Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

OCZ intros 2.5-inch Agility SSD line: 120GB for $349.99

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/10/ocz-intros-2-5-inch-agility-ssd-line-120gb-for-349-99/

OCZ Technology seems to always be toiling away on new solid state drives, but it's rare to find any from the company that are priced for the average Joe / Jane. Rather than aiming specifically for the fat-walleted enthusiast crowd, the Agility series is hoping to make a decent sized splash in the mainstream market. These 2.5-inch SATA II SSDs promise 230MB/sec read and 135MB/sec write speeds, along with 64MB of cache and a two-year warranty. We pinged OCZ for details surrounding pricing and availability, so here's the dirt: the trio of models will be available in a fortnight or so for $129.99 (30GB), $219.99 (60GB) and $349.99 (120GB).

Filed under: Storage

OCZ intros 2.5-inch Agility SSD line: 120GB for $349.99 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mozilla Updates Firefox Add-Ons Site with Collections [Firefox Extensions]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/6G3aWDBuRmc/mozilla-updates-firefox-add+ons-site-with-collections

Wouldn't it be nice if you could click one link and have all your favorite add-ons automatically installed on a new copy of Firefox? Mozilla makes it so with Collections, the newest feature of a revamped add-on site.

We'd seen beta previews of the new add-on site, but as of this morning, the redesign has gone live. The new skin and organization make it more apparent how to search, sort, and install add-ons, but Collections, and the Add-On Collector extension, are the real new hotness.

Put simply, Collections are just a pre-packaged set of add-ons, themes, dictionaries, and language packs that are given a name, a description, and a unique URL, like addons.mozilla.org/collections/davesawesomecollection (Note: Not a real collection, at least until someone spoofs it). So it's kind of convenient if you happen to know of or find a great collection set, but the real power comes in creating your own collections, either by typing and selecting add-ons on the site, or automatically culled from your current extensions with the Add-On Collector. As you can see in the screenshot at right, Subscriptions becomes a part of your Add-Ons options when you install the Collector, and the extension itself gives you some control over what gets published to your private or public collections, along with allowing you to subscribe to mulptiple collections if you'd like.

By creating a new collec! tion, wh ich you can make private or public, you basically create an up-to-date backup of your must-have Firefox extensions. For frequent Firefox re-installers, a good collection is going to be a must. For those looking to help out Firefox newcomer friends or keep a group of workers updated, it seems like a pretty nifty tool. The Add-On Collector was having some problems connecting to my Mozilla account this morning, but that is, hopefully, just launch morning bugs.

Mozilla explains in video detail how Collections, and the Add-On Collector, work:

The Add-On Collector is a free download for Firefox, while the Collections site works on the web. Both require a Mozilla account to save and synchronize collections.

Got a great collection already built? Link us to it and give us a few details in the comments.

Introducing Add-on Collections [ Mozilla Add-ons Blog]
Collections

Massive Language Filter Reduces Some Gmail Spam [Gmail Tip]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/1gU8kVtFx6I/massive-language-filter-reduces-some-gmail-spam

The good news: One intrepid blogger offers up a massive cut-and-paste Gmail filter operator that corrals and archives non-English messages. The bad news: It only works when spammers are semi-honest.

No matter how devious the realms of herbal solutions and DEAR SIR notes, Digital Inspiration's filter is probably worth installing in your Gmail filters. Create a new filter by clicking Settings->Filter->Create a new filter in Gmail's web interface, then follow the linked post's instructions on pasting and setting up a system to archive and, optionally, apply a label to your non-English mail. For those of us who have no contacts who would write in another language, it's fairly safe to just delete or archive the filter-caught messages without a new label, but international mailers can use their discretion.

Looking at it again, the copy-friendly text included at the link below includes lang:en, which would filter out English language emails. Make sure you remove that snippets and the OR before or after it to ensure your standard English emails arrive in your inbox. In other countries and languages, be sure to remove the snippet relevant to your email language. Thanks, xxdesmus!

The bad news is that this filter will only catch emails that identify themselves in their headers, or embedded source information, as written in a language other than English. Spam mail has about the least reliable headers around, which is why thieves write messages from "PayPal Services" asking for your passwords. So don't expect to see everything cleaned away, but with a combination of this filter and Gmail's built-in spam management, you might ! get a cl eaner inbox. For more plug-and-play filter fun, try our ten must-have, download-ready Gmail filters.

Reduce Spam in Gmail Inbox with a Language Filter - Block Foreign Languages Emails [Digital Inspiration]

InnoDisk's 128 GB NanoSSD Is the Size of a Matchbox, but Still Zips Around [Storage]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/EEkFWFFMS-8/innodisks-128-gb-nanossd-is-the-size-of-a-matchbox-but-still-zips-around

The InnoDisk NanoSSD amazingly packs 128-gigabytes of storage into a form factor not much bigger than a matchbox. And to top it off, InnoDisk claimes the drive still reads and writes at around 150 MB/s. Wow.

As part of the testing process, InnoDisk says they test the NanoSSD by hitting it with 20 Gs of of "accelerative force" while plugged into a motherboard, and TweakTown says it's designed to survive this. There's been no mention of when this will be available, and I'm sure you'll have to sell a couple of your kids into slavery to afford this thing. But it totally looks worth it. [TweakTown via Technabob]

Ultra-HD Military F-16 Flight Simulator Runs on 120 PC Graphic Cards [Flight Simulators]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/gUzW1wr1Oiw/ultra+hd-military-f+16-flight-simulator-runs-on-120-pc-graphic-cards

This is the HD World, an amazing ultra-high definition military F-16 simulator that runs on 120 Intel Dual Core PCs with $400 graphic cards inside a special industrial casing. Looking at this video, I want one in my living room.

L-3 Link says that their simulator gives you 20-40 visual acuity—current sims do 20-80—which it is almost close enough to fool the eye. 20-20 is perfect visual acuity, but it's still not possible with current projector technology.

The simulator runs on their Simusphere—a 180-degree of field display that uses nine projectors combined—and 120 networked Intel Dual Core PCs with stock, top of the line graphic cards. Not as large as the Mersive 360-degree combat simulator but much more accurate and visually impressive.

In fact, according to the company, the 120 networked PCs give you the most complex and accurate flight simulator out there, with high-fidelity environments, actual world destruction and explosions with physics simulation, and up to 10,000 simultaneous entities on screen in urban environments. All while running the actual F-16 operational program. I don't know if it is the most complex and accurate, but I have to find a way to get one of these. Pronto. [Military.com]

Elektrobit Moorestown MID reference design is more like it

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/10/eleckrobit-moorestown-mid-reference-design-is-more-like-it/

We're kinda-sorta coming around on the MIDs now that we've gotten a chance to play with Moblin 2.0, but it'll take some great hardware to really convince us (or hell, anyone) -- like this promising first Moorestown reference design from Elektrobit. Yeah, it's not quite the amazing mockup device that Intel's been showing off for a couple years, but it's still pretty attractive, and it's actually pretty small at just a half-inch thick with a four-inch HD screen. You're also looking at HDMI out, either WiMAX or 3G mobile broadband, and voice capability. Sadly, none of this will ship until Intel delivers the Mooretown chips, so we won't be able to do anything except sniff vapor until 2010.

[Via Linux Devices]

Filed under: Handhelds

Elektrobit Moorestown MID reference design is more like it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone 3G S supports OpenGL ES 2.0, but 3G only supports 1.1 -- will the App Store splinter?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/10/iphone-3g-s-supports-opengl-es-2-0-but-3g-only-supports-1-1/

When we were breaking down the meaty differences between the old-school 3G and the 3G S yesterday, we made an assumption about support for OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics APIs in the original iPhone 3G based on the fact that it had been available in the iPhone OS 3.0 SDK for several betas. Turns out, though, that the graphics processor in the 3G S -- the PowerVR SGX -- supports hardware acceleration of both OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 while the more pedestrian PowerVR MBX found in the iPhone 3G supports 1.1 alone.

What does this mean to you? OpenGL ES is the lightweight version of OpenGL, a powerful library of real-time 3D rendering APIs; many modern phones and other handheld devices support the older 1.1 specification, but 2.0 is less common -- it kicks things up a notch by supporting more complex textures and shading operations, which basically means games written to support it look more badass. Here's the problem, though: because OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 are completely incompatible with each other, apps need to be written to support both if they're going to be maximally compatible. A 2.0-only app can't simply run on a 1.1-only device and not look as good -- it won't work at all.

Here's where it gets interesting. The App Store has already splintered a bit with certain applications being unavailable to iPod Touch users (dialers, for example), but language in Apple's iPhone SDK documentation leads us to believe that the company eventually intends to begin allowing it to splinter even among iPhone models, maybe as soon as the 3G S is released. That is, they'll allow apps that are only compatible with the 3G S because they're written to take advantage of OpenGL ES 2.0 and don't offer a 1.1 fallback:

"When de! signing your OpenGL ES application, the first question you must answer is whether your application will support OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenGL ES 2.0, or both... Your application should target OpenGL ES 1.1 if you want to support all iPhones and iPod touches."

Realistically, it was bound to happen; platform aside, hardware is always improving, and it's paralyzingly difficult to require that all apps be compatible with all of a platform's devices regardless of age -- particularly when it comes to gaming. We imagine this'll be an issue with apps taking advantage of the 3G S' other specific features like the magnetic compass and video recording support, too. Question is, what'll be that must-have game (or compass, we suppose) that spurs stubborn 3G owners into shelling out a few hundred bucks they didn't intend to?

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Handhelds

iPhone 3G S supports OpenGL ES 2.0, but 3G only supports 1.1 -- will the App Store splinter? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eye-Fi Pro wireless SD card hands-on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/10/eye-fi-pro-wireless-sd-card-hands-on/

We're all pretty spoiled in these digital days; not that long ago taking a look at a vacation's worth of photos required a trip to the store, a couple of hours (or days) wait, and then the better part of an afternoon getting fingerprints all over a stack of poorly composed shots that you daren't throw out because you just paid good money to have them printed. Now you pop a memory card into your computer, wait a few seconds for them to fly into an appropriately labeled folder, and then... probably forget you took them. It's so much easier it's hard to fathom the process getting even more simple, but that's what Eye-Fi has done with its line of wireless flash memory cards, which beam pictures directly from your camera. The company has just announced the $149, 4GB Eye-Fi Pro to make the process even more direct, letting you send pictures straight to a computer while also adding some additional features that pros and semi-pros will appreciate. We put it through its paces after the break.

Continue reading Eye-Fi Pro wireless SD card hands-on

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Storage

Eye-Fi Pro wireless SD card hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel's Atom N450 'Pineview' coming to netbooks in October?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/10/intels-atom-n450-pineview-coming-to-netbooks-in-october/

Get ready to say goodbye to the N270 processor and 945GSE graphics team slow-dancing with your netbook right now, Intel's single-core Atom N450 "Pineview" processor is rumored for a possible October release, at the earliest. The Atom N450 is part of Intel's "Pine Trail" platform architecture that moves the GPU and memory controller onto the CPU die for a smaller package that consumes less power (or the same if Intel jacks the clock speed) when coupled with intel's NM10 "Tigerpoint" chipset. Expect to see Atom N450-based netbooks elbowing for space against Snapdragon- and Tegra-flavored smartbooks everywhere by the end of the year.

Filed under: Laptops

Intel's Atom N450 'Pineview' coming to netbooks in October? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia's N86 8MP now shipping worldwide

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/10/nokias-n86-8mp-now-shipping-worldwide/

Just under two months. That's how long it took Nokia's N86 8MP to go from FCC to store shelves here in America, as the cats in Espoo have just announced to the world that the aforementioned cellphone is now shipping globally. In case you've forgotten, this 8 megapixel slider touts variable aperture, a mechanical shutter and automatic motion blur reduction, not to mention 8GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot. There's no official mention of price, and as of right now, the phone's not even listed on Nokia's American e-store; still, based on early estimates, we'd say you best break out the bank just in case.

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia's N86 8MP now shipping worldwide originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Viliv X70: A 7-Inch Netbook Without the Keyboard [Mids]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/cOsOnjFLATg/viliv-x70-a-7+inch-netbook-without-the-keyboard

The Viliv S5 was sort of charming in its own way—a tiny Atom-powered touchscreen MID that went for $599. Well the Viliv X70 is the S5's bigger cousin, and it runs just $599, too.

Featuring a 7-inch WSVGA screen (that's more than 2 inches larger than the S5), the X70 also includes an Atom 1.2/1.3GHz processor, 16/32GB SSD, optional HSPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Sirf Star3 GPS, 5-second XP booting and 5.5 rated hours of video playback. And yet the X70 measures less than an inch thick and but 1.4lbs in its anti-heaviness.

I still could never see myself using the keyboardless munchkin, but in case you are interested, Dynamism has the systems on pre-order. [Dynamism]

Asus Wants to Walk in Apple's Shoes [Blockquote]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/OMbWFZyCikI/asus-wants-to-walk-in-apples-shoes

There's no question, the Eee changed everything. But can Asus offer products that are on par with Apple design? According to Asustek vice chairman Jonathan Tsang, that's the aspiration.

Our goal is to provide products that are better than Apple's.

I actually find this quote refreshing. It's rare that any company admits shortcomings of their products, and it's even rarer that a company points to another company who is doing things better, who can serve as a model.

Of course, Asus probably sees Apple as less of a competitor than Acer, the king of netbooks. More on that little rivalry over at the NYT. [NYT via Engadget]

Averatec introduces 25.5-inch D1200 all-in-one PC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/09/averatec-introduces-25-5-inch-d1200-all-in-one-pc/

Nah, it's no netbook, but it's certainly more than a rumor. Averatec has just cut loose details on its newest machine, a 25.5-inch PC / TV combo that looks to take on the likes of MSI's AE1900. The D1200 all-in-one PC comes equipped with a hybrid digital / analog TV tuner and supports buttery smooth 1080p playback. Specs wise, you'll find a 2.5GHz dual-core E5200 processor, 320GB hard drive, 4GB of memory and Vista Home Premium (64-bit). There's also an 8x DVD burner, 2 megapixel webcam, WiFi, gigabit Ethernet, Intel's G4500HD graphics, a wireless remote and a panel that's either WXGA or 1,920 x 1,200, depending on which version of the rundown you read. At any rate, it's up for order as we speak for a buck under $1,000.

Gallery: Averatec introduces 25.5-inch D1200 all-in-one PC

Filed under: Desktops, Displays

Averatec introduces 25.5-inch D1200 all-in-one PC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ExpressCard 2.0 standard finally finalized, faster than ever

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/09/expresscard-2-0-standard-finally-finalized-faster-than-ever/

A final spec has been promised for over a year now, but the PCMCIA folks have just now finally settled on the long-awaited ExpressCard 2.0 standard which, among other things, incorporates the new SuperSpeed USB spec to allow for faster transfer rates. In real world use, that should translate to transfer rates up to 5Gbps, or roughly 10 times faster than the previous ExpressCard 1.2 standard. Otherwise, you can naturally expect full backwards compatibility with existing ExpressCards and, as PCMCIA hopes, even more products using the format in the future now that it has all that extra bandwidth, although it seems Apple didn't get that memo.

Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

ExpressCard 2.0 standard finally finalized, faster than ever originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia hopes to one-up Touchstone, harness wireless power for "ambient" phone charging

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/09/nokia-hopes-to-one-up-touchstone-harness-wireless-power-for-am/

Like a page torn right out of the government's top secret files on Nikola Tesla, a Nokia research team is working on a wireless energy harvesting mechanism, which sucks up all that cancer-giving RF floating through the air and turns it into electrical current. Their goal is about to capture about 50 milliwatts of power for "ambient charging" -- which would at least be enough to top off the battery while the phone is off. Unfortunately, right now their current prototypes are only pulling down 3 to 5 milliwatts, and many in the industry are convinced it can't be done (don't worry, Nokia, that's just The Man, keeping you down). To be honest, we're not totally sure were comfortable with the thought that there's enough RF floating around to make this even theoretically possible, but as we slowly come to grips with our own mortality, we imagine we'd gladly pay an extra $70 or so for the privilege of never having to charge our phone again. Nokia itself isn't over promising: they plan on supplementing this juice with solar power, and thinks it'll be three or four years until it makes its way into a handset -- probably around the time your existing iPhone contract dries up.

[Thanks, CanisMinor]

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals

Nokia hopes to one-up Touchstone, harness wireless power for "ambient" phone charging originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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