Monday, September 02, 2013

Acer announces 6-inch Liquid S2, 'first 4K-recording smartphone'

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/acer-6-inch-liquid-s2-smartphone/

Compared to many other companies, Acer's taken a rather cautious approach to super-sized phones. Its first attempt was the 5.7-inch Liquid S1, a rather straightforward Android handset unveiled back in June at Computex. The second time around, though, the company's taking a more ambitious approach, announcing the 6-inch Liquid S2 with 4K recording capability, a full HD IPS display and a Snapdragon 800 processor.

Acer's touting the S2 as the first phone to offer this 4K functionality, though all signs point to Samsung's next Galaxy Note shipping with the same feature. The device sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED ring flash along with a 2MP front shooter capable of 1080p video. The company's also loaded up the S2 with several software enhancements on the camera side. For one, a "quick first shot" feature lets you snap a picture right from the phone's unlock screen, and you have the ability to adjust focus and exposure separately. There's also a "favorite mode," which lets you create up to five profiles with customized settings and effects.

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Oppo N1 will have a Snapdragon 800 to go with its swappable camera system

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/oppo-n1-will-have-snapdragon-800/

Oppo N1 flashes its Snapdragon 800 as exec leaks logic board pic

Oppo's N1 smartphone has been sitting on our watch list ever since we first got wind of its strange N-Lens camera add-ons, which will apparently offer a choice of zooms up to 15x. Now we can flesh out another key spec: the Chinese handset will run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 processor, which should more than cope with its equally unusual dual touch inputs and possibly help it to rival other imaging-centric Androids like the Galaxy S4 Zoom and Sony's upcoming Honami. The HSPA+ Snapdragon processor (MSM8274) was shown on a photo of the N1's internals that was "leaked" by an Oppo marketing exec on Sina Weibo -- and unless we're horribly, horribly mistaken, the photo also seems to show a microSD slot to store all those optically stabilized, 16-megapixel images. Barring other significant pseudo-leaks, you can expect the next big N1 update on September 23rd.

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Source: Oppo N1 (Sina Weibo)

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Meizu MX3 unveiled with Exynos 5 Octa, 5.1-inch screen, Wolfson audio and 128GB option

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/meizu-mx3-launched/

Meizu MX3 unveiled with Exynos 5 Octa, 51inch screen, Wolfson audio and 128GB option

Ahead of main rival Xiaomi's big event later this week, Meizu has today unveiled its latest Android device, the MX3, at the Beijing National Aquatics Center. Like many recent flagship phones, this one finally breaks the previous 4.4-inch barrier to make way for a 5.1-inch display, though with an odd 1,800 x 1,080, 15:9 panel from Sharp and JDI to follow Meizu's string of odd aspect ratios. At the same time, the manufacturer has managed to keep the screen bezel at 2.9mm thick, making the carefully curved body 72mm wide (as well as 9.1mm thick and 143g heavy). This is apparently the result of Jack Wong's 30-plus handcrafted wooden prototypes, followed by some 3D scanning. Read on for more.

Update: Our hands-on post is up as well! %Gallery-slideshow77150%

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Source: Meizu

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Meizu MX3 hands-on: a significant improvement from the MX2 (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/meizu-mx3-hands-on/

Meizu MX3 handson a significant improvement from the MX2

Having sat through Meizu's entire launch event in Beijing, we have to admit: the new MX3 took us by surprise. We weren't expecting much after knowing some of the key specs from the leaks, and to be frank, the Chinese company lost its way with the MX2; but Jack Wong's team seems to have put its focus back in place with its latest flagship. First off, while the MX3 has preserved the predecessor's metallic-rim design, Meizu has now managed to refine the manufacturing process to remove all the sharp edges, and boy does that new body feel good. The TOL (touch-on-lens) display may look odd with its 1,800 x 1,080 resolution, but it looked good on the demo units, and that 15:9 aspect ratio has some advantage for web browsing in portrait mode.

There were many other features that we couldn't comment on based on our hands-on, such as the audio quality from the Wolfson chip and the image quality from the third-gen Sony 8-megapixel sensor, but the presence of these components suggests that Meizu may be headed back in the right direction. The number of improvements on the slick, Android 4.2-based Flyme 3.0 is also impressive, making it slightly more user-friendly (especially for first-timers) as well as more pleasing to the eye. It'll just take some getting used to with Meizu's own soft key approach (virtual buttons on a "Smart Bar" plus a capacitive home button). Much like the battery life and radio performance, we'll only be able to properly comment on the software part over an extended period of usage, so do keep an eye out for our MX3 review in the near future. Oh, and we have a hands-on video after the break. %Gallery-slideshow77154%

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Friday, August 30, 2013

Tor: The Anonymous Internet, and If It's Right for You

Source: http://gizmodo.com/tor-the-anonymous-internet-and-if-its-right-for-you-1222400823

Tor: The Anonymous Internet, and If It's Right for You

Since the revelations about NSA spying came to the surface earlier this summer, everybody's paying a little bit more attention to their privacy online. That's good news for Tor, a suite of software and network of computers that enables you to use the internet anonymously. And for anyone who uses it.

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Article: Lodgify Launches Its Build-Your-Own Solution For Vacation Rental Websites And Listings

Barcelona-based startup Lodgify is launching its product today, which aims to be the "Shopify of vacation rentals" according to its co-founder Naveen Sharma. Like Shopify, Lodgify allows small business owners to easily set up an online commerce presence – but this time the target is people who ar...

http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/29/lodgify-launches-its-build-your-own-solution-for-vacation-rental-websites-and-listings/

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Article: Transparent, flexible speaker runs on ions

A research team at Harvard has created a remarkable proof of concept device: a thin, transparent speaker powered by ions instead of electricity. Such "ionic devices" could lead to artificial muscles, telescopic contact lenses, and more.

In the electronics we use every day, a constant flow of ch...

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/transparent-flexible-speaker-first-many-ion-powered-devices-8C11037252

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Article: 150 Million People Have Decided That Standard Web Browsers Aren't Safe Enough

When FORBES last spoke to AnchorFree in August 2012, CEO David Gorodyansky put forth a modest goal for his 7 year-old company: "We want to be the way the whole world browses the Web," he boasted. In the last year, the company's trajectory has matched its lofty ambitions. A year ago 70 million peo...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2013/08/27/web-security-goes-mainstream-goldman-backed-company-boasts-150-million-users/

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Article: LG unveils a cinematic all-in-one PC with an ultra-wide screen

LG showed off its first monitor with a cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio at IFA last year, and the company's back in 2013 with a similarly proportioned all-in-one PC. The IPS 21:9 UltraWide All-In-One PC, as LG calls it, appears to feature the same display as the 29-inch 2560 x 1080 monitor, along with...

http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/30/4675090/lg-ultrawide-all-in-one-pc-ifa-2013

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Article: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II, The best enthusiast compact to date

CNET Editors' ChoiceAug 13

The good: The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II delivers excellent photos, speedy performance, and a broad feature set in an attractive, compact package.

The bad: The camera tends to clip bright highlights more than we typically see, and the s...

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/sony-cyber-shot-dsc/4505-6501_7-35807990.html?subj=cnet&tag=title

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Article: The Tricorder Is Here, And I've Used It On Myself

This is a post in ReadWriteBody, an ongoing series where ReadWrite covers networked fitness and the quantified self.

Most of the gadgets and apps I've tested for ReadWriteBody are geared towards fitness: getting healthier, not detecting illness.

That may be a result of the tech industr...

http://readwrite.com/2013/08/29/readwritebody-scanadu-scout-tricorder

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Article: Samsung's cranking out DDR4 memory for faster, more efficient servers

DDR4 memory is finally in mass production, as Samsung Semiconductor announced it's mass producing 4GB modules, based on "20nm-class" process technology. 32GB sticks like the ones shown above are headed for the premium server market, where Samsung claims their higher speeds (up to 2,667 Mb/s) make...

http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/30/samsung-4gb-ddr4-mass-production/

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Article: Oppo teases plug-in camera lenses with OIS and up to 15x zoom

Oppo is a relatively unknown name outside of China, even though the company did make some headway with the Oppo Find 5, and is hoping to continue to establish itself on the world stage with its upcoming Oppo N1. There's very little we actually know about the device, except for the fact that is ex...

http://www.androidauthority.com/oppo-plug-in-camera-lenses-ois-15x-zoom-260180/

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Thursday, August 29, 2013

This "Ionic" Speaker Is Stretchable, See-Through and Mind-Blowing

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-stretchable-ionic-speaker-made-of-gel-is-almost-in-1223860938

This "Ionic" Speaker Is Stretchable, See-Through and Mind-Blowing

Ever get that feeling that the speakers in your living room are too, well, opaque? Wouldn't it be cool if it looked like they were just floating there in mid-air blasting jams for all to hear? It's a heck of a dream, and thanks to a team of Harvard scientists, it might just come true for you.

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Don't miss Phil Molyneux, Google Glass, the EFF, Ayah Bdeir and David Gerrold at Expand NY!

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/29/expand-speakers/

Don't miss Phil Molyneux, Google Glass, the EFF, Ayah Bdeir and David Gerrold at Expand NY!

We think we're already on-track to blow our San Francisco event out of the water -- and guess what, we're only getting starting. We're already announced some great speakers like LeVar Burton and Ben Heck, who promise to make this November's Engadget Expand in New York one to remember, and now we've got even more names to offer up. We're excited to tell you that we'll also be joined by Sony Electronics president / COO Phil Molyneux, Google Glass senior developer advocate Timothy Jordan, littleBits founder / CEO Ayah Bdeir, EFF staff attorney Julie Samuels and science fiction writer David Gerrold.

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