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Friday, October 17, 2008

Your Bottled Water May Be No Purer than Tap [Health]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/423024076/your-bottled-water-may-be-no-purer-than-tap

According to a study conducted at the University of Iowa, many bottled waters are no purer than tap. The study found that while most of the brands tested still fell within regulatory guidelines for contaminants, much of the bottled water contained the same impurities as tap. Might be worthwhile to save a couple bucks this month and give tap another chance.

Guts of BlackBerry Bold found to cost $170

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/423306820/

Filed under: Cellphones

Not that it really matters to consumers one way or another -- after all, if you want a Bold, you'll pay the asking price -- but recent analysis by research firm iSuppli has found that parts and materials used to make the device "cost $158.16, and that assembly and testing add another $11.25, for a total cost of $169.41." Just for comparison, the Curve costs a cool $103 to build, and assuming RIM can sell the Bold to carriers at around $350, it'll net a gross margin of around 45% before R&D costs, software, marketing, shipping and freebies given to obscenely wealthy celebs are taken into account. The report (er, the part about the nice margins) should come as welcome news to shareholders, who have recently been worried that the current economic situation may keep individuals from snatching up new 'Berrys at a breakneck pace. Now, if only RIM / AT&T would let the thing get through testing, we'd be all set to contribute to those margins here in the US. Ahem.

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Objet announces the Alaris 30 Desktop 3D Printer

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/423369816/

Filed under: Peripherals

It looks like the slow crawl towards a consumer 3D printer continues with Objet's newest outing, the Alaris 30. The relatively compact peripheral uses something called PolyJet Photopolymer Jetting to produce 600 x 600 dpi objects up to 11.5 x 7.7 x 5.9 inches in size (not too shabby when compared to the 5-inch cube of last year's Desktop Factory offering). Equally impressive is the printer's ability to manufacture small moving elements and elements as thin as 0.0011 inches. A generous build tray means that many small parts can be printed simultaneously, and the company promises up to 36 hours unattended printing from your 3D CAD files. Finished models leave the printer fully cured and hardened by UV light. There is no pricing or availability yet, but if you hit the read link below there are plenty more juicy details.

[Via TFTS]

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HP denies leaning on OEMs to refuse ASUS orders, eating kittens

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/423480454/

Filed under: Laptops

Remember the scathing DigiTimes rumor that claimed HP was taking advantage of its dominant position in PC sales to strong-arm manufacturers into refusing business from ASUS? Well, HP has categorically denied the claim saying, "HP did not send out any notice, nor did it communicate in any manner to its manufacturing partners that they not accept orders from Asustek." The world's number one PC maker then added, "HP has strong 'standards of business' and policies and competes fairly in the market." Surely this brings an end to the matter (right)... if only HP would quit calling ASUS Shirley.

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Nvidia's Quadro CX GPU optimized for people who don't suck at Photoshop

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/423522145/

Filed under: Desktops, Displays

Check it Donnie, Nvidia just launched its Quadro CX accelerator card for Adobe's Creative Suite 4. The optimized GPU fits into your PC's PCIe slot to smooth image navigation and manipulation in Photoshop while accelerating effects in Adobe's After Effects and Premier Pro. Nvidia claims that the new GPU helps encode H.264 video at "lightning-fast speeds" when using Nvidia's Cuda-enabled CS4 plug-in while giving professionals accurate video previews with uncompressed 30-bit color or 10-/12-bit SDI (for professional video equipment) before final output. The Quadro CX features a 1.5GB (GDDR3) frame buffer and 76.8GBps memory bandwidth with dual-DisplayPort connectors (up to 2560 x 1600 pixels) and a single dual-link DVI with support for panels up to 3,840 x 2,400 @24Hz. Look, we know this sounds all stupid-hard advanced to those of you using Photoshop to hotten-up your Facebook pic, but the pros are going to love it. $1,999 and available today -- video demonstration just beyond the read link.

[Via InformationWeek]

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