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Monday, October 12, 2009

How to Build a DIY Digital Camera Scanner [DIY]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/lWT0fSh9jNs/how-to-build-a-diy-digital-camera-scanner

Instructables user DHagen was sick of feeding coins into a public copy machine, wanted quality copies, but didn't want to spend much cash to get his own photocopier or scanner, so he did what any DIYer with a digital camera would do:

He built his own DIY copy machine/scanner using less than $20 of material (mostly plexiglass and a few various nuts and bolts). After building the camera mount apparatus, DHagen details how he snaps, crops, and converts the picture to PDF, but we'd recommend skipping that hassle altogether and using a previously mentioned photo-to-document tool like Qipit, Snapter, or scanR to accomplish similar results with less work on your part.

If you've gone the DIY scanner route in the past, let's hear how happy you've been with the results in the comments.

Portable, Paperless, Digital Copy Machine [Instructables]

Nobel Prize In Physics Rewards Fiber Optics Expert, CCD Creators [Prizes]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/hHCH514eRKE/nobel-prize-in-physics-rewards-fiber-optics-expert-ccd-creators

So apparently a controversial Nobel Peace Prize was awarded this week. Forget that one. Focus instead on the far geekier one that was also awarded this week. Why? Because we gadget lovers have a lot to be thankful for!

The Nobel Prize for physics is the award in question, and it was actually split between two winners this year.

The first, Charles K. Kao, is the man most responsible for making fiber optic communication the force it is today. Whenever you fire up FiOS next, give thanks to Kao.

The second winner is actually two people: Willard Boyle and George Smith. These two chaps invented the CCD. No, not the Catholic classes your parents forced you to go to when you were a child, the CCD device that's used in countless thousands of digital cameras and other similar gadgets.

Of course if you combine the two breakthroughs you get digital porn, for which, as far as I know, there is no Nobel category. Regardless, lots to be thankful for today. [DPRReview via CrunchGear]

Lisse Q10: A PMP With Style [PMP]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/w9epPOgYDcg/lisse-q10-a-pmp-with-style

Yea, that is a personal media player. Sure, looks nicer than an Archos or iRiver. The Lisse Q10 has a 3 inch display and from the looks of it a slammin bod.

I'm hoping the screen is OLED, though I can't find any evidence of that anywhere. Rather than use a touchscreen, the device uses a retro dial to control the user interface. According to the Korean site it will play back your tunes for up to 20 hours and your assortment of video files for 8. Chances of it coming to the U.S. are slim, but I'm always one to appreciate a nice piece of PMP. [~~Lissie~~ Lisse via Geeky Gadgets ]

Rumored ASUS' Eee PC 1201N's Dual Cored Specs Could Eat Other Netbooks Alive [Rumor]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/X2I96UdPppU/rumored-asus-eee-pc-1201ns-dual-cored-specs-could-eat-other-netbooks-alive

If you believe the dual core Atom rumors, the ASUS Eee PC 1201N could knock out all other netbooks in performance.

The leaked 12-inch Eee PC 1201N apparently has Nvidia Ion graphics (GeForce 9400M chipset) along with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N330 Dual Core processor. That along with 3GB RAM, and a 320GB HD should make it one of the most powerful Atom netbooks around.

There is also the rumored Eee PC 1201HA which will have the same 12-inch chassis but is said to have less powerful guts with the standard Atom processor and chipset. Since both will be running Windows 7, don't expect to see these guys to get all official until October 22. [EeePC.IT via Liliputing]

Cheap netbook sales bringing down laptop revenues, no brainers require no brains

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/11/cheap-netbook-sales-bringing-down-laptop-revenues-no-brainers-r/

Hey, this is probably surprising to no one, but here we go. A new market research report from DisplaySearch says that the overall mobile PC market is down about 5 percent over last year. The main reason cited for this decline? The increasing popularity of netbooks, which average around $300, and are much, much cheaper than traditional laptops. Netbook revenue is up 264 percent from last year, and have contributed to an overall lowering of the average PC cost by 19 percent. While this is certainly bad news for the PC industry itself, hooray for all of us, right?!

Filed under: Laptops

Cheap netbook sales bringing down laptop revenues, no brainers require no brains originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Oct 2009 07:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sidekick failure rumors point fingers at outsourcing, lack of backups

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/11/sidekick-failure-rumors-point-fingers-at-outsourcing-lack-of-ba/

Backing up your personal PC to external media might still be a novel concept for some, but any IT manager fresh out of school can tell you that regularly backing up mission-critical servers -- and storing those backups in multiple physical locations -- isn't merely important, it's practically non-negotiable, and it only becomes that much more critical before undertaking hardware maintenance. Alleged details on the events leading up to Danger's doomsday scenario are starting to come out of the woodwork, and it all paints a truly embarrassing picture: Microsoft, possibly trying to compensate for lost and / or laid-off Danger employees, outsources an upgrade of its Sidekick SAN to Hitachi, which -- for reasons unknown -- fails to make a backup before starting. Long story short, the upgrade runs into complications, data is lost, and without a backup to revert to, untold thousands of Sidekick users get shafted in an epic way rarely seen in an age of well-defined, well-understood IT strategies.

The coming weeks are going to be trying times for both Microsoft and T-Mobile, a sideline player in this carnage that ultimately still shoulders responsibility for taking users' cash month after month and keeping tabs on the robustness of its partners' workflows. We're betting that heads are going to roll at both of these companies, formal investigations are going to be waged, users are going to be compensated in big ways, lawsuits are going to be filed, and textbooks could very well be modified to make sure that lessons are learned for the next generation of college grads tasked with keeping clouds running. Why there weren't any backups -- even older ones -- that could've been used as a restore point is totally unclear, so we're hoping Microsoft has the stones to come clean for the benefit of an entire industry that wants to understand how to make sure this never happens again.

Filed under: Cellphones

Sidekick failure rumors point fingers at outsourcing, lack of backups originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Achtung, T-Mobile: if Project Dark is $50 unlimited, you're in trouble

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/12/achtung-t-mobile-if-project-dark-is-50-unlimited-youre-in-t/

Put yourself in T-Mobile USA's shoes for a moment: rumor has it that the guys who pay the bills aren't happy. History, happenstance, and the realities of electromagnetics have left you with an oddball 3G frequency that literally no other carrier in the world uses (at least, not for HSPA). Larger competitors don't take you as seriously as you'd like, and you don't have smaller ones -- they're all regionals who don't play in the same space you do. So what's your next move?

Continue reading Achtung, T-Mobile: if Project Dark is $50 unlimited, you're in trouble

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Wireless

Achtung, T-Mobile: if Project Dark is $50 unlimited, you're in trouble originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Archos 5 has 99 problems and a glitch is one, 160GB version pulled by Amazon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/12/archos-5-has-99-problems-and-a-glitch-is-one-160gb-version-pull/

It was only just allowed out to play, but Archos' five-inch, Android-sporting internet tablet has been called back in by its fastidious mother, a role played by Amazon in this case. Only the hard drive-based 160GB model is affected at present, with the 32GB version selling as normal and the half terabyte option out of stock already. Charbax of ArchosFans.com, a man in the know on this subject, has suggested this might have been caused by a firmware update wiping out some pre-installed Android apps, which is now being addressed. His site's forums and Amazon customer reviews, however, paint a different picture: there are consistent complaints about bugs and lock ups -- software issues that could well affect the other models in the line -- with some going so far as to suggest Archos has used its customers as Beta testers. There doesn't appear to be anything structurally wrong with the device, meaning a robust firmware update could remedy all ills, so now it's just a matter of waiting for Archos to do what it should have done before release.

[Via Pocketables]

Read - Amazon product page
Read - Archos Fans forums

Filed under: Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Archos 5 has 99 problems and a glitch is one, 160GB version pulled by Amazon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG's Solar Cell e-Book goes an extra day for every 5 hours of sunlight

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/12/lgs-solar-cell-e-book-goes-an-extra-day-for-every-5-hours-sunli/

Funny thing going on in the marketplace right now: reading for pleasure is on a rapid decline yet the choice of e-reader devices grows weekly. That's good news for those of us not spending our down-time in front of a television, mouth agape -- awkward for manufacturers testing the waters of this unproven niche. LG's showing off its Solar Cell e-Book reader anyway, in a bid to flex its thin-film solar muscle. The prototype features an energy conversion efficiency of about 9.6 percent giving it an extra day's worth of power for that 6-inch TFT-LCD after about four to five hours in the sun. LG is working towards boosting its thin-film solar cell energy conversion efficiency rate to 12% by 2010 on up to 14% by 2012. We say bring it LG, if you can.

[Via OLED-Display]

Filed under: Handhelds

LG's Solar Cell e-Book goes an extra day for every 5 hours of sunlight originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BMW makes the awesome look SIMPLE with leaning three-wheeler (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/12/bmw-makes-the-awesome-look-simple-with-leaning-three-wheeler-vi/

BMW's latest concept isn't quite as far out as some of its earlier efforts, and the company has dubbed it SIMPLE, but don't let that fool you. Joining Nissan's Land Glider in a new trend toward leaning vehicles that have motorbike-like footprints, the "Sustainable and Innovative Mobility Product for Low Energy consumption" is said to have similar seating space to a BMW 3 Series coupe. Its space fighter appearance isn't just for show either -- with a drag coefficient of 0.18 and a weight of only 992 pounds, this bad boy is capable of harnessing a small internal combustion engine and electric motor to tear up the autobahn at up to 124mph. Zero to sixty in under ten seconds and 118 miles per gallon fuel efficiency fill out the sexy stat sheet, though sadly there are no productions plans as of yet. The concept is being exhibited in the BMW Museum in Munich, but if you can't make it over to Germany right now, there's a video for you after the break.

Continue reading BMW makes the awesome look SIMPLE with leaning three-wheeler (video)

Filed under: Transportation

BMW makes the awesome look SIMPLE with leaning three-wheeler (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CTIA jumps on the micro-USB bandwagon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/12/ctia-jumps-on-the-micro-usb-bandwagon/

CTIA jumps on the micro-USB bandwagon

Think the CTIA is only good for swank trade shows? Think again! It's actually a trade group created to fight for your interests -- or at least those interests of your duly elected wireless providers -- and apparently top among those lists of interests is plug standardization. Yes, we're not the only ones sick of still having a sprawling mess of a gadget charging station, so CTIA is saying that micro-USB will be the power standard for all handsets and mobile devices. Likewise, the 3.5mm audio plug will be the standard for audio output on those same gadgets. It's shocking, we know, if only because we thought the entire gadget universe was already on board, with everyone and their mommas signing up for micro-USB and even HTC finally making room for a 3.5mm hole in the bottom of their handsets. These standards are set to go into effect in January of 2012, meaning we should get a good 11 months or so of dongle-free gadget harmony before the apocalypse.

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

CTIA jumps on the micro-USB bandwagon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eee Keyboard splayed, detailed by FCC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/12/eee-keyboard-splayed-detailed-by-fcc/

Several of the documents hidden from our anxious eyes during the FCC filing have now gone public. Not only can you visually inspect its innards, the feds have also laid bare the full spec sheet for the ASUS Eee Keyboard model EK1542. Beneath the 5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touch panel (with stylus) we'll be getting Windows XP Home running on an Intel Atom N270, 945GSE / ICH7-M chipset with Broadcom AV-VD905 video decoder, 1GB of DDR2 memory, either 16GB or 32GB of flash storage, 4-hour battery, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, gigabit Ethernet, HDMI and VGA outputs, integrated stereo speakers and mic, 3x USB, headphone and mic jacks, and external WiFi / UWB antenna. The Eee Keyboard's on-board Ultra-Wideband (UWB) throws 720p content to your TV within a 5-meter range (10-meters for non-video transmissions) via a UWB receiver packing 2x USB ports, another mini-USB port, audio out, and HDMI. You can even connect to two external monitors at the same time using UWB and either VGA or HDMI cable. Now all we need is a final date and price... ASUS?

Gallery: Eee Keyboard splayed, detailed by FCC

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Eee Keyboard splayed, detailed by FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP Mini 311 set for spec bump, Windows 7 Professional

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/12/hp-mini-311-set-for-spec-bump-windows-7-professional/

With the overdue passing of Windows XP into the next world comes the cheery note that Microsoft's ceiling on netbook specs will also be no more -- and the Mini 311 is among the first to get upgraded in time for the new king of Windowstan. The already competent performer will be getting the full (non-LE) ION treatment, max memory of 3GB, an 80GB SSD option or up to 320GB of the old school storage stuff, and a choice of Windows 7 flavors up to the Professional level. This info comes from the machine's maintenance guide, so we can't be certain of when the upgrades will be ready for consumption, but HP's track record would suggest the answer to that is soon.

[Via Liliputing]

Filed under: Laptops

HP Mini 311 set for spec bump, Windows 7 Professional originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some HTC Hero units shipping sans EV-DO Rev. A on Sprint? (update: nope!)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/12/sprints-htc-hero-shipping-sans-ev-do-rev-a/

Ruh roh. Without claiming that there's some sort of high-speed conspiracy going on at Sprint (read: there's not), we'd like to point out that quite a few early adopters are claiming that their Hero refuses to hop on the carrier's EV-DO Rev. A network. We took a peek back at the company's press release for this very phone, and sure enough, the Rev. A experience is promised. We're guessing that a simple firmware update will be all it takes to remedy the issue (if there's truly an issue at all), but 'til then, there's always WiFi! Right, guys?

[Via Examiner, thanks Tracknod]

Update: We just heard directly from HTC about this snafu, and as it turns out, the message that Sprint Hero users are seeing is merely a mislabeling. If you're within an EV-DO Rev. A area, you'll get Rev. A speeds -- despite that fact that your phone says it's only on Rev. 0. We're also told that a future maintenance release will address the message. Check the full quote after the break.

Continue reading Some HTC Hero units shipping sans EV-DO Rev. A on Sprint? (update: nope!)

Filed under: Cellphones

Some HTC Hero units shipping sans EV-DO Rev. A on Sprint? (update: nope!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA Ion 2 still on track for this year

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/12/nvidia-ion-2-still-on-track-for-this-year/

Don't let NVIDIA's recent announcement that they'll be steering clear of Intel DMI CPUs get you down, man. According to the fine folks at Fudzilla, the company will indeed unveil its Ion 2 chipset before the year's end. The second-generation platform is said to feature much faster graphics, over twice the shaders, a smaller die, and support for the VIA Nano as well as the usual compliment of Pentium 4-compatible CPUs. No word yet from the company itself, but you'll know as soon as we do. Promise.

[Via SlashGear]

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

NVIDIA Ion 2 still on track for this year originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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