Lenovo adds Sprint 3G, 4G support across ThinkPad line

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/25/lenovo-adds-sprint-3g-4g-support-across-thinkpad-line/

Lenovo's ThinkPads are already all available with 3G support, but the company has just announced a deal with Sprint that will not only add another 3G option, but 4G (as in WiMAX) support as well. That will be available across Lenovo's entire line of ThinkPads and, like other mobile broadband options, will come in the form a SIM card pre-installed in the device. You'll also be able to use Lenovo's Access Connection tool to manage both 3G and 4G connections, which Lenovo claims is the only such tool that can do so.

Lenovo adds Sprint 3G, 4G support across ThinkPad line originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone SMS database hacked in 20 seconds, news at 11

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/25/iphone-sms-database-hacked-in-20-seconds-news-at-11/

It's a story tailor-made for the fear-mongering subset of news media. This week, a pair of gentlemen lured an unsuspecting virgin iPhone to a malicious website and -- with no other input from the user -- stole the phone's entire database of sent, received and even deleted text messages in under 20 seconds, boasting that they could easily lift personal contacts, emails and your naughty, naughty photos as well. Thankfully for us level-headed souls, those gentlemen were Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralf-Philipp Weinmann, security researchers performing for the 2010 Pwn2Own hacking contest, and their $15,000 first prize ensures that the winning formula will go to Apple (and only Apple) for further study. Last year, smartphones emerged from Pwn2Own unscathed even as their desktop counterparts took a beating, but this makes the third year in a row that Safari's gotten its host machines pwned. That said, there's no need for fear -- just a healthy reminder that the Apple logo doesn't give you free license to click links in those oh-so-tempting "beta-test the new iPad!" emails.

iPhone SMS database hacked in 20 seconds, news at 11 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Printable Nanocircuits Promise to Make RFID Tags More Ubiquitous Than Bar Codes

Source: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-03/cheap-plastic-rfid-tags-promise-replace-bar-codes

The product would also be the first to use printed nanotube transistors

Bar codes in the supermarket might face extinction sooner rather than later, if radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags can cost just a penny apiece, rather than the dime or more they currently run. Now South Korean researchers say they have the technology to print RFID circuits on plastic film, courtesy of nanotube-containing inks, Technology Review reports.

A version of the RFID tags slated to hit the market later this year would be the first product to use printed transistors based on carbon nanotubes. Printing means the application of different layers of antenna coils, nanotube inks, and capacitors and diodes.

The researchers at Sunchon National University in South Korea successfully printed out the plastic RFID tags using common industrial methods such as roll-to-roll printing, ink-jet printing, and silicone rubber-stamping.

These processes churn out tags for just three cents per piece, but the group ultimately hopes to pass the one-cent milestone by figuring out how to lay down all the nanotube ink layers in one go during the roll-to-roll printing. Many RFID tags today cost anywhere from 7 cents to 15 cents, if not more.

But some hurdles remain before you'll see these newer tags at checkout lines. The current prototypes are three times the size of a typical barcode, and can only store one bit of information -- just enough to either give a yes or no response to an RFID reader. Such tags also only work with readers up to 10 centimeters away, because of their weak power signals.

That should change with the 64-bit tag set to come out next year, and then ultimately a 96-bit tag, a real barcode-killer.

Even the pricier RFID tags today have already found use in EZPass highway tolls and as anti-counterfeiting devices.

[via Technology Review]

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Ultra vague accelerometer patent filed in 2006 seems to cover every touchphone on the market, granted last week

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/24/ultra-vague-accelerometer-patent-filed-in-2006-seems-to-cover-ev/

We're going to try and avoid the hysterics: patents are a complicated business, and the fact that they're business usually means that in the worst case scenario, an appropriate amount of money can make problems like this go away -- nobody's going to take our phones away from us. Still, in what we have to chalk up to regular United States Patent and Trademark Office hijinks, or perhaps just a very forward-looking innovator, Durham Logistics (some secretive LLC based in Vegas) has been granted the patent to pretty much any use of an accelerometer in any computing device ever. Its "Method and apparatus for controlling a computer system" describes basically any use of a motion detection sensor in changing the state or implementing functionality in a device, which would obviously apply to most every smartphone on the market, along with a good number of laptops that use accelerometers as free fall sensors to know when to park the hard drive. The patent was applied for back in 2006, and is based on earlier patents from 2004 and 2001 to give it some extra cred (Apple's own motion control patents, for instance, weren't filed until late 2007). Still, it's rather general, vague, and obvious, and all the examples given seem to be about scrolling, selecting icons, and swiping through pages (not popular uses from accelerometers currently) so time will tell if it will hold up in court if Durham decides to go after any one of the multi-billion dollar companies that are currently "infringing."

Ultra vague accelerometer patent filed in 2006 seems to cover every touchphone on the market, granted last week originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Instapaper for iPad Will Sell a Lot of iPads [IPad Apps]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5500629/instapaper-for-ipad-will-sell-a-lot-of-ipads

If you like saving long, interesting articles you find during your internet travels for later, you probably already use Instapaper on your iPhone or Kindle. But boy does it look beautiful on the iPad.

For the uninitiated, Instapaper is a service that allows you to save articles on the internet for later. You put a little "Read Later" bookmarklet in your browser toolbar, and when you click it the article is beamed to your account for reading later on your device or in your browser, stripped of clutter and reduced to the plan text.

Instapaper developer Marco Arment decided to aim to have Instapaper all iPad-ready by day one (or as close to day one as possible), so he's already showing off how it'll look. And while it's a pretty straightforward adjustment of the iPhone app, it just looks right on the iPad. This sort of app is exactly what tablets were made for.

If you've got Instapaper Pro on the iPhone already, you'll get it on the iPad for free, too. Not too shabby. Be sure to check out the Instapaper Blog for more details on the app and the iPad development process, if you're interested in that sort of thing. [Instapaper Blog via Nick Bilton]

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Dell Aero Hands On: The Lightest Android Phone Yet [Dell]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5500630/dell-aero-hands-on-the-lightest-android-phone-yet

The good news: I got to an up close look with the Dell Aero, AT&T's second Android handset and Dell's first in the US. The less good news: AT&T's not letting anyone actually see it work. Hrmm?

Here's what we do know about the interface: it's Android 1.5, like AT&T's other Android phone, the Backflip. That's a bit disappointing, although the Dell rep we spoke to indicated that it would get a proper 2.1 update before long. Other confirmed specs almost made up for it: the Aero's going to ship with a 5MP camera and a 2GB microSD card, and will have a multitouch capacitive screen..

How much of a factor Android 1.5 is going to be depends largely on what kind of custom skin Dell's going to layer over it. According to the rep, it's going to be very similar to the one they currently use in Asia, which looks a little something like this:

As for the form factor, the main thing to know is that it's light. The lightest Android phone, in fact, but it achieves that effect without feeling cheaply made.

It would be nice to know more—price, for one, and on-board storage—but we should be finding those things out sooner than later, as the Aero's expected to ship within the next few months.

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Exclusive: First Look at Slacker's Excellent On-Demand Music Service [Slacker]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5500674/exclusive-first-look-at-slackers-excellent-on+demand-music-service

We first caught wind of Slacker Radio's plans for a subscription on-demand music service a few weeks ago, and it sounded vague but promising. Now, having seen it in action, I can say with certainty that it's loaded with potential.

What Slacker's planning to release in the coming months is a fully browsable on-demand service that puts its entire catalog of nearly three million songs at your fingertips. Using Slacker's internet radio interface as a jumping off point, you can sort through tracks, artists, and albums within a genre either by popularity or alphabetically.
Once you've found something you're interested in, you're greeted with artist information, and the option to either play the entire album or to select a specific track.

Even better: you can also create playlists that can be accessed whenever you want for however long you want. As of now there's no planned limit to playlist length, although there will inevitably be some (very high) cap due to caching limitations.

Slacker will also apply its radio technology to your playlist if you so choose, intelligently ordering tracks like your own personal DJ. And a separate "My Favorites" list is automatically kept based on how you rate songs through the course of using Slacker.

Slacker's on demand service will also feature something generally sorely missing from internet radio: a Back button that lets you listen to previous songs in a given station's rotation or in your playlist. It may seem like a minor point, but it's an essential one for the fully on-demand experience that Slacker's promising.

The interface I saw today was a little sluggish at times, but it's still in the late development stages and the person I talked to was confident that it would be faster by its release. There aren't any specifics on pricing yet, unfortunately, other than that it will be "very competitive" with other similar offerings.

Slacker users will only need to download one app that will work for every piece of service. That is to say, a free option will still be available, but free Slacker users will be able to upgrade at any time to the on-demand subscription model.

All in all, Slacker's is a wonderfully intuitive approach to on-demand internet radio, and really does give you an incredible music library to play with as you please. Is it worth the money? That depends on what it'll cost. But assuming the pricing is halfway reasonable, there's clearly a lot of value in what Slacker is offering.

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Origin's Eon15 gaming laptop offers less bang, saves more buck

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/23/origins-eon15-gaming-laptop-offers-less-bang-saves-more-buck/

While some high-profile custom PC vendors are on their way out, Origin PC is just getting started. The company recently launched the Genesis, a desktop that melts gamers' faces at the same time it incinerates their wallets, and the Eon18, a laptop that... honestly does just the same. Come to think of it, flame seems to be a recurring theme for the company, but before you work yourself into a burning hot rage because of your inability to afford Origin product, consider the new Eon15. With only room for a single powerful mobile graphics chip and a single storage drive, it won't be setting new 3DMark or I/O benchmarks like its cousins, but it will let you get away with a 1080p screen, Core i7-820QM processor, up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, a GeForce GTX 285M and even a snazzy paint job for a merely painful, rather than excruciating, price. Configurations start at $1,900 -- hey, it's not like you were gonna be using those paychecks for anything else, right?

Origin's Eon15 gaming laptop offers less bang, saves more buck originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP EliteBook 8740w pumped up with Intel Core 2010 CPUs, ATI / NVIDIA graphics

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/24/hp-elitebook-8740w-pumped-up-with-intel-core-2010-cpus-ati-nv/

Fear not mobile workstation lovers, it may have taken HP a bit more time to refresh its 17-inch EliteBook 8740w, but it's officially here now and ready to champ at the bit with a combo of cutting edge features / specs. We'll start with the externals first -- the 7.8-pound, magnesium-alloy chassis is covered in the same gunmetal finish as the other recently-announced Elitebooks, and the 17-inch HP Dreamcolor screen is nothing short of stunning. It has 64 times the colors of other displays and can be ordered with HP's Mobile Display Assistant color calibrator. Inside the workstation is rather frightful -- it can be configured with a choice of Intel Core i5 or i7 processors and [either] ATI 's newest FirePro M7820 or NVIDIA Quadro FX GPUs. While the 8740w starts at $1,999, the $3,899 spec'd version happens to be HP's most powerful mobile workstation ever with a quad-core Core i7 processor, 7,200rpm 320GB hard drive, and NVIDIA Quadtro FX 3800M graphics with 1GB of DDR3 RAM. We were told that the 8740w would be shipping in early April, but it appears that you can order them up right now at the source link.

HP EliteBook 8740w pumped up with Intel Core 2010 CPUs, ATI / NVIDIA graphics originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Corsair's 100GB Force SSD scorches the test bench with its blazing speed

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/24/corsairs-100gb-force-ssd-scorches-the-test-bench-with-its-blazi/

The name's Force, SandForce. Corsair's making it kinda easy on us to spot its first SandForce-controlled SSD, and there's no reason it should be bashful about it, given that the SF-1500 is currently the fastest SSD processor around. The F100 in question has the SF-1200 onboard, offering a lesser 285MBps read and 275MBps writes (oh, such measly specs!), but that also means you might, might, actually find a way to afford one. The TweakTown crew took one for a spin recently and were happily surprised to find little in the way of performance difference between SandForce's supposedly enterprise-class SF-1500 and consumer-class SF-1200 -- both sped ahead of the Intel X25-M G2 and Indilinx Barefoot-controlled drives. The speed conclusion was clear cut, and with pricing for the 100GB F100 projected to be as low as $400, the value proposition doesn't look too bad either. The 200GB variant is expected to land somewhere around $700 when Corsair's Force SSDs make it out to retail in a few days' time.

Corsair's 100GB Force SSD scorches the test bench with its blazing speed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tromso students put together the best interactive display wall we've seen yet (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/24/tromso-students-put-together-the-best-interactive-display-wall-w/

Take everything you thought you knew about multitouch and throw it out. Okay, keep the Minority Report stuff, but throw everything else out. What we're looking at here is a 22 megapixel display, stitched together from the output of no less than 28 projectors (7,168 x 3,072 total resolution), which just happens to respond to touch-like input in a fashion even Tom Cruise would find fascinating. You don't have to actually touch the wall, floor-mounted cameras pick up your gestures in 2D space and a 30-node computer setup crunches all the computational and visual data to deliver some buttery smooth user interaction. For demo purposes, the makers of this system grabbed a 13.3 gigapixel image of Tromso and took it for a hand-controlled spin. See the mesmerizing show on video after the break.

Continue reading Tromso students put together the best interactive display wall we've seen yet (video)

Tromso students put together the best interactive display wall we've seen yet (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 07:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nielsen data: you're probably watching too much teevee

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/23/nielsen-data-youre-probably-watching-too-much-teevee/

Nielsen's just released some zingers (also known as statistics) for you to chew on while you listen to a YouTube clip (something about Obamacare) drone on in another tab, tell your significant other to "hold on" and track your Domino's pizza in a completely different tab. The annual Three Screens report, as it's called, has some choice data on American habits, such as the fact that television consumption (average number of hours watched per day) has increased to nearly 35 hours per week per person. What else can we glean from this treasure chest of minutiae? Well, about 59 percent of Americans now multitask in front of the teevee with their laptops for an average of three and a half hours a month. A final interesting tidbit here -- flying in the face of popular wisdom, it seems that the older you are, the more television you're likely to watch -- so keep your eye on your great Aunt Dot, folks: it's possible she might be addicted to Gossip Girl. Hit the source link if you want to download the entire report (it's a PDF).

Nielsen data: you're probably watching too much teevee originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with T-Mobile webConnect launches tomorrow, $199.99 on contract

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/23/dell-insprion-mini-10-with-t-mobile-webconnect-launches-tomorrow/

T-Mobile's selected CTIA 2010 this week as the venue to launch its customized version of Dell's Mini 10 netbook that's been infused with -- you guessed it -- T-Mobile-compatible 3G service. It's got a 10.1-inch WSVGA display, 1.3 megapixel webcam, three USB ports, VGA port, Windows 7 Starter Edition, and an Atom N450 core humming along at 1.66GHz with a claimed battery life of "up to" eight hours using a six-cell 56WHr pack. In terms of frequencies, you've got quadband EDGE alongside quadband (yes, quadband) 3G with support for Bands I, II, IV, and V, which means you'll be able to roam in 850 / 1900MHz markets and internationally. It's available starting tomorrow in "select T-Mobile retail locations" in Chicago, Dallas, Miami, and Los Angeles as well as through the carrier's site and sales hotline for $199.99 on a two-year deal.

Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with T-Mobile webConnect launches tomorrow, $199.99 on contract originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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