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Monday, September 10, 2012

Insert Coin: Impossible Instant Lab makes iPhone photos tangible

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/10/insert-coin-impossible-instant-lab-makes-iphone-photos-tangible/

In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line.

Going back to a physical medium isn't just for vinyl lovers. The Impossible Project (TIP) wants to make our iPhone photos equally concrete through its extra-simple Impossible Instant Lab. Don't worry about setting up AirPrint or otherwise jumping through software hoops: the Lab captures the screen and prints it to Polaroid-compatible instant film as a keepsake. The design is even collapsible and battery-powered in the event you'd like to hand out hard copies on the spot. It's no hobbyist effort, either, with a Leica designer and a former Polaroid factory both involved in making the Lab a reality. TIP is planning to move beyond its initial iPhone 4 and 4S support to include future iPhones and, if all goes well, more commonplace Android hardware.

Investing in this Kickstarter project sidesteps novelties like t-shirts in favor of the real product -- and provides a very strong incentive to buy early. Backers quick on the trigger can pay as little as $149 for a Lab with a voucher for free film, or about half the $299 retail price. Pay the full cost and you'll get a special black version with an extra voucher, while $2,000 will pr! ovide bo th a gold edition and a trip to the ex-Polaroid factory in Enschede, The Netherlands. Cameras could be in retro photographers' hands as soon as February, but only if TIP reaches its $250,000 funding goal by October 8th. If your parents would like a little more than a Facebook photo gallery as a souvenir, or Instagram just isn't nostalgic enough, you can hit the source link to show support and make the Instant Lab real.

Continue reading Insert Coin: Impossible Instant Lab makes iPhone photos tangible

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras

Insert Coin: Impossible Instant Lab makes iPhone photos tangible originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Drive mobile app updated, brings editing to iOS

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/10/google-drive-mobile-app-updated-brings-editing-to-ios/

The mobile Google Drive app just keeps getting better and better. Are we ready to ditch the desktop web app for its iOS and Android package? Hardly, but with ever decimal point upgrade the disparity between the two keeps getting smaller. The latest round of updates finally delivers document editing to your iPad and iPhone, including the ability to format text and see live changes made by your collaborators. You can also now view presentations, including speaker notes. The Android version also got a few nice tweaks today, most notable being the ability to see and reply to comments on docs. Google is also promising that real-time updates will be coming to spreadsheets very soon -- which should excite on-the-go number crunchers. Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Google Drive mobile app updated, brings editing to iOS

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile

Google Drive mobile app updated, brings editing to iOS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nielsen: more than half of US teens now own smartphones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/10/nielsen-more-than-half-of-us-teens-now-own-smartphones/

Yes, we know Android is holding steady at about 52 percent of US smartphone market share. What's interesting is just who's driving growth as a whole. According to Nielsen, 58 percent of American teens between 13 and 17 now have a smartphone -- that's a big jump from 36 percent a year earlier and a sign that the youngest owners have a significant sway over where the market is going. Not that young adults don't have an impact. Although the 25-to-34 crowd isn't making as big a comparative leap, its smartphone ownership has climbed from 59 percent to a dominating 74 percent in the same space of time.

No matter how much youth set the pace, it's clear Android is still having an effect. Among the US smartphone buyers Nielsen tracked in the three months leading up to July, 58.6 percent went Google's direction. Most of that gain came from BlackBerry owners switching allegiances, which doesn't bode well when RIM is counting on existing owners to fuel BlackBerry 10 demand. We'd be careful about citing a one-point shrink in iPhone sales as a shift in the balance of power, however -- while it could be part of a trend, it could also represent the habitual lull in Apple's sales during the weeks before a major iPhone introduction.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Nielsen: more than half of US teens now own smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intuition by LG hands-on: a pen-enabled competitor to the Galaxy Note for Verizon (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/10/intuition-by-lg-hands-on/

It's a silly name as smartphones go (and one that conjures images of lady-focused razors), but regardless, LG's Intuition is now officially a member of Verizon's lineup. The 4G LTE device, shown off today at the manufacturer's launch event, is nigh unchanged from the South Korean model we reviewed this past July (known as the Optimus Vu). With a 5-inch 1,024 x 768 True-XGA IPS capacitive display, dual-core S3 CPU clocked at 1.5GHz, 8-megapixel rear camera, NFC, 2080mAh battery and that Rubberdium pen, the only thing separating this stateside iteration from its SK Telecom cousin is the skinned Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS onboard and $199 on contract price. So how does it fare in this Big Red debut? Follow along as we attempt to find what's been lost, if anything, in translation.

Gallery: Intuition by LG

Continue reading Intuition by LG hands-on: a pen-enabled competitor to the Galaxy Note for Verizon (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Intuition by LG hands-on: a pen-enabled competitor to the Galaxy Note for Verizon (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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America Never Looked More Stunningly Beautiful Than This Timelapse [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5941875/america-never-looked-more-stunningly-beautiful-than-this-timelapse

Photographer and Gizmodo fan John Eklund made this extraordinary time-lapse movie of the Pacific Northwest. I thought I was getting tired of these videos, but some of his shots really push it to a new level.

"I started the project from July 2011 to August 2012," he said in an email, "I took approximately 260,000 photos to make this" using Canon 5D Mark II and Mark III cameras with various lenses. The whole project used 6.3 terabytes of hard drive space.

Well worth the painstaking effort, John.

JPM: The Floodgates Are Open, There's Fiscal And Monetary Stimulus Everywhere, And Markets Can Surge For Another 6 Months

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/jpm-the-floodgates-are-open-theres-fiscal-and-monetary-stimulus-everywhere-and-markets-can-surge-for-another-6-months-2012-9

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The floodgates are open in terms of policy according to JPM's Jan Loeys in his latest Global Asset Allocation note.

We think the positive environment for risk assets can and will last over the next 3-6 months. And this is not because of a strong economy, as we foresee below potential global growth over the next year and are below consensus expectations. Overall, we continue to see data that signal that world growth is in a bottoming process. With most countries having now reported, global GDP looks to have expanded at a tepid 1.9% pace in 2Q12, 1.3%-point below what would simply be trend.

On the back of weak gains in consumer and business spending at mid-year, global IP growth has come to a stand-still. And while things appear to have bottomed with some signals of improvement in consumer spending in July, the soft trajectory of both spending and production through June is expected to hold global GDP growth to another tepid quarter of just 2%. More important to us as positive drivers of risk markets are coming policy stimulus measures, price momentum, and the continuing but more medium-term forces of asset reflation and high risk premia.

To quickly review:

The Fed is seeing as being on the precipice of launching QE3.
The ECB is going to buy short-term peripheral debt on an unlimited scale.
China has stepped up its fiscal stimulus.
Last night Korea unveiled a tiny fiscal stimulus.

Indeed, the global reflation theme is super hot.

In a note out last night titled Third Ease From The Sun, BTIG's Dan Greenhaus wrote:

Being Right or Making Money is the titl! e of Ned Davis’ book and the sentiment is as appropriate as ever now. Investors are arguing whether the Fed should or can do anything for unemployment, whether hyper inflation lay just around the corner or whether Ben Bernanke even “understands markets.” In reality, we believe all that matters is whether assets are likely to appreciate or depreciate in the immediate future as a result of the Fed’s actions. We believe “appreciate” is the correct answer.

Continuing on the theme of inflation-themed punsmaship, Nomura has a note out called "Inflate. Pray. Love.

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HP Spectre One: Could This Be the Ideal Touch-Friendly, All-In-One PC? [Computers]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5941789/hp-spectre-one-could-this-be-the-ideal-touch+friendly-all+in+one-pc

When HP rolled its first TouchSmart All-In-One back in 2008, the potential of such a machine was evident even if the idea itself wasn't fully realized. Enter the 23.6-inch HP Spectre One. Gone is the IR-based touch technology used in previous devices. In its place, a capacitive, multitouch panel. And no longer do we have to suffer through an OS not designed for fingers. Windows 8 is here, which at the very least elevates touch-based Windows devices from gimmick to usable.

Equipped with the latest Ivy Bridge chipsets, the Spectre One also has discrete NVIDIA graphics, up to 8-gigabytes of RAM, USB 3.0 connectivity, HDMI-in and your choice of HDD or SSD. And if you want to upgrade the machine at any point, the back panel of the curved neck is removable, revealing the motherboard guts in all their gruesome beauty.

But HP also added a few unique flourishes of its own. For starters, the Spectre One is equipped with NFC technology, HP supplies you with NFC tags you can place on any object, and you can program the computer to perform specific actions when that NFC tag makes contact. It might be to initiate a photo transfer. Or it might be to use your phone as a method of login. Plus it opens up the possibility of compatibility with future devices. Secondly, HP says it plans to offer custom apps in the Windows 8 app store, which will make use of the Spectre One's touchscreen capabilities. If done right, that could be interesting.

But its not just the Spectre One that's joining the WIndows 8 party; HP also has the Envy 20 and 23 TouchSmart machines, which like the HP Spectre, offer Ivy Bridge configurations, multitouch displays (20 and 23-inches, duh), and Windows 8, but without the fancy design and bonus features, like NFC. Life changing? No. More affordable? Yes.

For those interested in any of the three machines, the HP Spectre One will be available in November at a starting price of $1300, while the HP Envy 20 and 23 will be available in October starting at $800 and $1000, respectively. [HP]

Leaked Sony RX1 Fits a DSLR in Your Pocket [Rumors]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5941827/leaked-sony-rx1-fits-a-dslr-in-your-pocket

Images and specs of a new Sony full frame compact camera have leaked over the weekend. The alleged new camera, called RX1, appears to squeeze DSLR-like specs right into your pocket—for a purported $2,800.

PhotoPrice reports that the camera looks to pack a Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 lens and a 24-megapixel full frame sensor into its tiny frame. Elsewhere, it also claims it will feature 14-bit RAW, an ISO range of 100-25,600, 5fps continuous shooting, HD video recording, a magnesium body, a 3-inch LCD screen, and the option of optical and electronic external viewfinders.

If—and it's some if—those specs are all accurate, the camera sure means business. Those specs would put this compact toe-to-toe with plenty of DSLRs on the market, in a much more compact form factor. If the leaks are true, Sony's about to shake up the world of digital photography. [PhotoPrice via PetaPixel]

Leaked Sony RX1 Fits a DSLR in Your Pocket

Sony RX1 camera leaks with full-frame sensor in compact body, laws of physics slightly bent

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/09/sony-rx1-camera-leaks-with-full-frame-sensor-in-compact-body/

Here's something you probably didn't expect: a compact Sony camera with a full-frame sensor. While Photoprice.ca was uncovering a treasure trove of leaked press shots that include the Alpha A99 and NEX-6, it also came across images of the RX1, whose body looks borderline pocketable yet stuffs in the same kind of sensor (and likely image quality) you'd normally reserve for pro-grade models. Several extra details reveal themselves right from the start. The RX1 is carrying a 35mm, f/2.0 lens with no apparent button to detach the lens -- the included glass is probably as good as it'll get. However, the RX1 is most definitely tuned for experienced shooters, with a toggle for macro focusing as well as dedicated controls for aperture and exposure compensation. We're also liking that there's a pop-up flash, a standard hot shoe for accessories and three custom settings on the mode dial. The slip doesn't include mention of a release date or a price, but talk during the A99 slip mentioned a September 12th unveiling that wouldn't shock us if it included multiple cameras -- and we would be equally unsurprised if the RX1 carried the same high price commonly associated with other full-frame bodies.

Filed under: Cameras

Sony RX1 camera leaks with full-frame sensor in compact body, laws of physics slightly bent originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Sep 2012 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Nexus 7 mod unlocks 720p recording on front-facing camera

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/10/google-nexus-7-mod-720p-video-recording/

To the delight of live event crowds everywhere, the ASUS-made Nexus 7 sidestepped the primary camera route, only furnishing the slab with a 1.2-megapixel front-facer. While it didn't take long for app-makers to tweak their wares especially for Google's statement tablet, users over at XDA Developers have dug a little deeper to unlock the shooter's 720p recording potential, removing the previous 480p cap. There are a several (relatively simple) ways to get it done -- visit the source for the full instructions.

Filed under: Tablets, Software

Google Nexus 7 mod unlocks 720p recording on front-facing camera originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 06:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pocketnow | sou! rce

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Sunday, September 09, 2012

Sony RX1 camera leaks with full-frame sensor in compact body, laws of physics slightly bent

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/09/sony-rx1-camera-leaks-with-full-frame-sensor-in-compact-body/

Here's something you probably didn't expect: a compact Sony camera with a full-frame sensor. While Photoprice.ca was uncovering a treasure trove of leaked press shots that include the Alpha A99 and NEX-6, it also came across images of the RX1, whose body looks borderline pocketable yet stuffs in the same kind of sensor (and likely image quality) you'd normally reserve for pro-grade models. Several extra details reveal themselves right from the start. The RX1 is carrying a 35mm, f/2.0 lens with no apparent button to detach the lens -- the included glass is probably as good as it'll get. However, the RX1 is most definitely tuned for experienced shooters, with a toggle for macro focusing as well as dedicated controls for aperture and exposure compensation. We're also liking that there's a pop-up flash, a standard hot shoe for accessories and three custom settings on the mode dial. The slip doesn't include mention of a release date or a price, but talk during the A99 slip mentioned a September 12th unveiling that wouldn't shock us if it included multiple cameras -- and we would be equally unsurprised if the RX1 carried the same high price commonly associated with other full-frame bodies.

Filed under: Cameras

Sony RX1 camera leaks with full-frame sensor in compact body, laws of physics slightly bent originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Sep 2012 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sony Alpha Rumors | source

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AT&T upgrades Samsung Captivate Glide to Android 4.0, keeps the QWERTY habit going

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/07/att-upgrades-samsung-captivate-glide-to-android-4-0/

Hardware keyboard fans must feel like they're part of an endangered species -- there's greater uncertainty these days about software updates, let alone new smartphones. If you're part of that persecuted group, AT&T and Samsung have your back: they've just started rolling out Android 4.0 for the Captivate Glide. All of the features will be familiar if you've borrowed someone's Galaxy S II in the past few months, although it's hard to object to the better multitasking and support for Chrome. About the only catch is the need to use Kies to grab the update, but that's a small sacrifice we're sure many are willing to make.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

AT&T upgrades Samsung Captivate Glide to Android 4.0, keeps the QWERTY habit going originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 23:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy Note II with dual-SIM capabilities gets spotted in the wild

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/08/samsung-galaxy-note-with-dual-sim-capabilities/

Now that the second-gen Note is finally out of Samsung's precious (and teasing) bag, we're learning more and more about the exorbitant device -- not to say we weren't expecting this to be the case, however. Still, we were rather intrigued by the distinct Galaxy Note II pictured above, which, by the looks it, comes pre-loaded with dual-SIM capabilities, and thus makes this particular unit slightly different than that one unit we played with back at IFA. Although details are still very scarce at the moment, rumor has it the dual-SIM Note will only be available in China and, aside from the slot additions, all other features the famed phablet offers appear to be exactly the same. Feel free to check out the source below for more pics, but don't expect anything too exciting or out of the ordinary -- unless, of course, extra SIM slots are your thing.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Samsung Galaxy Note ! II with dual-SIM capabilities gets spotted in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Sep 2012 00:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SIM2's $158k CinemaQuattro 4K DLP projector is for hundred seat home theaters

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/08/sim2-158k-cinemaquattro-4k-dlp-projector/

Even in the land of the outrageous home theater equipment that is CEDIA, SIM2's new CinemaQuattro projector sticks out. The company's first model capable of 4K (4,096 x 2,160) resolution, it's nearly as large as the Italian scooter that also resided in its booth and comes with a price tag of $158,000 -- the old 1080p $58K Grand Cinema seems almost cheap in comparison. While that may be mild overkill for most, if you're Will Smith and need something to screen flicks on for your personal home theater (emphasis on theater), we'd imagine this fits the bill. SIM2 licensed TI's technology from cinema projector maker Christie in order to develop the three chip 4K DLP monster capable of 20,000 ANSI lumens. According to President and CEO Maurizio Cini this gives its dealers access to "the best" technology, and at that price, it just ought to.

Gallery: SIM2 CinemaQuattro 4K DLP projector

Continue reading SIM2's $158k CinemaQuattro 4K DLP projector is for hundred seat home theaters

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD

SIM2's $158k CinemaQuattro 4K DLP projector is for hundred seat home theaters originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Sep 2012 07:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ainol releasing dual-core Novo 7 Crystal tablet: Jelly Bean and an IPS display for $139

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/08/ainol-novo-7-crystal-tablet-jelly-bean-ips/

Chinese tablet maker Ainol is stepping up from its ICS-running Novo 7 to the Novo 7 Crystal, a new dual-core 1.5GHz model running Jelly Bean for $139. Below the hood is an Amlogic 8726-M6 Cortex A9 processor, a Mali 400 GPU, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. The 7-inch touchscreen display sports a 1,024 x 600 resolution, and Ainol chose an IPS panel for wide viewing angles -- that's not exactly common for a tab in this price range. The whole package weighs 0.72 pounds (328 grams) and measures 0.4 inches (11.2mm) thick, and the tablet will be available in black and white.

The Novo 7 Crystal will be WiFi-only (802.11n), though there's room for a 3G modem on board, and connections include a microSD card slot, mini-USB port and mini-HDMI. Notebook Italia says the Crystal will start shipping on September 28th, though we've yet to see any official word on availability. Click through to the source links for more details.

Filed under: Tablets

Ainol releasing dual-core Novo 7 Crystal tablet: Jelly Bean and an IPS display for $139 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Notebook Italia | source

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