Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

SSD shootout, round III: OCZ, Corsair and PhotoFast butt heads

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/02/ssd-shootout-round-iii-ocz-corsair-and-photofast-butt-heads/

Like clockwork, we've stumbled upon yet another updated SSD shootout almost a year to the day since the last one, and nearly two years since the first. Since 2008, we've seen OCZ introduce a new "garbage collection" algorithm for its Vertex Series 120GB SSD, Corsair introduce its P64 and PhotoFast make waves with its supposedly speedy G-Monster-V5. The benchmarking gurus over at HotHardware had the patience to sit 'em all down and break out the rulers, and the long and short of it is this: the Vertex Turbo and G-Monster V5 bested the Corsair, with the PhotoFast drive in particular showing remarkably strong performance in read / write tests. Of course, all of the units were quite a bit quicker than traditional HDDs, but the folks at HH maintained that SSD pricing is still way out of reach for many consumers. But hey, if you've got the means to lay down $3 per gigabyte, feel free to tap that read link and ingest.

Filed under: Storage

SSD shootout, round III: OCZ, Corsair and PhotoFast butt heads originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 06:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Is the ROI of social media exactly zero or a rounding error to zero? - http://bit.ly/Lan2y - shout out in the comments.

RT @geekstats 20% of watermelon crops left in field due to surface blemishes; juice = big ethanol biofuel feedstock (http://bit.ly/10iM1q)

StayInvisible Catalogs Free Proxy Servers to Keep You Anonymous [Proxy]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/4yR_3zncIQw/stayinvisible-catalogs-free-proxy-servers-to-keep-you-anonymous

Looking to add a little more stealth and a little less "Here I am, world!" to your web browsing? StayInvisible not only catalogs free proxy servers but provides tools to test proxies and information about anonymity and encryption.

Many resources that provide proxy lists provide little else. StayInvisible has lists of proxy servers as well as online tools for testing just how anonymous your connection is: proxy checkers, IP verifiers, and email testers. In addition to the proxy tools, they also have a proxy encyclopedia to help you decipher the various terms used, and a basic text encryption tool.

Have a favorite proxy site or program? Sound off in the comments.

StayInvisible [via MakeUseOf]

Order Secret Menu Items at Fast Food Chains [Fast Food Hacks]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/w4Qp1GPgyDs/order-secret-menu-items-at-fast-food-chains

Is Starbucks' "tall" is actually too large for you, and Chipotle's minimalist menu too constraining? These chains and many more have secret menus, or at least margins for creativity, that can awesomely expand your cheap-eats repertoire.

Photo by cote.

Some chains have actual secret items for devoted customers, as the mental_floss blog proves with its revealing of McDonald's Neapolitan milkshake (just what it sounds like) and Taco Bell's green chile sauce. In other cases, it's just a simple request for the staff to do something creative with materials they already have on hand:

If you're at Starbucks and in need of just a little caffeine, don't worry – there's a tiny option for you. It's the Short size, and they don't advertise it. It's like a little baby cup of coffee. It also comes in handy when you're scrounging for change and don't have enough for a tall… not that that has ever happened to me.

Personally, I'm intrigued by the "store policy" that lets you order any combination of ingredients at Chipotle—hello, tomatillo-salsa-smothered enchiladas.

Have you found your own secret menus at chains, regional or national? Can you dream up your own great menu remix item? Make us hungry in the comments.

10 Secret Menu Items [mental_floss]

Now Available [Now Available]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/jm0JssjZJ2A/now-available

There are great data storage solutions shipping out today. Be sure to take a look at Netgear's new wireless-N router capable of providing access to USB connected hard drives anywhere on the home network.

• Netgear's RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router won the award for "Best of Innovations" at the 2009 CES, and is now set to win over your internet-loving heart. The RangeMax operates on the 2.4 and 5 GHz spectrum, effectively doubling the bandwidth while also avoiding some of the interference from other wireless devices.

One of the RangeMax's keenest features is ReadyServe which allows users to share and access their USB Hard Disks from anywhere on the network simply by plugging it in to one of several USB ports on the router. There is also a broadband monitoring feature that emits a warning if users are close to an ISP imposed data cap, useful for those who find themselves downloading a bit too much "media" every month. The router is capable of 500Mbps WAN to LAN and 350Mbps real-world max transfer rates, the RangeMax goes for $189.99. [PR Newswire]

• Reasonably priced 2TB hard disks have suffered from some awful read times due to the way data is spread out across the platters, but fret not—Western Digital is hoping to remedy the shortcomings with their new Caviar Black 7200RPM drive. The hard drive features a 64MB cache, dual processors and dual actuators to position the drive head more rapidly across four 500GB platters, and is compatible with both SATA I and II interfaces—the drive retails for $299. [Electronista]

According to These Photographs, Superheroes Exist [Photography]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/0FfhuOkUZd8/according-to-these-photographs-superheroes-exist

Mark got some light art photographs before, but the new ones in this gallery are so spectacular that they look like frames from a sleekspanky superhero movie. Except that, instead of using computer effects, these are done in real time.

Like Picasso's light drawings, the photos by Lapp-Pro are created using a camera with an open shutter. But instead of just using a simple light, these people use a variety of lighting sources that make their photos look from another world. Another world where dorks fight with actual balls of plasma instead of just pretending to do it while making whishwhoosh sounds with their mouths. [Lapp-pro.de via Daily Mail]

Reality-Augmenting Terminator Vision Contact Lenses Nearly Here (They're in This Bunny's Eye) [Augmented Reality]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/6XZrbT6k6UY/reality+augmenting-terminator-vision-contact-lenses-nearly-here-theyre-in-this-bunnys-eye

Amazing and terrifying all at once, reality augmenting contact lenses are nearly real. Like, they're almost here. Circuits and antennas and LEDs in a contact lens, generating virtual imagery, Predator style. In your eyeball. Or, this bunny's:

University of Washington Associate Professor of Biotechnology Babak A. Parviz describes the current state of the art, and it's pretty intense. They're trialing mockups of the lenses—which are sorta like older gas permeable lenses except with independently fabricated microcomponents like, biosensors and circuits—in bunnies' eyeballs right now, using lens with integrated metal circuits, with no problems for up to 20 minutes of wear. They're up to one LED for display now that's powered wirelessly by RF, but eventually, what's embedded in the lenses will include hundreds of LEDs to form images, and semi-transparent optoelectronics like antennas.

They've still got some challenges before they're embedded in everybody's eyeball, like the fact red LEDs contain toxic substances you don't want to shove in your eyeball. And figuring out whether to use an active display, like an array of LED pixels—which is the current main road forward—or a passive display using ambient light that would require less power. What's crazy is that for a truly vivid LED display, because of the way your eye focuses, they need t! o build another tiny array of lenses into the main lens so the virtual image would look visible a foot or so away. Or they use an array of microlasers. Power will come from RF or solar energy.

Bottom line says Parviz:

All the basic technologies needed to build functional contact lenses are in place. We've tested our first few prototypes on animals, proving that the platform can be safe. What we need to do now is show all the subsystems working together, shrink some of the components even more, and extend the RF power harvesting to higher efficiencies and to distances greater than the few centimeters we have now.

[IEEE Spectrum]

Hitachi ships 500GB Travelstar 7K500: 7200RPMs in a 2.5-inch form factor

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/01/hitachi-ships-500gb-travelstar-7k500-7200rpms-in-2-5-inch-form/

Itching for a speedy and spacious new upgrade for your laptop? Ain't got the cheddar required to pop in a 512GB SSD? Then have a look at Hitachi's latest, a half-terabyte drive that spins at 7200RPMs yet draws just 0.69 watts when idle and 1.8 watts during read / write operations. The Travelstar 7K500 plays nice with the SATA interface and promises 16 percent better application performance than its predecessor, and for the paranoid in attendance, you can rest easy knowing that a BDE (Bulk Data Encryption) option enables users to have each and every byte encrypted as it's written. As of now, it's only shipping in "limited quantities" to top tier OEMs, but whenever it strolls into retail it'll land for $159.99.

Continue reading Hitachi ships 500GB Travelstar 7K500: 7200RPMs in a 2.5-inch form factor

Filed under: Storage

Hitachi ships 500GB Travelstar 7K500: 7200RPMs in a 2.5-inch form factor originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canon EOS 7D now official, coming end of September for $1,899

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/01/canon-eos-7d-now-official-is-exactly-what-you-expected/

Now everyone pretend to be surprised here. Canon's gone official with what everyone has already seen and read about in detail, the EOS 7D. Specs look to be exactly what we heard, too: 18 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with 8 frames per second continuous shooting, 1080p 24fps HD video with full manual control, a 3-inch LCD, 19-point AF system, and wireless flash control. Mum's still the word on pricing and availability, though. Hit up the read link for the full press release, as well as some hands-on impressions care of Digital Photography Review.

Update: Canon's press release has now gone live. Price is $1,699 body-only or $1,899 with an EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM zoom lens, and target launch is set for end of September.

Gallery: Canon EOS 7D now official, coming end of September for $1,899

Read - Press release
Read - Hands-on

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Canon EOS 7D now official, coming end of September for $1,899 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS EeeBox EB1012 teases home theaters with dual-core Atom and Ion graphics

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/01/asus-eeebox-eb1012-teases-home-theaters-with-dual-core-atom-and/

Looks like our dreams of a discrete, low cost home theater PC are about to be realized. ASUS has a new EeeBox PC EB1012 touting a dual-core Atom N330 (just as rumored), NVIDIA MCP7A ION graphics, a 250GB SATA hard disk, 2GB of DDR2-800 memory expandable to 4GB, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n WiFi, S/PDIF 5.1 audio jack, and HDMI out. As such, this little 222 x 178 x 26.9mm box should handle your hardware accelerated 1080p content just as readily as it does full-screen Flash video from Hulu and beyond -- a place where single-core Atom-based Ion nettops fail. It also features an eSATA jack, 4x USB ports, and an SDHC card reader for plugging in more media. No word on price or ship date but we'll keep an eye out.

[Via eHomeUpgrade]

Filed under: Desktops

ASUS EeeBox EB1012 teases home theaters with dual-core Atom and Ion graphics originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BenQ endows S35 and S43 Joybooks with CULV, kicks 'em out the door

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/01/benq-endows-s35-and-s43-joybooks-with-culv-kicks-em-out-the-do/

It's not quite on the scale of the netbook revolution, but the CULV ultraportable uprising does seem to be gathering steam. Latest on the scene is BenQ, with its 13.3-inch S35 and 14-inch S43 Joybooks, sporting a choice between a single core SU3500, dual core SU7300, or some old and busted Celeron 723 / 743 chips. From what Acer's Timeline series has shown, the 1.4GHz SU3500 is a major step up from Atom machines, while making for ridiculous battery longevity. BenQ claim you'll be able to squeeze more than five hours of juice from the default batteries and there's an eight cell option on the S35 that is rated for 11+ hours. Hard drives clock in at 500GB, Bluetooth, WiFi and the like are all present, and the S43 also gets an ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 GPU option to make it stand out. The announcement is for Asia only so far, but we see no reason why these laptops shouldn't make it to more familiar shores as well.

[Via Engadget Chinese]

Filed under: Laptops

BenQ endows S35 and S43 Joybooks with CULV, kicks 'em out the door originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Black Wii remote bundle coming to North America, no matching console in sight

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/01/black-wii-remote-bundle-coming-to-north-america-no-matching-con/

Oh Nintendo, you tease. You still won't give us that jet black Wii console bound for Japan, but you've got no problem giving us in North America a taste of the dark side with a black Wiimote and Motion Plus bundle, coming this holiday along with a black nunchuk sold separately. With any luck this is just the sign of things to come, and should the Wii's sales momentum drop, we're sure quite a few new colors will start shipping their way over here (light blue, anyone?). On the more portable side of things, the DSi will be adding pink and white to its repertoire on September 13th. Unless the House that Mario Built is feeling particularly nasty, prices should be the same as their pre-existing color counterparts -- you wouldn't put a premium on a palette swap, right Nintendo?

Gallery: Black Wii remote bundle coming to North America, no matching console in sight

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming

Black Wii remote bundle coming to North America, no matching console in sight originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WD ships 7200RPM 2TB desktop hard drives: Caviar Black and RE4

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/01/wd-ships-7200rpm-2tb-desktop-hard-drives-caviar-black-and-re4/

Surely you recall Western Digital's earlier 2TB effort, the Caviar Green -- right? While said drive was just perfect for the casual storage junkie, performance gurus know that it left something to be desired on the speed front. Thankfully, WD is looking out for that crowd too with a new pair of 7200RPM 2TB drives: the Caviar Black (shown left) and RE4 (shown right). Both four-platter drives boast 64MB of cache, a dual stage actuator, 3Gbps SATA interface and an integrated dual processor. The latter also promises 1.2 million hours MTBF, Active Power Save, a multi-axis shock sensor and a few other high-end advancements designed for enterprise users seeking long-term reliability. The pain? Try $299 for the now-available 2TB Caviar Black, while the RE4 awaits an MSRP as it's "being qualified by OEMs." Check the full release just past the break.

Gallery: WD ships 7200RPM 2TB desktop hard drives: Caviar Black and RE4

Continue reading WD ships 7200RPM 2TB desktop hard drives: Caviar Black and RE4

Filed under: Storage

WD ships 7200RPM 2TB desktop hard drives: Caviar Black and RE4 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung's WB5000 24x camera shoots RAW, gets real

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/01/samsungs-wb5000-24x-camera-shoots-raw-gets-real/

Samsung's WB5000 24x camera shoots RAW, gets real

Hey, remember that squat WB5000 superzoomer that got spotted over the weekend? Samsung has seen fit to make it official, with specs that line up perfectly with the earlier report, including a 12.5 megapixel sensor, a 24x optical zoom lens (26mm - 624mm equivalent), and the ability to shoot 720p video recorded in H.264. It also includes a suite of intelligent modes for detecting faces, smiles, dimples, beards, and genetic abnormalities (just kidding about those last three) and can capture them all to JPEG or RAW files. Samsung hasn't officially announced availability details, but word on the street is this one will ship later this month (yes, it's September already) at a price of around $550.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Samsung's WB5000 24x camera shoots RAW, gets real originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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