Friday, October 03, 2008

Help Engadget Energize Education in the 2008 DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/409476703/

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Last year Engadget -- and its good looking, smart, talented readers -- took a break from the PC and Mac wars and endless discussion of which Linux distro rules the roost to put some cash towards a good cause: DonorsChoose, a fund-raising group dedicated to making kids' education needs a reality.

Here's how it works -- we've picked a handful of technology related causes that all need funding to get off the ground. You simply decide how much you want to give and which charity appeals to you, and the money goes directly to one or more programs that will impact high-need public schools. Still feel the desire for a little healthy competition? You can track our progress against other like-minded sites on the Blogger Challenge leaderboard, so you get to do something good for kids and shout "PWNED!"

You have until October 31st to make a donation -- either by clicking here, using the widget after the break, or by following the Read link -- and we sincerely hope that you'll consider helping out these projects that really do have a chance of giving kids a better future. Also, "PWNED!"

P.S. If you see a project that seems perfect for Engadget and our readers but isn't in our list, let us know in comments!

Read - Donate!
Read - Blogger Challenge leaderboard
Read - Opening news story on the Blogger Challenge
Read - About DonorsChoose.org

Continue reading Help Engadg! et Energ ize Education in the 2008 DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge

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Posted by Augustine at 6:30 AM

D-Link debuts SharePort-packing DIR-825 dual-band router

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/409500792/

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It's pretty tough for a wireless router to stand out from the pack these days, but D-Link's new DIR-825 models looks to at least make an admirable stab at it, with it not only boasting dual-band capabilities to pump out 2.4GHz and 5Ghz signals simultaneously, but some fancy USB sharing as well. That latter bit comes in the form of D-Link's trademark SharePort technology, which will let you plug in any USB printer or storage device and access 'em from any computer on the network. The router is also supposedly "optimized for HD video streaming" and, according to D-Link, it'll also out-perform most other Draft N routers in general and save the planet in the process. Sold? You can snag one now for $200 even. Those that already have an 802.11n D-Link router (namely, the DIR-628, DIR-655, DIR-855, or DGL-4500) may want to think twice, however, as they can now add SharePort support to their existing router with nothing more than a firmware update, which is already available on D-Link's website.

[Via Crave]
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Posted by Augustine at 6:30 AM

Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic phone intimately detailed on video

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/409528458/

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If you've been enjoying those still pictures of Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone, but feel you're lacking an in-depth experience, we think we can help. A slew of demo and instruction videos have just been slapped up on the Ovi Share site, allowing you to get a better idea of just how the device works, and what it looks like when it's doing it. Luckily for you, we've taken the trouble of including all of the videos after the break for your viewing pleasure, saving you the painful and laborious experience of hitting a read link. Enjoy.

[Via Cellpassion]

Continue reading Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic phone intimately detailed on video

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Posted by Augustine at 6:30 AM

T-Mobile launches Mobile Broadband Share Dock 3G WiFi router

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/409616808/

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3G WiFi routers aren't anything new at this point, but T-Mobile's new Mobile Broadband Share Dock is one of the slicker implementations we've seen from a carrier -- the unit consists of a USB HSDPA modem and a base which shares the connection over WiFi, which means you can unplug the modem and take your access on the road. As long as you don't need a persistent connection at home and can live with the bandwidth, that makes the £20 / month dock sound like a pretty good deal for someone who lives by themselves, since you'd avoid paying both mobile and fixed data fees -- too bad it's UK only for now. Should be out in the next couple of days, we're hearing.
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Posted by Augustine at 6:29 AM

Eee marketing getting adorably bitchy

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/409692492/

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When every company out there is cranking out the same 10-inch 1.6GHz Atom netbook, there aren't many ways to make your product stand out: the obvious trick is to go low on price, but ASUS isn't messing with its profit margins. Instead, it's apparently going negative in the most adorable way possible -- check this hit piece on the Acer Aspire One. If all these frowny faces are to be believed, using the Aspire One will basically be awkward and unergonomic for a short while, at which point you'll burst into flames. Not only that, but ASUS can't even bring itself to spell out "Aspire," instead starring it out like someone might catch them saying it out loud. Very mature. Still, if anything can revive our flagging enthusiasm for the entire netbook category, it would be one of these WINNER crowns packed in with every Eee -- now that's a real differentiating factor, ASUS. Full image in the gallery.
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Posted by Augustine at 6:29 AM

KDDI shows off Samsung-made 3.1-inch WVGA OLED display, 3D LCD panel

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/409708855/

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It's been almost a full year since Samsung first announced its plans for a 3-inch WVGA OLED panel, but it's now finally delivered, and found a partner in the form of KDDI, which was showing off the panel at CEATEC. As Tech-On notes, the panel is quite the upgrade over Samsung's current top-end 3-inch QVGA panel and, best of all, KDDI says that it'll be showing up in actual products "shortly," though it's not about to get any more specific than that. As if that wasn't enough, KDDI also had a new "3D LCD" panel built by an unnamed "Japanese panel manufacturer" on hand at the show. It boasts the same WVGA resolution as the OLED and employs a "parallax barrier method" to magically "convert 2D images into 3D in real time -- check that out after the break, and look for the panels to be productized by the end of 2009.

[Via OLED-DISPLAY.net]

Continue reading KDDI shows off Samsung-made 3.1-inch WVGA OLED display, 3D LCD panel

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Posted by Augustine at 6:28 AM

Nokia hints at new touch-based Communicator

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/409723586/

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Every so often, Nokia will pop out a brick-like beast of a clamshell smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard -- a black sheep in Espoo's lineup in every sense of the word. These so-called Communicators even had their own custom Symbian-based operating system, Series 80, until the E90 came around and brought 'em in line with the rest of the S60 crowd. Of course, S60 just took a big leap to the world of touch today, and that means the E90's starting to fall a bit behind -- so what's next? Nokia dropped a little teaser during its webcast today in the form of a stylized touch-based concept bearing strong family ties to the E90 and its ancestors, suggesting S60 5th Edition won't spell doom for the form factor. If it materializes, history suggests it won't be a mainstream device -- but if the real thing can look as good as this render, who knows?
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Posted by Augustine at 6:28 AM

Sony announces PRS-700 Reader with touchscreen

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/409746544/

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Sony's plan to launch an updated Reader today wasn't exactly a secret, but there are still some surprises to the new PRS-700 -- particularly the new six-inch touchscreen E-Ink display. Page turning is now accomplished by a swipe motion with faster refreshes, and there's a stylus and on-screen keyboard for searching and note-taking -- plus an LED reading light (not a backlight) for reading in the dark. Apart from that, it's basically the same deal as the PRS-505 -- internal storage for about 350 ebooks with SD and MS-Duo expansion and a 7500 page-turn battery life round out the package, as well as an updated online store. Of course, there's no Kindle-killing integrated wireless for the $400 price tag, but it'll be interesting to see how they stack up when the PRS-700 hits shelves next month.
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Posted by Augustine at 6:28 AM

Sony Ericsson patent app takes the tedium out of zooming your camera

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/410013019/

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It's a beautiful autumn day, and you're out in the wooded path beyond the railroad tracks just taking it all in and killing some time. Hey, what's that? Why, it's the cutest bunny rabbit you've ever seen! Time to pull out that 8-megapixel C905 and... oh, this sucks, you actually have to press a button to zoom in and out! Screw this noise -- you're a visionary photographer, not a manual laborer. Happily, Sony Ericsson feels your pain, and a new patent application reveals that they're hard at work on a system to control your cameraphone's zoom level simply by moving it back and forth. Just get the phone closer to the subject, and boom, welcome to telephoto city, population one. We're still totally cool with the old-fashioned way of capturing Pulitzer-winning shots, but we're happy that someone's thinking of this type of stuff so we don't have to -- that'd be work.

[Via Unwired View]
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Posted by Augustine at 6:28 AM

NICT, JVC Victor team up on no-glasses-needed 3D HDTV

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/410130335/

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Betcha didn't see this one coming, did you Philips? No sooner than the aforementioned company unveiled a rather striking 56-inch Quad Full 3D HDTV over on the left coast of the US did Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and JVC Victor one-up that with a 72-inch prototype of their own. Revealed at CEATEC 2008, the Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) set doesn't even require viewers to sport those face-consuming glasses to experience the effect. In essence, the display utilizes multiple projectors to really emphasize that elusive third-dimension, but the viewing angle is understandably limited. Oh, and we hope you're not too geeked up about this -- NICT stated that we probably wouldn't see these in the commercial realm before 2011. Ah well, at least there's IMAX to hold us.

[Via Gearlog]
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Posted by Augustine at 6:27 AM

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