Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Lunocet Monofin Makes Man into Michael Phelps [Lunocet]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/368465266/lunocet-monofin-makes-man-into-michael-phelps

Boy that Michael Phelps is fast. No one can argue it, he can dominate in almost any style of swim and possesses one of the best dolphin kicks in the world. That is, one of the best kicks aside from some random guy using the Lunocet monofin. Because while Phelps is able to swim at an inhuman 5 miles per hour, the average swimmer using the carbon fiber Lunocet will routinely hit about 8mph. Is it too late for us to book our tickets to Beijing?

The Lunocet weighs about 2.5lbs out of the water, but in the water it's positively buoyant. Constructed from silicon wrapped in carbon fiber with a titanium footplate, the system gives you the same power on a downstroke as an upstroke. Coupled with a pair of strong legs the monofin could theoretically generate enough power to drive a human completely out of the water—yes, real life dolphin acrobatics at last.

So is the Lunocet worth its $1250 to $1800 pricetag? We don't know, but it sure sounds a whole lot better than actually training. And we doubt that we'll be getting access to DARPA's swimming tech anytime soon. [Lunocet]

Easycar U7 DMB / GPU unit launches in South Korea

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/368064320/

Filed under: GPS, Portable Video

We're (so) looking forward to the day when we Americans don't have to look longingly at the amazing navigation units that pop up every month or so in South Korea, but until that fateful day arrives, we'll continue drooling courtesy of the Easycar U7. This screen-dominated conglomerate features a 7-inch LCD, DMB TV tuner, 19-millimeter thick frame and an integrated multimedia player / text viewer. All that for just ₩199,000 ($191)? Nah, we're not envious at all.

[Via Techie Diva]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Ozmo's WiFi PAN mouse cuts the wires and the Bluetooth

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/368108521/

Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless

We've never really had anything bad to say about our Bluetooth mouse experience (this week, at least), but Ozmo thinks it can do better. The company has built an optical mouse that connects over low-power WiFI Personal Area Network (PAN) technology. Ozmo has special drivers for the PC to allow it to do concurrent WLAN and WPAN connections, and is compatible with 802.11g and 802.11a. They're also fighting Bluetooth on the audio front with a headset, where we think they might find a more welcome reception -- especially when they get some good stereo headphones on the market. Intel and Ozmo just recently trotted out this WiFI PAN tech a couple of months ago, and what we have here are reference designs for use by OEMs, so no word on commercial availability just yet.

[Via I4U]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Samsung Omnia reviewed on Engadget Mobile

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/368250635/

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Remember the Touch Diamond? Yeah, well, cherish that memory, because it may be gone by the time you get done with our quick look at Samsung's mighty Omnia. We're not saying the Sammy entry blows away HTC's -- not by a long shot -- but it's a solid competitor that makes Windows Mobile looks shockingly passable for the year 2008. Read on!

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dell's "Mini" Inspiron 910 gets specs, pics, and potential release date leaked

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/368297864/

Filed under: Laptops

The cats over at Gizmodo have gotten their eyes on some succulent and salacious photos of the oft-rumored, much-discussed, openly-desired Dell "Mini Inspiron" (or as it's now being called, the Inspiron 910) -- and they've shared with the world. In the pics you get to see that familiar pencil-pose along with a slew of insides and outs, including an up-close look at ports, keyboard, and guts. The specs look like they're right in line with those leaked materials we had back in June, and the word is this little baby will be hitting shelves come August 22nd. Time to swing by the Coinstar machine.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

USB 3.0 gets seriously detailed

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/368374509/

Filed under: Peripherals

Just last week, Intel gave AMD, NVIDIA and a whole host of friends what they had been clamoring for: 90% complete USB 3.0 controller specifications. Now, the cool cats over at MaximumPC have churned out an encyclopedic writeup that details USB SuperSpeed remarkably well. The highlights include assurance that USB 3.0 will be backwards-compatible with USB 2.0 and that it'll provide transfer rates up to ten times more than USB 2.0's 480Mbps limit (that's 4.8Gbps). Furthermore, we're told that uploads and downloads are kept on separate lanes, the cables are thicker, it will charge more devices more quickly, and it will be much more mindful of energy waste. Go on and get yourself completely schooled in the read link below.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Video: Android SDK v0.9 hits the internet looking almost ready for primetime

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/368398582/

Filed under: Cellphones

It's an interesting day for the folks at Google. Not only do we see the supposed GPhone (AKA, the HTC Dream) get trotted out to the FCC, and hear new rumors about the device's release date, but now there's a brand-spanking-new release of the Android SDK available. The version? 0.9 -- a number which puts this dangerously close to a number that most would consider non-beta. Meanwhile, the new version of the mobile OS has been significantly changed, adding a new widgetified (big old clock: present!) and flickable homescreen, a handy (and speedy) tab to pull up your apps, plus a media player, camera, and handful of other noticeable design tweaks. Don't believe us? Check out the video after the break showing it all in action.

Update: We've included a gallery of screenshots as well. Check out the sync contacts option. Sweet! Also, you may note that it asks you to "open keyboard to compose message" in the SMS screen -- almost like it's made for a device with a slide-out keyboard.

Gallery: Video: Android SDK v0.9 hits the internet looking almost ready for primetime

Continue reading Video: Android SDK v0.9 hits the internet looking almost ready for primetime

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Sanyo offers up "entry-level" 1080p PLV-Z700 LCD projector

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/368406703/

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

"Entry-level" and "1080p projector" don't often go hand-in-hand, but Sanyo's mashing the two terms together with its PLV-Z700. The Full HD beamer provides a 1,920 x 1,080 native resolution, 1,200 ANSI lumens, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, twin HDMI 1.3b ports (along with an array of others) and a variable iris that can "control lens iris adjustment every 1/60th of a second." Unfortunately, the most tantalizing tidbit has been omitted for now (yes, the price), but word on the street has it shipping to the UK in October.

[Via AboutProjectors]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

HP EliteBook 2730p gets shown off on video

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/368454433/

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

We didn't exactly get the best look at HP's new EliteBook 2730p tablet when it was announced earlier today, but Notebooks.com has now thankfully come through with a video of the device, in which HP's Kyle Thorton helpfully shows off every nook and cranny of sleek yet supposedly rugged convertible. That includes a peek at the tablet's jog dial, which makes a welcome reappearance after being ditched on the 2710p, and its "double clutch" stylus-holding system, which promises to keep you from losing your trusty input device (it's actually pretty slick). Head on past the break for the full show.

Continue reading HP EliteBook 2730p gets shown off on video

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

InfoWorld finds 35% of enterprise-class users downgrade to XP

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/368519162/

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Hold your horses, vaquero. Let's not blow this all out of proportion here. While it's no secret that a certain amount of Vista purchasers are utilizing that "downgrade to XP" option to its fullest extent, a small (and let us emphasize "small") collection of data suggests that some 35% of "mainly enterprise-class users" have opted for XP over Vista on their newly-purchased rig. By scouring data from the 3,000 or so members feeding information to the InfoWorld Windows Sentinel tool, the site found that just over 1 in 3 users had defected to Microsoft's previous OS. Granted, the tool cannot take into account Linux users or even the "Hackintosh crowd," though as Randall Kennedy puts it, 35% is "still a huge percentage, and way out of proportion for even the dramatically unpopular Windows Vista."

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Monday, August 18, 2008

NVIDIA does real-time raytracing

	NVIDIA does real-time raytracing
	[ Hardware News ] posted by Duke on Monday, August 18, 2008 5:57 PM
	NVIDIA: hot on Intel's heels!
	Viewed 127 times.

Without any doubt, raytracing is the new buzzword down in visual computing avenue. Not that it's anything new... raytracing has been with us for years... but because the cuttinge edge of technology has just started producing the first good results at real-time raytracing.

Just a couple of months ago, Intel impressed us by revealing some of its progress in the field of raytracing. Now, NVIDIA, as if to make itself heard, has revealed its own work on raytracing, which has been recently demonstrated at this year's SIGGRAPH conference.

At SIGGRAPH, NVIDIA presented what it claimed to be « the world's first fully interactive GPU-based ray tracer ». NVIDIA ran a demo application demonstrating a complex scene being rendered in real-time using raytracing. The two million polygon scene depicted a highly polished Bugatti Veyron sporting the NVIDIA colors, as well as its surrounding urban environment.

Using only an NVIDIA Quadro Plex 2100 D4 Visual Computing System, NVIDIA managed to keep up 30 frames per second when rendering to a 1920 x 1080 resolution display. NVIDIA also ran the demo application at a resolution of 2560 x 1600, but chose not to disclose the framerate acheived in this case. The NVIDIA Quadro Plex 2100 D4 boasts no less than four Quadro GPUs, each with 1GB of memory, and would set you back about $11,000.

The NVIDIA Quadro Plex D4

SOURCE: Custom PC News

Touching My Image

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/yankodesign/~3/365035038/

The LUPE may look like another touchscreen camera but this concept is designed for ease of use and simplicity even tho technically it’s quite complex. Thru a series of transparent touchscreens and optical quality glass lenses, the LUPE magnifies images near and far for almost macro like quality. The focusing mechanism is quite ingenious. Just touch what you want in focus and the camera handles everything else.

Although there’s no mention of traditional mechanisms like shutters and apertures, the LUPE was designed to work without having to think about it. As if looking thru a window you make with your hands, you just focus in on what you want and a snapshot is taken. Simple as that.

Designer: Seoghwan Choi

Texts from the designer regards to the idea:

The understanding of photograph has been changed from a visual-based recording tool for a special moment to an every day life good as its technology has been progressed from the film-based to the digital image-based. As we have been doing so in our every day life, how about taking a picture like observing my daily life with a magnifying glass? The magnifying glass is my metaphoric approach in designing new digital camera. It can be used like the magnifying glass; your observing activities towards things with the magnifier becomes new way of taking photographs in this digital era.

Dish type charge unit.

camera, Seoghwan Choi

Utah Researchers Throw Cold Water On Rosy OLED Efficiency Rates [Dim Bulb]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/367694821/utah-researchers-throw-cold-water-on-rosy-oled-efficiency-rates

The promise of an organic light emitting diode (OLED) is that it will eventually become a super-efficient, low-cost light source to replace our archaic dependency on incandescent bulbs and those oh-so-yesterday LCD TVs, among other things. Ultimately, OLEDs were expected to possibly supplant the already efficient LEDs, too. That is, until a couple of Utah researchers revealed there could be some "complications." It seems we were half-right.

The issue lies with the theoretical efficiency ceiling assigned to OLEDs in a 2001 paper published in Nature. That paper suggested OLEDs would eventually be capable of converting 41 to 63% of electricity passed through them into light. The current ceiling for OLEDs is 25% efficiency, and that is where the most recent research out of Utah says it will probably stay.

In the end, all this talk of percentages and efficiency might be moot, especially considering OLEDs main purpose will be to replace LCD screens, not illuminate rooms or serve as the running lights on an Audi A5. OLEDs are also a superior light source for flexible materials, so there's that, too. They just won't be lighting up any kitchens or anything like that anytime soon.

To summarize, the future appears bright—for both LEDs and OLEDs. To each their own, we suppose. [NewsWise via CrunchGear]

Lexus Nuaero Concept is Straight Out of Starship Troopers [Lexus Nuaero]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/367656666/lexus-nuaero-concept-is-straight-out-of-starship-troopers

Does one reach for a camera or a can of RAID when the Lexus Nuaero concept pulls into the driveway? Sure Jon Rådbrink's design looks incredibly cool, fast and futuristic; but then again I've also spent the last few minutes looking over my shoulder to see if Sigourney Weaver was about to burst from the wall in a load lifter to do battle with it in my office. As it turns out, there's a lot more to this design than just looks, and Rådbrink believes the car's "low weight and large presence" will be the way premium cars could be manufactured in the future. Oh, and it's loaded with tech, too.

To drive this catamaran-inspired luxury car, the driver would use a drive-by-wire steering pad and a completely customizable multi-point touch screen. Rådbrink contends that our hands are far more accurate for driving than our feet, so he's eliminated pedals. Everything is controlled via the steering wheel. "Since the car is powered by electrical motors [found in each of the four wheels]," Rådbrink says, "there is no transmission and you break intuitively by pushing the steering wheel away from your body."

The kicker is that this 14.5-ft. car is designed with lightweight materials meant to increase mileage and efficiency. How light is light? Try roughly the same weight as the diminutive SMART fortwo. "I believe that this design paradox of low weight and large presence could be the way we'll define premium in the future," Rådbrink said. Just don't forget the futuristic airbags if this ever makes it into production. [Jon Rådbrink via DZEEN]

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Gigabyte's 3G-Capable MID M528 Coming Out On Sept 17 For $689 [Rumor]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/366582217/gigabytes-3g+capable-mid-m528-coming-out-on-sept-17-for-689

A release date and price has been set for UMPC contender Gigabyte's MID M528, a diminutive portable computer with a slide out keyboard, according to the folks over at UMPC Portal. A product page on Gigabyte's site put the cost at $689 and availability on Sept. 17. The page then disappeared, but not before intrepid internet surfers could get a nice screen grab.

The M528 contains a 4.8 inch screen with a 800 x 480 pixel resolution, a 800 Mhz Intel Atom, 512 MB RAM, roughly 4GB of storage space, and an 11 hour battery in a case that weighs about three quarters of a pound. It also boasts 3G, which makes it a possible replacement for the Nokia N810 if you think 3G's worth paying over double for. [UMPC Portal]

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)