Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Friday, June 06, 2008

Thief steals Eye-Fi-equipped camera, proceeds to give himself away

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305611362/

It was inevitable, really. We've seen quick-footed thieves swipe GPS units that eventually led to their arrest, a bank robber who didn't even bother to close his clamshell while holding up the joint and now, we've seen the Eye-Fi card really pay off. According to the outfit's PR firm Red Consultancy, one particular vacationer had her entire stash of camera gear (over $1,000 worth) stolen while taking a load off in Florida. Upon returning home and checking things out, she noticed that all of the snapshots taken prior to the theft were uploaded, and upon closer inspection, she even noticed a clear shot of the remarkably idiotic crook. After syncing up with the boys in blue, all of the gal's equipment was eventually returned, and some semblance of normalcy was finally returned. How's that for a feel good story, huh?

[Image courtesy of Al]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

IBM cools stacked silicon chips with water

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305630406/

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Stacking silicon into what are called 3D chips is something IBM does as good as, if not better than, any other screener. Problem is, all those stacked circuits create a an exponential amount of heat, and traditional cooling methods don't scale. So what does IBM do? It comes up with integrated water channels about the size of a human hair that it's calling "interlayer cooling." According to IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory, this is the first tech of its kind. The 50 micron channels between individual chip layers are performing at 180 watt/cm² per layer for a stack with a typical footprint of 4 cm². In other words, it works.

[Via TG Daily]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Aiptek joins the fold with PocketCinema V10 mini-projector

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305649997/

Filed under: Displays

If there are two things Aiptek knows, it's cheap and small. Along with Foxconn and Honlai, Aiptek is introducing a pocket-sized projector over in Taipei, and it's being eloquently dubbed the PocketCinema V10. Reportedly, the device taps 3M's miniature projection technology to shoot up a 50-inch image, and if you don't have a bona fide source laying around, it can still entertain guests by reading from the 1GB of internal memory or 3-in-1 multicard reader. Furthermore, it packs a built-in battery and stereo speakers, but unfortunately, we can't tell you where or when you'll be able to purchase one of these unpriced wonders.

[Via AboutProjectors]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Intel's Nehalem benchmarked: 2.66GHz faster than 3.2GHz Penryn

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305730238/

Filed under: Desktops

Intel's got some Nehalem chips floating around Computex, and the crew from Anandtech managed to snag a couple and run some benchmarks. As you'd expect, Intel's latest and greatest put up pretty solid numbers, performing most operations faster than a 3.2GHz Penryn chip -- while only clocked at 2.66GHz. When the Penryn chip was clocked at 2.66GHz, Nehalem ran 20 to 44 percent faster, mostly due to insanely fast memory access speeds and Hyper Threading. Sadly, due to a wonky test mobo, Anandtech wasn't able to test performance when paired with a GPU, and there were some memory latency issues -- which hopefully means Nehalem will be even faster when it's out for real. Your move, AMD.

[Via AeroXperience]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

LG VX9700 Dare in the wild -- if you can call Verizon "wild"

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/305903396/

Filed under: Cellphones

Sit back, relax, grab the popcorn, and check this out, because there's this really awesome battle going on between LG and Samsung for the hearts and minds of the touchscreen-loving public on Sprint and Verizon right now (and AT&T, too, if you count the LG Vu). The Glyde and Voyager are fighting the good fight as we speak, while the Instinct will be tagging in shortly -- and right behind it will be this puppy, the VX9700 Dare from LG, which is just now getting some of its first shots out in the environs. Like Sprint's Instinct, the Dare goes QWERTY keyboard-free in favor of a virtual pad; specs include a 3.2 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSDHC support, and a wide QVGA display. Rumors have it landing in July, at which point we can drop the chain-link octagon cage and let it go toe-to-toe with the Instinct for dominance. Remember, guys, no biting or hair pulling, and may the best fashionable Korean touchphone win.

[Via phoneArena]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments