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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

drag2share: D-Link's All In One Mobile Companion is gonna lighten the load of your checked baggage

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/10/d-link-all-in-one-mobile-companion/

D-Link's introducing a travel router for all of the roaming smartphone and tablet users here at CES. The All-In-One Mobile Companion (DIR-505) is a wall-socket no larger than a mouse that's a Wireless-N router, network repeater, USB recharger or media streamer (with an external HDD) and it's got an ethernet port, for those who still insist on carrying that particular cable. It'll be available for $75 in April from the company's store and... oh look, there's a press-release down here after the break, wanna come see?

Continue reading D-Link's All In One Mobile Companion is gonna lighten the load of your checked baggage

D-Link's All In One Mobile Companion is gonna lighten the load of your checked baggage originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: D-Link's sub-$50 cloud router brings media streaming to impoverished street urchins

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/10/d-link-40-dollar-router/

Streaming your media from your mansion's fine and all, but for those of us without a super-car and a butler, those cloud-based routers can be a little out of reach. Fortunately, D-Link's ensuring no-one will mount a movement to occupy the company's Taipei headquarters by releasing a cloud router that costs just $40. You can access it from the mydlink portal or the iOS and Android apps of the same name and it'll also integrate seamlessly with the cloud-connected cameras that were also announced today. You know the deal about PR by now -- it's in the basement next to the Ferrari.

Continue reading D-Link's sub-$50 cloud router brings media streaming to impoverished street urchins

D-Link's sub-$50 cloud router brings media streaming to impoverished street urchins originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: D-Link's new Cloud Camera lets you live out your Real World fantasies

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/10/d-link-cloud-camera-5000/

D-Link's really spoiling us with the sheer number of announcements it's been pushing out at this year's CES. The Cloud Camera 5000 is a 720p internet-connected surveillance camera with a motorized pan and tilt base. You can access and control the device from the company's mydlink: a web-based interface that lets you set motion-sensor preferences to trigger recording and email alerts when it spots someone reaching for the cookie jar you've left on top of the refrigerator. There's also the mydlink+ app for iOS and Android that will let you watch your home being burgled from the other side of the world in glorious high definition. As far as we know already, it'll arrive in April and cost $150 (but don't quote us on that just yet). Set your mouse to dive if you go below to check out the PR.

Continue reading D-Link's new Cloud Camera lets you live out your Real World fantasies

D-Link's new Cloud Camera lets you live out your Real World fantasies originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Intel mounting 'biggest advertising campaign since 2003' for Ultrabooks

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/10/intel-mounting-biggest-advertising-campaign-since-2003-for-ult/

Intel's betting the farm on Ultrabook PCs with its biggest-budget advertising campaign since 2003. April will see the start of a massive advertising campaign designed to convey the benefits of thin and light notebooks to the masses. Kevin Sellers, Santa Clara's head of advertising was boasting ahead of Tuesday's Intel press conference where we're expecting plenty of juicy revelations about the company's Medfield smartphone platform. We'd say "keep your eyes peeled" for the adverts, but given how deeply ingrained the Intel bunnies are on our subconscious, we'll just wait for the PR onslaught to begin.

Intel mounting 'biggest advertising campaign since 2003' for Ultrabooks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Lenovo Yoga: This Windows 8 Ultrabook Moonlights as a Tablet [Ultrabooks]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5874506/lenovo-yoga-this-windows-8-ultrabook-moonlights-as-a-tablet/gallery/1

So it looks like those rumors about touchscreen ultrabooks were true. Lenovo's Yoga is the first such device of its kind (that being a Windows , equipped with a multitouch panel capable of tracking 10 fingers. And though I've been dismissive of such devices, it wasn't nearly the awful experience I thought it would be.

On the surface, the Yoga looks like the U300s, except with an unsightly hinge. But that hinge allows the Yoga to fold all the way back on itself and become a de facto tablet that is aided in large part by Windows 8's Metro UI. The palm rest on the keyboard is covered in a pebbled, presumably scratch-resistant surface which makes it suitable for setting down on a surface when in tablet mode.

Under the hood, Lenovo didn't have much to say except that it would fully adhere to Intel's ultrabook spec. That means a sub-one-inch thickness, a weight under three pounds, Intel Core CPU, and up to 8 gigs of RAM.

I didn't get lots of time with the Yoga, but one thing was apparent. The apps and UI were fast and fluid, and the screen was extremely responsive. Using the paint app, the 10 finger tracking was accurate and little flourishes, such as the rectangular power connector (for a slimmer body), and the placement of the power button along the outer rim of the laptop are well-conceived ideas. Lenovo says we won't see the Yoga until later in the year when Windows 8 launches, but they expect it to be priced similarly to the U300s (which is currently $1200). [Lenovo]

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drag2share: This 7-Inch Asus Tablet Has Tegra 3 Power for Nearly Kindle Fire Prices [Nvidia]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5874606/this-7+inch-asus-tablet-has-tegra-3-power-and-a-250-price-tag

There aren't a lot of secrets left about Nvidia's Tegra 3 quad-core mobile guts; after all, it's already been on shelves in the Transformer Prime for weeks. In fact, the only question left has been what other devices we'll see it in.

Welp, here's your answer: a 7-inch, $250 quad core tablet from Asus. It's 60Hz, all day battery life, and "the best camera out there," according to Asus. It looks an awful lot like this morning's MeMO, except with Tegra 3 running the show.

Nvidia also promoted a technology called DirectTouch, which is what that secret fifth core is for. It's a "buttery smooth" touch experience, that the company claims is going to be far more responsive than a traditional touch experience. Hopefully we'll be able to get some hands on soon to see how big a difference we're really talking about.

I'm still not sold on that size as a form factor, but getting that much more horsepower for just fifty bucks more than a Kindle Fire? That's a might tempting proposition.

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drag2share: HP's Ultrabook Is Made Out of Glass (Update: Hands On) [Ultrabooks]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5874613/hps-ultrabook-is-made-out-of-glass/gallery/1

How do you turn heads when everyone on the block has an ultrabook—and most of them look like bootleg MacBook Airs? Make yours fast as hell and built from a bunch of damn glass.

The HP Spectre 14 isn't made entirely out of glass, but it sure does dominate the thing: wristpad, screen, lid, all covered in a shimmering crystalline layer of "scratch-resistant" (Gorilla?) glass. It makes the thing sparkle, but it's also glowing inside: Core i7 processor, up to 256 GB of SSD storage, and a potential 8 GB of RAM.

The 14-inch Spectre weighs a pound more than the Air, which isn't trivial, but those looking for an Ultrabook that both stands out and will kill it performance-wise should be pleased. And hey! Beats by Dre audio, if you're into that.

Peep it next month starting at $1,400. Just don't drop it. [HP]

Update: The HP feels responsive and solid. The glass on the top does smudge if you even think about touching it.

When you hear "glass," you shouldn't think glass like MacBook trackpads are made out of glass. It's actual glossy, this-is-a-thing-I-can-see-my-reflection-in glass. The smudging is really noticeable, but only because it's a whole damn laptop lid made out of glass. When we tried to smudge it, we were able to without much effort. Still, if we were able to smudge the crap out of it in 90 seconds, I don't know how much I'd trust it to stay looking good.

The keyboard is pretty responsive, with a good amount of throw and nice, big keys. And the sensor that turns on the backlit keyboard when you move your hands over the keyboard to type is pretty darn cool, too. The trackpad feels like it might be a little less glossy than the rest of the laptop, but then again, it might just be because we expected it to be. It's way slicker than our favorite trackpads out there, which typically have a bit of grit to them.

Color performance on the 1600x900 screen wasn't incredible, but the video we watched looked pretty darn crisp. Viewing angles were decent—not great during video—but we'll withhold judgement until we can get more than a minute or two with the machine.

Overall, the Spectre feels fast, solid, and while it;s not quiiiite as fragile as you might think when you hear GLASS COMPUTER, its relative toughness probably has more to do with you expecting the glass to crack in half as soon as you touch it.

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drag2share: Who Needs Pixels When You Have Six Million LED's to Light Your Display? [HDTV]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5874614/who-needs-pixels-when-you-have-six-million-leds-to-light-your-display

Who Needs Pixels When You Have Six Million LED's to Light Your Display? LED televisions until now have generally just used an LED power source to light the LCD display. This differs from the Jumbo-trons you see at sports arenas, where each pixel is an individual LED. Now, Sony's brought the big-screen technology to your living room with its Crystal LED Display.

Instead of an LED source powering an LCD display, the 55-inch prototype that Sony rolled out at CES today instead employs six million miniature-LED lights mounted on the front of the monitor to generate better contrast, color, and a wider viewing angle—with significant energy savings—over either conventional LCD or Plasma displays.

No word yet on pricing or availability just yet—it is still a prototype—but Sony was quick to point out that it will not likely compete with its OLED-based offerings. [CNet]

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drag2share: Lenovo's A720 Might Be the Multitouch All-In-One PC We've All Dreamed Of [Computers]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5874578/lenovos-a720-might-be-the-multitouch-all+in+one-pc-weve-all-dreamed-of/gallery/1

27-inch screen. 10-finger capacitive multitouch. Aluminum body. Fully articulating screen that folds to your liking. If there was ever a touchscreen all-in-one that had all the elements to succeed, Lenovo's A720 might be it.

The A720's is powered by a Intel core processor and screen that goes from 90 degrees (standing upright) to -5 degrees (flat). It also stashes a 1 TB hard drive, a Blu-ray drive, TV tuner, and USB ports away in the base. The build quality of the A720 is especially impressive, as the aluminum gives it a solid, premium feel. And the screen is more responsive than the IR technology used in other touchscreen all-in-ones, such as HP's Touchsmart. Lenovo expects to start selling the A720 in the first half of 2012 at an estimated $1300. [Lenovo]

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drag2share: Panasonic's New Plasmas Are Built for the 99 Percent [HDTV]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5874627/panasonics-new-plasmas-are-built-for-the-99-percent

Panasonic's New Plasmas Are Built for the 99 Percent Sure, you can spend $6,000 (or more) for a top-of-the-line HDTV with more bells and whistles than you can shake a remote at. But if you're on a budget, Panasonic's newest line of plasma HDTV's offer top-flight features for bargain-bin prices.

Panasonic's ST, VT, and GT-series plasma displays each offer the Infinite Black Pro panel. This generates deeper, truer blacks than what other monitors can achieve. They also feature a new Louver Filter that tweaks the display's brightness in accordance with the amount of ambient light in the room as well as a 2500 Focus Field Drive that smooths out the screen resolution during fast-moving action sequences. They'll also include Wi-Fi connectivity, a given by today's standards, but not an available feature on last year's models.

Also cool is the Viera Connect system. Instead of downloading individual apps like Netflix, NHL League Pass, or Pandora, directly to the monitor itself, Viera Connect uses a cloud-based architecture to store a potentially unlimited number of apps. The current lineup of apps also include Amazon VOD, You Tube, Twitter, Facebook, Bloomberg News, AP, Wall Street Journal, Accuweather, Skype, Wealth TV, CinemaNow, Hulu Plus, Fox Sports, MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS2. They will reportedly also feature a Twitter ticker which should come in handy for compulsive social-media types (*raises hand*).

The flagship VT series will be available in 55-inch and 65-inch varieties. Stepping up, the GT series will come in 50, 55, 60, and 65-inch versions, as will the introductory ST-series. Prices and availability have not yet been announced, but if they're anywhere close to last year's price point (the ST's came in under $1000) they'll give Vizio some real competition. [CNET 1, 2, 3 via Wirecutter]

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drag2share: Eyes On Sony's Insane Crystal LED Prototype Display [Desired]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5874638/eyes+on-sonys-insane-crystal-led-prototype-display/gallery/1

Today during Sony's CES press conference, Sir Howard Stringer oh-so-casually dropped news about this prototype Crystal LED display they have in the works. As it turns out, it's probably the coolest thing Sony has at CES.

What sets the Crystal LED tech apart from other display technology is that instead of using LED's to light up pixels, Sony up and replaced all the pixels with LEDs. That means that there are six million miniature red, blue and green LED's lighting up and delivering a crystal clear, razor sharp picture to our eyes. And seeing it up close was impressive.

Sony had the display side-by-side against a standard LED-backlit display. While I'm sure Sony didn't go out of their way to make the lesser TV perform at its best, the Crystal LED had colors that were significantly richer, and brighter, and a picture that was smoother. Sony also says the display has better contrast and viewing angles than typical TVs, though that wasn't exactly easy to test amongst a crowded convention hall.

The Crystal LED is something that's best appreciated with one's own eyes, (especially since the photos don't tell the half and fell victim to some weird banding effect caused by the TVs), but feast your eyes on this thing nonetheless .Of course this is nowhere near ready for our living rooms, but that still didn't prevent me from walking away with a dribble of saliva running down my chin. [Sony CES Liveblog]

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drag2share: Watch all Your 2D Shows in 3D. Could be Awesome. Or Nauseating. [Ces]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5874224/watch-all-your-2d-shows-in-3d-could-be-awesome-or-nauseating

Watch all Your 2D Shows in 3D. Could be Awesome. Or Nauseating. Bummed out because you don't have enough 3D movies and you're sick of watching Avatard? Maybe you need a new TV. Like Philips's new 3D HDTV, which will take your 2D movies and TV shows and make them 3D. It's coming right at us!

According to Philips, you can not only make a 2D show or movie 3D, but you can even "adjust the experience." Not 100-percent sure what that means, but I'm hoping that means that I'll be able to push explosions about three feet from the screen. As expected, the TV is super thin—the screen is only 9mm thick and features a silver bezel instead the usual black bezel. Look for this 55-incher at the end of the year for around $1,700.

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drag2share: SanDisk unveils 'world's fastest' 128GB SDXC card and new iNAND Ultra embeddable flash storage

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/09/sandisk-unveils-worlds-fastest-128gb-sdxc-card-and-new-inand/

There's no time better to announce new storage cards than at CES -- there's just so many new toys to plug them into. SanDisk's new SDXC card is available in both 64GB and 128GB sizes, with the latter capable of packing in around 10 hours of HD 3D video. Both cards will boast read speeds of around 45 megabytes per second -- the 'world's fastest', we're told, but that could be a heady claim during the high-speed turnaround of CES. No date's been offered up yet for when they'll hit stores, but when they do, expect the 128GB beast to set you back a feisty $400, while the 64GB card will ask your wallet for $200.

Meanwhile, fans of the embeddable kind can expect to see iNAND Ultra make itself known in 2012. Promising a tiny footprint and sizes up to 64GB, expect to see more of SanDisk's 19nm flash tech to make plenty of appearances in future teardowns -- it's apparently been designed for mobile operating systems. Flash memory fans can check the full releases below.

Continue reading SanDisk unveils 'world's fastest' 128GB SDXC card and new iNAND Ultra embeddable flash storage

SanDisk unveils 'world's fastest' 128GB SDXC card and new iNAND Ultra embeddable flash storage originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Olympus unveils a cavalcade of point and shoot cameras and a PEN lens at CES

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/09/olympus-unveils-a-cavalcade-of-point-and-shoot-cameras-and-a-pen/

Another CES, another avalanche of camera announcements tumbling down from Olympus. Surprising? Not really, but who are we to argue with tradition? The outfit's latest in point-and-shoot technology kicks off with the VR-340, a 16-megapixel wonder that boasts a "cosmetic toolbox" of digital makeup -- letting you digitally paint your unsuspecting subjects with eyeliner, rouge and the most darling shades of eyeshadow. The 14-megapixel TG-320, on the other hand, drops the digital face painting in favor of durability, allowing you to shoot HD video up to 10 feet underwater. Rounding out pocketable shooters is the 14-megapixel VG-160, which packs a 5x optical zoom into a svelte 19.3mm frame.

The beefier 14-megapixel SZ-12 sports a 24x optical zoom lens and a "reto-chic" grip, while the SP-620UZ knocks down the optical zoom a notch (to 21x), but kicks the sensor up to 16 megapixels. Not in the market for a point and shoot camera? That's okay too, the outfit is also announcing the M.Zuiko digital Ed 12-50mm micro four thirds lens for its PEN family of cameras. This F3.5-6.3 lens features a 4.2x zoom ratio and a macro mode that can focus up to 8-inches away from a subject. Hit the break for a press release overload.

Gallery: Olympus VR-340, TG-320, VG-160, SZ-12, SP-620UZ and MZukio Digital Ed 12-50mm press photos

Continue reading Olympus unveils a cavalcade of point and shoot cameras and a PEN lens at CES

Olympus unveils a cavalcade of point and shoot cameras and a PEN lens at CES originally appeared on Engadget! on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: MasterImage 3D glasses-free smartphone and tablet displays hands-on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/09/hands-on-masterimage-3d-glasses-free-displays/

When MasterImage 3D announced two new displays for smartphones and tablets, you knew a hands-on would be inevitable. Based on the company's patented cell matrix parallax barrier, each display promises to eliminate much of the headaches typically associated with glasses-free 3D. As an added benefit of the cell matrix configuration, more light is allowed to pass through, which should prolong battery life. The smartphone display measures 4.3-inches at 720p resolution, while the tablet sizes up at 10.1-inches with a 1900 x 900 layout. Generally, our thoughts on MasterImage's 3D technology were two-fold. First, it's absolutely true that the display is less nausea inducing, but when the image was viewed at its most proper angle, the three-dimensional effects were also less awe-inspiring. Nonetheless, the company has lined up partners for both displays and you should see the handiwork featured in consumer technology by the second half of this year.

Gallery: MasterImage 3D glasses-free smartphone and tablet displays, hands-on

MasterImage 3D glasses-free smartphone and tablet displays hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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