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Friday, November 21, 2008

Google Sync for BlackBerry gets into your contacts

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/20/google-sync-for-blackberry-gets-into-your-contacts/

If you're a BlackBerry user or a prospective user, and also happen to be a Gmail enthusiast, you're going to be a lot happier than you were yesterday, because Google's just added over-the-air contact syncing to its Google Sync application. Previously, the app was only able to sync up calendars between the cloud and RIM devices every two hours. Now you can get your names and numbers in the mix, so it looks like the nightmare days of having one list of contacts in Gmail and another, totally different one in your 'Berry are apparently at an end. Sure, Google's timing on this seems a little convenient to us, coming as it does just before the BlackBerry Storm launch, but we're not going to complain about something that makes ours lives easier, okay?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones

Google Sync for BlackBerry gets into your contacts originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Upcoming dual-processor Nehalem EP machine benchmarked -- yeah, it's fast

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/20/upcoming-dual-processer-nehalem-ep-machine-benchmarked-yeah/

Intel's new Core i7 chip has been showing up in tons of silly-spec'd high-end gaming rigs for about three days now, so it's obviously time to get bored and move on -- and right on cue, TechRadar's got the first benchmarks we've seen of the upcoming dual-processor Nehalem EP platform. The secret test machine featured two 2.8GHz Nehalem EP chips (likely to hit retail in 2009 as the Xeon X5560) and 24GB of 1,066MHz DDR3 RAM controlled by the new Quick Path Interconnect and on-die memory controllers, which together cranked out a SPECfp base rate of 160 -- way above the 90 posted by current 3.4GHz Xeon setups, and higher than the 105 scored by a 2.7GHz dual-processor rig with AMD's new Shanghai chips. Yeah, that's silly fast, and it's bound to get even faster when these bad boys launch with a 3.2GHz part along for the ride. Now if Intel could just siphon some of that speed into these pokey Atoms we can actually afford, we'd be grins-a-plenty.

Filed under: Desktops

Upcoming dual-processor Nehalem EP machine benchmarked -- yeah, it's fast originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Orb 2.0 streams live TV to your iPhone

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/20/orb-2-0-streams-live-tv-to-your-iphone/

We knew Orb was working on an iPhone port of its media-streaming app, and it looks like Orb 2.0 just stealthily went live in the App Store. The $10 app lets TV junkies watch live TV from a tuner connected to a Windows PC, as well as stream music, videos, and photos from their libraries. Even cooler, Orb allows you to monitor a webcam, so you can finally nail those Diet Coke thieves from the comfort of your cube (or keep an eye on your infant, whatever.) Sadly there's no date for the Mac and Linux versions, but Orb says they're on the way. Alright Sling, looks like the ball's in your court.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Filed under: Cellphones

Orb 2.0 streams live TV to your iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AOC keeps it simple with $160 F19 LCD monitor

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/20/aoc-keeps-it-simple-with-160-f19-lcd-monitor/

AOC's never been one to charge a premium for sex appeal, but it's stooping even lower given the current economic conditions in order to get more monitors in more homes. The 19-inch F19 sports a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, a 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 5-millisecond response time, a glossy black piano finish (with a white back for that splash of contrast) and VGA / DVI inputs. Not too shabby for $159.99 -- we mean, who can say no to puppies? Full release is after the jump.

Continue reading AOC keeps it simple with $160 F19 LCD monitor

Filed under: Displays

AOC keeps it simple with $160 F19 LCD monitor originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony demos 19-inch FED display running Gran Turismo 5 at 240 fps

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/20/sony-demos-19-inch-fed-display-running-gran-turismo-5-at-240-fps/

FED (or Field Emission Display) hasn't quite caught on as quickly as some other display technologies, but Sony's still out there doing its best to move things forward, and it certainly looks to have turned more than a few heads with its latest demo. Apparently not content with simply showing off a new 19-inch display from its spin-off, Field Emission Technologies, Sony went so far as to demo it with a customized version of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue that's playable at 240 fps. To do that, Sony used four PS3s to increase the frame rate, something it had previously done to run the game at quadruple the resolution of 1080p on a Sony SXHD projector. While that setup is out of the reach of most folks, Field Emission Technologies says that FED displays are now finally heading to market, and that some high-end professional FED video monitors up to 32-inches in size will be available sometime next year.

[Via OLED-Display.info]

Filed under: Displays

Sony demos 19-inch FED display running Gran Turismo 5 at 240 fps originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee Top climbing to 20- and 22-inches by June

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/21/asus-eee-top-climbing-to-20-and-22-inches-by-june/

Like the Eee Top all-in-one PC but 15.6-inches is just too wee for your taste? Fine, you'll have the chance to grapple with 20- and 22-inchers, according to ASUS CEO Jerry Shen, sometime in the first half of 2009. Drop Windows 7 into these touchscreen monuments to mediocrity and we're in.

Filed under: Desktops

ASUS Eee Top climbing to 20- and 22-inches by June originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gigantic LED display board goes live at Walgreens in Times Square

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/21/gigantic-led-display-board-goes-live-at-walgreens-in-times-squar/

Remember that LED display board that was scheduled to be lit up at Walgreens in Times Square? You know, that 17,000-square foot one touting 12 million LEDs? Sure you do. The board, which was designed by D3 LED, was finally activated in the heart of New York City, and its creators are asserting that it's one of the most complex in existence. If you're wondering if this is worth a trip up (along with having a peek at the giant tree in Rockefeller Center), you might want to hit the read link first, but you should probably understand that almost nothing in NYC can hold a candle in terms of magnitude to downtown Dubai.

Filed under: Displays

Gigantic LED display board goes live at Walgreens in Times Square originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

Android Teases Me

by Steve Smith , Thursday, November 20, 2008

IF YOU WANT A GLIMPSE of a wildly promising mobile future, grab some geek buddy's T-Mobile G1 phone and fire up the ShopSaavvy app. Integrated with the phone's camera, you can aim the device at any product UPC code and pull down product details, online pricing and shopping opportunities, Web site references, and reviews, when available. Of course suppliers like Mobot and ScanBuy have been working with this sort of visual search model for a while, But I have never seen the mobile scanning process implemented so smoothly and with such tight integration with the hardware. Best of all, the process delivers information that is rich and relevant to the user, not just to an advertiser.

My iPhone can't do that...

continue reading...

Amazonâs CloudFront Could Storm Rival CDNs

Source: http://gigaom.com/2008/11/18/amazons-cloudfront-could-storm-rival-cdns/

Today Amazon Web Services launched the beta version of its content delivery network service called CloudFront. As Om mentioned in September when the service was announced, this is a good move for Amazon, and something that may put the hurt on fellow CDNs such as Limelight and Akamai. Amazon will charge a usage-based fee, rather than a long-term contract, bringing CDN prices even lower for smaller web players who don’t have the scale to negotiate lower prices. Here’s how it works from the release:

The service caches copies of content close to end users for low latency delivery, while also providing fast, sustained data transfer rates needed to deliver popular objects to end users at scale. CloudFront works seamlessly with Amazon S3, where users store the original versions of objects delivered through the service. Customers need only put their objects into an Amazon S3 bucket and then register that bucket with the new service using a simple API call, which then returns a domain name used to access content through the network of edge locations.

Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon, explains all about CloudFront on his blog.

A content delivery service that would extend Amazon S3 has been something that is very high on the wish list of our customers. They were already successfully using Amazon S3 for some of their content distribution needs, but many wanted the choice to do so with even lower latency and with higher data transfer rates to any place in the world.

He goes on to explain:

Using Amazon CloudFront is dead simple. Many of our private beta customers have reported that it only took them 10-15 minutes from the moment that they first signed up for the service to the moment that Amazon CloudFront was distributing their content.

The second Amazon Web Services principle that sets Amazon CloudFront apart is that no upfront commitments are necessary and you only pay for what you have used. There are no upfront fees or high volume requirements and no negotiations are necessary because we have published low prices from the start.

The second point is the more disruptive one. When Amazon announced its CDN in September we wrote,

Akamai is less likely to be impacted in the near term, but it further commoditizes the CDN business and forces a big shakeout in the industry, taking down the small and the weak. Akamai has been focusing on value-add services, as a way to stay ahead of the commoditization of the basic CDN services.

logo_aws1

With prices ranging from 17 cents per gigabyte for the first 10 terabytes sent out a month, to 9 cents per GB for everything over 150 TB, the service seems to undercut the pricing offered by other CDNs for small to medium sized customers. It might be a good thing that Akamai’s looking at diversifying into online advertising.

GigaOM Briefings

Want to know more about the rapidly changing Cloud Computing landscape? Preview our Cloud Computing Briefing or purchase the full version.

SC08 Video: Put a Green Supercomputer on Your Desk

Source: http://gigaom.com/2008/11/18/sc08-video-put-a-green-supercomputer-on-your-desk/

I’m intrigued by the idea of personal supercomputers such as the Cray CX1, which was unveiled earlier this year, as well as the Dell Workstation that was given a teraflop boost using an Nvidia Telsa card. So I jumped at the chance to chat with SiCortex, a maker of high-performance computing systems that in March announced a 72-core workstation that runs at 300 watts. The company just closed a $37 million round of funding in September and also has a larger HPC system as well. For more, check out the video.

Battle of the Free Visual Voicemail and Transcription Services [Lifehacker Faceoff]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/aGxQWQWuqt8/battle-of-the-free-visual-voicemail-and-transcription-services

Both YouMail and MessageSling have long offered free services that let nearly any cell phone user listen to and manage their voicemail online, in the style of the iPhone's "visual voicemail." The stakes were raised this month when both also announced new transcription services, allowing you to read that call you just missed in a text message or online before actually listening or responding to it. One offers a limited free service, while the other is offering one-week trials of its paid transcription plans. We've given both a try and compiled each service's feature package for comparison, so read on to see if it might be worth ditching your plain vanilla voicemail for something a bit more useful.

Note: Both services use a basic voicemail-forwarding trick that works on any major carrier's phone, and both respond fairly quickly to get you MP3-quality recordings of your voicemail.

I tested one of YouMail's free transcription services, which the company says "vary in quality" compared to paid plans, and are limited to one contact or five messages from anybody, against MessageSling's one-week trial of their 20-message-per-month "Basic" plan. I'd have liked to compare a YouMail paid service against MessageSling, but "ordering" a free plan from YouMail somehow blocked my attempts to buy a paid plan. If and when I can try out a paid plan, I'll post the transcription results here.

YouMail

What's free:

Web-based visual voicemail listings and dial-in voicemail checking
Caller ID service
Customized greetings for specific contacts or groups
Download messages as MP3s
Folder organizing and archiving of messages
Unwanted caller blocking (hang-up before voicemail)

Non-Fla sh site for iPhone/Blackberry/WinMobile

Message notification: Email with direct link to Flash voicemail player, or text message with caller ID, number, and voicemail stats (left or not, duration), with transcription stub if enabled.

Ads?: Corner ad on notification emails (in-house at the moment), banners and right-side box ads on voicemail page, and text ads at bottom of SMS notifications.

Transcription Plans:

Transcription accuracy (free plan):
What was said (MP3):

Hi Kevin, it's, uh, Kevin. I'm calling to test out transcription. See you in Tallahassee tomorrow. Bye.

What came in the text:

Hi Kevin it s uh Kevin. I m calling 2 test out transcription. See u (cut off).

Online transcription:

Hi Kevin it s uh Kevin. I m calling to test out transcription. See you in Tallahassee tomorrow bye.

Your web-based inbox:

MessageSling

What's free:

Web-based visual voicemail listings and dial-in voicemail checking
Customized greetings for specific contacts and groups
Download messages as MP3s
Gmail-style message labeling and search
Can edit transcripts of voicemails and update.

Ads?: None in emails, text alerts, or on site (so far).

Message notification: Email with message MP3 attached and voicemail stats, and/or text messa! ge with phone number (and contact, if in book), voicemail stats, and transcription stub if enabled.

Transcription Plans:

Transcription accuracy ("Basic" plan):
What was said (MP3):

Hi Kevin, it's, uh, Kevin. I'm calling to test out transcription. See you in Tallahassee tomorrow. Bye.

What came in the text:

Hi Kevin, it's Kevin. I'm calling to test out transcription. S (cut off).

Online transcription:

Hi Kevin, it's Kevin. I'm calling to test out transcription. See you in Tallahassee tomorrow. Bye.

Your web-based inbox:

That's enough from our side of the screen—let's hear how users of the two services, and those just catching up on them, split the difference in the poll below. If you've got another similar service that does the job for you, choose "Other" and tell us about it in the comments.

Which voicemail replacement service appeals to you?
( polls)

Get $25 Restaurant Gift Cards for $1.50 [Deals]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/_IsOCS_1dQY/get-25-restaurant-gift-cards-for-150

Thanks to some sweet, sweet discount serendipity, $25 gift cards to restaurants around the country from Restaurant.com can be had through tomorrow, for $1.50 using a coupon code and a FatWallet link code. It's pretty much the same offer as we previously posted, just a bit cheaper and, well, back again. The details: Head to Restaurant.com, see what restaurants are participating near your ZIP code (and what caveats a gift card might entail, such as a minimum purchase amount or menu restrictions). Use FatWallet's 25 percent off discount link to actually buy the gift card, and enter the coupon code SURPRISE at checkout. You'll need a FatWallet account to claim your 50 cent savings, and the coupon code is only good through Nov. 20, 2008. If you're stuck for gift ideas for a food-loving friend, this is a pretty cheap way to knock one off the list. Tell us any catches or successes you find in the comments.

Restaurant.com Gift Certificates [via Wise Bread]

Zapr Makes File Sharing Painless [Featured Windows Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/aUOLehuD_0w/zapr-makes-file-sharing-painless

Windows only: Zapr is a new file-sharing application that promises to make remote file sharing extremely simple. Users download the Zapr application, set up a free account, and can immediately begin sharing files with friends. Only the person doing the sharing needs to have the application installed, all others simply need the URL the file sharer gives them. The files are hosted locally, with the Zapr server only providing directions between the file sharer and the people seeking the file. Files can be shared unprotected or with passwords. There is no restriction on file type or file size. For another simply way to share files without FTP, check out GBridge. Zapr is freeware, Windows only.

Zapr [via WebWorkerDaily]

And Now For Something Completely Different on YouTube [YouTube]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/ytloCyyXxAM/and-now-for-something-completely-different-on-youtube

Claiming to be tired of seeing poor-quality "rip-offs" of their ridiculously acclaimed TV series and films, the Monty Python troupe has created an official YouTube channel to post free, high-quality clips from their vaults, with only Amazon merchandise links for advertising. Their official, tongue-in-cheek video proclamation is below. [via]

Ultimate Windows Tweaker is Like Tweak UI for Vista [Featured Windows Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/AatxrT-TLmI/ultimate-windows-tweaker-is-like-tweak-ui-for-vista

Windows Vista only: Ultimate Windows Tweaker makes no bones about its source of inspiration—the uber-specific, XP-customizing Microsoft tool TweakUI—and does pretty well by it. There's more than 130 changes to make from this stand-alone, no-install utility, including some seriously helpful User Account Control hacks and sliding timers for application killing, along with all the other tweaks for menus, Explorer, and shortcuts TweakUI users will find familiar. Another great feature: A big, prominent "Create System Restore Point" button to hit before you get to tweaking, which is always a good idea. Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a free download for Windows Vista systems (32- and 64-bit) only. Thanks, How-To Geek!

Ultimate Windows Tweaker [The WinVistaClub]

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