Monday, July 13, 2009

Acer's dual-boot Android and XP netbook launching in August?

Acer's dual-boot Android and XP netbook launching in August?

You remember Android right, Google's other OS that actually exists? Well, Acer's set to launch what could be the world's first Android-based netbook in August. At least that's what DigiTimes is reporting second-hand via Chinese-language Apple Daily. While two suspect sources won't turn a rumor into fact, Acer's already on record with plans for an Android netbook in Q3 in dual-boot XP configurations. So hearing that Quanta and Compal will have these out smack in the middle of the quarter isn't much of a stretch.

Filed under: Laptops

Acer's dual-boot Android and XP netbook launching in August? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel's Core i7 'Clarksfield' CPUs for laptops launching late September?

Intel's Core i7 'Clarksfield' CPUs for laptops launching late September?

Taiwanese rumor-rag, DigiTimes, has a knack for sniffing out insider information from within Taiwan's MoBo manufacturing cartel. So it's worth paying attention when it claims to have the latest launch schedule for Intel CPUs. Up first is a trio of laptop-based Clarksfield CPUs -- 2GHz Core 2 Extreme XE, 1.73GHz Core 2 Quad P2, and a 1.6GHz Core 2 Quad P1 -- ready to make their debut sometime around the end of September or October. These processors should carry the Core i7 brand to keep things as ~~confusing~~ simple as possible and would be a suitable match for a Q4 refresh of the MacBook Pro or Dell XPS laptop, for example. At the low end of the rumored schedule are a pair of Celeron SU2300 and Celeron 743 CPUs for ultra-thin laptops with an expected announcement coming at the end of September. Intel's also pegged with plans for desktop-based Lynnfield CPUs and P55 chipsets to be announced between September 8-11. The first announcement is set for early August -- if Intel starts making a fuss about its new Xeon procs for servers at that time then we'll have a pretty good idea as to the validity of DigiTimes' claims.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Intel's Core i7 'Clarksfield' CPUs for laptops! launchi ng late September? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Solar-powered night garden fills Jerusalem with tranquility, world peace soon to follow

Video: Solar-powered night garden fills Jerusalem with tranquility, world peace soon to follow

Juxtaposing the manmade and the natural in artistic expression oftentimes leads to creepy results. It is no mean feat, then, that the Jerusalem night garden -- built out of steel wires, laser-cut panels and 1W to 3W Power LEDs -- feels like a warm and welcoming place to visit. Whether it is the clean energy source, producing 720W of electricity per hour, or the ethereal light and movement of the flowers, something about the exhibition awakens the wistful child we've got locked away in the Engadget dungeons. He cries out for more of this aesthetically pleasing eco-friendly design, which in this case even comes with a specially composed soundtrack. To see if you agree with such juvenile enthusiasm, check out the video after the break.

[Via inhabitat]

Continue reading Video: Solar-powered night garden fills Jerusalem with tranquility, world peace soon to follow

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Video: Solar-powered night garden fills Jerusalem with tranquility, world peace soon to follow originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple's 9.7-inch 'netbook' to debut in October for $800?

Apple's 9.7-inch 'netbook' to debut in October for $800?

It's back. The Quanta assembled Apple netbook rumor that kicked off in March with a Commercial Times report calling for a Wintek-supplied touchscreen has returned... with a fever. China Times has now stepped in with a claim of a 9.7-inch touchscreen netbook to debut in October. CT claims that Wintek, and Dynapack have all received orders direct from Apple while Foxconn (not Quanta) will be the main manufacturer. It's still unclear whether the reported device takes on the traditional netbook form-factor, goes convertible like the T91, or is a 9.7-inch slate like a giant iPod touch. In fact, the Chinese-language report translated into English refers to it as "Apple's netbook (or a "tablet" as many call it)" only adding to the confusion. Regardless, we find it hard to believe that Apple would just follow the industry trends here. Then again, Sony did announce the VAIO W after rebuking netbooks as a race to the bottom thus leaving Apple as the only major without a low-cost netbook in its portfolio. But $800, if true, prices whatever this is right out of netbook territory -- ultra-portable anyone?

[Via MacRumors and Gizmodo]

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

Apple's 9.7-inch 'netbook' to debut in October for $800? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bandai RilakKuma netbook suffers from serious supercuteitis

Bandai RilakKuma netbook suffers from serious supercuteitis

The RilakKuma is what's known in the business as a money-printing device. It might have the same spec -- Atom N270, 1GB memory and 160GB storage -- as every netbook since the time of Moses, but its killer feature is a set of eyes and whiskers painted on the lid. Having once already cashed in on popular children's characters, Bandai is clearly not shy about exploiting its intellectual assets in peddling outdated 8.9-inch 1024x600 displays to the undemanding youth. Only 500 units will be produced, making this a pretty exclusive item and the price is unsurprisingly steep: ¥79,800 ($862). Integrated WiFi and a 1Seg tuner go some way toward rationalizing the cost, but let's be frank, rationality doesn't play a huge role in a purchase like this.

Filed under: Laptops

Bandai RilakKuma netbook suffers from serious supercuteitis originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia's Surge official on AT&T, ships July 19 for $79.99

Nokia's Surge official on AT&T, ships July 19 for $79.99

We've known about Nokia's so-called Surge for months now, but at long last, AT&T has done its duty by making things official and giving us a price and release date to consider. The Symbian S60-based smartphone is aimed squarely at social media freaks, boasting a full QWERTY keyboard, a browser with Flash support (imagine that, right?), a pre-installed JuiceCaster app for easily updating your Facebook / Twitter status and a price tag that's sure to turn heads. For just $79.99 after rebate, you'll also get a 2 megapixel camera, AT&T Navigator, AT&T Video Share and the pleasure of handing over at least $30 per month for a required data plan (if you want the $50 rebate, anyway). If you're sold already, you can get yours on July 19th.

Gallery: Nokia's Surge official on AT&T, ships July 19 for $79.99

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia's Surge official on AT&T, ships July 19 for $79.99 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Entelligence: Why the pen isn't mightier than the keyboard

Entelligence: Why the pen isn't mightier than the keyboard

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

When it comes to futuristic concepts, few ideas have captured the imagination like pen-based computing. The idea of doing away with a cumbersome keyboard for navigating and entering information has been a Holy Grail ever since Captain Kirk signed his first digital clipboard in space, but here in our century the concept has met with little success. Most recently, Microsoft's Tablet PC operating system has failed to take the world by storm, and lots of platforms, from the Momenta PC and Pen Windows, to the Newton and the PalmPilot, have come and gone while failing to shift the masses from their keyboards. Even smart phones, led by the iPhone, have shifted from being poster children for pen-based platforms to adopting finger touch and virtual keyboards for text entry.

Continue reading Entelligence: Why the pen isn't mightier than the keyboard

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Entelligence: Why the pen isn't mightier than the keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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To savvy digital mktrs "reach+frequency" are euphemisms for how many users you beat on the head with ads and how often - http://bit.ly/VPTEW

I know I am wasting my ad dollars, but ... http://bit.ly/15pui5 - audiences can't be re-aggregated, and don't need to be anyway.

Friday, July 10, 2009

a pocket-sized camera that I lust for (1 of 3) Casio Exilim EX-FC100 -- 1,000 fps super hi-speed shooting -- http://bit.ly/LBquN

MIT researchers weave "flexible camera" out of fiber web

MIT researchers weave "flexible camera" out of fiber web

We've see liquid camera lenses and cameras shaped like an eye, but a group of researchers from MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering are now taking things in yet another shape-shifting direction with a so-called "flexible camera" that uses a special fiber web instead of traditional lenses. Those fibers are each less than one millimeter in diameter, and are comprised of eight nested layers of light-detecting materials, which the researchers are able to form using an extrusion process like that used to make optical fiber for telecommunication applications. Once weaved into a fabric, the researchers say the "camera" could be anything from a foldable telescope to a soldier's uniform that gives them greater situational awareness. Of course, they aren't saying when that might happen, although they have apparently already been able to use the fiber web to take "a rudimentary picture of a smiley face."

Filed under: Digital Cameras

MIT researchers weave "flexible camera" out of fiber web originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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a pocket-sized camera that I lust for (2 of 3) Sigma DP2 FOVEON X3 (2,652 x 1,768 x 3 layers) RGB captured PER pixel - http://bit.ly/1VEwkl

Smaller social networks are losing even the few users they have... http://bit.ly/TZgen

ASUS U50VG announced, naming scheme remains impenetrable

ASUS U50VG announced, naming scheme remains impenetrable

Coming in today with no less than five new laptops -- the U50VG, K50AB, K70AB, K50IJ and F52Q -- the king of market segmentation is clearly still in good form. Announced in Italy today, the main attraction for Intel fans is the U50VG, which sports a 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo T6500 chip alongside 4GB of memory, 250GB storage, and a Geforce G 105M for a price of €943 or $1,320. A backlit chiclet keyboard, WiFi and a 16:9 display stretching to 15.6-inches fill out the spec sheet. The AMD-based AB variants are 15.6 (€793 / $1,107) and 17.3-inches (€868 / $1,212) respectively -- their main attraction being an ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 purring inside -- whereas the latter two models are targeted at the budget-conscious crowd. Click through for exhaustive specs and info on each model.

[Via Slashgear]

Filed under: Laptops

ASUS U50VG announced, naming scheme remains impenetrable originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: MSI's skinny X600 laptop gets handled

Video: MSI's skinny X600 laptop gets handled

It's been a little while since we'd heard anything about the super-slim MSI X600 -- part of the X-Slim lineup they've unleashed upon the world. NewGadget's gotten their hands on one, and it's looking pretty sexy, we have to admit. We already know that there will supposedly be two offerings for this 15.6-incher -- one with a 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Solo processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive, and the other with a 1.2GHz Intel Celeron processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive. We still don't have official word on US release or pricing, but the video's after the break.

Continue reading Video: MSI's skinny X600 laptop gets handled

Filed under: Laptops

Video: MSI's skinny X600 laptop gets handled originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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