discretionary income spent on electronics by its citizens. As the world's largest economy, the US being the biggest blob here at $162 billion for 2007 is not that surprising. But what might be surprising is Japan, who spends more on recreation than clothing, household items and electronics combined—pretty interesting for such a style- and gadget-conscious nation. Also note central Europe's electronics spending, which is clearly becoming a force to be reckoned with if IFA in Berlin was any indication. Head over to the NYTimes for more playing with this cool little flash data visualization with other categories of spending. [NYTimes via Boing Boing]

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Will Have "Blindingly Quick" Boot Times, Float on the Cloud [Ubuntu]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/388880876/ubuntu-904-jaunty-jackalope-will-have-blindingly-quick-boot-times-float-on-the-cloud

If you rock Ubuntu, you've probably already got your engines revved for the more immediately imminent Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release next month. But that's not stopping Canonical—Ubuntu's main developer—from jibber-jabbering about Jaunty Jackalope, the next major Ubuntu release, which is due in April. Ubuntu 9.04's code name stems from its focus on zip-zoominess, with a goal of making "booting or resuming Ubuntu blindingly quick" and a "blurring of web services and desktop applications." So it'll be a fast hybrid, just like an, uh, real jackalope.

While it's not entirely certain how Jaunty will float on the cloud, Bits notes that Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth says they're after "weblications." Either way, it's surely not coincidental that Jaunty's two major goals—a light, snappy OS with serious web app/cloud computing integration—converge to accelerate the death of the traditional Microsoft-dominated desktop. We'll know how well it succeeds in just a few months. [Ars Technica]

Red Confirms DSLR, Says It's Bigger "Revolution" Than Red One [Red]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/388906551/red-confirms-dslr-says-its-bigger-revolution-than-red-one

Red, makers of the famous Red One camera, have confirmed their upcoming DSLR while dropping breadcrumbs of specs for us to gobble up. First things first, don't call it at SLR—it's a "replacement for DSLRs" going internally by the name DSMC (Digital Still and Motion Camera). And if we're reading between the lines correctly, they're teasing that the camera will feature video content above hi def.

While (insert code name) is not a replacement for Epic or Scarlet, it is strategically targeted at the DSLR space. As Nikon and Canon release their 720P and 1080P, respectively, DSLRs with video capture... RED has a more advanced view of the future.

My personal reading on this is that the company is aiming for 4K capture. They also dropped this other tidbit, in case you aren't excited enough: